A look at conflicting time frames for starters:

Dirk Pitt has been wth NUMA for two decades in Valhalla Rising (Chapter 9). Since the story line in this book takes place in July of 2003, it would seem that Pitt joined NUMA in 1983.

This seems to make sense since Summer Moran died fifteen years ago in Inca Gold (Chapter 60). Since the story line in this book takes place in October of 1998, Summer perished in 1983.

However, Dirk Jr. and Summer Pitt are twenty-three in Valhalla Rising (Chapter 58) and must have been born in 1980/1981. :unsure:

Since the twins arrived on the scene all sorts of inaccuracies have emerged.

*****

But on the subject of time-lines, lets see if we agree on Dirk Pitt's birthday and from there work out future events.

My research places it on the 15th July, 1948

Star sign, Cancer born in the year of the rat.

Clive has stated himself in interviews and in his books that Dirk's star-sign is Cancer and that he was born in the year of the rat. Clive has also stated that he modelled Dirk on himself and since Clive's star-sign is also Cancer, I'll assume its a safe bet to say that Clive's birthday and month is the same for both of them.

Clive has also stated that both Dirk and himself were 36 years old when they started out. So I'm assuming that he was referring to the first Dirk Pitt book published which was Mediteranean Caper written in 1968 (published in 1973)

Clive's birth year is 1931, so far so good. (Clive is still 36 until the 15th of July, 1968)

This means that Dirk Pitt is 36 years old in Mediterranean Caper and that the story takes place in 1984/85

Iceberg's story takes place a year later in 1985/86

Raise the Titanic's story takes place in July, 1987

Vixen 03 - September 1988

Night Probe - February 1989

Deep Six - July 25, 1989

Cyclops - October 1989

Treasure - October 12, 1991

Dragon - October 3, 1993

Sahara - May 5, 1996

Inca Gold - October 10, 1998

Shock Wave - January 14, 2000

Flood Tide - April 14, 2000

Atlantis Found - March 22, 2001

Valhalla Rising - July 15, 2003

Trojan Odyssey - August 15, 2006


According to Helene's logic in the above post, Pacific Vortex must have been set in 1983.



*spoiler below for fans who have not read Trojan Odyssey*



This might be a bit difficult to grasp, but it works out that Dirk Pitt was 58 years old when he married Loren Smith in Trojan Odyssey!



*note* (info found in Iceberg stated by a Naval Intelligence Officer "Jerome P. Lillie the Fourth" states an alternate birthdate scenario)

58? :o Did you say 58? :wacko:

Great looking timeline there, DirkPitt! We should do a full blown chronology of events in the "Dirk Pitt Universe", from the big bang to the extinction of the dinosaurs to the current day, using just elements from the books. A lot of research, but using you ehaustive timeline here as a starting point, quite possible.

Well you asked,I did this a few years ago and my starting point was the date in Iceberg since it is the only book which gives an actual age.

Nov.22nd 1954-- Dirk is born at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach,California.
Sept 1960--Dirk and Al meet in grade 1
June 1971--Dirk and Al graduate high school and join the Airforce
1972--Dirk and Al become pilots and are involved in Vietnam
1974--Dirk shoots down Admiral Sandeckers plane
1980--Dirk buys the hanger
1981--Dirk leaves the Airforce with the rank of Major
1981--Al leaves the Airforce with the rank of Captain
1982--Dirk and Al join NUMA at Sandeckers request.
1985--Pacific Vortex takes place North of Hawaii
June 1986--Dirk and Al airdrop supplies to a research station North of Spitzbergen
June 1986--Mediterranean Caper takes place in Greece
Aug 1986--Dirk flies supplies to Pitcairn Island
Dec 1986--Dirk airdrops supplies on Baffin Island
Jan 1987--Dirk joins the oceanlab project in California
Mar 26 87--Iceberg takes place in Iceland
Late July 87-RTT begins
Early Aug 88--RTT ends
Early Sept 88 Dirk meets Loren at a party
Mid Sept 88 --V03 starts in Colorado
Jan 1989------ V03 ends in Washington
Feb 89 NP begins
May 89 NP ends
Early July 89 Dirk and Al salvage the ram from the Cumberland
July 25 1989--D6 starts in Alaska
Aug 13 1989--D6 ends in Florida
Oct 10 1989--C starts in Florida
Oct 20 1989--Dirk enters a marathon board sailing race in Florida
Nov 22 1989--Dirks 35th birthday
Jan 4 1990--C ends in Cuba
Oct 12th 1991-Treasure starts
Nov 5 1991--Treasure ends
Early July 1993--Dirk and Al move into Soggy Acres
Oct 3 1993-Dragon begins
Nov 21 1993-Dragon ends on Marcus Island
Nov 22 1993--Dirks 39th birthday
May 5 1996 Sahara begins
June 25 1996 Sahara ends
1997--Dirk and Al take a canoe trip down the Rio Grande
1997--Dirk and Al find a Chinese airliner off the coast of Japan
Oct 10 1998--IG starts
Nov 4 1998--IG ends
Jan 14 2000--SW starts
Mar 20 2000--SW ends
April 14 2000--FT begins
June 10,2000 Serpent starts(no end date)
Late June 2000--Dirk and Al head to a project in Antarctica(Serpent)
July 31 2000--FT ends
March 22 2001-- AF starts
Summer,2001-Blue Gold starts near San Diego(no end date)
2002?-Fire Ice starts(no end date)
Sept 10 2002--AF ends
2003?-White Death starts(no end date)
July 15 2003--VR starts
Aug 16 2003 VR ends
2004?-Lost City begins9No end date)
Aug 15 2006 TO begins


Only Serpent has a start date the other books in the series only quote *the present*.

There you have it a time line pieced together from events mentioned in the books.

All aboard for a debate :lol:

Rob

:blink:
WOW!That's pretty exhaustive as well!

The debate has begun ...

First we have to get the birthday right, this excerpt from Flood Tide ;


"Maybe he's Fu Manchu reincarnated," said Pitt lightly. "Mind telling what you have against him?" "His flunkies tossed my cabin. I'm not keen on strangers probing about my underwear."
"There is one thing you'd find interesting," said Yaeger.
"I'm listening."
"Not only do you and Shang have the same birthday, but you were born in the same year. Under his culture Shang was born in the year of the rat. In yours, under the sign of Cancer."


If you were born in one of the following years, you were born during the "Year of the Rat:"

1900, 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020

If you were born under the sign of Cancer ;

Cancer - June 22 - July 22

Dirk Pitt's Birthday:

What about the reference in Iceberg (Chapter 12)?

After describing Sandecker, the taxi driver gives a run down on Pitt; he was born exactly thirty two years, four months and twelve days ago at Hoag Hospital in New Port Beach, California...

Chapter time frames:
(3) Wednesday, March 28.
(5) Thursday, March 29. It is ten past four in the morning and they left the Catawaba six hours and 45 mins. ago.
(9) Friday, March 31. It is the next morning.
(12) Friday, March 31. It is 4:00 PM.


Dirk Pitt would have been born in November! Around November 19th... 1953 (if Iceberg takes place in 1985)

Hmmm. Perhaps chalk up the cabbie's comments to error? Yeager is going to know Pitt's birthday, and Pitt didn't point out that he was wrong, so thus he was likely correct.
Basically, when we get such conflicting dates, it might make sense to choose the later publishing date and pretend that the later comments in the newer books were Clive's way of correcting discrepencies?

I think it is good to acknowledge time-line discrepancies. They used to drive me bananas. Now I accept the fact that Cussler did not necessary have some time frames in mind :o as he wrote the adventures. Well, so OK ...

Another example:

Hiram Yeager has known the guys almost fifteen years in Atlantis Found (14).
March 2001 - 15 = 1986

And Hiram Yeager has been with NUMA almost fifteen years in Valhalla Rising (21). July 2003 - 15 = 1988

By the way, he is first introduced as a character in Deep Six which takes place in 1989.

<_< :blink: j:

birthdays? 1948 or 1954? or if you go by the year of the rat then it be 1960. which is not possible unless young dirk joining in the military under age. so therefore a compromise of 1951 without using the year of the rat as reference. from the way i remember reading the med caper book it seemed it was early 70s when that story occurs. oh, well. that's my two cents. c:

If we accept that Dirk was born in the Year of the Rat, then 1948 is the most logical year, when you consider he graduated from the Air Force Academy in time to get an assignment as a fighter pilot during the Vietnam war. Taht`s my two cents` worth. w:

I would have to go with Mostly Heep's timeline. I've been reading CC for many years and remember the Iceberg reference which puts Dirk Pitt at about my age,
49. The only problem I've had with that, is that it would have made him the youngest fighter pilot in Viet Nam. Probably the youngest Major too.

58 seems too old, and 44 too young.

Ok, my 2cents worth. SOMEBODY is getting rich 2cents at a time off of this.

kujo54

We all know how resourceful Dirk is,he could have easily been the youngest pilot and major in Airforce history ;) He has shown an amazing ability to troubleshoot problems.I can't remember which book mentions it but while playing quaterback at the AF academy he was a smart and devious playmaker who could turn a 20 yard loss into a touchdown so making Major would be no problem for our heroe.
I've upped it to my 5 cents worth. :lol:
Rob

Does anybody know what the characteristics of a person born under the sign of Cancer displays?
Somewhere else on this forum I posted about the characteristics of someone born *on the cusp* of Scorpio and Sagittarius which Dirk would be if born between Nov 19th and Nov 22nd.Now if only I could find it :angry:
Rob

i remember how my attempt to find out DP's birthday got stuck when i read Iceberg and then Flood Tide. since Flood Tide came out later, perhaps we can say that CC later decided to have DP born a cancer in the year of rat. and considering DP's participation in the Vietnam War and having the rank of a major when joining NUMA and later fathering children (who are now in their early 20s), it's thus logical to assume that DP was born in 1948.

gosh! it's appalling to imagine our handsome hero as a man approching 60!

:o

I have no timeline ideas but my grandpa is in is late 70's if not early 80's and he can out work most 20 year olds in a day.

15 cents check mate!

I know I have written things and raising questions in the past about the facts behind the novel in that they change. Physically speaking, Dr. C writes books that are more technically sound than other novelists who work on his inspired. I am talking about Matthew Reily (Ice Station, Temple). In Ice Station (not a bad read) the author forgets about the idea of compression/decompression taking his hero and placing him 200 feet, 400 feet, and 3000 feet underwater without decompression. Pity. Dr. C reminds us in his works about the facts of diving. Never does her leave the realm of reality of the physics involved in diving. When I crossed those pages in Ice Station the book dropped a notch. Dr. C would never let that go in his books. So I say who cares about the changes or inconsistency in timeline or height of Dirk Pitt changing and the ageless Admiral Sandecker, who can never get to age of 65 (he has been "homing in on 65" before Sahara). It is still the best techincal underwater fiction out there.

Cheers!
M

I have to say this is a very interesting thread. All are very good readers. Not bad! a big compliment! :)

I have decided to go along with the Pitt's birthdate as being July 15, 1948 too.

Cussler says he made Pitt 36 when he created the character so ...

*In Pacific Vortex (set in 1983), Pitt is 36.
*In The Mediterranean Caper (set in 1984), Pitt is 37.
*In Iceberg (set in 1985), Pitt will be 38. He is still 37 when the story takes:

1985 - 37 = 1948! (and the cab driver messed up his numbers...)

On the subject of ages, here are some notes on Admiral Sandecker:

*In Night Probe (set in 1989), Sandecker is 61 (chapter 22).
*In Deep Six (also set in 1989), Sandecker is in his late 50's (chapter 4). <_<
*In Cyclops (also set in 1989), Sandecker is in his late 50's (chapter 13).
*In Inca Gold (set in 1998), Sandecker is 58 (chapter 19).
*In Shock Wave (set in 2000), Sandecker is in his early 60's (chapter 11).
*In Flood Tide (also set in 2000), Sandecker is homing in on 65 (chapter 4).
*In Trojan Odyssey (set in 2006), Sandecker is 61 (chapter 3)! :rolleyes:

Knowing what a health and fitness nut he is, I'd say Sandecker has found a program that works for him. j: Sign me up! c:

WOW!! He's in good shape for a guy his age.

But the cab driver has a photographic memory.

w: Maybe he ran out of film. :unsure:

:lol: :lol: :lol:
:P :P :P :P :

tosses in a gambling chip worth $50 for his 1951 birth of Dirk. :P

Okay I will go for 1951,makes him 53 my age.

A person born under the cancer sign is:
Emotional and loving
Intuitive and imaginative
Shrewd and cautious
Protective and sympathetic
Changeable and moody
Overemotional and touchy
Clinging and unable to let go

More info on Cancer


If Dirk is the sign of the cancer, then being the patriot he is, CC could have made his birthday July 4.

For the thing about Dirk Jr. and Summer's age, remember there is a 3 yr. difference between any info given in VR and TO.

Hiram may not have been hired by Sandecker immediately, because he either didn't have a need for Yaegar (hard to believe!!) or didn't have the budget to support a computer center.

I'm going to go along with the birthyear of 1948 because that would make Dirk just a little more than three months older than me. Pretty cool! ...

Update:


Oct 11,2006 TO Ends in Washington
May 22,2007 Black Wind starts in Alaska
July 1,2007 Black Wind ends

I also updated the original post to reflect the Numa Files books.

For my Legacy story in Fan Fiction I put Dirk's birth at 1950 and because my memory was hazy I had him attending kindergarten in Alhambra, California. :lol:

We certainly have our own pet theories on the timeline of our revered DP!!! :lol:

Wow, you guys went to a lot of work to figure out Dirk's age!! Personally I saw him as about 50 when he married Loren, but I guess I was wrong. The description of him seems like a much younger guy! Oh, well, for an older guy he's still pretty cool :) . So here's my question: how old are Dirk and Summer as of Black Wind?

Dirk Jr. and Summer Pitt are twenty-three as of August 16, 2003 in Valhalla Rising (Chapter 58).

Not having establised their birthday, and knowing Black Wind begins on May 22, 2007, they are either 26 or 27.

The way I looked at it was that Dirk was born in 1950, so that would make him 33 by the time Pacific Vortex takes place in 1983. I myself simply placed Trojan Odyssey in the summer of 2004 when he's around 54 years of age. That way he won't be too old for future adventures. Sorry if thats unorthodox thinking, but hey, its the reader's choice.

Well since this thread is talking about realism and continuity I got to say I don't care about if there is realism when it comes to a timeline (how old he is, if he gets older etc...).

What I want is a good story - I can swallow the fact he should be around 97 years old and he is still able to run around saving the world as long as the story is good. That is what got me interested in Dirk Pitt and Clive Cussler.

One of the things that perturbs me is people who harp about timeline and continuity (don't get the wrong idea that I am criticizing anything said in this thread - I have loved reading everything on it). My example is with the comic book GI Joe (big comic book geek here). When this comic got started in the early / mid 80's it said the characters were in the Vietnam war. When the comic got restarted a few years ago they changed it to "skirmishes throughout the world" without being specific (new company took over the book). As soon as they did that complaints got started about how they can't still be fighting in 2006 because they would all be in their 50's / 60's. WHO CARES. Tell a good story and that should be enough.

I think Rob said it best when he read another book and the author had a character at 3000 feet and never addressed decompression. Rob said Cussler would never let something like that slip by. THAT is what I'm talking about - the realism of the story and not the timeline.

Once again I am not trying to argue or offend anyone on here - I think Cussler does a GREAT job of telling a story and that is what attracts me to the series and author.

I guess that is $5 worth of opinon. w:

This is why Dr. C has created the children and preparing to use Dirk & Al to participate in some minor fashion in their adventures. w:

Dirk at 36 in Med Caper? I always put him at 26-29 in Pacific Vortex, and 27-30 in Med Caper. He's got to be around 54 in Trojan Oddyssey, which puts his b-day in 1952.