From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The National Underwater and Marine Agency
(NUMA) is a private non-profit organization in the
United States,
based on a fictional organization from the novels of Clive Cussler, who
also heads up the actual organization. NUMA is dedicated to
"preserving maritime heritage
through the discovery, archaeological survey and conservation of shipwreck artifacts."
NUMA has discovered many sunken ships. The wreck of the Confederate States Navy submarine H. L. Hunley was discovered by NUMA in
1995, possibly using information based around Dr. E. Lee Spence's
alleged prior discovery of the wreck, and salvaged in August
2000.
The Sea
Hunters
Cussler and NUMA have helped produce a television series on
underwater exploration called The Sea
Hunters, which chronicles the discovery and subsequent
removal and conservation of the CSS H. L. Hunley in 1995.
The show also features a number of other shipwrecks in various
international locations, and on occasion the failure to find
anything at all, such as their attempts to find the Holland III
prototype submarine. The
show features Cussler and James Delgado, who is
also an author and executive director of the Vancouver Maritime Museum.
The show gives an in-depth explanation of the story of the
shipwreck NUMA is exploring, including information about the ship's
history and how it sank. NUMA's expeditions tend to focus on ships
of American origin from the early 19th century to the early 20th
century, especially on Union and Confederate
ships of the American Civil War. Two books titled
"The Sea Hunters" were authored by Clive Cussler about NUMA's
explorations.
Trustees
The NUMA Advisory Board of Trustees:
Current list of
expeditions
NUMA has located or attempted to locate the following vessels
and marine artifacts:
- HMS Actaeon
- USS
Akron
- CSS
Alabama
- Alexander Nevski, a Russian steam frigate. Stranded off
Thyboron in 1868 while carrying the crown prince.
- CSS
Arkansas
- SMS
Blücher, a German heavy cruiser. Sunk at the battle of Dogger
Bank.
- Brutus, a schooner of the Republic of Texas
Navy.
- Bonhomme
Richard
- USS Carondelet
- RMS
Carpathia
- CSS
Chicora
- CSS
Charleston
- USS Commodore Jones
- USS Cumberland
- USS
Cyclops
- CSS
Drewry
- HMS
Defence, a British armoured cruiser
sunk during the battle of Jutland.
- HM Bark Endeavour
- CSS Florida
- CSS
Fredericksburg
- CSS
Gaines
- CSS General
Beauregard
- CSS General Lovell
- General Slocum
- CSS General Thompson
- CSS
Governor Moore
- Great Stone
Fleet
- Greyhound
- HMS
Hawke, a first-class British cruiser, sunk by the
German U-boat U-9 in October 1914.
- USS Housatonic
- H. L. Hunley
- HMS Invincible, a
British battle cruiser sunk at the battle of Jutland.
- Ivanhoe, a Confederate blockade runner.
- CSS
Jamestown
- USS
Keokuk
- L'Oiseau Blanc ("White Bird"),
aircraft flown by Charles Nungesser and François Coli,
who vanished on an attempted transatlantic flight in 1927
- Leopoldville, a Belgian troop transport torpedoed outside Cherbourg in 1944.
- Lexington
- Lost Locomotive of Kiowa Creek
- CSS
Louisiana
- George
Mallory and Andrew Irvine, explorers
lost on Mount
Everest in 1924.
- CSS
Manassas
- Mary
Celeste
- USS Milwaukee
- USS Mississippi
- New Orleans
- Norseman, a Confederate blockade runner.
- Northampton, a Confederate cargo ship.
- Odin, a Royal Swedish steamship that ran
aground off Jutland in 1836
with the Swedish prime minister on board.
- USS
Osage
- CSS
Palmetto State
- USS
Patapsco
- HMS Pathfinder, a
British scout cruiser.
- USS Philippe
- Platte Valley
- Raccoon, a Confederate blockade runner.
- Rattlesnake, a Confederate blockade runner.
- HMS Resolution
- CSS
Richmond
- Ruby, a Confederate blockade runner.
- S-35, a German destroyer sunk during the battle of
Jutland.
- Saint Patrick, a Confederate blockade runner.
- SS Savannah, the first steamship
to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
- HMS
Shark, a British destroyer sunk during the battle of
Jutland.
- Stonewall Jackson, a Confederate blockade runner.
- Sultana, the worst ship disaster
in number of lives lost in North America.
- Swamp Angel, the famous cannon that fired
on Charleston before exploding during the American
Civil War.
- Torpedo Raft
- Twin Sisters (cannon), a
pair of six-pounder cannon used against General Antonio López de Santa Anna
in the battle of San Jacinto.
- U-12, sunk by HMS
Ariel in 1915.
- U-20, a German U-boat that sank
the liner RMS
Lusitania in 1915. Ran aground on the Jutland coast in
1916, abandoned by crew and blown up by the Danes.
- U-21, a German U-boat, sank
in 1919.
- V-48, a German destroyer sunk during the battle of
Jutland.
- USS
Varuna
- CSS
Virginia, a.k.a USS Merrimack.
- CSS
Virginia II
- Virginia Navy Fleet sunk by Benedict Arnold
- USS Weehawken
- Waratah
- SMS
Wiesbaden, a German light cruiser sunk off Jutland.
- Zavala, a steamer in the
Republic of Texas Navy.
The fictional
NUMA
In the Dirk Pitt
series of adventure novels by Clive Cussler, NUMA
is a government organization. The fictional NUMA is devoted to
oceanic exploration and investigation, and is the agency employing
the main characters in the series of books. Its headquarters is a
30-story building located on the east bank of the Potomac River,
overlooking the Capitol building in Washington, DC. The
agency comprises over five thousand employees and scientists that
often work around the clock on expeditions. It is often referred to
as a marine version of NASA,
although it mission seems to be a cross of NOAA and the US Coast Guard.
The fictional NUMA is headed by the character Admiral James
Sandecker, with Rudi
Gunn as second in command, although Dirk Pitt is eventually
asked to take over when Sandecker pursues the vice-presidency.
Housed inside this headquarters is one of world's most advanced
computer systems which contains almost every known piece of
information, both current and ancient, about the sea. The computer
center takes up the entire 10th floor but is in an "open" setting
with a raised circular platform that uses a hologram to display
Hiram Yeager's computer's embodiment, named Max, at its center.
There are no cubicles. Hiram Yeager designed, runs, and maintains
the computer lab.
External
links