During a book-signing event at the Stephen B. Luce Library at the college, Cussler signed copies of his latest book Atlantis Found for a line of about 100 people. The college's library in historical Fort Schuyler was a great spot for the signing because the author's new book, Atlantis Found, has a nautical and historical theme of the lost land of Atlantis and the book's main character, Dirk Pitt, is a marine engineer. During the book-signing, Cussler said that one of his new main characters is a graduate of the Maritime College. The book signing was sponsored by Stephen B. Luce Library, the Maritime College at Fort Schuyler Foundation, Inc. and the Maritime Industry Museum. The event marked the first time the college has had a book signing at the library, and library officials hope that it will be the start of using the library as a venue for book signings Librarian Richard Corson said that another purpose of the event was to launch the Friends of the Luce Library, which is a group that will promote the library with events so it will continue to be one of the nation's pre-eminent maritime libraries.
People can join the group at the event.
Members will be invited to several other Friends events throughout the year. Cussler visited the college in September 1998, where he staged an undersea search for an historic submarine that was mistakenly sunk by the Fennians toward the end of the 19th Century. Cussler has written 14 consecutive bestsellers including Raise the Titanic, Iceberg, and Shock Wave. With a life reading like a novel, Cussler began his career as an award-winning advertising copywriter and then creative director for two of the nation's largest agencies. He began writing novels in 1965 and his first work featuring Dirk Pitt was published in 1973.