Kurt Austin

Personal Profile:

Book (Chapter):

Eye Color: Coral Blue.

Serpent (9)
  • Coral Green.
    		•

    Blue Gold (1, 30)
  • Coral.

    • Fire Ice (4)
  • Blue-Green, the color of coral under water.

    • White Death (4, 7, 23)
  • Coral blue.

    • Lost City (4, 39)
  • Light blue, the color of coral under water.

    • Polar Shift (2)

    Hair: Premature Steel (Silver)-gray, almost platinum white.

    		 Serpent (6)

    Height: 6' 1".

    		 Serpent (6)

    Weight: 200 pounds.

    		 Serpent (6)
    Blue Gold (1)

    Broad shoulders.

    		 Serpent (6)

    Built like a football player.

    Serpent (6)

    Tanned.

    Serpent (6)

    Pushing forty.

    Serpent (6)

    Born in Seattle, Washington.

    		 Fire Ice (6)
  • Astrological Sign: Pisces.

    • Fire Ice (17)
    Has sailed on Puget Sound since his is early youth.

    Polar Shift (2)

    Receives a master's degree in systems management from the University of Washington.

    		 Serpent (13)
    Fire Ice (6)
    White Death (4)

    Attends a high-rated dive school in Seattle while working on his degree.

    		Serpent (13)
    Fire Ice (6)
    White Death (4)
  • Trains as an underwater jack-of-all-trades and becomes proficient in welding, commercial applications of explosives, and mud diving.

    • Serpent (13)
  • Specializes in flotation, lifting heavy objects from the sea, and deep-sea saturation diving in various environments using mixed air and undersea chambers.

    • Serpent (13)

    Works on oil rigs in the North Sea for a couple of years.

    		 Serpent (13)
    White Death (4)

    Works for his father's marine salvage company for six years.

    Serpent (13)
    White Death (4)
    Polar Shift (2)

    Joins the CIA and works in a branch that specializes in underwater intelligence gathering.

    		 Serpent (13)
    Fire Ice (6)
    White Death (4)
    Polar Shift (2)
  • Assistant director in the secret raising of a Russian submarine.

    • Serpent (13)
  • Involved in the salvage and investigation of an Iranian container ship carrying nuclear weapons sunk by an Israeli submarine.
    		• Serpent (13)
    Fire Ice (6)
  • Locates, salvages and investigates commercial airlines mysteriously shot down over the sea.
    		• Serpent (13)
    Fire Ice (6)
  • Performs secret missile retrieval job with Herman Perez off Gibraltar.

    • White Death (20)

    When the CIA underwater intelligence gathering branch is closed at the end of the Cold War, Admiral Sandecker persuades him to join NUMA for special undersea assignments.

    		Serpent (13)
    White Death (4)
    Polar SHift (2)
  • Former colleagues at the CIA needle Kurt Austin about leaving NUMA return to the agency.
    		• Fire Ice (13)
    White Death (20)

    Head of the NUMA Special Assignments Team.

    Serpent (6)

    NUMA marine engineer.

    White Death (14)

    Discoveries:

    		  

  • The remains of Christopher Columbus in Guatemala.
    		•

    Serpent (48)

  • Roland's sword (the Druendal) and his horn on the Nietzsche.
    		•

    White Death (37)

    Drives a turquoise NUMA issue Jeep Cherokee, or any vehicle available from the NUMA car pool.

    		 Serpent (15)
    Blue Gold (18)
    White Death (20)
    Polar Shift (35)

    Wears a Chronosport wrist watch.

    Serpent (8)

    Lives in a converted old Victorian-style boathouse, part of an old estate fronting the Potomac River below the palisades in Fairfax County.

    		 Serpent (13)
  • CIA headquarters is within a mile of the houseboat.

    • Fire Ice (6)

    Purchases the boathouse while working for the CIA.

    Polar Shift (17)

    The houseboat, which had been part of a riverfront estate, was a miniature of the main house with interior modifications.

    Serpent (13)
  • Has pale blue clapboards and a mansard roof surmounted by a turret.

    • Serpent (13)
  • There is a storage area for his toys under the boathouse. An inside stairway leads up to the main level.

    • Serpent (13)
  • The main level has a kitchen and a study-den.

    • Serpent (13)
  • An outside flight of stairs leads up to the front door that opens into the study-den.

    • White Death (20)
  • The front door has a lock code.

    • White Death (25)
  • A slider opens to the deck overlooking the Potomac River.

    • Serpent (13)
  • Has a teakwood table on the deck.
    		•

    Polar Shift (17)
  • Likes to eat his breakfast on the deck.
    		• Serpent (13)
    Blue Gold (18)
  • A wood slatted Adriondack chair is on the deck.

    • White Death (20)
  • Another short flight of stairs leads up to the turret Bedroom with a bathroom.
    		• Serpent (13)
    White Death (20)

    The study-den is a spacious room filled with old and new authentic darkwood colonial furniture. Contemporary originals hang on the white walls.

    		Serpent (13)
    White Death (20)

    Usually sits in his favorite black leather chair.

    White Death (13, 25)

    There are only a few nautical items in the room: a painting of a sailing clipper, a nineteenth-century chart of the Pacific, a couple of ship building tools, a photo of his catboat, and a glass-encased model of his racing hydroplane.

    		Serpent (13)
    White Death (20)

    Owns an extensive music library and favors progressive jazz. Artists include John Coltrane, Oscar Peterson, Keith Jarret, Bill Evans, Gerry Mulligan, and the Dave Brubeck Quartet.

    		Serpent (13)
    Fire Ice (6)
    White Death (20, 23, 25)

    Bookshelves contain:

    Serpent (13)
  • Leather-bound sea adventures of Joseph Conrad and Herman Melville.
    		• Serpent (13)
    White Death (20)
  • Dozens of books on ocean science.

    • Serpent (13)
  • Hard worn volumes by writers like Plato, Kant and other great philosophers he likes to study.
    		• Serpent (13)
    White Death (20)

    A brace of Manton dueling pistols hang over the fireplace.

    		Serpent (13)
    White Death (20)

    Collects dueling pistols.

    		Serpent (13)
  • Has almost/over two hundred sets in his collection, one of the finest in the country. The most valuable pieces are stored in a fireproof vault. Only the most recent acquisitions are kept at the boathouse.
    		• Serpent (13)
    White Death (20)

    Acquisitions include:

    		  
  • Joe Manton antique flintlock dueling pistols. Purchased in London from a Brompton Street antique dealer. He has other Mantons in his collection.

    • Serpent (8, 9)
  • Dueling pistols made by gunsmith named Boutet about the time of Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. He incorporates the Sphinx and the Pyramids into the barrel. The set was probably made for an Englishman. Purchased the day before the boat race.

    • Blue Gold (13)

    Owns a Ruger Redhawk .375 Magnum revolver, custom made by Bowen. Zavala calls it either Kurt's Cannon or blunderbuss.

    		Serpent (8)
    Fire Ice (13, 28)
    White Death (31)
    Polar Shift (22, 29, 31)

    Has an IBM laptop computer.

  • Keeps it in a rolltop deck.
    		•  Blue Gold (4)
    White Death (8)
  • Polar Shift (17)
    		•

    His cell phone plays the blues.

    Polar Shift (32, 36)

    Enjoys sculling on the Potomac between assignments in his Maas Aero racing scull. The scull is stored under the boathouse on a rack.

    Serpent (13)
    Polar Shift (20)

    A small outboard hydroplane is also stored under the boathouse.

    Serpent (13)

    Has a twenty-two-foot cat boat and a full-sized racing hydroplane at the Chesapeake Bay marina.

    Serpent (13)
  • The catboat is eighteen feet and has cooking and eating facilities below.

    • Serpent (49)

    Often goes sport diving with Dirk Pitt.

    Serpent (15)

    Collects authentic recipes for St. Julien Perlmutter on his travels around the world.

  • Imam bayidi.
    		•

    Fire Ice (22)

    While Kurt Austin enjoys the mental challenges of rowing and sailing, he loves to race boats - a passion since he was ten.

    Serpent (13)
    Polar Shift (2)
  • Races his father's boat, Red Ink, with Joe Zavala against Ali Bin Said in The Flying Carpet.

    • Blue Gold (1, 2)
  • Races his newly acqired custom-made Guillemot kayak in an annual benefit kayak race sponsored by his father on Puget Sound. Kurt Austin Senior watches the race on his 48' white-hulled powerboat called White Lightening.
    		•

    Polar Shift (2)
    Father: Kurt Austin Senior. Polar Shift (2)
    Eye Color: Blue-green. Polar Shift (2)
    Hair: Platinum-silver, thick. Polar Shift (2)
    Trim and fit. Polar Shift (2)
    Has broad shoulders. Polar Shift (2)
    Smokes Cuban Cohiba Lanceros cigars. Polar Shift (2)
    The wealthy owner of a Seattle based marine salvage company.
  • Austin Marine Salvage.
    		• Serpent (13)
  • Polar Shift (2)
    		•
    Hopes his son will take over the family business some day. Serpent (13)
    Lends one of his salvage boats, Monkfish, to his son for a NUMA mission. Serpent (39)
    Mother: Deceased. Polar Shift (35)

    Acquaintances:
    Francesca Cabral.
    Kaela Dorn.
    Karla Janos.
    Nina Kirov.
    Skye LaBelle.
    Therri Weld.

    Quotes Joseph Conrad: "The sea is wrapped in mystery."

    		 Blue Gold (6)

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