Oregon Files

The Oregon Files are a group of novels written by author Clive Cussler and co-author Craig Dirgo and later co-author Jack Du Brul. The books follow the mysterious "Corporation" and its leader Juan Cabrillo. The "Oregon Files" come from the name of the ship on which the Corporation is based, the Oregon. The ship's name is based on the current State University of New York Maritime College training ship the TS Empire State VI. Its original name was the SS Oregon.

Books

The crew of the Oregon first appeared in Flood Tide. The main Oregon Files series is:

• Golden Buddha (2003)
• Sacred Stone (2004)
• Dark Watch (2005)
• Skeleton Coast (2006)
• Plague Ship (2008)
• Corsair (2009)
• The Silent Sea (2010)
• The Jungle (2011)
• Mirage (2013)

Overview

The Oregon is a high tech ship owned by a private secret service organization called 'the Corporation'. It is disguised as a rusty old tramp steamer. It mounts five cranes - three fore, two aft - only two of which are operational, one each fore and aft. To add to its appearance of authenticity, this disguise is highly detailed. This includes a fake mess hall, and a captain's cabin specially designed to be utterly repulsive, with features including specially designed chemicals to keep people away, a dysfunctional toilet, and depressing paintings of clowns on black velvet. In reality it is an extraordinarily sophisticated intelligence-gathering vessel with luxury facilities and top of the line technical capabilities. It is equipped with a moon pool for launching two minisubs, an olympic swimming pool (in one of its ballast tanks), state-of-the-art medical facilities, and powered by a pair of revolutionary magnetohydrodynamic drives. It also uses an array of underwater vectored-thrusters to give it unparalleled maneuverability for a ship of its size - Dark Watch gives its dimensions as 560 feet long, with a 75-foot beam and a gross weight of 11,585 tons. The Oregon is also equipped with a suite of armaments that rivals most military capital ships, including: French-built Exocet anti-ship missiles, two torpedo tubes below the waterline(firing Russian-made TEST-71 torpedoes according to Plague Ship, though Cabrillo has stated he would have preferred American Mk48 ADCAP), 20mm multibarrel Gatling guns mounted behind steel plates on its hull, an array of .30-caliber machine guns concealed in dummy oil barrels on her deck, as well as Russian-built cruise missiles of an unspecified type, a 40mm Bofors autocannon, and at least one 120mm cannon of a similar type to that of the M1A1 Abrams tank. Most novels talk about the 120mm in the singular, however Dark Watch states that it has two - one on each side of the hull. The ship's control center, located deep within its hull, is said to have the feel of the starship Enterprise, including a large, central command chair in which Cabrillo sits when on the bridge, which is colloquially referred to as "The Kirk Chair".

Characters

• Juan Cabrillo - Chairman of the Corporation
• Max Hanley - President of the Corporation
• Richard 'Dick' Truitt - Vice President of the Corporation (Retired between Book 2 and 3)
• Linda Ross - Vice President of the Corporation (as of Book 3 formerly Security and Surveillance)

Corporation Team (Operatives)

• George 'Gomez' Adams - Helicopter Pilot
• Rick Barrett - Assistant Chef
• Monica Crabtree - Supply and Logistics Coordinator
• Carl Gannon - General Operations (Retired)
• Chuck 'Tiny' Gunderson - Chief Pilot Fixed-Wing
• Michael Halpert - Finance and Accounting
• Cliff Hornsby - General Operations
• Julia Huxley - Medical Officer
• Pete Jones - General Operations
• Hali Kasim - General Operations - Communications
• Larry King - Sniper
• Franklin 'Linc' Lincoln - General Operations
• Bob Meadows - General Operations (Retired)
• Judy Michaels - Pilot
• Mark Murphy - Weapons Control
• Kevin Nixon - Magic Shop Specialist
• Tracy Pilston - Pilot(amphibious plane)
• Sam Pryor - Propulsion Engineer
• Maurice - Chief Steward
• Jerry Pulaski - General Operations (Killed in The Silent Sea.)
• Gunther Reinholt - Propulsion Engineer
• Tom Reyes - General Operations (Retired)
• Eddie Seng - Director of Shore Operations
• Eric Stone - Helm Control
• Mike Trono - General Operations
• Marion MacDougall Lawless III ("MacD") - General Operations (Joined the team in The Jungle)

Antagonists

• Golden Buddha: China, Stanley Ho, Ling Po, Marcus Friday, Winston Spencer
• Sacred Stone: Aleimain Al-Khalifa, Halifax Hickman
• Dark Watch:
• Skeleton Coast: Congolese Army of Revolution, Daniel Singer
• Plague Ship: Responsivists, Zelimir Kovac, Thom Severance, Adam Jenner (a.k.a Lydell Cooper, Ernst Kessler)
• Corsair: Unnamed terrorist leader (alias Suleiman Al-Jama)
• The Silent Sea: China, Argentina, Argentinian 9th Brigade, Phillipe Espinoza, Jorge Espinoza, Raul Jiminez
• The Jungle: John Smith (a.k.a Abdul Mohammed), Gunawan Bahar, Al-Qaeda of the East, a quantum computer
• Mirage: Pytor Kenin

Others

• Langston Overholt IV: CIA officer who funnels jobs to the Corporation and provides covert information.
• Fiona Katamora: United States Secretary of State

External links

• The Oregon Files official website