The President's secret task force develops the ultimate defensive weapon. At its core: byzanium, a radioactive element so rare sufficient quantities have never been found.

But a frozen American corpse on a desolate Soviet mountainside, a bizarre mining accident in Colorado, and a madman's dying message lead Dirk Pitt to a secret cache of byzanium.

Now he begins his most thrilling, daunting mission - to raise from its watery grave the shipwreck of the century! In a daring gamble, Dirk Pitt locates the Titanic - and suddenly his crew is in deadly jeopardy. Sabotaged by Russian spies and savage storms, Pitt must stop a diabolical plan for Soviet world supremacy - or see the mighty Titanic blasted out of existence!