Author and sea explorer Clive Cussler dies at 88

Clive Cussler, the prolific author and founder of a nonprofit that searched for shipwrecks, died on Monday, his family announced Wednesday. He was 88.

Cussler was "the kindest, most gentle man I ever met," his wife Janet Horvath wrote on Facebook. "I have always loved him and always will. I know his adventures will continue."

Cussler wrote more than 50 books, which were published in over 40 languages in more than 100 countries. Two of those books, Raise the Titanic and Sahara, were made into movies. His fascination with underwater shipwrecks led Cussler to start the National Underwater and Marine Agency, a nonprofit that was mainly supported through his book royalties.

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The organization found more than 60 major shipwrecks, with Cussler leading the 1995 expedition that discovered the H.L. Hunley off of Charleston, South Carolina. The Hunley was a Confederate submarine, and the first to ever sink a warship.