The Cassandra Compact by Robert Ludlum (publish, volunteer)

[chrisbow]

[SIZE=3][/SIZE][SIZE=3]“The Cassandra [/SIZE][SIZE=3]Compact” by Robert Ludlum and Philip Shelby, who write in chapter 9 firstparagraph that Peter Howell lands at Naples airport, takes a taxi to the docksand boards a hydafoil for the half hour journey across the Straits of Messinato Palermo, Sicily.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE][SIZE=3]There are three glaring geographical errors here. A cursoryglance at any map of Italy will reveal these.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE][SIZE=3]1. Naples to Palermo is 300 km (160 nautical miles) andcertainly can’t be done in 30 minutes. There are ferry services usually overnight,taking about 10 hours. A half hour journey equates to a vessel speed of 600kph![/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE][SIZE=3]2. Palermo and the Straits of Messina are on opposite sidesof Sicily, which by the way is the largest island in the Mediteranean. Consequentlya ferry going from Naples to Palermo would go nowhere near The Straits ofMessina, it would be a ludicrous detour.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE][SIZE=3]3. Naples to the Messina Straits is over 6 hours by road (Iwouldn’t volunteer to pay the taxi fare) and there is no sea service to Palermofrom Messina, a distance in excess of 110 nautical miles, even a hydrofoilwould take 3 hours. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE][SIZE=3]The Cassandra Compact was first published in 2001 and RobertLudlum died in the same year. He had an ingenious mind that would take obscurebut verifiable facts and weave a fabulous tale around them. I wouldn’t laythese errors at his door, however it should have been picked up by a factchecker which I believe is a part of any rigorous editing.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE][SIZE=3]Please edit this as you see fit while maintaining the thrustof the argument.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE][SIZE=3]Chrisbow.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE]

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Do people look at what they have posted?

[chrisbow]

The Cassandra Compact” by Robert Ludlum and Philip Shelby, write in chapter 9 (first paragraph) that Peter Howell lands at Naples airport, takes a taxi to the docks and boards a hydafoil for the half hour journey across the Straits of Messinato Palermo, Sicily.
There are three glaring geographical errors here. A cursory glance at any map of Italy will reveal these.


1. Naples to Palermo is 200 miles and certainly can’t be done in 30 minutes. There are ferry services usually overnight, taking about 10 hours. A half hour journey equates to a vessel speed of 400mph!
2. Palermo and the Straits of Messina are on opposite sides of Sicily, which by the way is the largest island in the Mediteranean. Consequently a ferry going from Naples to Palermo would go nowhere near the Straits of Messina, it would be a ludicrous detour.
3. Naples to the Messina Straits is over 6 hours by road (I wouldn’t volunteer to pay the taxi fare) and there is no sea service to Palermo from Messina, a distance in excess of 110 nautical miles, even a hydrofoil would take 3 hours.
The Cassandra Compact was first published in 2001 and Robert Ludlum died the same year. He had an ingenious mind that would take obscure but verifiable facts and weave a fabulous tale around them. I wouldn’t lay these errors at his door, however it should have been picked up by a fact checker which I believe is a part of any rigorous editing.