The Final Crossing

As Hitler's invasion of Poland nears, American secret agent David Nathan races to find and defuse a German bomb aboard the luxury liner "Normandie", which happens to be carrying France's gold bullion across the Atlantic.

As the dark shadows of World War II began to fall across Europe, the French luxury liner Normandie, a ship unrivaled in size, speed, and glamour, pulled away from its berth at Le Havre in a shower of paper streamers and confetti. The New York-bound passengers who lined the rails included Mrs. William Randolph Hearst, Marlene Dietrich, Jasha Heifetz, Sonja Henie, Cole Porter, and an American secret agent named David Nathan. But Nazi Germany did not intend for them to reach their destination. It intended to send the Normandie and its 3,000 passengers to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

David Nathan, returning from Europe, having successfully completed a private mission for President Franklin Roosevelt, didn't know that the Normandie's cargo included the bulk of France's gold reserves, headed for safekeeping in the New World, and the target that had tempted the Nazis. He also didn't know that the hold contained a German bomb capable of sinking the ship. But when he intercepted a code ship-to-shore message, he discovered that the lives of all aboard were in desperate peril. Could Nathan find the bomb and save the ship, or would this be the final crossing of the world's most storied ocean liner?

The Final Crossing is a work of historically accurate fiction by Harvey Ardman, detailing a transatlantic voyage aboard the S.S. Normandie in 1939. The story follows David Nathan, tasked with protecting a young scientist and his sister, who are fleeing Nazi Germany. Simultaneously, a Nazi plot to steal gold aboard the ship unfolds, involving a saboteur and U-boat.