BIGGLES IN THE SOUTH SEAS
Book First Published in September 1940 - 255 pages
This story was first published, in nine weekly parts, as BIGGLES’
SOUTH SEA ADVENTURE in The Gem,
issues 1652 to 1660, dated 14th October 1939 to 9th
December 1939
This book MUST have been written before
“Biggles in the Baltic” although it was published in book form three months
after that book. “Biggles in the Baltic”
starts with the announcement of war with Germany, an event which occurred on 3rd
September 1939. Johns must have written
that book on or after that date. There
is no way that he could have written “Baltic” AND then written “South Seas” and
had “South Seas” typeset and ready for
publication in “The Gem” on 14th October 1939, less than six weeks
later. South Seas makes no reference
to the Second World War either, so it would never have been the book to follow
on from the wartime thriller “Biggles in the Baltic”. I imagine that the publishers wanted to get a
“Second World War” story out as soon as possible. The
original first edition of “Biggles in the Baltic” is subtitled “A Tale of the
Second Great War”.
An original 1943 REPRINT dust jacket showing the price of 4
shillings
CHAPTERS
Click on any chapter for a summary of the events in that chapter or
see the general story summary below
I – BIGGLES MEETS AN OLD FRIEND
II – AN ENCOUNTER WITH CASTANELLI
XIII – WHAT HAPPENED AT RUTUONA
XVII – FULL MOON SPRINGS A SURPRISE
Biggles
bumps into Sandy Macaster, an old friend and colleague
from 266 Squadron in France, outside the Royal Aero Club in London. Sandy has a
tale to tell of finding thousands of oysters covering a shallow part of the sea
floor around one of the islands that are around Tahiti. Here he hopes and
expects to find a fortune in pearls. Sandy had been stranded on the unknown
island where he has been rescued by two native Marquesans
called Shell Breaker and Full Moon. Biggles agrees to finance an expedition on
the basis of a four way split and he and Sandy together with Algy and Ginger
set off. However, an evil Corsican named Louis Castanelli
also knows of the pearl bed as he was with Sandy at the time of the discovery
and had tried to kill him. Meeting Castanelli at
Papeete Harbour in Tahiti, Biggles and Castanelli
cross swords. Biggles learns that Castanelli has
kidnapped Shell Breaker in order to discover the location of Sandy's island.
Later, Biggles leads a daring rescue attempt to free Shell Breaker and he takes
both Shell Breaker (a young man) and Full Moon (a young woman) with them.
Arriving at Sandy's Island things go well and a fortune in pearls are recovered
from the oysters. Sandy is attacked by a giant octopus that goes on to attack
their aircraft. The pearls are carefully buried in a safe place on the island.
Ginger, Shell Breaker and Full Moon discover an underground cave but are
trapped in it by the arrival of a Mako shark. The weather turns as a hurricane
looms and Biggles, Algy and Sandy are forced to leave the island in order to
fly their aircraft to safety, leaving behind the others and in their haste,
also the pearls. Ginger, Shell Breaker and Full Moon escape the cave and have
to survive the full force of the hurricane when it hits the island. Their
troubles are added to when Castanelli and his crew
arrive at the island. Ginger is captured trying to steal a small boat moored by
Castanelli's Schooner. Castanelli
goes ashore and searches the debris of our heroes' camp where he finds, to
Ginger's dismay, that the hurricane has uncovered the pearls! Castanelli decides to dispose of Ginger by tying him to a
metal bar and throwing him overboard to drown. Meanwhile, Biggles has allied
himself to the natives on the island of Rutuona who
have cause to hate Castanelli, having been alerted by
Shell Breaker and he tows their war canoe to Sandy's Island as damage to the
aircraft prevents it from flying. Ginger is saved from drowning by Full Moon
who has stayed on Sandy's Island and is able to cut him free. Ginger and Full
Moon take refuge in their hidden cave but they are spotted on the way there and
Castanelli tries to blow them out with dynamite.
Biggles and the native war canoe arrive and it is soon all over as the natives
make short work of Castanelli's crew. Castanelli tries to swim for it but meets the Mako shark. Castanelli's Schooner is burnt out and the pearls are lost
........... or are they?
Click here to see the story illustrations from the original HARDBACK first edition of this book
Biggles in the South Seas
Publication Details - published by Oxford University Press
The spine and cover illustrations from the original Oxford first
edition
Frontispiece
Click on the above to see it in more detail
The “Hampton Library” reprint – click on the above picture to
find out more details