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”.
This RESTORED 1940 FIRST EDITION dust jacket gives you a very good
idea of what it looked like. It was
priced at 4 shillings. Click on the
image to see the unrestored version
An original 1943 REPRINT dust jacket, using the same cover and
spine image. This reprint was also
published at 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