Adrian Freer is the author of books on reservoir fly fishing, fly dressing, trout fly patterns, religious topics, children's stories and poetry.

SLIDESHOW 3

 

Biggles in the South Seas

 

On the 13th October 2018 I gave a slideshow presentation to the W E Johns Appreciation Society at the Derbyshire County Cricket Ground.

 

It is a a light-hearted overview of one of my favourite W E Johns’ books, Biggles in the South Seas.

 

Biggles in the South Seas is set between the two world wars and was first published in Gem in 1939. It contains Johns’ usual mixture of a glorious portrayal of the setting, a thrilling adventure, a deadly enemy, setbacks and difficulties and an action-packed climax. There is also a hint of romance.

 

The South Seas is a glorious destination with beautiful islands and Johns’ description of the islands and way of life sets the scene in this near-to-perfect paradise. Nevertheless, it does have it downsides.

 

It has some lovely Polynesian people and Biggles also meets up with one of his old WW1 comrades with whom he had lost touch.

 

The story opens with a chance meeting in London as Biggles, Algy and Ginger are making their way to the Royal Aero Club for lunch and bump into Sandy Macaster who was in Biggles’ squadron in France. Sandy is invited to join them and he explains why he is in London.

 

He has spent the post-war years loafing around the South Seas and, like so many others there, he is hunting for that one cache of gigantic pearls that will make his fortune.

 

Like all pearl hunters he has tales of those huge specimens that would have set him up for life but slipped through his fingers at the last moment. He explains that he is in London to finance an expedition to recover a gigantic haul of oysters that he has seen with his own eyes.

 

That he discovers is easier said than done! Despite his best efforts Sandy has been unable to persuade anyone to finance the expedition. Biggles however, contrary to his usual reluctance to have anything to do with wild goose chases, agrees to go along with Sandy.

 

It happened like this. Sandy was broke and he signs on as supercargo aboard the Avarata with Louis Castanelli, a Corsican, as the master. Castanelli is a ruffian and roughneck, selling illicit alcohol to the natives among other things; but Sandy did not realize just what bad news he is until it was too late and he is on board. Somewhat recklessly, Sandy threatens to report Castanelli to the authorities and so the Corsican is waiting for an opportunity to make sure that Sandy never does.

 

If you want to know more - read the book!

 

There are over 80 slides and the presentation takes around 25 minutes.

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The 'Biggles & Co' and the 'W E Johns Appreciation Society' meet twice a year at Twyford, Bershire (April) and Derby (October).

 

For details of the meetings, which are open to all who are interested, please visit the website (click on the link) at: http://www.wejas.org.uk/

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