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A DIVER WENT DOWN
Jack McLaren.
The Mandrake Press, London.Undated C.1929. Hardcover
, dustjacket. 16mo - over 5" - 6" tall. 84pp.
Stephen at Grant's Bookshop in Armadale, Victoria, states:
The book appears to be fiction. The opening page states that "The victim
was Burford, owner and diver of the Thursday Island pearling-lugger Better
Luck, an underwater adventurer who had walked the sea-floor...".
The action seems to occur near the New Guinea shore. There is only one
illustration, the frontispiece, and was drawn by
Frederick Carter. Although the upper panel of the dustwrapper
does contain another small illustration of a diver. |
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COME AWAY, PEARLER
Colin Simpson.
Angus and Roberston, Sydney & London, 1952.
Hardcover, dustjacket, 248 pages.
From the fly:
Here is a novel from the author of that best-seller in
another field, Adam in Ochre. Its action and romance find an uusual and
exciting setting in the pearling life of tropical Australia in the great
days of the nineties. The scene moves from Thursday Island across the Arafura
Sea to the .. tide-rips and hurricanes that beset the luggermen of Broome
and King Sound. It is the story of Ty Calvert, the young pearl-buyer from
Paris who becomes a diver. He contends with the violence of men and of
nature, and trespasses not only in the fantastic world beneath the Coral
Sea but, in the lives of two beautiful women - Leda Haslingden, daughter
of a Brisbane surgeon, and Clover, the half- caste Balinese. Colin Simpson
knows the pearling ports at first hand, and vividly portrays their strange
and highly-coloured mixture of humanity. Equally real is the life at sea
and under the sea, with its perils and fascinations; and the hurricane
that overtakes Ty's lugger will blow the reader's breath away.
--
I am sure th book is better written than the fly blurb.
[ps],[cd] |
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DIAMOND HEAD DIVER
Steve Lomas.
published by Ives Washburn, Inc. 1963.
Hardcover in durable pictorial cover, 161pp.
Probably best for ages 12-15 depending on reading ability.
A scuba diving adventure story set in Hawaii. |
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IN AUSTRALIA TREASURE IS NOT FOR THE
FINDER Allan Robinson.
Self published, in 1980. ISBN 0-9594957-0-3
Hardcover, oblong format. No dustjacket. Mono drawings,
several colour photographs and drawings, newspaper article reprints. 140
pages, two column text.
It's not structly a children's book, but it is a lod
of fiction even though that was not the author's intention. In fact I would
not recommend any child, nor indeed an adult, to read it. Robinson claimed
to have found the Dutch East Indiaman Vergulde Draeck when actually it
was first discovered in 1963 by a sixteen-year-old lad, Graeme Henderson,
later Director of the Maritime Archaeology Department of the Western Australian
Museum. Robinson lay claim to the thousands of dollars worth of coins found
on the wreck, resulting in a long and bitter battle with the WA Government
though the courts. The discovery also made the author a self-acclaimed
mritime historian who claims that the Egyptians were the first to colonise
Australia, having rowed across the Indian Ocean in triremes. He was accused
of conterfieting coins, and assault, and ended up in prison where he hung
himself. The book covers the authors bitter struggles with the government
at a time when the Historic Shipwreck Act was being introduced. It really
is a sad story all round, but this book is really an absolute load of crap,
and will no doubt become a classic just for this reason. [ps] |
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LOG OF THE FLYING FISH
Harry Collingwood.
Printed by Blackie & Son, London, early 20th century.
From eBay:
"Great picture of a diver on the front cover.A ripping
yarn."
No idea what this is about, nor if it contains any relevance
to diving. |
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SECRET SEA
"Close-hauled adventure in a search for sunken gold."
by Robb White
Copyright: 1951, Printed: 1955, Published by: Pocketbook
Jr.
Paperback.
No idea what this is all about. Probably fiction.
24 July 2007. Following information kindly posted by
Scott Mayeda, USA (thankyou Scott):
Secret Sea is a good baby boomer teen book about a wounded
WW II Navy officer who is forced out of the Navy
having to go treasure hunting to support his kid brothers
hospital bills. He sets out with a young warf rat as his
partner, has a sinister German (thinly veiled former
Nazi) following him to try and steal the treasure, battle with an
octopus in the wreck, and comes home with the treasure
so his brother can get the medical treatment he needs. |
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THE AMPHORA PIRATES
Lou Cameron.
Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1971. Harcover, dust
jacket, .211pp. First British novel of skulduggery involving underwater
archaeologists and amphora pirates-criminal skindivers who plunder ancient
wrecks for Greek vases (amphorae). |
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THE LOG FROM THE SEA OF CORTEZ
John Steinbeck.
'The narrative portion of the book Sea of Cortez with
a profile about Ed Ricketts'.
First published in Great Britain in 1958 by William Heinemann
Ltd, London. Copyright indication give the impression tht it was previously
published in 1941 and 1951, no doubt in the USA.
Hardcover, dust jacket, 282 pages.
Havn't read it - no idea what its all about, but if its
Steinbeck, its got to be good. If you have read it, perhaps you would like
top contact me with a synopsis. |
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THE PEARLING MASTER
Tom Ronan.
Cassell, London, 1958.
Hardcover, dustjacket, 318 pages.
A tale of pearling set in north-west Australia. |
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THE SPONGE PIRATES AND OTHER FLORIDA
KEY STORIES
Jack Stark. A Hopkins Publication, 1956
Appears ot be softcover, 86 pp., size 6 x 9.5 inches.
From eBay blurb: In 1948, Arthur Mc Kee, Jr., a professional
deep sea diver, located the scant remains of a sunken ship off the Florida
reefs. In searching through the rubble, among the ancient cannons and ballast,
Mc Kee found a number of silver coins each dated 1732. He found the cannons
and cannon balls were marked with the Spanish insignia.This rare edition
was published in 1956 and probably has less than 500 copies published.
This edition has two pages titled "Treasure Diver", and a full page
photo of Art Mc Kee [rigged in full hard~hat diving gear and effortlessly
clutching a 75lb. bar of silver which he recovered from the wreck of an
ancient Spanish Galleon sunk on a reef ‘East of Key Largo'. A book that
is possibly based on historial fiction and is adolescent for the most part
but illustrates backgroud history and artifacts of the 1733 Fleet wrecks.
"..a legend...a book...and a man that brought treasure
to the surface when Mel Fisher was still feeding chickens!".
A very rare book that is seldon offered for the serious
collector. |
