ISLANDS OF ANGRY GHOSTS

by Hugh Edwards ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 28, 1966

This is a pair of true stories of about equal length, one about a horrific shipwreck and mutiny about 300 years ago, and the other about a group of present day Australians diving for artifacts and loot. The Dutch East India Company ship that went down was the Batavia. Before it hit a reef near four tiny islands, however, a mutiny was brewing onboard among the ship's officers and men. There were about 316 men, women and children on the ship, as well as twelve fabulous chests of silver. The actual mutiny did not occur until after the shipwreck and at that the mutineers only broke into one chest. However they violently and systematically murdered as many of the survivors as they could lay hands on, on the islands. Invaluably, a meticulous journal was kept and most of the mutineers were later tortured and hung. Even with that record, though, the author often enters his subjects' minds in a patently fictional manner. The mass murder became a famous episode in Australian history and many theories developed about the sunken ship's location. Its discovery and the things now being recovered from it by the author and associates is told with great relish, as is the whole book. This is one you'll be certain to finish.

Pub Date: July 28, 1966

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1966

Categories: NONFICTION