Nick Elliott's Blog

What happened to the Vietnamese boat people rescued by the SIBONGA

Four years ago I posted this story of the SIBONGA rescue:

https://nickelliott.org/blog/in-search-of-a-better-life/

My own involvement in this case, as the ship’s agent in Hong Kong, left an indelible mark and I often wondered what happened to those “boat people” once they’d settled in the UK. Following the post I did hear from one of them, a woman who thanked me for giving my account of the story. And just recently I came across a heart-warming sequel. I remember Captain Martin well and to see him interviewed at the time of the incident back in 1979 brought memories flooding back.

And here is a video recounting the family’s meeting with the ship’s Master, Captain Healey Martin: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-48380440

The post first appeared on Nick Elliott.

Five star Amazon reviews for The Code

A Cold War thriller: Book 1 in the Angus McKinnon series

Buy now from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3XsWWNv

 

Pacy, exciting and worryingly prescient

“A highly enjoyable, breathlessly fast-paced thriller that delves into the making of Nick Elliott’s ingenious hero, Angus McKinnon (a man who intriguingly straddles ‘ordinary guy trying to make a living’ and Bond-style adventurer with conviction, determination and impressive skill). I loved learning about this character’s background: what launched him into the world of dark deeds on the international stage and hardened his determination not to let the villains have their way. I was amused to see one of the characters, ‘Nicholas Elliott’, turn up on TV recently in A Spy Among Friends, and particularly enjoyed this author’s slightly different take on the events around Kim Philby’s defection, which kick off this tale of East v West during what must surely have been the frostiest period of the Cold War. The Eastern European setting looks all too plausible today – and justifiably terrifying. That said, with Angus on hand to get to the bottom of it all, I would definitely recommend this as an entertaining holiday read that won’t stop to make you think until the very end, when you can finally breathe again.”

 

An engrossing Cold War drama

“The Code – this engrossing spy tale begins with a re-enactment of the defection of the British double agent Kim Philby to the Soviet Union in 1963, a deft introduction to the Cold War intrigue that follows in this book. The action begins in Lebanon; we follow its seamless progression to Latvia, Scotland, Austria, Serbia and eventually the Caribbean. The tale is artfully conceived as a prequel to the adventures of Nick Elliott’s hero Angus McKinnon; we learn of his formative years and his near death experiences along the way. It’s a miracle Angus survived to become the author’s hero in his earlier works! – Sea of Gold, Dark Ocean and Black Reef. Now you can read The Code first if you choose to and learn the making of Angus … either way his adventures make for entertaining reading of the first order.”

 

Frightening reminder of post-Soviet aftermath

“Nick Elliott’s hard-written narrative takes you right out of your comfort zone and back into the cold bleak years following the break up of the Soviet Union. Nuclear warheads are on the loose and available to the highest bidder. You are transported to a Europe which many of us have never experienced – Latvia, Syria, Lebanon and Syria etc and into a world of espionage and treachery where life is cheap and punishment for failure is unforgiving. A powerful book and one you will remember long after you have turned the last page. A more than worthy successor to Nick’s earlier books.”

 

Highly recommended

“Continuing Nick Elliott’s Angus McKinnon series, The Code is the fourth book to be published but the first in internal chronology, being a prequel to Sea of Gold, Dark Ocean and Black Reef. It is a great read, fast-paced and engaging throughout, and I recommend it highly.

“The Code begins in Beirut in 1963 and ends in Jamaica at the Millennium. In between we pass through various parts of the Middle East, Latvia, Scotland, Austria, Serbia and Greece. It covers a period in recent history when, despite the collapse of the Soviet Union, apparently rogue secret service elements from the old USSR were making fortunes through the illegal trading of highly dangerous weapons, putting international security in jeopardy.

“Let us hope that Nick Elliott will produce a fifth thriller soon!”

 

A brilliant read, full of exciting action, fascinating characters and a broad geographic sweep.

“Another cracking read from Nick Elliott. Once again, the story moves with breathless pace and, in common with his other books in this series, Nick guides us across an enormously wide geographic landscape – this time from Lebanon, through the Balkans and ending up in the West Indies. It’s also good to know now how Angus McKinnon became the maritime sleuth we know so well from the first three books! Very highly recommended.”

 

A fast moving thriller that takes you across the world, and is difficult to put down.

“The Angus McKinnon thrillers are set in the maritime industry. Speaking as a ex-seafarer, Nick Elliott’s many years of industry experience, shine through, bringing credibility to the scenes he sets, and depth to profiles of the main characters. A gripping read, I have enjoyed all of the Angus McKinnon series.”

 

The post Five star Amazon reviews for The Code first appeared on Nick Elliott.

The 50th anniversary of the 1972 Hong Kong rainstorm disasters

In both Sea of Gold and particularly in Dark Ocean I wrote of Angus McKinnon’s backstory: his childhood trauma in Hong Kong.

Today is the 50th anniversary of that tragedy, described in grim and graphic detail here:

The 50th anniversary of the 1972 Hong Kong rainstorm disasters

We arrived in Hong Kong just six months after the disaster when it was still fresh in people’s minds, and in the press. I remember hearing from a White Russian work colleague how he and his wife had gone out onto their balcony after the rain had ceased and watched helplessly as the apartment block right next to them collapsed.

The post The 50th anniversary of the 1972 Hong Kong rainstorm disasters first appeared on Nick Elliott.

THE CODE – A COLD WAR THRILLER

A spy swap in the Syrian desert, a pirate attack in the Sulu Sea, a devastating confrontation in the Balkans …

Beirut 1963: Kim Philby defects to Moscow. As he boards his Soviet escape ship, a young ship’s officer passes him, unnoticed, on the quayside. Valdis Ozols is disenchanted, idealistic and susceptible. And two men are waiting for him.

Drawn into the shadowy world of espionage and a lifetime of deception and danger, Valdis reaches his lowest ebb in the harsh surroundings of a post-Soviet prison – until a ship’s bosun and fellow inmate, Angus McKinnon, becomes the Latvian’s trusted friend and confidante.

Together, the two men must break out and thwart a plan to annihilate a war-torn Balkan city. In doing so, an impossible choice must be made between the murder of tens of thousands of innocent citizens and the horrific killing of a young woman.

The Code spans the Cold War and beyond, from the Cuban missile crisis to the dawn of the Millennium.

And it introduces us to marine investigator, Angus McKinnon and how he becomes entangled in the world of life-and-death espionage before confronting further hazardous assignments in Sea of Gold, Dark Ocean and Black Reef.

 

The post THE CODE – A COLD WAR THRILLER first appeared on Nick Elliott.

In search of a better life

Of all the dreadful stories that fill the news daily, the death of those thirty-nine young Vietnamese folk found in a trailer in the south of England recently, has stuck in my mind. Call them refugees, illegal immigrants, whatever, they were just seeking a better life.

It calls to mind an incident forty years ago in which I became involved and many years later inspired me to create a significant character for my second novel, Dark Ocean.

On 22 May 1979 the British ship Riverbank (renamed the Sibonga by her Danish charterers), rescued two boatloads of Vietnamese in the South China Sea and, under the command of Captain Healey Martin, headed for an uncertain reception in Hong Kong where I was working as a ships agent.

Sibonga

1,002  were counted as safely rescued by the time the ship arrived off the then British territory. Others, including babies, children and the elderly, had died during the perilous transfer from their leaking craft to the ship, which took place in heavy swells way out in the South China Sea.

The Hong Kong authorities ordered the ship to wait in international waters some miles from the harbour while it was decided what to do. Hong Kong was already hosting some 800,000 Vietnamese “boat people” and was not keen to take more.

As agents, that first day we organised a water barge, provisions, medical supplies and Red Cross doctors and nurses to attend along with two of our boarding clerks and myself.

The scene that greeted us on boarding was one I won’t forget. Later, Captain Martin’s wife Mildred, fortuitously a qualified nurse who, along with the Second Officer’s wife, also a nurse, did so much to care for their unexpected passengers during the voyage, gave this graphic account to the Portadown News:

When they spotted the first boat with 600 people on board, Mrs Martin said that hundreds were packed in the bottom of the boat, “so tight that they hadn’t been able to move to relieve themselves – their limbs were intertwined and there was a terrible stench”.

  There was panic, mayhem, while the refugees fought their way up the pilot ladders to climb onto the ship, children and old men couldn’t stand on weak legs but somehow the Captain, his wife, the Second Officer’s wife and the crew got them sorted out in a makeshift hospital and fed them.

  ‘“The deck outside our small ship’s hospital was crowded,” she said. “Children were vomiting, crying, doubled up with tummy pain; nursing mothers were indicating that they had no breast milk as they were dehydrated; old people were slumped, too weak to sit up.”

Mildred Martin

  She also gave harrowing accounts of a woman who’d had a Caesarean section within the past few days and was in terrible agony, and of a baby who had fallen overboard into the sea and died.

  The whole scenario was repeated when they spotted the second boat with 400 on board, and after more trauma, order was restored and they headed for Hong Kong.

By the time we boarded, it was clear they’d done a heroic job in handling this humanitarian crisis. But with the sun beating down on the steel deck, temperatures in the thirties, virtually no sanitary facilities for such numbers and very limited food and water, the situation was dire.

Over the coming days we established a system with regular convoys of supplies and medical staff in attendance. Some cases were hospitalised, others treated on board.

Back in London, Bank Line’s chairman, Lord Inverforth, used his influence to persuade Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to accept some 800 of the refugees into Britain. The rest were accepted by America.

Over the years Mildred Martin received greetings cards from many of the grateful Vietnamese. Children were named Sibonga, Healey or Mildred after the ship and the captain and his wife. But Healey was still receiving hate mail for rescuing the boat people long after the event. Trolls were among us even then.

At the time many shipowners ordered their captains to steer a course well to the east of the Vietnam coast to avoid encountering these desperate people. This was not the policy of Bank Line or the Danish charterers.

https://nickelliott.org/

 

What, Harry Potter? Excuse me!

What, you may well ask, am I doing writing about Harry Potter. Whatever happened to the much loved, admired and respected Angus McKinnon, invincible (if a little hapless at times) hero of my multi-million selling (in my dreams) international, action adventure, espionage thrillers? Well let’s leave Angus out of this for now, languishing uncomfortably in a Latvian gaol. More of that another time…

…and back to Halloween Harry, since it was on the crisp and sunny morning of Halloween that we ventured into Edinburgh (we’re lucky to live near the great city) with our daughter and two lovely granddaughters, the purpose of our mission, to join a Harry Potter tour. Charlie (pictured) was our guide and here we got lucky. Of several other such tours we encountered along the way, ours was led by the most enthusiastic and generally fun-to-be-with guide of them all.

Although wife, daughter and granddaughters were all au fait with the stories, I was not. I am however an admirer of their author, (JK) Jo Rowling. What fellow author wouldn’t be? Of course I knew a bit about her rags to riches story: her early struggles with depression and impecunity, of the coffee shops she worked in as a single mother caring for her baby daughter whilst bashing out the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, or Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone as I think it’s called in the States.

But, as we explored the streets, graveyards and gothic buildings of the Old Town, Charlie really brought Rowling’s story to life – through anecdotes and the world of Harry Potter.

We discovered Hogwarts School, Voldemort’s grave, Diagon Alley and many more sites including  those cafes where she conjured up and wrote down the stories.  It was a memorable hour or so made more so by Charlie’s infectious enthusiasm and that of his young and not so young audience of fans from around the world, including our own brood.

As an author it reminded me that writing is not just about chaining yourself to a desk, or a café table. Persistence is of course a big part of the process, but roaming around in the right physical settings with your imagination unleashed is just as important – and a lot of fun too.

In future posts I’ll share some of this side of the writing process with you: the people and places, and experiences, that have inspired me to write of Angus and his adventures.

Best wishes,

Nick

Nick Elliott

https://www.nickelliott.org

  Author of the Angus McKinnon thrillers:

  SEA OF GOLD:   http://amzn.to/1jkQUYT

DARK OCEAN: http://amzn.to/2vIPRyJ

BLACK REEF: https://amzn.to/2zVBo4e

TRILOGY BOX SET : https://amzn.to/2Ov8WhE

 

The Angus McKinnon Thrillers: A Trilogy

Good news! I have recently consolidated Sea of Gold, Dark Ocean and Black Reef into The Angus McKinnon Thrillers: A Trilogy.

All three e-books are now available on Amazon as one competitively priced box-set.

Here are the principal links:

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2lZ4xYg

Amazon.com: https://amzn.to/2lWhtOt

Amazon Canada: https://amzn.to/2ks5o3e

Amazon Australia: https://amzn.to/2lZ5ik4

Three maritime crimes that inspired the Angus McKinnon thrillers

Each book in my trilogy of Angus McKinnon thrillers owes a small part of its plot to the fate of three ships.

I thought it may be of interest to present a few bare facts on each case, courtesy of Wikipedia whose terms and those of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license, are fully acknowledged.

The first book in the trilogy is Sea of Gold. The fate of the Astro Maria described in the book is not dissimilar to that of the Lucona, sunk in the Indian Ocean in January 1977 by a bomb planted by Austrian businessman Udo Proksch, as part of an insurance fraud. Proksch, the owner of the cargo, also then owner of famous Viennese confectioners Demel, claimed 212 mio. schilling (ca. US$20 million) from his insurance company, saying that the cargo was expensive uranium mining equipment. He was subsequently convicted in 1991 of the murder of six crew (of the crew of 12) who were killed by the explosion, and died in prison. 

The second story, Dark Ocean, draws to some extent on the tragic fate of the Lisbon Maru, similar to that of the Lady Monteith in the book. On her final voyage she was carrying, in addition to 700 Japanese Army personnel, 1,816 British and Canadian prisoners of war captured after the fall of Hong Kong in December 1941. The POWs were held in appalling conditions … [those] at the bottom of the hold … showered by the diarrhoea of sick soldiers above.

On 1 October 1942 the ship was torpedoed by USS Grouper. The Japanese troops were evacuated from the ship but the POWs were not; instead the hatches were battened down above them and they were left on the listing ship. After 24 hours it became apparent that the ship was sinking and the POWs were able to break through the hatch covers. Some were able to escape from the ship before it sank. The ladder from one of the holds to the deck failed, and the Royal Artillery POWs in the hold could not escape; they were last heard singing “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary”. Survivors reported that Japanese guards first fired on the POWs who reached the deck; and that other Japanese ships used machine guns to fire at POWs who were in the water. Later, however, after some Chinese fishermen started rescuing survivors, the Japanese ships also rescued survivors.

The third book is Black Reef and the Dalmatia Star of the story was inspired in part by the fate of the Arctic Sea that was reported missing between late July and mid-August 2009 en route from Finland to Algeria. On 24 July, the Arctic Sea, manned by a Russian crew and carrying a cargo of what was declared to consist solely of timber, was allegedly boarded by hijackers off the coast of Sweden. The incident was not immediately reported, and contact with the ship was apparently lost on, or after, 30 July. The Arctic Sea did not arrive at its scheduled port in Algeria, and on 14 August the ship was located near Cape Verde instead. On 17 August it was seized by the Russian Navy An investigation into the incident is underway amidst speculation regarding the ship’s actual cargo, and allegations of a cover-up by Russian authorities. The Arctic Sea was towed into harbour in the Maltese capital of Valletta on 29 October 2009.

The ship’s hijacking and subsequent events remain mysterious as no credible explanation exists of its disappearance and Russia’s conduct during and after capturing the ship. If ever confirmed to be an act of piracy, the hijacking of Arctic Sea would be the first known of its kind in Northern European waters for centuries.

All three books are available from Amazon:

SEA OF GOLD:  http://amzn.to/1jkQUYT

DARK OCEAN: http://amzn.to/2vIPRyJ

BLACK REEF: https://amzn.to/2zVBo4e

 

NEW PINTEREST BOARDS ILLUSTRATE PLACES AND EVENTS FROM THE ANGUS MCKINNON THRILLERS

I’ve sourced dozens of great photos, some taken by myself and others from other Pinterest pinners, that show the locations (everything from mountain ranges to Saharan sandstorms, beautiful homes to Buddhist monasteries); events and related “gear” (ships, cars, weapons, military materiel…) onto my Pinterest boards.

You’ll see other boards there reflecting my own interest in running, cars and travel, but the main objective is to show the world of Angus McKinnon – visually. You can click through to see all these boards from the Pinterest logo 

Whether you’ve enjoyed the books already or are thinking about reading them, I hope you’ll find these images of real interest.

Best wishes,

Nick

https://amzn.to/2T5VoNk

 

 

 

Read this interview with Nick Elliott at SPLASH247.com

SPLASH247’s BLACK REEF interview with Nick Elliott:

https://splash247.com/nick-elliot-shipping-thriller-trilogy/