Biggles in the South Seas

Biggles #21

by W.E. Johns

In dieser Folge von Abenteuern in der Südsee werden Biggels' Kühnheit, Wendigkeit und rasche Entschulsskraft wieder auf die härtesten Proben gestellt. Von Seite zu Seite wird man mit neuen Wendungen überrascht und atmet jedesmal erleichtert auf, wenn eine Gefahr nach Momenten beklemmender Spannung überwunden oder umgangen ist. Doch Biggels bewährt sich.

Genres: Adventure, Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1940

About the author

Invariably known as Captain W.E. Johns, William Earl Johns was born in Bengeo, Hertfordshire, England. He was the son of Richard Eastman Johns, a tailor, and Elizabeth Johns (née Earl), the daughter of a master butcher. He had a younger brother, Russell Ernest Johns, who was born on 24 October 1895.

He went to Hertford Grammar School where he was no great scholar but he did develop into a crack shot with a rifle. This fired his early ambition to be a soldier. He also attended evening classes at the local art school.

In the summer of 1907 he was apprenticed to a county municipal surveyor where he remained for four years and then in 1912 he became a sanitary inspector in Swaffham, Norfolk. Soon after taking up this appointment, his father died of tuberculosis at the age of 47.

On 6 October 1914 he married Maude Penelope Hunt (1882–1961), the daughter of the Reverend John Hunt, the vicar at Little Dunham in Norfolk. The couple had one son, William Earl Carmichael Johns, who was born in March 1916.

With war looming he joined the Territorial Army as a Private in the King's Own Royal Regiment (Norfolk Yeomanry), a cavalry regiment. In August 1914 his regiment was mobilised and was in training and on home defence duties until September 1915 when they received embarkation orders for duty overseas.

He fought at Gallipoli and in the Suez Canal area and, after moving to the Machine gun Corps, he took part in the spring offensive in Salonika in April 1917. He contracted malaria and whilst in hospital he put in for a transfer to the Royal Flying Corps and on 26 September 1917, he was given a temporary commission as a Second Lieutenant and posted back to England to learn to fly, which he did at No. 1 School of Aeronautics at Reading, where he was taught by a Captain Ashton.

He was posted to No. 25 Flying Training School at Thetford where he had a charmed existence, once writing off three planes in three days. He moved to Yorkshire and was then posted to France and while on a bombing raid to Mannheim his plane was shot down and he was wounded. Captured by the Germans, he later escaped before being reincarcerated where he remained until the war ended.

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have had a good time when reading this Biggles adventure ‘Biggles in de Zuidzee’/ ‘Biggles in the South Seas’ for the first time in my youth (5e druk 1964). And I can say, after more than fifty years re-reading it just now, it was exciting all over again (in its simplicity, I mean no literary aspirations by the author). Captain Johns was a good story teller. JM

[Wayne Peake · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best - if not the best - of all the Biggles books. This the plot that should have been used for the 1980s Biggles movie - not the silly time-travel concoction the producers came up with. The book has it all - romance, a really bad-seed bad guy, terrific locations. In fact WE Johns and Biggles 'discovered' the Tuamotu island group almost ten years before the Kon-Tiki did. The character of Sandy Macaster, the Scottish South-Sea beachcomber, is I think easily the best conceived and conveyed support role in all of the Biggles cannon. The passages in which he and Ginger and the Polynesians dive from the sea-plane for oyster shells are wonderfully told. Johns - though some of his 1960s Biggles books were pretty ordinary - was a master story teller at this time. And while I suspect he might never have been to the South Seas, he has somewhat miraculously - like RM Ballantyne before him - created a South Seas imaginary which for the armchair reader is almost better than the real thing. I took this book with me on my first visit to Papeete earlier this year, hoping to find the 'Hotel Du Port' where Biggles punched out the seedy Corsican Castanelli. Alas, either it has been pulled down or was, more likely, a creation of Johns' imagination. For the record, the other books in my Biggles top five are: Biggles Defies the Swastika - written about the same time as 'South Seas', with a twisting plot worthy of John Buchan & Hitchcock; Biggles Hunts Game - full of plot implausibilities but an absolute joy to read late on a night you don't need to work next day; Biggles and the Poor Rich Boy - a delightful chase across Scotland also with a touch of Buchan as well; and Biggles and the Lost Sovereigns. Another island adventure - Biggles and his cronies are always at their best in the tropics - or as the silly ass Bertie likes to put it, 'where the bananas grow.'

[Daniel Bratell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biggles meets an old friend, Sandy, who happens to know where to find a bed of pearls in the Pacific (The South Seas), but need someone to finance an expedition. Biggles is game, and they are off to a small island off Australia. There they pick up some locals who I put as some of the most interesting side characters in a Biggles book. I want to know more about Full Moon, a pearl diver who helps them.

Of course, as most other books taking place away from west Europe, the description of locals is ignorant and often cringeworthy but the worst in this one is where W. E. Johns talks about their "simple minds". Then he lets them act in a way that is more intelligent than what we usually see from Ginger.

[Micah Ferguson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It felt as if I'd read it before... I guess because there's been another like it. It was fairly predictable, although there were some good bits.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Would never have picked it up but book swap with a friend.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the final pre-WWII Biggles stories, this book sees Biggles and co hunting for massive pearls in the South Seas - and those pearls are more rouble than they are worth. Octopi, storms and villainous Corsicans get in their way. This was a really fun story that makes the most of it's setting, has hints of a romance (very rare in Biggles stories), even if it's main villain is a carbon copy of the ones from 'Biggles Flies West' and 'Biggles Flies North' - an unscrupulous thieving prospector. Let's get a bit more variety here! 4 stars.

[Sonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am reviewing the series as a whole, rather than the books individually
The Biggles series is great adventure fiction: we get high stakes, aerial action (in most of the books), and a hero who is endlessly loyal, competent, and calm under pressure.

I love the dogfights, recon missions, and wartime scenarios.

Where the series falls short is character depth. Some attitudes and simplifications reflect the period in which the books were written. There are very definitely dated elements, but considering the era the books were written - overall the series performs well. More than a few of the stories defy plausibility, but who doesn't love to curl up with a good adventure book or 10?

“Never say die.”

[David Evans · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a good one; lots about giant oysters and pearl fishing I seem to remember. And some Solomon Islanders who, by dint of being foreign, are therefore baddies. And dealt with accordingly so serve them right. The Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics will, I hope, reflect on many years of British History, smashing weaker opponents and ruling over them gloriously while the sun never set and the world map was mostly coloured pink. Or is that the Commonwealth games?

[Zoe and the Edge · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is a pretty crazy one.
I loved Full Moon, a 15 year old Polynesian who dives out of a plane, kills a shark, and a human without blinking. She's so awesome and totally saved the day.
She and her boyfriend's commitment to Biggles and his team was so touching.
I also completely enjoyed Full Moon's cheery nature and how no matter how dire the circumstances her blissful outlook on life is adorable.

[Erin72 · Rating 3 out of 5]

my fav biggles are after the war, as is this one

[Salome · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haha, when giant octopuses and other see monsters appear on the scene, Ginger is suddenly not so cool! I totally love side local characters who joined Biggles group for this adventure.

[Edwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

aardig verhaal, verder weinig over te zeggen