0
products in your shopping cart
Total:   $0.00 details
There are no products in your shopping cart!
We hope it's not for long.

Visit the shop

Pacific Islands

list view
  • Byron’s Journal of His Circumnavigation 1764-1766 – Edited by Robert E. Gallagher

    Byron’s Journal of His Circumnavigation 1764-1766 – Edited by Robert E. Gallagher

    Another well produced book by the distinguished Hakluyt Society and in our view one of the better ones for its special illustrations and fold out maps.

    John Byron of Wager fame (the poets Grandfather and Voyager hero) came in for some criticism regarding his circumnavigation of 1764-1776. The were some controversies and there were “secret instructions”.

    Sent by the Admiralty in HMS Dolphin to search for Pepys’s Island and the Southern Continent and then up to the North Pacific to find the “other end” of the North West passage. He re-discovered the Falkland Islands (but was beaten by Bougainville) and when in the Pacific decided for his own reasons to go in a more direct route and hence all around the globe back to England..

    His journal is at the mecca of all journals marine, the National Maritime Museum, London. And, here it is published with super supporting items by editor Robert Gallagher. Much about the giants of Patagonia.

    Printed by the Cambridge University Press for the Hakluyt Society in 1964. Octavo, 230 pages with, as mentioned,  numerous illustrations and maps and charts many folding or multiple folding. A particularly good thoroughly clean copy.

    John Byron first the Wager then the circumnavigation in the Dolphin; one of the great naval heroes of the 18th Century.

    $50.00

    Loading Updating cart…
  • Rabaul 1942 – the Story of the 2/22nd Australian Army Infantry and others – Douglas Aplin

    Rabaul 1942 – the Story of the 2/22nd Australian Army Infantry and others – Douglas Aplin

    This is the second printing of Douglas Aplin’s definitive book on the, as he calls it, “tragic story of the 2/22nd …. The men and women of the Lark Force, including units of the RAN, RAAF, New Guinea Volunteer Rifles, 1st Independent Company etc and New Guinea residents who were caught up in the calamity following the January 1942 invasion of the New Guinea Islands by the Japanese”

    Softcover, perfect bound, published by the Battalion, effectively self-published by the author, 1980. 294 pages, illustrated – very good condition.

    And, what a calamity it was … many lost their lives amid the confusion sparked by the ineptitude of military and political hierarchy in Canberra … for weeks invasion had been inevitable and opportunities to move anyone at risk were lost … those left must have been terrified and bewildered. Without dragging too much up, as is the mood of current times, …  things were not good. The Japanese brought 3,000 of their own prostitutes to Rabaul to “service” their troops, gives you some idea …

    Nevertheless, there are some good stories here among the debris of war … those that made every personal effort to escape … often by risky means … but with success. This is an important book to reflect on how humans behave in the worst of circumstances … but the “escapes”… they provide some happiness and relief.

    Important thorough work by Douglas Aplin based on numerous journals, diaries, records etc.

    $70.00

    Loading Updating cart…
  • Sails Full and By – Dom Degnon

    Sails Full and By – Dom Degnon

    Published by Sheridan House, Dobbs Ferry a first edition 1995. Octavo, 244 pages illustrated. Very good near fine condition.

    A seven-year circumnavigation in the 41 foot ketch “Taku”. A full crew of friends and family who come and go during the “voyage”.

    With more time than some they have more time for the exotic .. and in the Pacific Ahe, Tahiti, Samoa, Sunwarrow, Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand. Then off to the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea and then difficulties with the boat and they just made it to Australia’s Lizard island. And then more ….

    A long time around the world an unusual narrative

    $30.00

    Loading Updating cart…
  • Pacific Odyssey [Three Years in the Pacific - Easter Island, Samoa, Tuvalu etc] – Gwenda Cornell – 1985

    Pacific Odyssey [Three Years in the Pacific - Easter Island, Samoa, Tuvalu etc] – Gwenda Cornell – 1985

    Published by Adlard Coles, London in 1985 a first edition soft cover. 218 pages, double page map and black and white illustrations.

    A super Pacific voyage taking in Easter Islands, Samoa, the birth of Tuvalu and the nose flute playing in Tonga. Three years in all were spent in the Pacific in what would be a six year round the world adventure.

    A sailing adventure to die for and a well written narrative.

    $25.00

    Loading Updating cart…
  • Original 19thC Watercolour – Australian Squadron, HMS Opal off the New Hebrides [Vanuatu] 1886 – D. F. Gillett

    Original 19thC Watercolour – Australian Squadron, HMS Opal off the New Hebrides [Vanuatu] 1886 – D. F. Gillett

    D.F. Gillett was an active British naïve marine artist in the late 19th early 20th Century. This painting is of an event in 1888, and we take that to be the year of the painting.

    A nice size, 38cm by 22cm in frame 65cm by 88cm. the wooden frame of unusual and pleasing design. The painting in very good condition, strong colours no fading or foxing.

    HMS Opal was an Emerald Class Corvette. Despite having steam power, she was fully rigged Barque. Built in Sunderland, England in 1875 she made her way to the Australian fleet and served between 1885-1890, mainly in the Pacific.

    Price $890.00 framed as in image

    A rare subject, HMS Opal in the Pacific off the New Hebrides [Vanuatu].

    $890.00

    Loading Updating cart…
  • Return to Tahiti –  Bligh’s Second Breadfruit Voyage – Douglas Oliver – 1988

    Return to Tahiti – Bligh’s Second Breadfruit Voyage – Douglas Oliver – 1988

    First edition published by Melbourne University [Miegunyah Press] in 1988. A super fine copy.

    The first voyage written about a thousand times and in film of various qualities. The second successful voyage less well covered. This excellent book by Douglas Oliver covers it well.

    Small quarto, 281 pages, illustrated to a high standard as you would expect from the Miegunyah Press, Melbourne.

    After scholarly introductions we the Preparations for the Voyage and the outward journey first to Tasmania … then on to Tahiti and goings on at Matavai Bay. The return voyage with the true “Bounty”.

    Bligh and the Breadfruit – finally

    $45.00

    Loading Updating cart…
LoadingUpdating…

Product Categories