FROM KAURI TREES TO SUNLIT SEAS: SOUTH PACIFIC - 1994

Shoestring shipping in the South Pacific.

Don Silk built the first boat with a book on boatbuilding in one hand.  Constructed from specially milled Northland kauri, it was launched at Opononi, on the Hokianga Harbour, and in 1959 he set off for Rarotonga with his wife and baby daughter.

Scarcely more than a decade later, he was the co-owner, with Bob Boyd, of the highly successful inter-island shipping company Silk and Boyd, based in the Cook Islands.  At their peak in the 1970s, they operated a fleet of three vessels and moved thousands of tonnes of cargo around the South Pacific, as well as to various international destinations.

This book recounts Silk's adventures in the Pacific over nearly four decades.  During this time, vessels were bought and sold, rebuilt and wrecked; cargoes of coconuts and corned beef, pineapples and pearl shells were transported, along with crazy English beachcombers and Mormon missionaries complete with bicycles.

The excitement of hurricanes and shipwrecks, stowaways and drunken sea captains was matched by the challenge of outwitting officialdom, as Silk endeavoured to explain, on one occasion, a shipment of arms and on another, a cargo of liquor worth more than a million dollars.

A born storyteller, Don Silk has written a rip-roaring yarn, awash with thrilling adventures and mishaps.  It is the story of an exceptional way of life, now all but gone forever.

This 244 page softcover is illustrated with black and white photographs.  There is a small corner crease to front and back cover and light fading to spine, but is otherwise in a very good, tight, clean condition inside and out.

Postage quoted is for within Australia. Overseas customers are more than welcome to email me for a postage quote. Local Pick up is not available.

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