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DINGLE, Captain. [Aylward Edward Dingle] : Sea Worthy. SIGNED PRESENTATION COPY

1928

Stanley Paul & Co. London. No DW. First edition. Presentation copy SIGNED by Author to half-title, "To Molly Whitfield - One of the Best. A E Dingle. Andros. January 1st 1930." There are also two columns of bridge scores in similar ink next to the presentation. Original beige cloth, sl. sunned and marked, bookplate of J. J. Whitfield showing a plough and a little church on the bay of a desert island with coconut palms and a sailing ship. Occ. light foxing, very small split to bottom of front inner hinge. Outer edge of pages of adverts at rear creased o/w VG-. Dingle also known as "Sinbad" was an adventurer, a sailor and a writer of pulp adventure stories. He spent 22 years at sea and was shipwrecked five times. In 1893, Dingle joined a salvage, the schooner Black Pearl sailed from Mahe, the Seychelle Islands to the Crozets, seeking gold that had gone down with the immigrant ship Strathmore. They found the sunken wreck, and its strongbox, but were unable to remove it. Eventually, they were driven off by gales. On the return voyage, the Black Pearl was wrecked near St. Paul Island. Both crew survived, though the Black Pearl was completely lost. They survived twelve weeks on the island, eating rabbit, goat and fish. Exploring, they found gold from a buried 1870s wreck. On the first morning of the twelfth week, they were rescued by a French bark. Dingle was one of the earliest people to be featured on Desert Island Discs in March 1942 and possibly the only guest who really had been shipwrecked!

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