Lone Dhow

An excellent high paced little book by the youngest son of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Conan Doyle is engaged by the Natural History Museum of Geneva to obtain a specimen adult tiger shark - and it is to Djibouti and its surrounds (Somalia and Eritrea now) and the dangerous waters, he heads. It is an adventure made no easier by some hasty (or poor) planning - in terms of food and shelter, and a severely limited choice of boats and crew available for hire. Of course it wouldn't be worth the book if he didn't succeed - but there are plenty of adventures along the way.

The second part of the book sees Conan Doyle in Aden (The Protectorate of Aden, now Yemen), again engaged by the Geneva Museum to obtain not a full tiger shark, but to obtain the jaws of various types of sharks, but more especially the saws of large sawfish. So more adventures and risky behaviour.

This was a great read, well worth the paltry NZ$4 I picked it up for from a second hand bookshop while on holiday!

5 stars