This is an auction for SHIPWRECK ON MIDDLETON REEF by Bill & Aileen Belcher.

"In the autumn of 1978 the media in Australia and New Zealand ran a hot story on how the author, winner of the 1974 Transtasman singlehanded race, New Plymouth to Mooloolaba, Queensland, had started the 1978 race but had gone missing. The nub of the story was the apparent reluctance of the race's organisers to instigate a search. The eventual air search located Bill's 'Josephine II' on the notorious Middleton Reef, but 'HMAS Swan' could find no trace of Bill and the life raft. The story culminated when, after 28 days of drifting in a raft, Bill was picked up by a Nauru-bound ship. The book opens with a short description of Bill's adventures before coming to New Zealand then switches to the 1974 race and the building of 'Jo' for the 1978 event. The chapters then alternate between Bill at sea, and Aileen waiting in a growing agony of anxiety and frustratration at Mooloolaba - an anxiety only fractionally alleviated by the news of 'Jo' being found, deserted, on the reef..."

Hardback 1979.

190 pages.

Photographs throughout.

Very good condition.

The cost of shipping is $4.95, or $6.95 by tracked mail. If you are on rural delivery and want tracked mail, the shipping cost will be $9.95.

There is of course no charge for shipping if you collect this book from my shop in Palmerston North following the auction.

Payment within seven days, please.