Cover Date: May 1942
Volume XIX # 3
Copyright Date: Friday, April 17, 1942
Author: Lester Dent
Editor: John Nanovic
Story Length: 36, 248 words
Cover: Emery Clarke
WHMC: The collection contains six folders for this story, f.743-748
Recurring Characters. Renny, Johnny, and Long Tom appear in the story. Monk and Ham are away on a job in Patagonia.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pirate Isle by Kenneth Robeson
Glacier Guardian by Wallace Brooker
DEPARTMENTS
Doc Savage Club
Letters From Readers
Editor’s Page
On the freighter City of Tulsa, mid-Pacific, a skeletal stranger is found in the crow’s nest throwing what appear to be snowballs on a blistering day. He is identified as Doc Savage’s associate, archaeologist Johnny Littlejohn. Captain Hardgrove and his officers grow increasingly hostile as Johnny recovers enough to reveal he was carrying samples of a white, snow-like substance.
The substance is plankton—microscopic sea organisms that old scientist John Mike Borzoi has learned to harvest in quantity as a potential food source for wartime Britain. Borzoi hired Johnny to assist. The notorious South Seas pirate known as Lord London raided Borzoi’s island laboratory, convinced the white material was gold. He tortured the prisoners and kept them on the island of Jinx while he tried to extract a nonexistent secret. Johnny escaped with samples, was recaptured after boarding the City of Tulsa, and has been held ever since.
Doc, Renny, and Long Tom, together with Nesta Reynolds (hired by Borzoi) and passenger Charlie Custis, reach the island. Hardgrove is unmasked as Lord London; his parrot’s repeated affectionate phrases about “Johnny” and “Joseph” help confirm the identity. In a final confrontation Hardgrove tries to kill Johnny but is overpowered. The ship’s remaining crew is subdued with the help of passengers organized by Custis. Borzoi explains the plankton project; the “snowballs” were simply samples dissolved by deck-washing water. The captives are freed, the harvest method preserved for the British, and Lord London’s career ends.
Early in the story, readers learn the ship, City of Tulsa, is being deliberately steered off-course. There are some interesting coincidences in the story with “The Sargasso Ogre.” The ship is being surreptitiously steered off-course. The radio operators are killed. The first officer is named “Mr. Weed.” Dent is pointing at the sargassum weed that played a major role in “The Sargasso Ogre.”
By the time we get to Chapter 4, we learn that the ship, City of Tulsa, has been heading back towards the South Seas instead of towards San Francisco. Imagine a ship were no one notices the sun is coming up and setting in the wrong place. The moon is out on a clear night with brilliant stars. The captain makes some navigational observations but apparently does not trust his own ability. Back in “The Sargasso Ogre” this was explained by bad weather and heavy cloud cover. I am a little disappointed in Lester Dent. He knew better than this from having sailed on the Albatross. Apparently Captain Hardgrove is a bit of an idiot to not realize his ship was traveling in the opposite direction.
Lord London shares many of the characteristics of the pirate leader Tom Too from “Pirate of the Pacific.” Later, a red herring appears in the form of gold-from-seawater. This idea first appeared in “The Sea Magician.”
Dent touches on the subject of marital infidelity through the medium of Captain Hargrove’s parrot. It seems fairly obvious that his wife is enjoying considerable attention from other men while he is awa
A .22-caliber pistol built on a .38-caliber frame.is mentioned. This would be a Smith & Wesson K-22.
Some of the familiar gadgets appear in this story. Doc uses marble grenades and glass globes with anesthetic gas. Bullet-proof chain mail suits are present.
Some of Doc Savage’s bigger-than-life skills have disappeared.
-Doc cannot hold his breath for two-minutes when he uses some of his anesthetic gas.
-Doc performs poorly when imitating Nesta Reynold’s voice.
-Doc is startled and shows surprise.
-He is absent minded.
-Later in the story, he requires a tide table to determine the local tides.
-Doc does use a trashcan full of very hot water to take out three men.
Johnny is shot by Lord London. Doc Savage is blinded by fury and attacks Lord London. Littlejohn’s intervention likely saved Lord London.
Doc pulls a clever trick by changing the marks with the lead line used to determine the water depth. Anyone using the lead would believe the water to be deeper than it actually was. This causes the ship to run aground as it tries to enter the lagoon at Jinx Island.
It is later explained in “Pirate Isle” that Doc Savage has never killed a man. Clearly Johnny is talking about a deliberate act and not including self-defense in this statement.
Street & Smith printed several stories that operate as if World War II had not yet happened. “Pirate Isle” is one of those stories. It was submitted in late 1941 before the attack on Pearl Harbor. By the time this story was printed the South Pacific was a war zone.
The orange rectangle at the right marks Fiji. Viti Levu is located here. The island where the story takes place is 700 miles from here.
The Battle of the Coral Sea was in full swing in early May 1942. The area around the story location would have been a dangerous place for a ship due to submarine activity.
