The Treasure of the Tuamotus recounts a true story that is stranger than fiction. It begins in the 1840’s with some Spanish Jesuits who are hijacked as they are transporting looted Inca gold to Lima, Peru in a ship called the ‘Bosun Bird’. The pirates, including an Irishman by the name of Killorain, bury the stolen treasure somewhere in the Tuamotu archipelago, in the South Pacific. On his death-bed, Killorain gives a map of the treasure horde to a man named Charles Edward Howe who spends 13 years searching and, believing he has found the treasure, recruits a team which includes George Hamilton, a diver from London. Howe then disappears and is never seen again. In The Treasure of the Tuamotus, Hamilton gives the background to his treasure hunt in the form of an adventure story. He then describes his own attempts to reach the treasure. The trove is underwater and he dives time and again, facing attacks by a giant octopus and a huge moray-eel. However in the end the money dries up, legal difficulties arise, and he has to abandon the search. George Hamilton returned home and wrote about his adventures, but did not name the Island where the treasure is still waiting to be found... Published by Stanley Paul in 1939. The book contains several black and white photos from the 1930’s of Tahiti and the Tuamotu Archipelago. Ex Library. Good condition. Binding intact. 14 Facing page illustrations A scarce item.