The Diamond Dakota MysteryAn extraordinary but true war-time tale of daring, mystery, luck and in excess of twenty million dollars worth of diamonds, and how they were lost, found and lost again. It's March 1942, and one of the last planes out of Java is about to wing terrified Dutch refugees away from the advancing Japanese army. At the last minute, a mysterious brown paper package is thrown to its pilot, Russian air ace Captain Ivan 'Turc' Smirnoff. Heading for the supposed safety of Australia, the ill-fated DC-3 flew straight into the path of three Japanese Zeroes returning from a devastating air raid on Broome. Under heavy fire, Smirnoff miraculously landed the badly damaged plane on an isolated beach on the far northwest coast. The survivors were eventually found, but not before several had died from their injuries or thirst. In the confusion, the package was forgotten. Here, for the first time, is the full story of what really happened to Smirnoff's lost diamonds. |
Contents
CHAPTER THREE Marooned | 42 |
CHAPTER SEVEN Where are the diamonds? | 103 |
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Diamond fever | 200 |
EPILOGUE | 209 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 215 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 221 |
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Common terms and phrases
Aborigines air raid aircraft asked attack Bandung beach beachcomber Beagle Bay Blaauw blowlamp bombs Broome Brother Richard bullets camp Cape Leveque Captain Smirnoff Carnot Bay Clinch coast coastline Commonwealth Bank crash crew Daan Hendriksz Dakota Dampier Peninsula diamonds Dornier Dutch Dutch East Indies East Indies Eurus evacuation fear fire flying boats Frank Robinson Gerrits hand Hasselo head Hoffman hoping Hunter interviewed by Juliet Ivan Smirnoff Jack Palmer James Mulgrue Japanese Java Juta kilometres Kimberley knew later Leon Vanderburg looked lugger Major Gibson Margot Maria van Tuyn military mission moved Mulgrue Muller N.V. de Concurrent Netherlands Netherlands East Indies night Oosten package passengers pearl shell pearlers Perth Pieter Cramerus pilot plane police pulled rescue returned Robbie Robinson Roebuck Bay Romondt sailed sand shore Smirnoff soldiers survivors swim Sydney tide told took town wallet watched Western Australia wife wounded Zeroes
Popular passages
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