The Island — Bernard James

Jack Bernard was a journalist, unfortunately not a particularly good journalist but ever the optimist, dreamer and harmless schemer. After unsuccessful attempts at writing novels he realized it was because his life was essentially boring. To remedy that, a grand adventure was planned to provide writing material for his next novel. A trip to the far east and tour of remote islands on a tramp steamer followed, and the adventures he experienced exceeded the wildest expectations of even his fertile imagination.