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drink too much and all work stops. They gave me a bad time now. 

 Communications with the Comores at any time are virtually non- 

 existent. From our ship in Durban Harbour I set the Post Office 

 on to tracking two Cabinet Ministers I know, one after the other, and 

 neither, on account of these confounded holidays, was in any position 

 to do much. I tried to find another who might be able to help, but though 

 I never left the telephone for seven long hours that Christmas Day 

 he could not be found. Then I tried a certain high official in the 

 Government, with the same result. Desperately I made contact with a 

 high military officer, unknown to me personally, and it took me some 

 time to overcome his utter disbelief that a fish could mean anything to 

 the armed forces of South Africa, but even so he could do nothing 

 without authority from higher up — I was almost frantic and then as a 

 climax a cable arrived which made it plain that unless I appeared in 

 person to claim this fish, it would be lost to my country. I sought the 

 aid of Dr. Vernon Shearer, M.P., of Durban, and eventually, after 

 overcoming one line of defence after another, late on the night of the 

 26th December 1952 he was able to speak to Mrs. Malan, wife of our 

 Prime Minister. He was resting at a Cape seaside resort and, already in 

 bed, was on no account to be disturbed. His good lady asked for a 

 brief account of the matter, which she said would be given to the 

 Prime Minister next morning. Once more time was passing, and some- 

 what despairingly I sat to drink some tea which our kind hostess had 

 prepared — my mind far away in the Comoro Islands. The telephone 

 went — Dr. Shearer went, and almost at once his excited voice called 

 me urgently, and I went. Dr. Malan wished to speak to me, and at his 

 request I gave this amazing man an outline, stressing that I could not 

 be certain it was a Coelacanth but that of all the laymen I knew, Eric 

 Hunt was in the best position to know a Coelacanth. As soon as I had 

 finished Dr. Malan said he could see that it was important and urgent — 

 it was impossible to do anything so late at night, but he would next 

 morning make contact with his Minister of Defence and ask him to 

 allocate a plane to take me to the fish. We waited next morning — I 

 left the ship and at noon my wife went on down south. We then heard 

 that the critical telephone system had broken down, but at 3.00 p.m. 

 I was informed that all arrangements had been made and that a plane 

 would come from Pretoria early next morning to take me north, to 

 certain heat and to an uncertain Coelacanth. 



We left Durban Airport at 7.00 a.m. — little me in a big Dakota with 

 six huge South African Air Force Officers, all somewhat astonished at 

 this quest. Once the initial reserve wore off and I was apparently 

 human, they bombarded me with questions and eventually they got 

 hold of it and became my firm allies in what had seemed an insane adven- 



