 The National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated stations present the Pacific story. In the mounting fury of world conflict, events in the Pacific are taking on ever greater importance. Here is the story of the Pacific and the millions of people who live around this greatest sea. The drama of the people whose destiny is at stake in the Pacific War. Here is another public service. This is the tale of the war in the Pacific. And it's meaning to us and to the generations to come. The Anderman Islands. My home here. I stay. But that wound of yours is attention. Wound alright. You go, Mr. Twightman. The Japanese are likely to be here any time. We cannot hold out against them now, but we shall be back. Then you can come back here with us. Come with us, me. Wait. Acabir. We've known each other nearly thirty years. Whatever I know about these islands, you have taught me. Now I want you to trust me. The Japanese will soon be here. They have bombed us twice. We haven't the strength to resist the Japanese. Oh, I'm Mr. Twightman. The boat's ready. We're waiting for you, sir. Yes, thank you. Acabir. Come along with me. May it stay. Goodbye, Mr. Twightman. I won't say goodbye, Acabir. I shall be back. Right over this way, Mr. Twightman. My last impression of the Andermans was Acabir standing there on the waterfront of Port Blair. There was only a matter of weeks after that until the Japanese took the islands. They immediately started using the airfield. They brought in heavy naval craft, battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, and based them at Port Blair and in many of the other harbors up and down the length of the islands. They made the Andermans a strategic stronghold. Before you see, the Andermans are almost the same distance from Singapore, Rangoon, Ceylon, and Calcutta. And that makes them important. For nearly three years now from here in Calcutta, we've kept our eyes on the Japanese and the Andermans. I wonder what has happened to Acabir. He was the first Andermanese I saw when I landed in the islands before World War I. May I carry your bags, Mr? Oh, yes, thank you. I'm going to the office of the Governor. May I take you there? I watched him as he walked ahead of me with my two bags. Scarcely five feet tall, powerfully built and black as ebony. He took me to Government House there on Ross Island in Blair Harbour. He waited outside while I went in to report my arrival. Glad to have you here with us, Trining. You'll find these Anderman islands extraordinary. Yes, sir. This is jungle country, of course. There are some dangers. Yes, sir. There are no dangerous wild animals on the islands, but there are some poisonous snakes, cobras, blue carites, and some vipers. And the people, all some of them, are friendly. They're like that fellow who carried up your beds. But many of them are dangerous, like the Dhrarva tribe. But you'll learn to get along. I hope so, sir. We have the penal settlement here, as you know. And although we have many murders among the convicts, everything is fairly well organized and pretty much reduced to booty. So, welcome to the Andermans, Trining, and the best to you. All these things were impressions, glimpses of the things I was to learn. I thought about them as I left Government House. When I got outside, Acabea was still there waiting for me. Hey, thank you. To House? Yes, thank you. This way. He picked up my bags and he led me down to the bungalow in which I was to live. It was built of teak with a wide veranda and a red roof. Like the pictures I've seen of houses in Burma. This, your house. Excellent. Here, this is for you. No. He stood there shaking his head and smiling. Then he turned and pointed to a building some little distance. That is clubhouse for you. Oh, all the clubhouse. Good. That is church. Church. A church, too. I could see that he was enjoying pointing out the places of importance. And to encourage him, I pointed to an imposing building on the mainland and asked, What's that? That is jail. His face was grim, as he said it. Before I could say anything further, he turned and walked away. I had a lot to learn about these people and their islands. These islands, with their many ragged inlets and harbours, had been visited by explorers for hundreds of years. Marco Polo had talked about them and had written about the people that were no better than wild beasts. Italian navigators had visited them. And in 1789, the British came. People I worked with in government house knew the whole story of the Andermans. It was Captain Blair who came here first. That was back in 1789. Came here, right here to Port Blair, and set up a penal settlement. Only he called it Port Cornwallis. Yes. But three years later, they moved the whole blooming business up to North Anderman. And they called a new site, Port Cornwallis. Had two Port Cornwallises, did they? No. After they moved the penal settlement north, they called this Old Harbor. Then when did they start calling this Port Blair? That was, well, along about the middle 1800s. Yes, yes. A doctor named Merritt came out here. Head of a sort of commission of some kind. Came out to select a site for a new penal settlement. And he chose Old Harbor here, which he then named Port Blair. All this deepened my understanding of Port Blair and the Andermans. These islands had been selected for a penal settlement because they were so isolated, so primitive. The convicts were brought from India, Burma and Malaya. And many of them were from the islands themselves. There were convicts around everywhere. Yet as time passed, I could see that the Andermans were more than a God-persaken group of islands. I could see that with the passing years, they were becoming more and more important strategically. The weather observatory at Port Blair, for example, was important. And was to be still more important later. It's only really hot like this when the sun is nodding. Doesn't it ever cool off? The heat is tempered by the sea breezes. Haven't you noticed? To me, it's always warm. What is it, rain? Well, the rain is irregular. But the rainy season's from May to November. I could do with some rain. And some of those sea breezes, too. It's the sea breezes that are dangerous. That is when they get bad. The path of the Hurricanes is just a few miles offshore. Don't they ever hit here? It's the shipping they destroy mostly. Back in 1844, two British troops, the Runny Mead and the Briton, came out there one black night, and both of them were thrown up over the reef and into the jungles. And funny thing, none of the crews knew the other ship was thrown into the jungle until daylight the next day. Yes, the Hurricanes out there can get very severe. It seemed that everything, every place in the island had some story about it. People would say, this is where some so happened. And because I was new in the island, they never missed a chance to pass it on to me. Here in the year 1872, Lord Mayo, the vice-roy of India, had just visited Mount Harriet here on the North Shore of Roth Island and was returning to his last place. There would be some problems. Mount Harriet might be a suitable place for the sanatorium. Yes, sir. The launch is waiting right over here, Lord Mayo. Seven bells. Time to get back to the ship. I say it's very dark. It seems as though the jungle comes right down to the water. So dark. If you went to those torch bears, you've got their head there. We shouldn't be able to see a thing. Oh, yes, sir. The boat crews are all ready to take us out to the ship. Very good. Look out for that man. Look out, Lord Mayo. Look out for that man. Look out, Lord Mayo. Look out for that man. Look out, Lord Mayo. Lord Mayo and stabs here. You give me a hand. Quick, help me. He's falling. I'll give you a hand. I've got him. I've got him. I'll help you with it. I'll pull him up. Can all of you help? Let it up, up. Careful there. A little more. There. Lord Mayo. Lord Mayo. I'm all right. I'm not much hurt. Look at this blood. Lord Mayo. The black man, the one that did it, he... He'll never try this with anyone else. Never. Who was it? One of the ticket-of-leave convicts. First I learned that Acabea was an ex-convict, a self-supporter, and very uncertain about him. He was friendly, but I was uneasy. Everyone in Port Blair knew him. Before he was 20, he'd killed his rival for killing the Andamanese woman they both loved. And for this he'd been sent to prison. He never talked to it. And neither did I. At first I was afraid ever to be alone with him. Gradually I grew to trust him and we often took John together. This is Padak. Very good trade. What is it called, Acabea? Padak. Sometime called Redwood. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Padak, of course. That's Andaman Redwood. Yes, Redwood. Very good. I've heard about it. Many trees got down. Send away. Yes. I know it's exported, Acabea. There's certainly a lot of it out here. Listen. You listen. What, Acabea? Hear that sound? Sounds like the wind and trees. That poluga. Oh, yes. Poluga. Poluga make all trees. All birds. All water. Make you. Make me, of course, the creator. Yes. From Acabea, I learned about the spirit of the wood and the spirit of the sea and the devils of which one must beware. He led me into the mountain, the highest of which I think was about 2,400 feet. And he led me down through the dry beds of the stream. He showed me where coconuts and rubber were cultivated and where rice and maize, tea and hemp are grown. And he guided me up to Phoenix Bay to the shipyard. He stood by silently and we built most of the sea craft. You see around these islands. You seem to have an excellent shop here. It's not as big as the ones on the Clyde. But we can build anything up to a vessel of 250 to 400 tons. You see, there's one on the way right over there. Smart craft, it is so. The best. You see, we have here our own blacksmith shop and we build our craft mostly from the timber out of the forest. Oh, to turn out vessels of this kind, these workers of yours must be skilled indeed. They are. We've made copies of some good carvers out of them and some of them can even handle the maize and porcelain. Will, if you'll excuse me, I'll be getting back to my work. Sure thing. Goodbye. Thank you. When I looked around, Acabere was still standing there silently watching the workers. Would you like to work here, Miss Shipyard? No. Wouldn't you like to help build these boats? No. Make what needs. That is all. I found that that was characteristic of nearly all the natives of the Andermans. There's valuable timber of many kinds around them, not only paddock but banyan and marble wood sat in wooden ironwood, which is so tough that it is impervious to almost the sharpest axe. Yet they use almost none of it. As Acabere said, they make what they themselves need. Utensils, implements, some weapons, and some personal ornaments. You've got a lot to learn about these people, Triney. I heard that again and again. These abedonies learn up to a certain point. Then they cannot seem to learn beyond that. For example, they're probably the only people in the world who don't know how to make a fire. If you use fire, I've seen them, of course. They keep them going day and night. They say fire is a gift from the gods, so they can't let it go out. They are nomads. What do they do when they travel? They carry their fires with them. Another thing, you can hardly influence them one way or another. If they like you, very good. If they don't, you can scarcely do anything that will make them like you. They simply don't respond to it. I wondered about that when I was out in a boat alone with Triney. He seemed friendly, and he killed a man. And he had a sharp harpoon and a bow and arrows powerful enough to shoot through me. Here. You shoot bow and arrow. He handed me the bow and an arrow. I tried to figure out what he had in mind. I watched him. As I put the arrow and the bow, I set myself to droid. Pull, pull arrow back. I... I... I... Droid. I tried to droid. It was too powerful. Gives to me. Although I was nearly a foot taller than he, I couldn't budge it. He drew it back almost without effort. And shot the arrows so far I lost sight of it. Then, looking at me, he put down the bow and picked up the sharp harpoon. You know me once, prisoner? Yes, Acabia. I believe I heard something about that. I wonder what he was getting at. He was holding the harpoon in his hands, looking at me. First six months me locked up in big jail. But... Yes, I can well imagine that. Acabia. Next year on Harp, hard work with other prisoners. I'd heard about that 18-month period when the convicts were under severe discipline of hard labor. Next three years me work outside settlement, sleep in barracks, work outside. Well, that was better, wasn't it? A little better. Next five years, me boss, harder prisoners, then me get a ticket of leave. That meant, for all practical purposes, he was free. I was to learn that this was the usual 10-year routine for the convicts who could be trusted at all. The prisoners who showed themselves unfitted to human society were kept under closer supervision. Now me, self-supporter, may earn all living. With this, we held up the sharp harpoon. I kept paddling the native boat, feasting in the barrel, and suddenly it turned for me. It looked straight ahead in the direction in which we were moving. Portis! Portis! Directly ahead of us on the surface of the harpoon and flying itself from the boat. With his full weight behind it, the harpoon bedded itself into the turtle. The next instance, both Acabir and the huge hawksbill turtle were flungering about in the water. Me get him! Me get him! And he laughed for joy as he pulled the struggling dying turtle back to the boat. Acabir's principle means of livelihood was harpooning turtles. He was an expert at hunting both the hawksbill and the turtle. The green turtle was used for food and the tortoise shell of the hawksbill was exported to Calcutta. In occupations such as this, many of the ticketably prisoners supported themselves. But some, the incorrigible ones, declined to make any effort to support themselves. They thought only of escape. What a hit of us! You think they are, Acabir? Not far now. Then we'd better keep going till we overtake them, Hawkins. I think they escaped. We've been trading the two Jarava tribesmen for three days. After they'd escaped from the penal settlement, they'd killed the shipyard worker at Phoenix and then had gone into the jungle. You lead the way, Acabir. Keep us on their trail. Yes. Pygmies in these jungles are so clever that you can go for days without seeing one of them. I can't see how a human being of any kind could live in these jungles. The caping of the jungles are killed by the poisoned arrows of the pygmies. This way, getting close now. Watch yourself well now, Twining. There, ahead. Gunfire by George. That's it. Easy now. Creep up on them. Both of them are there. See them, the lights of that campfire? Yes, I see them. Acabir, you come with me. We'll go around this way. And Bolton, you and Twining go around the other way. When you see me rushing, you two rush them from the other side. They've crept around on their left flank and then moved in toward them. We could see them plainly in the flickering light of their campfire. Powerful little black men with sooty hair growing in wings. Look, Twining, they're well armed. See those knives and those bows and arrows? As I looked at them, suddenly, just opposite us, Hawkins and Acabir came charging out of the jungle straight to the tribesmen. Come on, Twining. Let's go in and get them. Yes, sir. One of the tribesmen ran almost directly to our arms. Here, I'll help you. Just as that instant I saw Hawkins in the campfire, he paused a moment there. The other tribesmen had run off to the side, stopped suddenly and whirled around for the poison arrow in his bow. He let it fly. It crashed through Hawkins' chest and he dropped in his tracks. He was dead within the hour. We got the other tribesmen back to jail at last, but he gave the three of us enough trouble to interest me greatly in all the Andamanese. Scientists came to the island and studied them for years. You see, Twining, these Andamanese have been isolated here since, well, perhaps the Stone Age. Well, that probably accounts for the fact that they are all so much alike. Yes. There is perhaps no pure race on earth. There are twelve different tribes in the island here, and while each of these has its own habits, in the broad sense, some of them are about the same, physically and mentally. You see, people are changed by coming in contact with other peoples. But with the Andamanese, since the Stone Age, they have come in contact with very few people, and therefore their strain is almost pure. They are the same today as they were perhaps millions of years ago. Yes, they are the most primitive of all humans. I used to think of this as I watched back a beer. I watched them sing songs, accompanying himself by beating with his foot on a very crude sounding board. This came as close to a musical instrument as anything I ever saw amongst the Andamanese. And watching Acabia, it seemed to me it was the Stone Age man who, by some magic, was living in the modern world of today. After those first years, thirty years ago, Acabia used to go with me everywhere. We came to understand each other. He was very much interested in the lands of the white men and the kinds of lives they lived. He went with me on my trips from one end of the Andaman to the other. We visited Port Campbell and Port Mert and Quantum Harbour and Port Andaman. And by the time the Japanese are on the move in the Pacific, he realized the danger that we faced. Gentlemen, I want you together to tell you of the seriousness of our situation here in the Andaman. As you know, the Royal Navy suffered a heavy blow in the loss of our battle cruises, Prince of Wales and repulse. Two days after Pearl Harbour, today I have to report a still more unhappy matter. Singapore has fallen. Singapore has fallen? I can't believe it. We are complete. I'm moving into the harbour of Singapore this very moment. We are only a thousand miles from Singapore. Our strategic location would be of great value to the Japanese. We command the weapon approaches to the straits of Malacca and we are within striking distance of Rangoon, Calcutta and Ceylon. We may expect the Japanese here any time. I could be understood the meaning of this. The Japanese? They will come here with guns? Quite possibly, Acabia. Acabia fight. We all worked feverishly for the Japanese attack which we knew would come. Acabia helped us at the airport loading planes of the things that must be saved. Three Japanese planes approaching! Fight the bombers! The anti-aircraft batteries opened up. The bombers came straight over the field. They dropped fire on our Mr. Twining. Yes, if they can, Acabia. They'll try to destroy the airfield after the airships and bombs and then wheeled around and came back. They're coming back! They're going to strafe us! Look out! Look out when the machine gun! Look out! Acabia, get down! Let me see, Acabia. Let me see where they got you. Here. On back. Acabia never complained. He lay there, trying to understand what had happened and why. Five days later, the Japanese came back. It was plain now that the Japanese would soon come in for landing force. We are unable to descend the long indented coast of the Andermans. We will put out of commission everything that can be of use to the enemy. The naval dockyards, the airships, and then we shall evacuate the island. The Japanese took port Blair on March the 23rd, 1942. Intelligence reports came into Calcutta for what was happening. Japanese already operating from the airfield at Port Blair. Full Japanese battle fleet of battle ships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, and escorts is approaching Port Blair and probably will use the tarpaulin. That's the first time in history, Twining, that a Japanese tarp force is steamed into the Bay of Bengal. All of us knew the gravity of the situation, the great danger of a possible invasion of India and perhaps even of South Africa. This report has just come in, sir. Thank you. The heavy cruises Zorsuch and Cornwall have been sunk by Japanese torpedo planes and bombers. Good heavens. Here's a message, sir, from Trincomalee Ceylon. Yes, thank you. The British naval base at Trincomalee on the island of Ceylon is under attack by carrier-based aircraft. Twining, these attacks are being made from carriers based on Port Blair. The Japanese were already using the Andamans against us with deadly effect. They may try to strike across the Indian ocean, take Madagascar. Then they would be in a position to invade Africa and cut our supply line to Egypt. The danger to the Allies was great. The Andamans, virtually ignored since the Stone Ages, suddenly spang into importance. The enemy held them and was converting into a strategic stronghold. Now there would be the scene of a struggle for control. And soon, heavy Allied bombers were taking off from India to blast them. The shore installations, the harbor and the airfield became our target. It's been three years now. And now as Britain's naval strength is growing in the Bay of Bengal and as the possibility grows of our return to the Andamans, I can't help but wonder about Akhabeer. I wonder if he has lived through what's happened in the Andamans. And I think to the last thing that he said to me, we stay here, Mr. Twining. Goodbye. And to make understandable the crosscurrents of life in the Pacific Basin. For a reprint of this Pacific Story program, send 10 cents in Stamph-Sacoin to University of California Press, Berkeley, California, to repeat. For a reprint of this Pacific Story program, send 10 cents in Stamph-Sacoin to University of California Press, Berkeley, California. It is written and directed by Arnold Marquess. The original musical score was composed and conducted by Thomas Paluso. The principal voice was that of Ramsey Hill. This program came to you from Hollywood. This is the National Broadcasting Company.