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Letters
Steve Jackson, author, is considering a book about Savo Steve Jackson, his web page is http://authorstevejackson.com/, wrote saying he had picked up my E-Mail from a review I wrote on Sandy Shank's book, The Bode Testament, an historical fiction one about Savo, and Captain Bode from Chicago in particular. He has just had publised a book about an actual ship Santa Fe, called Lucky Lady, 1/3 of her crew came from Vincennes, also sunk at Savo. He offered to send me a copy, and is now wanting to do a book on Savo, but from the personal story of individuals who were there, he has sent a series of questions he would like me to respond to, and also to find other ex Canberra people to whom he might talk. The subject of Savo just won't go away. Mac
On my Ahoy website, the URL is at the end of this message, on the LH side of the home page is a link to my Monograph about the sinking of HMAS Canberra, it covers Operation WatchTower, and was published by the Naval Historical Society of Australia some years ago. You may find it useful for background for your book. Are you aware of Bruce Loxton's Book? The Shame of Savo. Anatomy of a Naval Disaster. Allen and Unwin. St Leonards NSW. 1994. I think the US edition was done by the Naval Institute Press, Annapolis. At Savo, Bruce was the Captain's Midshipman and on Canberra's bridge, and was badly wounded, at the time I did not think he would live, in my monograph is an account of finding Bruce on a stretcher, and mentally writing him off. He not only survived but went on to make the rank of Commodore and have a distinguished career in the RAN. Bruce was at the Naval College a year after me, he is still around in Sydney, but has asbestosis. As Bruce is in Sydney, and I am in Melbourne, where all the Naval archives about Canberra were stored, I did a good deal of the research for him here, which he kindly acknowledges in his book. It is in my view, the definitive book on the Battle of Savo Island, and claims that a torpedo from our starboard destroyer USS Bagley, hit us on the starboard side, all the shells from the Japanese force came in from the port side, no Jap torpedo, although a large number were fired at us actually hit Canberra. I am the Victorian State President of the HMAS Canberra/Shropshire Association, and can most likely find several exsailors from Canberra for you to talk to, but none of them are on the internet to my knowledge. I am continually suprised at the interest still shown in Savo, I would get a query about it nearly every week, from some one around the world who has looked at Ahoy on the net. I am in contact with two young men, one in Italy, one in Poland, both of whom are writing about Savo and the Canberra, for their respecive audiences. Steve sorry for going on at some length. I will be in touch. Look forward my copy of Lucky Lady. Regards,
I will check your website directly. Mine is www.authorstevejackson.com. I'm not surprised about all the interest in Savo ... World War II veterans are finally receiving the recognition they deserve ... and I am happy to report that I get quite a number of readers in their twenties who thanked me for writing Lucky Lady as they didn't get much history in their history classes. I am aware of Bruce's book but have not yet read it. I most certainly will. My point is to tell this story in a different way, perhaps reach a different audience--one most interested in the human side rather than the strategic or even historical (I joke sometimes that it's my way of tricking them into reading about history). I even note in the afterword of Lucky Lady that many of the memories are 60 years old and may not be as accurate as one might find in a strictly historical approach--where possible without ruining the recollection, I strove for accuracy but it was my feeling that there was a different sort of truth in these memories. There are even a couple of examples where the careful reader would note discrepancies between the stories ... but hey, they were 17 and 18 and so young, what if their memories are exactly on the money. Well, I've gone on myself and want to go read your account ... all the best, Steve Jackson
By the way, the third book in this series (once again tied somewhat to the Santa Fe) is the Typhoon of December 1945 that sank three US destroyers. I have an opinion on what drove Halsey (and McCain) to make the decisions he did then--missing Coral Sea, Midway, the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot (Saipan), then the chase after the decoy fleet at the beginning of the Battle of Leyte Gulf (2nd Philippine Sea) ... bound and determined to make up for it all with air attacks in the Philippines, even to the point of disregarding Mother Nature. Have to admit that my dad (who retired from the USN after thirty years as a Cdr. went in as a seaman in 1937) loved Spruance but was not very impressed with Halsey. Again, my thanks. I won't steal your writing, but I hope that properly referenced, you will allow me to use it as a basis of my conversation and writing about you. Steve Jackson
By all means make use of my Canberra story on Ahoy, in any way you wish. If you go to my home page, and in the search facility in the top LH corner, enter Coast Watchers, this should bring up a piece I did some time ago about that intrepid band of people, at the end in the bibliography is a reference to Eric Feldt's book on Coast Watchers, if you don't know about it, this is a great way to start on anything you may wish to do on the Coast Watchers. I trust this helps a little. Hear from you soon. Mac.
19 January 2003 I was wondering if you have a copy of the questionnaire I sent you. It was sort of a general thing and I want to follow up on it. But it has done such a good job of getting what I would like from you as a foundation, that I want to use it with others. One of the main changes I wanted to make in the style used in Savo as opposed to Lucky Lady is to tell the "personal" stories set against the historical background with fewer main characters. Possibly even one Australian (ahem), one Japanese, and maybe an American off of each of the doomed ships, as well as the Chicago. I can use them to touch on the stories/recollections of others, but mostly through their eyes. Because I am not covering as much of the war, I think it will make a tighter, easier to follow book. Also, I want to paint fuller pictures of these main characters and their backgrounds to make them stand out--the sort of detail and description of another era that you have been providing to me (though you will see I have a thousand questions to add when we can talk on the telephone or in person). I also want to do more with their lives after the war, something I think is missing in Lucky Lady. With your permission, I want to use you as "my" Australian--yes, with some of the recollections and knowledge of your mates, but as my central character from the Canberra. I have recently learned that a pilot only briefly mentioned in Lucky Lady from the USS Franklin who died on March 19, 1945 when the carrier was bombed, was the pilot aboard the Astoria. Fortunately for me, he wrote a lot to his family (he was older, in his mid 30s) and kept pretty decent logs of being at Coral Sea and Midway, and particularly the invasion of Guadalcanal and subsequently Savo. I have only briefly gone over the paperwork his son (who was two when his father died) has gathered, but found it interesting that this pilot noted in his log that they received a message on the 8th that three cruisers, three destroyers and three tenders (I think, would have to go back) were headed in that direction and would arrive about 6:15 a.m. Will have to compare that to the other timelines. Anyway, I am going to try to tell his story in the same way as you other "characters," which will be more difficult obviously because I cannot interview him. However, I think the poignancy of his story (he performed heroically during the battle and was wounded) will make the book that much more powerful. Instead of his life after the war, I will feature his son's rather heroic itself quest to learn about his father and what happened to him (shrouded in military secrecy). As I've said, I wanted to loosely link four books (Lucky Lady, Savo, Saipan and the Typhoon December 1944) through either characters or ships or circumstances. This one of the pilot seemed destined. (You may remember that a third of the Santa Fe's crew was made up of survivors from the Astoria, Quincy and Vincennes). Anyway, I've probably put you to sleep, but want my "characters" involved in building the book. I should warn you, it may include reading through the rough draft with me (not a requirement but greatly appreciated and I've found it lends to both accuracy and the recollection of better anecdotes). So the long story short is I'd like to send the exact same questionnaire to everyone (actually I will send it to many more than I use, but this way I find the best stories). Hope this project appeals to you. All the best, |
