On the island of Eggano.... there be Dodoes ?

In the 1920's researchers had found a little known entry in the diary of a 17th century ships captain, the entries are summarised below...

"The ship had stopped at Mauritius and had taken some dodoes on board for food and having reached the island of Eggano off Sumatra had gone ashore for water - as they lay at anchor some of the remaining birds had escaped and somehow get ashore."

A couple of expeditions (one German and one British) were in the area and were sent to investigate....

---oXo---

The dodoes frolic and chase each other in the interior of the island....

while others look after their nests.... 

---oXo---

A landing party from the German submarine U-69 has gone ashore to search for dodoes....  (this section from a game played recently - hunt the dodoes)

The landing party move inland ...

they disturb a small flock of birds ...

Aha, look ! two dodoes ....

they run after them and try and restrain them... its a struggle - the large birds wriggle and flap their wings

Finally as they have the first two secured, they spot another two and manage to catch-up with one

All three secured they move the dodoes back to the shore where they landed.  One group encounters a small komodo dragon, which they managed to skirt around ...

Another group encounters a large ape, which looks at them for a bit and wanders away ...

all back safely to the bluff above the shore; before they put them on the inflatables, they will have to make some cages.

The officer in charge is concerned that they may not be able to get them into the submarine - they may have to call up their support vessel S.S.Wittenland to transfer them aboard.

Alarmed by the presence of visitors to their island the natives move out from their village to investigate ....

---oXo---

Meanwhile on the other side of the island, the British geographical expedition to the area had also been ashore ...

The landing party capture two dodo's and just push off and get moving in their launch, when some natives arrive on the beach ...

the launch reaches HMS Winscombe, the precious cargo will taken on board ...

Another Moa...

Finally got round to working on another Moa ...; modifying a 54mm plastic ostrich which had been sitting on a shelf waiting for a while ....

 painted up and with his mate .....

A selection of newbies ....

I've completed painting a number of figures ....

A colonial police officer and two civilians

a couple of oddment figures plus Indie, a German officer and a nice ark ...

 Armed tramp steamer crew ...

a few more on the painting table; plus waiting in the wings for the paintbrush - Maoris, Melanesians and some African warriors ....

A little time ashore ...

The expedition to the south seas is finally underway, Von Tiddenheim and a small group explore one of the first islands they come to.

Von Tiddenheim, his niece and valet marvel at the giant ziduli palm ...

 while a couple of scientists examine the strange rock formation nearby ...

[new scenic items, palm tree and rocks --> re-purposed PlayMobil bits]

von Tiddenheim sightseeing (3)

Some of the expedition went down with a bad fever just before leaving India, so it was decided to wait for them to get better then continue with the onward journey. After a couple of weeks all were well and they were off again flying off down via Burma, Siam and Malaya to their final destination of Batavia in the Dutch East Indies.

While in Siam they had a short layover and went to see some of the ancient temples ..

 After having settled into their hotel in Batavia they went out for a walk round ...

and to enquire at one of the harbour shipping offices whether their private yacht was ready ...

A late addition for British south seas expedition ...

HMS Winscombe had stopped off at Darwin to pick up the British south-seas expedition members; a late addition to the expedition was flying in by sea plane - the rendezvous would be an island off Papua ...

The pilot flew over the edge of the island and prepared to land ...

 and put down the sea plane, the launch soon arrived to pick up a passenger ....

 as the sea-plane took off, the launch returned to HMS Winscombe ....

HMS Winscombe ....

Captain Henry Odd-Fellowes supervises 'action stations' drill on HMS Winscombe, somewhere off the coast of Australia....

They have just received to provide logistical support to an geographical and achaelogical expedition organised by the Royal Society. They are due in port to pick up members of the expedition ....

[new items: ships deck crew using british deck crew from Pulp Figures, some modified to give them tin hats - the ship was scratch-built for my WW2 games but is being pressed into service for the inter-war period]

U69 stops for a layover ...

U69 is in the Indian ocean and has stopped for a short layover at an uninhabited island in the Maldives...

The U-boat waits off shore...

 while the landing party goes ashore ...

 do some some foraging (fresh fruit, water ....)

von Tiddenheim ... sightseeing(2)

After their last stopover in Cairo the flight out to the Far East continued with a number of short hauls including a couple of overnight stops as they traversed the Middle East. Then onto a stopover in Karachi, including a journey up to see the the ruins of Mohenjo Daro.

Then on to Delhi for a longer break, during which they travelled to Agra to see the Taj Mahal....

U69 leaves for the south seas .....

Having left its base, U69 works its way out to the sea... its the start of a long voyage ...

its off to the south seas;  it will rendez-vous with von Tiddenheims expedition and then work with them as it explores and maps anchorages.

von Tiddenheim ... sightseeing ...

von Tiddenheims expedition is on its way by air to the far east; their route takes them via the Middle East, India, Malaysia onto their final destination of Batavia in the Dutch East Indies where they will board the expedition's private yacht (which will be supported by a small feighter).

The flight out to the far east was going to be long; being cooped up in the plain for many hours. So von Tiddenheim had arranged stopovers along the way - with the opportunity of some sight seeing for himself and the expedition members

The first stopover in Athens, on the acropolis looking at the caryatids of the erechtheion....

then at their next stop in Egypt, a must see - the pyramids of Giza

they will soon be back on the plane....

the Expedition departs ....

At last the time had come for the expedition to the far east and the south seas to depart. An aircraft had been chartered to fly them out to the far east where they would board the ships which had gone on ahead.

von Tiddenheim and the rest of the expedition members on their way to board the plane for the first leg of their journey ....

At the port ....

The supplies for Von Tiddenheim's expedition to the south seas have arrived by rail at the designated port and will soon be loaded onto a small freighter ....

checking supplies....

von Tiddenheim has gone down to a warehouse in the industrial area of Wittenberg to check on the build-up of supplies for the upcoming expedition to the south seas...

 he is pleased to see that most of what he requires is ready ...

when the rest has been obtained, all will be moved via rail to a port ....

A meeting of the Geographical and Historical society ....

Von Tiddenheim made his way to the local branch of the Geographical and Historical society in Wittenberg, for a meeting ...

the meeting showed slides of the early 1900's Krugiel expedition to the far east and south seas, the attendees were very interested in what they showed, some of the slides ...

 after the slide show, attendees looked over maps and entered into lively discussions,

Von Tiddenheim proposed an expedition to explore and investigate some of the sites discovered by the Krugiel expedition - which was approved - there would be much planning to do before they could leave ...............