The twelve metre yacht Vixen with owner/skipper thirty-two year old Ian Townsend and his eight year old son David, arrived in San Francisco on Christmas day from Vancouver Canada. The immigration officer was unaware that Ian had abducted his son from Social Services after his wife’s death and was on the run. Ian placed an advertisement for crew resulting in David being taken hostage to force his father to carry a cargo of illegal weapons to Mexico. Ian overcame two of the kidnappers, rescued David then sailed out of the harbour. Peter, Sarah and Beverly answered Ian’s advertisement for an unpaid crew in Los Angeles. Halfway to Tahiti, Beverly, dying of anoxia from severe seasickness was a great difficulty put aboard on ship headed to Hawaii. Arriving in Hawaii, Ian was charged with murdering Beverly when the authorities informed him that Beverly did not exist in the ship carrying her. Eventually released, Ian and David sailed to Honolulu. Among other adventures ashore, while acting the Good Samaritan, he unknowingly involved himself in a serious robbery and fled the country. They arrived at Canton Island, a NASA missile tracking station, soon to be closed and the assets sold to the government of American Samoa. Ian was offered a job to run the generators and help to dismantle and crate the entire base to be shipped out by a U.S. Naval tug and barge. After the station was officially closed the NASA crew flew out leaving Ian and his son alone on the island. A North Korean long liner fishing vessel arrived to plunder the island expecting it to be abandoned. It was a dangerous and frightening three days. Later Andrew, the American supervisor of the dismantling crew was investigated by the FBI from American Samoa for crating and sending home office machines and electrical tools and arrested. Ian, not a party to it, was in danger of being arrested and fled before the arrival of the FBI. Wanted by the government of American Samoa and the FBI he and his son played hide and seek with the air and sea search until able to escape and then took part in the greatest adventure of their lives.
