What happens
Twining, a British official, arrives on the Andaman Islands and is shown around Port Blair by Acabear, a local guide he has known for thirty years. Through Acabear, Twining learns the islands' history as a penal settlement, their jungles and shipyards, and the customs of the Andamanese people. Acabear shows him the convict routine and their harpoon hunting for turtles. The men then track two escaped convicts into the jungle. The islands' strategic value grows as war reaches the Pacific and the Japanese advance toward them. The series is The Pacific Story, first broadcast on January 28, 1945, on the NBC network.
The Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, centred on Port Blair, with its penal settlement, jungles and shipyards, during the Second World War.
Characters: Twining, Acabear, Hawkins, Lord Mayo, Captain Blair, Bolton, Triton
Listen for: Acabear's words in the jungle and on the Japanese bombing of Port Blair.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.