Deep Six

About the Book

Took has a difficult time growing up during the Great Depression in a dirt poor family. A World War I ex-marine judge gives him a choice: the military or prison?

His best friend is also his own worst enemy.

Naval intelligence tests indicate he may have any school of his choice. After schooling, he ships out on a slow, plodding L.S.T. (Landing Ship Tanks).

The vessel is dogged by a Japanese sub during a typhoon. Lumber on the deck becomes slippery. A bulldozer slips over the side. It dangles, threatening to do what the sub cannot. Since the entire crew is down with sea sickness, Took volunteers to cut the huge dozer loose.

Instead, the storm tosses him over the side. Is his fate to become deep six shark bait? An empty twenty-man raft joins him and is home while two sharks volunteer to keep him company. He is close to going Asiatic.

Drifting along in the Japanese current, Took selects an island and makes it to shore through the pounding surf. It is occupied by Japanese soldiers and natives. Are the locals head hunters or cannibals?

He saves a native girl from certain death when the natives decide to toss her into a volcano. How does she become his valuable personal property?

The Japanese shoot down a B-25 and Took witnesses the atrocities on the airmen.

He is Court Martialled and sentenced to death by a firing squad for several reasons. Personality conflicts and a drunken defense attorney play a big part in his problems.

Can a Nisei, and the initials 'H.T.' save him?

About the Author

Ellwyn K. Collins is qualified to write on naval subjects having served for three years in the Navy in the Pacific theater, and two years in the Korean War. His background drove him to write Deep Six to air things that never surface in "naval investigations."

His first effort, 1992's Unprepared, was published after his wife had a stroke. Life has never been the same.

He and his wife Connie live just south of the Minnesota River in Burnsville, a third-ring suburb of Minneapolis. They travel the state speaking on strokes and their causes. Radio, television and newspapers fill much of their time.

Publisher's Notebook said "thoughtful and upbeat, moving descriptions" (April 1992).
The Book Watch said "more than just another autobiography of illness." (June 1992).
Medica said "Ellwyn Collins, the winner of the second career awards, is an understatement. He has redesigned farm equipment, developed missile parts, and operated a screen printing business." (they forgot computers!)
Prepared, a sequel to Unprepared is written in two parts: one by Ellwyn and the other half by Connie.