Book excerpt: An inveterate adventurer and explorer, William Travis abandoned his flying career for the seas of the Indian Ocean to dive for saleable shell of the coast of the remote Seychelles. There he found a world apart, one which tourists were yet to discover, where underwater coral dazzled the eye and where killer sharks appeared from depths to threaten the lives of the author and his men. Taking on a local and eccentric crew, Travis went on to purchase the decrepit cutter, Golden Bells and fished for shark. At sea for weeks on end, he sailed by instinct, survived by insight.