Continued - Part 9
RAF Gan - Mementoes and Souvenirs
There wasn’t much in the way of trinkets or souvenirs to bring back from Gan apart from coral or sea shells and one item that I particularly admired, which was a sheath knife made locally. According to what I was told the metal blade of the knife was made from steel salvaged from the military vehicles and equipment abandoned on the Atoll at the end of WWII.
“Made in Hitadu” Sheath knife and Scabbard. The knife is wickedly sharp.
Close-up of the “Made in Hitadu” stamp on the knife blade
Shells were purchased/traded from the local Maldive Islanders, normally in exchange for cigarettes. I don’t recall the going rate for a Cowrie shell, but it wasn’t much, just a few cigarettes. I also broke off a small Coral head or two that I brought back with me but they have long since been lost.
The knife I still have, the coral has long gone as have most of the sea shells, but I still have a couple as shown below.
During my recent trip to the Maldives I noted the large signs displayed prominently in the airport departure halls that it was a serious offence to export from the Maldives without a special licence coral heads and sea shells - presumably they've been plundered to extinction!