A LOOK AT SHIVER & SHAKE STRIPS: THE GHOSTLY GALLEON

The Ghostly Galleon was part of the package of three new features introduced in SHIVER AND SHAKE No. 71 merely a few weeks before the paper was discontinued. Two boys Philip Drake and his brother Frankie accidentally found themselves aboard an ancient Spanish galleon buried in the sand off the Norfolk coast. This is how the story began:

As can be seen from the first episode, The Ghostly Galleon was yet another adventure serial that offered the readers a chance to win some cash.  The plot was simple and easily predictable. Details aside, the Ghostly Galleon was in fact a carbon copy of The Terrible Trail to Taggart'sTreasure that appeared SHIVER AND SHAKE issues 14 – 22.  

The boys soon found out they weren’t alone aboard the ship and that a mysterious character was determined not to let them escape. The violent masked bloke wasted no time in assaulting the two brothers with his antique but deadly weapons such as a halberd, a blunderbuss, a trident, etc. Scared for their lives, the boys rushed about the ancient ship, finding holes, hidden passages and doors that led them from one compartment to another, and occasionally fought back by popping champagne corks...

The bloke appeared to be well-familiar with the layout of the old galleon and chased the boys all over the place – from the top to the bottom and then back to the top, smashing though walls and never falling far behind. In the final episode Philip and Frankie broke out onto the upper deck, accidentally stumbled across an ancient Spanish treasure chest full of gold, silver and precious jewels, and mustered up the courage to confront the villain. Surprise, surprise – it was Professor John Harvey, another greedy mad scientist (a historian) who was after the treasure and was unwilling to share it with anyone. Here is the last instalment:

Readers were invited to enter for The Ghostly Galleon competition:

This being the last issue, the editor had a small logistical problem with competition results but promised to publish them in the combined WHOOPEE! AND SHIVER & SHAKE. The results can be found in Whoopee! and Shiver and Shake cover-dated 30th Nov., 1974:

The Ghostly Galleon appeared in SHIVER AND SHAKE issues 71 – 79 and was part of SHAKE section; it was a two pager, apart from the opening episode that was two pages long and had an extra page with the drawings of the galleon so that readers could follow the two brothers’ dramatic flight through the buried ship. I don’t know the name of the artist but it looks like he also illustrated Rat Trap in COR!! There is something about the style that reminds me of girls’ comics.