Sir Harry Oakes had been covered with wax and feathers after being killed, but before being doused with gasoline and ignited. But even with the gasoline to start it, the fire failed to incinerate him as was probably intended. There was plenty left for forensics to work on.

This unfortunate turn in Sir Harry's life happened in Nassau, and the reason he was killed remains a mystery to this day. It's a great story, though, and involves international intrigue at the highest levels of government and organized crime during World War II.

I once read a book about Sir Harry called, “Who Killed Sir Harry?” by James Leasor. The book spawned a movie, made in Canada, called, “Trouble in Paradise”. Hagood Hardy wrote the score for the movie and I played on it. But I had read the book before I heard anything about a movie being made of it.

(Sir Harry on CrimeLibrary.com. Worth checking out!)

As it turns out, Hagood knew Sir Harry's daughter, Nancy, who lived for awhile in Oakville in the '50s. There's a big Canadian connection with Sir Harry, as he was the prospector who first discovered gold at Kirkland Lake and lived in Canada for a good chunk of his life - until he decided to move to Nassau for tax purposes (I almost wrote 'tax porpoises').

Sir Harry was, among other things, the benefactor who donated the land to create the Niagara Falls Parkway. You know, that really nice stretch along the Niagara Gorge stretching from Niagara-On-The-Lake to Niagara Falls. He donated it on the condition that it remain parkland forever.

He was also a public benefactor in the Bahamas after he moved there, initiating and funding several public works. I believe the airport (which he had something to do with) was, or is, called Oakes Field. And there's an Oakes wing on the hospital.

All that was just to introduce Nassau, the largest town we visit on our itinerary, and one with an interesting history involving one of my interests: conspiracies.

Nassau is fairly close to the United States, lying only about 90 miles east of Miami. It has served as a haven for people who consider themselves to be too highly taxed, and also for British royalty who abdicate (Edward VIII, who figures in the Harry Oakes mystery, and What's-His-Name Mills, the pianist who had a hit with Music Box Dancer, among others).

It was, and perhaps still is, also attractive to organized crime figures who back in the '30s and '40s had plans to turn Nassau into another gambling and entertainment paradise like Havana - something Sir Harry was dead against.

I spent 10 days in Nassau (well, on Paradise Island, connected to Nassau by bridges and ferries) working an IBM convention in 1984. At the time Nassau struck me as being a place where anything goes. Decadent, evil, dangerous. Musicians were easily able to score cocaine (which was the designer drug of the better-off musicians in the early '80s) and probably anything else they wanted right at poolside in the hotel. I got the feeling there were deals going on everywhere. Drugs, weapons, information, who knows?

I remember that somebody followed me as I wandered around downtown one day the first time I was in Nassau. I don't know if he was waiting for an opportune time to jump me, or if maybe he thought I was someone else or something. In any case, it was unnerving.

We don't spend enough time in Nassau to get into much trouble; we're in port only until 1:30 pm. Unfortunately, that also doesn't allow a lot of time for shore excursions to pursue research. However, I have visited the library, and looked for books or other information on Sir Harry at a local bookstore. (The bookstore has promised to get me a book written by the Compte de Marigny. He was one of the royal folk who hung around Sir Harry, and more particularly, Nancy. He wrote the book probably to help clear himself. He was a prime suspect at the time.)

It's nice to have things to do while you're in port.

What else about Nassau?

Well, for one thing, it's the only port we visit to offer free wireless Internet. It took me a few visits to find it, though, as the service is quite localized and not really close to the sign that advertises it. Until my last visit, nobody in the port building seemed to have any advice on how or where to go to connect. But the last time I was there I finally got some knowledgeable help from a Batelco rep.

So if you're in Nassau, and you want free Internet, go the port building and sit somewhere in the vending area near the bandstand. There are benches there you can use for as long as you like, and the signal is strong. If you're lucky (I wasn't) the band will be worth listening to.

If I lived in Florida I might head over to Nassau now and then just because it's so close. You know, for a weekend of debauchery and/or free Internet. But it's not my type of vacation destination. It's for those who like gambling, partying on the beach, or downloading.

And it's a great destination for conspiracy theorists.



Sidling up to the pier at Nassau Harbour in the early morning