AN Ilkley 'ghost' sees the light of day this week for the first time in years - but there will be no wailing, white sheets or clanking chains in evidence.

The apparition in question is literary ghost writer, Neil Hanson, who has decided to publish under his own name for a change.

Mr Hanson is a prolific and successful author with more than 30 published novels and non-fiction books to his credit.

Many have been bestsellers, yet his name remains virtually unknown to the general public, since the vast majority of his books have been published under various nom de plumes.

In the past, Bradford-born Mr Hanson has also worked as a holiday camp Redcoat, run several art and photographic galleries, travelled around the world twice, owned the highest pub in Britain (the Tan Hill Inn, near Richmond), edited the Good Beer Guide as well as broadcasting for the BBC and writing for every national newspaper in the land and other media around the world. He has been a full-time author for ten years.

His celebrity clients as a literary ghost include a number of household names - SAS soldiers, pilots, male and female travellers and adventurers, an IRA informer, an England soccer manager, and the former captains of the England rugby union and Great Britain rugby league teams.

His anonymity should end, however, following the publication under his own name of a new book, The Custom of the Sea, a shocking true story of shipwreck murder and cannibalism.

Mr Hanson, who lives in Parish Ghyll Road, with partner, Lynn, and children Jack, six, and Drew, three, said: "I have been very lucky to work as a ghost writer, it's enabled me to meet some fascinating people with incredible tales to tell.

"I've earned a very good living from it, but I can't deny that it will be a pleasant change to see a book coming out under my own name this time - and not just for ego reasons. This way I get to keep all the royalties instead of having to share them with a client."

The Custom of the Sea tells the story of a yacht, Mignonette, which sailed from Southampton bound for Sydney in 1884.

Halfway through the voyage the yacht was battered by a monstrous storm off the coast of Africa. After four days of battling hurricane gales and towering seas the yacht was finally crushed by a freak wave.

The four survivors were cast adrift in an open, 13-foot dinghy, a thousand miles from the nearest land, without provisions, water or shelter from the scorching sun.

When they were finally rescued 21 days later, only three of them were left, barely alive.

When the three returned to England they were charged with the wilful murder of the fourth member of the crew whom they had killed and eaten.

The subsequent landmark court case held the nation - from the lowliest deckhand to Queen Victoria herself - spellbound. When the final verdicts were given, a practice followed since men first put to sea in boats was finally outlawed.

"I first came across a reference to the story of the Mignonette almost ten years ago. What caught my eye initially was the cruel hardships that the men suffered and the battle between their companionship and common humanity and the overpowering strength of the most basic human instinct - the will to survive," said Mr Hanson.

He added: "I began to carry out research, growing ever more intrigued by the glimpses the case offered into an era within my own compass - my grandfather was born in 1884 - yet utterly remote from me.

"The deeper I dug, the more I learned about the half-lit worlds of Victorian ships, prisons, freak shows and curiosity shops - all of which have a bearing on the story - and the more contrasts and tensions I uncovered between two co-existing but mutually uncomprehending worlds: the stifling straight-jacket of upper class Victorian 'polite society' against the rough and ready world of the dockside and the lower deck; the cold precision of the letter of the law against the loose custom and practice that governed the lives - and often the deaths - of seamen."

Mr Hanson will be signing copies of the book at The Grove bookshop, Ilkley, on Saturday, October 9, between 10.30am and 12pm. Anyone who can't go to the session but wanting to pre-order a signed copy should call 609335.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.