In 1929 an Irish artist named Robert Gibbings arrived in Tahiti with the assignment of illustrating a new version of The Mutiny on the Bounty by James Norman Hall and Charles Nordhoff. Gibbings was a talented artist in many disciplines but had begun doing wood block illustrations in books for the Golden Cockerel Press. Unfortunately, James Norman Hall was busy with other work and so Gibbings spent his time writing and illustrating his own book – Iorana, a Tahitian Journal – the first of many that he would produce. Hall did take the time to bring Gibbings to Tetiaroa and that was the beginning of a life-long fascination with the Pacific islands and their undersea world. His efforts trying to draw the fish of the Tetiaroa lagoon inspired him to devise a way to draw underwater using a diving helmet and drawing on sheets of xylonite (like celluloid) with sticks of graphite. He stayed the night on Rimatuu and described the copra operation run by the Williams/Doran families. Even on this short trip he caught the spirit of the place.