W. Matthew Hart - Author

The pages of this book are about the Cape Verdes, the Azores, the people from New England and my imagination. This is a mixture of factual and fictional stories. Some are quotes or are actual fascinating stories that began back in the Whaling Days and have reemerged today as the Illegal Drug Days in the Portuguese Packet Triangle.

What do these specks of land, the Cape Verdes and the Azores, that are sitting several miles off the west coast of Africa, and Portugal, have in common with New England besides the Packet Triangle? To answer this question, I need to thank the New Bedford Whaling Museum, and Nantucket Whaling Museum, National Geographic, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and other knowledgeable contributors for the historical research about this inherently unique area of maritime history of the Atlantic Ocean, and New England.

Major Alan Hastings looked out of a window from their home in South Chatham, Massachusetts. He was gazing intently through this window, down at the shimmering reflections of light on the surface of Taylor’s Pond, below. The morning sun was penetrating through the previously cold darkness of the night, As the intensity of a soft red glow etched across the clear blue sky, his inner thoughts drifted to his family and his own life so far. The profound reality of the quoted expression, by Alphonse Karr, that he had recently read was also on his mind.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I’m sure every generation looks back at the years of change in their lives and marvels at all the advancements that have been made,” he thought. “In most instances, regrets are not for what has been done, but for what could have done. This made him wonder if he and his wife had done enough for their son, John in the International Drug Enforcement Agency?”ditional text or photos.