and Wigham Richardson. The stage is set for her famous career by reviewing the state and speed rivalry of transatlantic travel at the turn of the century. Some eleven photos, a simple set of deck plans and several tables fill out the booklet. Ironically this booklet extolling the virtues and longevity of the Mauretania appeared only one year before the classic liner's demise. Minor errors of dates and speeds in the originals of these books have not been corrected, and one could wish for an informed commentary to be published with such reprints. But the booklets should appeal to anyone who wants to reminisce on the Atlantic service during its heyday. CONRAD MILSTER
Mr. Milster of Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, is a stalwart of the Steamship Historical Society and advisor to the National Society. An L. Francis Herreshoff Reader, by L. Francis Herreshoff (Camden ME, International Marine Publishing Co., 1978, 311 pp., illus., $15.00). 0 This famous son of a more-famous father must have enjoyed a ch ildh ood t'ull of abso lute certainties. L. Francis is entirely sure that he is right about every subject he considers, and this gives his prose a sometimes pompous, always curmudgeonly quality that might turn the reader off but for the saving fact that he is right about every subject he considers. In this valuable book he considers a great many subjects: hull design, rigging, marine art, various important designers and sailors in the last century of yachting, the care and feeding of coal stoves on a boat, safety, yacht names, model making, trailboards, heavy weather seamanship, even wooden dinner plates. There's q10re than a touch of the poet and the mystic in him, notably in his chapter entitled "The Dry Breakers," where he recounts his experience of a night spent (voluntarily) on a barren ledge outside Marblehead: "I know the seagu lls' secret now, the contrast of the night and day, the changing scenes, the pleasant exercise that chases gloomy thought away and attunes the mind and body pleasantly." L. Francis is perhaps at his very best responding to presumption. Commenting on a series of articles in the National Fisherman (then the Maine Coast Fisherman) on the design of fishing vessels, he says of the author, "Perhaps when Mr. Steele gets a few more years on him, he will write a different article ." _S EA HISTORY, FALL 1978
A clewed upCDguide to hoisting in@ nautical lingo The language of the sea, gathered over centuries, has been • collected in one impressive, practical, and unprecet dented volume. In this vividly illustrated nautical encyclopedia,, ~~~~ft~B•C~I the reader will find nearly 4000 terms from the .... great age of sail-along with more modern terminology-colorfully defined and beautifully pictured. The book contains twenty subject headings, each with an introduction by an expert. Cross references lead the reader to other topics, and a full index provides instant reference to practically every sailing word, old or new. I. very knowledgeable
2. understanding
THE VISUAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
NAUTICAL TERMS UNDER SAIL Size 8" x 16 3.4". $15.95 now at your bookstore, or send check to Crown Publishers, Dept. 709, 34 Engelhard Ave., Avenel, N.J. 07001. Add SI for postage and handling, N.Y. and N.J. residents, add sales tax.
CRO*N
BLIGH VILLAIN OR VICTIM?
Was Bligh the "Bounty Bastard" portrayed in filtns and many books, or was he a victim of Fletcher Christian's mental instability? Dr. Kennedy, using material from Bligh's long-lost journal and those of two of the men abandon· ed with him, presents a compelling argument exonerating Bligh. A vivid recreation of eighteenth century seamanship, and the tensions and clash of personalities which developed in the cramped, doomed Bounty. Published by Duckworth, of London
BLIGH Gavin Kennedy
cloth $14.95
Also by Duckworth:
THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN COOK Gavin -Kennedy A fresh view of Cook's uncharacteristic behavior in his last days, and incidents leading to his murder. cloth $11.95 CAPTAIN COOK R.T. Gould The best short summary Qf Captain Cook's life, reprinted for the bicentennial of Cook's death. With maps and charts. cloth $9.95 CASTAWAY AND WRECKED Rex Cowan Shipwreck photos taken by residents of the Scilly-Cornwall coasts in the late nineteenth' cen· tury, with contemporary newspaper accounts. Black and white photographs. paper $3.95 Available from your bookstore or:
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