this question: "What other than a cruising sailboat is at once so lovely to look at, so exhilarating to travel on, and so charming to live aboard?" Having eloquently stated the main criteria for a proper yacht, he proceeds to discuss the planning and design aspects of each area from "Hull Design" through "Engines and Related Troubles" in a thoughtful and informative manner. This second edition of The Proper Yacht is a worthy successor to the first, published in 1966. All of the 58 designs detailed and discussed in Part Two are new, with clear, well-printed arrangement plans, inboard profiles, sail plans and principal dimensions, backed up by pertinent text. DON MEISNER Saga of Direction, by Charles H. Vilas (New York, Seven Seas Press, 1978, 218 pp., illus., $12.95). The Colin Archer type cutter Direction was tested by history early in life-and failed. In his book N by E, Rockwell Kent brought her wreck on the coast of Greenland to the attention of the world. That voyage and Direction's return are the main attraction of this book, but her later career as a cruising yacht is equally interesting, perhaps especially to a younger reader. An uncrowded and uncommercialized Long Island Sound is a bit of history that is rapidly fading into the past. Boatbuilders in Nyack and canals across New Jersey may soon seem as fabulous as the Greenland coast. During the thirty years that Mr. Vilas has owned Direction, he has been collecting information on her history. The friends he has made during this search are as much a part of the story as Direction herself. The material is given to the reader as is, with the contradictions and omissions that are inevitable in the historical record. The result is what the author terms 'a browsing sort of book,' somewhat rough, but much more satisfying to the historically minded reader than a retold, predigested story. The tale is well told, and should entirely satisfy those readers who prefer to begin at the beginning and go until they reach the end. ROY HAMLIN Mr. Hamlin is a restorer of old buildings
as well as boats, and follows this avocation as a volunteer at South Street Seaport Museum in New York. Bartlett the Great Canadian Explorer, by Harold Horwood (New York, Doubleday, 1977, 175 pp., illus., $7.95). Captain Robert Bartlett's remarkable career as Arctic explorer is well told in this biography. Bartlett was best known SEA HISTORY, FALL 1978
for his Arctic voyages in the former Gloucester fishing schooner Effie M. Morrissey from the 1920s into the 1940s. But before he acquired her, he took other boats north under such famous explorers as Robert Peary and Vilhjalmur Stefansson. Controversy has since touched some of these exploring efforts, but Bartlett's courage and capability were never questioned. This biography gives a good narrative of these efforts, and Bartlett's own voyages in the Morrissey. One could wish for a more masterful writer to tell the tale, to make scenes and characters come to life on our mental screens. But in all, this is a good record of a fascinating career, in a time when exploring the far reaches of the earth spelled challenge and adventure of high order. The author is very interested in Bartlett's ship, and makes note of her subsequent career as Cape Verdean packet, but he fails to get the facts right as to the effort to return her to the United States. BH Songs of the Sea, by Stan Hugill (Maidenhead, England, McGraw-Hill Book Co. (UK), 1977, 198 pp., illus., $17.50). This is Hugill's third book of sea songs and his first coffee-table book. As with his others, it includes selections from several languages and a solid introduction to each song. He comments on the interchanges that occurred between the traditions, as sailors wandered from ship to ship, disseminating cultural interchange much as the bees do-as a by-product of their work. Where this book falls down is on the brevity of its notes. The music is good, both for playing and singing. In general, however, it does not compare with Shanties from the Seven Seas, Hugill's first work. He does not present the songs in relation to each other, nor does he trace the development of the songs or present variations of the songs. Although the content is good and does not overly recapitulate the content of his other books, this does not add to his repute as an editor of chanteys and sea lore. Another somewhat galling point is that he bowdlerized some of the chanteys. This is not a service to his public. The tradition is one of men who lived hard, lonely lives and usually expressed themselves picturesquely and with little reference to Mrs. Grundy. ERIC RUSSELL Mr. Russell is boatbuilder and song
maker by avocation, and co-author with Mark Lovewell of Songs of South
The Man Who Rode Sharks, by William R. Royal (New York, Dodd Mead, 1978, 150 pp., illus., $8.50). The author's first-hand acquaintance with sharks began when he caught one for food back during the Depression. Since then he has captured sharks for research purposes in a study of cancer in human beings. Here he explores shark history and shark ways in a book full of fact and adventure, which might gain for sharks some respect among movieinfluenced human beings. MARIE LORE
Mrs. Lore is Membership Secretary of the National Society. The Bridges of New York, by Sharon Reier (New York, Quadrant Press, 1978, 160 pp., illus., $14.95 cloth, $8.95 paper). New York's remarkable harbor is crisscrossed by a myriad of bridges built at different periods to move people and goods in and out of town without interfering with the vital harbor traffics on which the city's livelihood depends. This well illustrated review covers the story of those bridges, and sheds intriguing light on the development of the New World's greatest harbor. DOD Clipper Ship, by Thomas P. Lewis, ill. Joan Sandin (New York, Harper & Row, 1978, 64 pp., $4.95). This "history" book for young readers weaves a great deal of clipper mythology into a single imaginary voyage. Two young readers (ages 8 and 9) in my family found much to criticize, however, in what they felt was an overcolored view of seafaring, with a good many improbable and some inaccurate things crammed into one voyage. It's an engaging yarn, handsomely illustrated, but hardly history. PS Books About One and Two-Man Transocean Voyages, compiled by Richard Gordon McCloskey (Bothell WA, Hakluyt Minor, 1978, 45 pp., $7.50). This somewhat sketchy bibliography marks a first effort at a comprehensive listing of books on one or two-person ocean crossings. Its usefulness is limited by the fact that no descriptive information on the works is given; often you don't know the name of the boat, her size or rig, or what ocean she crossed. The author invites corregenda and addenda which can be sent to him at 9206 NE 180th Street, Bothell WA 98011. NB
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