BOOKS The Maritime Paintings of John Chancellor, intro. Austin Hawkins (Dav id & Charles, London and North Pomfret VT, 1984, 80 pp, illus, £40/$75). " Daddy, they ' re all gone." " What's all gone?" " The paintings ; they ' re all sold." So did the late John Chancell or learn from his daughter of the success of his first show as a marine artist, in 1973. His death last spring at age 59 robbed the world of a brilliant late-blooming talent , in a truebred seaman who persuaded hi s wife to share life afloat; their four children were born aboard the sailing barge Vip er. His paintings, whether of HMS Beagle on her beam ends in a hurricane, o r a brigantine unloading in a quiet cove, or barges in the mud , awaiting a rising tide, all convey some seafaring point. He observed wind and sea with extraordinaril y sharp vis ion, and found ways to express that vision with soaring vitality. Someday we plan to present his work , but here it is in very fine reproduction , wi th Chancellor's own commentary on the varied scenes , mostly of sailing ships of the last century, and an extensive, appreciative introductio n by Austin Hawkins. The introduction , which is accompanied by lovely loose drawings of men and gear, concludes that even to a non-seaman it is immediately clear that
" here is a man who knows his subject intimately and loves it." And here, in this book is an opportunity to come to know this man and his work, to embark on an "adventure of discovery, reading hi s notes, learning and sharing all the special little details ... and understanding their importance in the sea-go ing order of things ." Chancellor's art , which flowers so brilliantly in these scenes of storm and sunshine, is rooted in that sea-going o rder of things. PETER STA FORD The Galway Hookers, by Richard J. Scott (Ward River Press, Forest Gate, Swords, Co. Dublin , Eire, 1983, 127pp, illus, IR £4. 95, £4.01 Sterling). This profusely illustrated book on the history of the working sai lboats of Galway will have a great appeal to all lovers of surviving sail. It portrays the story of a type unique to the West Coast of Ireland which developed in an isolated seagirt locality in the last centuries. As the author observes: " The Galway hooker has no close counterpart elsewhere in the 19th century, discounting the Boston Irish hooker, introduced by emigrants in the 1850s-the same Boston Irish hooker that over 100 yea rs later was quoted by ocean yachts-
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man Peter Tangvald as his choice of seagoing c ruiser." Richard Scott spent over twenty years in research for this book , starting at a time when the sai ling turf-traders and fishermen of Galway Bay appeared to be in danger of imminent extinction. He has lived to see a great revival of interest in these purely local craft , until by 1981 some 15 survi vors over 30 feet long could be seen under sail, with at least four new boats then building-an astonishing 20th century revival of a pre-Victorian type, with a corresponding resumption of regattas with races for traditio nal sailing craft round the remote bays of Western Ireland . The author has done extensive research into the o rigins of the craft , and of the men who o nce built and sailed them , using many photos. Few records ex ist prior to the late 19th centu ry, since the hookers were built entirely by eye, often on the open beach, by unlettered craftsmen. Truly this is a book to be read by all those interested in the final working era of small sailing craft, and the possibilities of the revival of suitable types to be kept sailing fo r the edification of yet another generation. JAMES FORSYTH E Major Forsythe, Hon. Secretary of the World Ship Trust, is President of the Norfolk Wh erry Trust inter alia . The Twilight of Welsh Sail, by Aled Eames (U ni versity of Wales Press, 1984, 130pp, illus, pbk £2.95 ; in North America , Humanities Press, $6.25) . This bilingual (Welsh-English) account of the last days of Welsh deepwater sai l concentrates on the experiences of the crews, and includes interesting contemporary photogra phs. A random antho logy written around selected voyages, the work suffers from lack of a table of contents and index .
JF A Century Under Sail; Selected Photographs by Morris Rosenfeld and Stanley Rosenfeld, Legendary Photographers of the America's Cup Races, by Stanley Rosenfeld , (Add ison-Wesley Publishing Co., Reading MA, 1984, 252pp, illus ; $44). Beautifull y produced , this !Oxl4in book offers the superb photography of the Rosenfelds, fat her and son. The selection covers the America's Cup racers, catching even the origi nal America under sail; here also are coasting schooners, and the full rigger Tusitala. The text abounds in vignettes of people and events, and tips to photographers on the difficult but rewarding ant of photographing sails, boats, and peopl<e against the changing panorama of sea amd sky. PETER STANFORD SlEA HISTORY, WINTER 1984-85