THE VOYAGE OF THE TAI-MO-SHAN By Martyn Sherwood, R.N.
Writers who go adventuring -in search of copy provide most of our modem books about the sea, and it is from them that most people derive their impression of sailing the ocean in a small boat ; and a hazardous and emotional business it seems to be. ade notices with relief that Mr. Martyn Sherwood, the author of The Voyage of the Tai-Mo- Shan (Bles, 12s. 6d.) has the letters R.N. after his name, and welcomes an account by a " professional." The book is exactly what it should be, coming from a naval officer : informative, unpretentious, orderly, and written in clear direct English entirely free- from poeticising: The author's aim was not to thrill or amuse—though, of course, he does so indirectly—but to set down for the interest and assistance of others how five naval officers prepared for and accomplished a successful ocean voyage in a yacht with the minimum of expense and the maximum of comfort and speed. In the spring- of 1932 Lieutenants Ryder, Francis, Salt, Sherwood, and Surgeon-Lieutenant Ommanney-Davis, serving on the China Station, secured permisiion and the necessary leave to sail a yacht to England, partly for experience and partly to make meteorological observations. The 234-ton Tai-Mo- Shan ' was built to their own specifications, with the assistance of Mr. Rouse, the Vice-Commodore of the Royal Hong-Kong Yacht Club. They set sail from Hong-Kong on May 31st, 1933. Their decision to carry no engine, and trust entirely to their ketch rig, was amply justified by the progress they made. They sailed the 545 miles to -Formosa in five days, thence going by the Aleutian Islands to-Alaska, and down the coast to the Panama Canal. Passing the Bahamas they had their first mishap, running aground on Crooked Island. The natives had one shovel for burial purposes, which they lent stipulating that it should not get wet, so it took them a fortnight to refloat the yacht. The Atlantic was crossed in twenty-nine days, and on May 30th, a year after setting sail, they reached Dartmouth. The appendix includes plans, lists of supplies, instruments, and papers, notes on wireless, water supply and navigating, and other valuable information for anyone who would follow in their wake.
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