CURRENT LITERATURE THE TALL SHIPS PASS By W. L. A.
Derby There is a refreshing freedom from the usual sentimentality about sailing- ships in The Tall Ships Pass (Cape, ass.). It is full of satisfying hard facts, gleaned over a long period of years by a member of Lloyd's whose passion for sailing ships really started when he boarded the Herzogin Cecilie ' one day in Millwall Docks. So deeply was he impressed that he sailed in her, dug up her story, visited Mariehamn, where Erikson keeps alive the last big fleet of square-riggers, and devoted himself to the study of the sailing-ship in general. The result is a masterly piece of work. The first part is an outline of the development of sail in the last hundred years, its bare survival in the Australian grain trade, and the human and economic conditions under which the survivors are run. The focusing is excellent, and there are few books on ships which make the wood stand out so clearly from the trees. But this part is only the prelude to an exhaustive account of the Herzogin Cecilie,' the acme of the deep sea square-rigger. All the puzzling mys- teries of gear and working, wages, profits, and runs are here explained in a beautifully clear and at times inspired style. The wealth of detail will especi- ally delight the specialist and the model- maker, but every ship-lover will pore lovingly over The Tall Ships Pass, and even those who have no particular liking for the sea will appreciate its graceful format and printing and the inspiring photographs. But why is there no index?
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