27 APRIL 1929, Page 29

SHIPMATES. By " Taffrail." (Hodder and Stoughton. 7s. 6d.)—As a

novel Shipmates is hardly a success : it is too disjointed and rambling. The flimsiest of plots merely serves as a pretext for a series of vivid scenes in the careers of three young shipmates in the Royal Navy before and during the War. " Taffrail " here discards his customary broad humour, and, though he cannot help being breezy, he gives us a real picture of life afloat, which all sea-lovers should enjoy. The brief interludes describing life ashore, in a Devonshire fishing village, show genuine tenderness and pathos, and suggest that the author has gifts in this vein which he might exploit more fully.