The Fighting Fleets. By Ralph D. Paine. (Constable. 10s. M.
net.)--This is a very spirited account of the work of the American Navy during the war, with a number of excellent photographs. Mr. Paine tells some capital stories of submarine-hunting. One of the best, which, if not true, is well invented, is that of a diver who happened to be at work in a harbour when a, ' U '- boat, submerged, entered to lay mines. He tapped on the hull a
Morse code message, telling the '-boat to come up and sur- render as a depth-charge was being lowered. The mystified com- mander rose to the surface, where he found the armed trawler to which the diver was attached. The trawler's skipper, though equally surprised, manned his gun instantly, fired, and hit the conning-tower, whereupon the '-boat surrendered. Mr. Paine tells the truth about the hostile reception accorded to the American sailors in Cork by the Sinn Feiners, and says that even the Irish _Americans "lost much of that sympathy for down-trodden martyred Ireland which had been absorbed at home." He declares that from the Cathedral pulpit the Americans were denounced as " dissolute ruffians who had invaded Ireland like vultures, ready to corrupt the young men and ravish the young women." The American public will doubtless take note of these disgraceful facts. To illustrate the war spirit of America, Mr. Paine says that he met two sailors who had enlisted volun- tarily for the war. One was a collier aged fifty-six ; the other was a boy of fifteen, tall for his- years.
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