Amateur Sailor. By Nicholas Drew. (Constable. 98.)
THERE are as many national characteristics in the English boy as in the grown man, and a desire to go to sea is one of the most prominent of them: The author of this autobiography early acquired this longing; it was kindled from books. on maritime adventures and expeditions, in small sailing craft from the seaside town where he lived as w boy. However, when the time came to decide on a means of livelihood, he was wise enough to distinguish between the excitements of adventure stories and of boat-sailing and 'the labours and monotonies of a whole lifetime in the steam-driven ships of today. He wavered and stuck to dry land ; whenever opportunity could be found he continued to sail in boats. The war came to reverse his decision temporarily (if temporarily still describes this war's duration) ; he went to sea as an ordinary sea- man in a trawler to Norway, in a ship's lifeboat to Dunkirk, and as a junior officer in a corvette escorting Atlantic convoys. It is an extremely personal, narrative, although all the characters, in- cluding the authoi, are concealed by fictitious names, and the efforts to hide their identity have deprived the story of some of its reality. It is nevertheless an interesting and entertaining record of his early acquaintance with the sea, his youthful ambitions which were set aside in favour of designing and commercial art, and the inevitable climax when he at last became a sailor. There is nothing very unusual in these happenings, but his thoughts and the motives that led him along the stages of his journey make up the substance of the book ; they are told in a manner that is engrossing, often vivid, and always well written.
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