31 OCTOBER 1925, Page 47

CADET TO COMMODORE. By Albert B. Armitage. (Cassell. 10s. 6d.

net.) Tars fine personal record shows us the spirit of the British Merchant Service in peace and war, and repeats the unchanging call of the sea. Late .Commodore of the P. & 0. Co.'s fleet, Captain Armitage was not too late, in his early days, to learn the hard discipline of sails, " to shoot the sun," and take a trick at the wheel. Going " into steam," he rose rapidly in rank and took part in two Polar expedi- tions, of which he has already given us an account. Here are amusing experiences of passengers, royal or otherwise. We like the alluring advertisement of a small steamship company—" A Surgeon, a Stewardess and an Experienced Cow." The cow, -presumably, knew all about the crying needs of infants-in-arms.