Adventures on the High Seas. By Richard Stead. (Seeley and
Co. 5s.)—One reads the many thrilling stories of shipwreck in Mr. Stead's volume with very mingled feelings, for there are the dark shades of dreadful suffering and death in even the most successful escapes from the sea. Mr. Stead has made his selection well, though he has not quite mastered the art of neatly splicing the thread of narrative in cases where he has had to condense extracts. The story of the 'Wager's' company and their adventures near the Straits of Magellan is remarkable if only in showing what men can endure. The Wager' was an unsea- worthy East Indianian pressed into Anson's expedition to the .Spanish Main in 1740. The wreck of another East Indiaman, the 'Halsewell,' in 1789 is equally famous ; she was in perfect con- .dition, and came to grief in the ChanneL What a contrast among the modern incidents related here are the Hong-kong typhoon and the Dogger Bank incident. The prolonged vicissi- tudes of James Choyee and his companions towards the close of the eighteenth century—the author tells us no more as to the date—furnish evidence of British grit and hopefulness. We hear also of Lord Dundonald and his fireships in the Basque Roads, and of the cruise of the genComan who coasted two thousand miles in a paper canoe. There is a little of all sorts in the volume. By the by, Mr. Stead might have given us some details about the *Calliope,' her size, the power of her engines, dm. Boys like to know these things. It is hardly necessary to recommend the book; it speaks for itself, and it records many a stirring incident and heroic deed.
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