The Steep Atlantick Stream. By Robert Harling. (Chatto and Windus.
7s. 6d.) HERE is another slim modest volume to join the shelf of similar slim modest volumes of personal experiences in the war at sea that have appeared in the last five years. As in many others, The Battle of the Atlantic, seen from the wardroom of a convoy escort, forms the background for a story that is almost straight autobiography ; indeed there is nothing in the book to suggest it is not absolute truth except a rail journey in which the author left Glasgow Sunday night and reached London Saturday morning, which is too slow even for wartime travel—or else too fast. Those who remember Lieutenant Harling's Amateur Sailor, published under the pseudo- nym of Nicholas Drew, may hope to find in this latecomer something dfferent from the books already pn the shelf. They will rediscover his power of shrewd observation and his ability to write with gentle- ness and wit ; but they will regret that he has so little new to say. The monotonous life in escort vessels provides too small scope for such a profusion of books.
Previous page
