• The Unusual featUre about this latest addition (William Hodge,
to& 6d.) to the seemingly endless output of old sailor- men's reminiscences is that the author has enjoyed a fuller education -than most brassbounder-authors. His narrative is as a result punctuated with quotations from Dante and Omar Khayyam, etymological. speculations, and much strange.flotsam and jetsam of learning. Unfortunately Mr. Dexter's very Varied career—he has been soldier and clergyman as well as Sailor—has not succeeded in teaching him a style of sufficient Clearness to make his undoubtedly strange experiences readable. The book-contains some fine photographs, some interesting notes on sailors' slang and shanties, and the story of a voyage to Calcutta in the ' Buckingham,' which is said to be the only tailing-ship ever launched by Queen Victoria. There is also an enlightening comparison of conditions in British and American sailing ships in the 'nineties. For the rest the author's literary pretensions have ruined what might have been
a good book. .
Previous page
