28 FEBRUARY 1936, Page 42

NAVAL ODYSSEY By T.- Woodrooffe Naval Odyssey (Cape, 10s. 6d.)

is a well-written aeciauntkof the life of a young officer in a " C " class cruiser during a voyage in the Mediterranean. Mr. Woodrooffe tells his atry in the third person, a method of autobiography which succeeds admirably in the present rase. - As the events related'hapPened in 1921 and 192-9, the author is able to put them in, true ,per- speetive without any irritating asides. Those years were eventful ones in the Mediterranean, and the Cassiopeia' seems to have missed nothing. • The, Turks had ',descended upon Smyrna and . the massacre of September 1922..toak place. The part played by the Fleet in the subseitnent evacuation of Smyrna is well known, and Mr. Woodrooffe's account of the escape from slaughter of some of the. Greek population is dramatic and moving. The book. is Worth reading for this section alone. Then there is the other side of naval life which the author tells with admirable Iiiiinour. In Santander ex-King Alfonso of Spain came aboard, and the royal splendour of the occasion and the lavish entertainment prepared for the guest,. as seen.through the:eyes -of the im- pressionable young officer, are extremely amusing.