Maid of All Work
Destroyer's War. By A. D. Divine. (John Murray. 6s.)
THE wartime Navy, with its large proportion of temporary. officer and ratings, is less indifferent than the regular service to lack public appreciation, and many an overworked destroyer man will b grateful to Mr. Divine for reminding the world at large of th peculiarly uncomfortable and unremitting labours which he an his fellows are called upon to perform in fulfilling His Majesty purposes at sea. It may console him for the ignorance which, f example, in a recent daily paper ascribed the destroyer's proud till of " Maid of All Work," to the modern naval motor boats! Th are admirable and important craft, but severely limited both in th functions and their powers of endurance, whereas it is hardl possible for any naval action to take place without destroyers play an essential part.
Mr. Divine writes with real enthusiasm in a style rather the motion of a destroyer at sea—whether or not there is acti you feel a bit exhausted at the end ; but his book, excellen illustrated, is one of the best and most authentic accounts of th war at sea which have yet appeared. Besides providing an exciti account of the million miles steamed by the Eighth Flotilla duri the first two years of the war, it reveals something of what g on 'in the minds of men who are serving perhaps too days out 120 at sea, the touch of bitterness in the jokes with the base offic " You so-ande-so's are always here worrying us about leave "- the belief that "the principal objective in the life and work of staff of Captain D. is to make life as uncomfortable and outrage
as possible for the destroyers." Such thoughts may be unfair, but they do relieve the strain, the endless demands for endurance and fortitude which are added to the general disabilities of life in these small restless ships, and which are met with such constancy.
COLIN MANN.
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