The Gallant Little "Campeador." By Cecil Hunt. (Methuen. 4s.)
MR. Hum's story of ' Campeador,' one of the inany motor- yachts that work with trawlers in the Auxiliary Patrol guarding our coasts, is typical of the courage and patriotism that our sea- faring men display in that most dangerous service. Her skipper, Commander Davey, R.N., had retired years before to become Master of the Dartmoor Hounds. Her three officers, averaging over sixty, were the owner, Mr. MacAndrew, and two other Devon yachtsmen, Mr. Charles Turner and Surgeon - Rear- Admiral J. R. Muir, the latest biographer of Captain Cook. These elderly men took out the converted yacht through the stormy autumn of 1939, and again, when she had been refitted, in the spring of 1940. All lost their lives when she was mined and sunk. Muir's letters give a vivid idea of the hazards of the patrol service which these aged volunteers, like many others, cheerfully faced. Navigating in the cold dark nights without any lights for guidance was only one of their difficulties. But, as the Prime Minister observed in granting two of them promo- tion, " age will be served."
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