'' Ships for All." By Frank C. Bowen (late Captain Royal Marines). Ward, Lock & Co'., Ltd., 6s'. net.

WHAT English boy or girl—and might we not add man or woman ?—does not take an interest in " those that go down; to the sea in ships and do their business in great waters." And yet how great is the ignorance of the average Englishman on all matters pertaining to the sea- faring profession ! It is this ignorance which has gradu-! serally instilled in the mind of the seafaring man the idea that he is different to other men, and has helped to raise that barrier which exists between seafarer and shoregoer. One would have imagined that the war would have broken it down. Yet there is little evidence of this. The sailor and his ship still seem to remain in the eyes of English men and women mysterious and inscrutable.

Captain Bowen has devoted 378 pages to elucidating this mystery, and he has done so to some purpose. Here is a book which should be read in every household, and which should find a place in everypublic library, for it tells us what we j owe to the sea and, incidentally, what the world owes to the British seaman— and shipbuilder. And it is written so simply and readably that every one should enjoy reading it.

To readers of The Lifeboat the chapter on Life-boats will be specially interesting, We must, however, point out one serious mistake. The Institution is not, as Captain Bowen says, supported by payments well earned by salvage serally vice. Their crews may be allowed in certain instances to claim salvage, but the Institution does not touch a penny of it, except in the case of the Padstow steam tug, which is, of course, not a lifeboat, and whose services in saving ships which are not in jeopardy off the formidable Doom bar are from time to time recognized by the award of salvage. In this case Lloyd's fully concur in the propriety of the Institution receiving a share of the salvage award in view of the great expense entailed, by the maintenance of the tug and the value of the property saved to underwriters..