" SHIPBUILDING—From Smack to Frigate, from Cutter to Destroyer." Published on behalf of J. Samuel White & Co., Ltd., Cowes, by the Albion Publishing Co., London.

This book describes the activities of the firm of shipbuilders, Messrs. J. S.

White & Co., Ltd., of Cowes, from its foundation up to the present day. It goes back, in fact, beyond the foundation of the firm, for the story begins in 1764, when the great-grandfather of the firm's founder, so we are told, was a wellestablished shipbuilder in Broadstairs.

There are a number of beautiful illustrations, some in colour, and who with any pretence of love for the sea could refrain from dipping into a book with such a captivating sub-title as " From Smack to Frigate, from Cutter to Destroyer," even when it has been frankly published for advertising purposes ? Reference is naturally made to the building of the Institution's Life-boats, which, for a number of years, has been a by no means unimportant branch of the firm's activities. We gladly pay tribute to the admirable work which has been put into the Life-boats; and as Messrs. White built their first boat for the Institution in 1898, that tribute is based on an experience of 30 years.

The skill of Cowes boatbuilders is proverbial, and the Life-boats provide perhaps the most striking example of an art which appears to be peculiarly the birthright of Cowes men..