MR. C. R. BENSTEAD in Shallow Waters (Robert Hale, 21/-), has produced an engaging, lustily written account of almost anything which may happen and has happened in the coastal waters of Britain. His range is extensive.

On one page he will describe how a brig captured an eagle in the North Sea in 1864, and on another will describe plans for building lighthouses on the Goodwin Sands. Elsewhere he delves into the problem of smuggling and reports Pitt as having stated in 1784 that 60% of the tea drunk in London had been smuggled. At another point he speculates with authority on what really happened at the Battle of Jutland. He quotes Conrad, Tacitus, Pepys and Kipling on the subject of the River Thames, and deals entertainingly with the curious nomenclature of boats : " So the list runs on— snibs (Grimsby's name for her seiners or craft using a seine net), chop backs (or Hastings luggers), spritties from London River, seals from Sandwich, the Solway whammel, barges and wherries (once sizeable sea-going craft), sixerns and fourerns in the Shetlands, drontheims in Donegal, pilot-gigs, galley-punts, tilt-boats, hatch-boats, yaffers, sploshers, nobbies and the rest." To describe Mr. Benstead's book as disjointed is hardly a relevant criticism, for his method is his own and his book will bring delight to many. A considerable part of Shallow Waters is devoted to the work of the Royal National Life-boat Institution, Mr.

Benstead's tributes are generous and his standard of accuracy high, and he recalls vividly some of the outstanding services in the past, such as those to the Indian Chief and the Rohilla, the rescue from the Daunt Rock lightvessel and the launch of the Lynmouth life-boat over Exmoor. There are many excellent photographs.

STIMULATING AUTOBIOGRAPHY Look Towards the Sea, by FRANK BAINES (Eyre & Spottiswoode, 21/-) is a stimulating, provocative and highly original autobiography of the author from his earliest childhood, which he claims to remember with remarkable vividness, to the moment when he goes to sea with his family's consent, after an unsuccessful attempt to do so by running away from school. The earlier chapters are devoted to life in Cornwall.

Of Porthoustock, Mr. Baines writes : " Its fame was in its life-boat, manned by quarrymen, farmers and fishermen, which carried out such tremendous rescues from the many shipwrecks on the Manacles. . . . The difference between farmer and fisherman was very indefinite, most of them doing a bit of both." With exceptional vividness Mr.

Baines describes a service by the Porthoustock life-boat to the S.S. Mohegan, of Hull, in 1899, He tells how " at two minutes past eight, according to the chronometer in the coastguard house, the vessel struck the Minstrel Rock with a clang that was heard all over the parish." He then describes the way in which " the women of P'roustock laid out the ropes and hauled the boat from its house and along the eighty yards of beach to the slipway on their own while Mrs. Uren on her knees in front greased the rollers." His informant, he claims, was the second coxswain, who delayed the departure of the life-boat by lashing every man to his seat, thereby saving their lives. The final picture after the rescue is of one survivor, a certain Miss Noble, who had been clutching to the floating door of a cupboard : " Miss Noble gave directions for her own rescue with lucidity and an habitual command. ' I absolutely refuse, coxswain, to let go this piece of wood and catch hold of your line. My fingers are numb and I might not be able to retain my grasp. It has served me nobly and I intend to continue using it. You must bring the boat alongside '." LITTLE RELATION TO OFFICIAL ACCOUNT All this serves to build up an exceptionally lively account of a life-boat rescue. Unfortunately it has singularly little relation to the official account of the service. Indeed, the second coxswain, who appears to have been Mr. Baines' informant, was not in the boat the first time she went out, although he did go out in her later, conducting himself with considerable distinction.

Mr. Baines describes Dr. Spry as honorary secretary of the station at a time when in fact he was not, and gives the wrong name and port of registration of the vessel in distress.

The inconsistencies indeed are considerable, but the story remains a good one.

A review of MR. CYRIL JOLLY'S Henry Blogg of Cromer, published by George G. Harrap, will appear in the September number of the Life-boat..