• In Small Boat Navigation (Stanley Paul, £2.25), Lt-Commander Pat Hepherd covers a great deal of this wide subject clearly and at times lightheartedly.

To the completely inexperienced reader some of the information imparted may seem rather more complex than he anticipated. Indeed, it is not unknown for a pupil in a navigation class to complain that his instructor is not explaining things properly as the subject cannot possibly be as difficult as it appears to be! However, the enthusiastic beginner will not go far wrong if he applies himself diligently to this manual, although one or two explanations may not please all experts. A major criticism might be on the order in which the various subjects are presented. Anyone proposing to take charge of a vessel at sea, however small, should surely start with the final chapter, 'The Rule of the Road at Sea'. A thorough knowledge of these regulations is a prime essential for any navigator—a fact which too many yachtmen are prone to forget.—E.W.M.

• Not exactly life-boat Collected Poetry and Verse, 1909-1972, by E. I.

Newgass (The Jameson Press, London, £1.50), but is worthy of mention here because Mr. Newgass, who now lives at West Wellow, Romsey, ran an RNLI branch at Steyning, Sussex, just after the war. In the section entitled 'Boats', which covers the sea, there is a poem in praise of the RNLI, the fourth verse reading: From John o'Groats to Cullercoats, and Fa/mouth in the South, At many a coastal harbour and at many a river mouth, When we hear tell of Gales in operation on the Air, We may be pretty certain that the lifeboatmen are there.

And when the wind is whistling down the chimney, and the rain Is spattering like anything against the windowpane, And we are sitting pretty while the seas destroy and rob, We can be sure that lifeboatmen are somewhere on the job.

% Model Shipwright (Conway Maritime Press, Greenwich, 75p), a quarterly journal of ships and ship models, reached us early this year and is No. 2 in the very well produced series.

Articles include 'Building a 17th Century Dockyard Model', 'The Introduction of Steam into the Royal Navy', 'Labour Saving Devices in Sail', 'Ropes and How to Make Them', 'Flags for the Ship Modeller', 'Working Models of Sailing Ships' and so on. Subscription rates for this extremely informative quarterly, which has hard covers, is £3.50 per annum for four issues published in September, December, March and June.

• The Story of the Paddle Steamer, by Bernard Dumpleton (Colin Venton, Melksham, Wilts., £3.25), is an account of the rise and fall of the paddle-steamer.

Apparently the paddle-steamer holds a unique place in the history of maritime engineering because the engineers of the early 19th century, in their experiments with steamboats, chose the paddle-wheel as the form of propulsion.

Within 20 years the paddle-steamer was established but in the jet age proved too slow and uneconomical. Mr Dumpleton, whose book is well illustrated with many rare pictures, tells the story of the men who built, owned and sailed them. Alas, by the 1950s, paddlesteamers were going to the breakers in droves and only a few survive today.

% Noon Sight Navigation: Simplified Celstial by Arthur A. Birney (Cornell Maritime Press, Cambridge, Maryland, USA, $3) offers an extremely simple, accurate and fast method of establishing one's position at sea. It can be read easily in an hour and any sailor of average competence should be able to use the method without difficulty once he has read the 40-odd pages. Major drawback of the technique, however, is that it can only be used at one time during the day—at local apparent noon (LAN), when the sun is at its highest.

• The winter 1972/1973 edition of East Coast Digest and Greenwich Times (Conway Maritime Press, Greenwich, 50p), which is No. 4 in the series, continues to maintain a high standard and this time gives space to two lifeboat articles. P. A. Vicary, for example, tells the story of the hotel at Sheringham, Norfolk, called 'The Two Life-boats'.• Sailing Dinghies of the World, by Percy W. Blandford (Ian Allan, £2.85), is an international pictorial catalogue of many of the world's dinghies. Mr Blandford's researches provide data on over 250 boats. After the preliminary chapters the book is divided into sections, each arranged alphabetically, In the preface the author states: 'It is interesting to note that in many countries, local classes, if they ever existed, are giving way to those popular in countries where sailing is the sport or recreation of thousands. This means that boats popular in such countries as the UK, USA and France have a wide distribution elsewhere'.—C.R.E.

• Those who spend all, or part, of their holidays in this country can now readily discover beforehand the amenities of the part of the coast they propose visiting by referring to a new handbook called Good Beach Guide.

edited by Anthony Smith and Jill Southam (Penguin Books, £1.25). Anyone wishing to know if the place they propose to visit is strong on entertainment, has a lifeboat station, good camping sites, a Chinese restaurant, what the beach is like, and so on, no longer has to do his own leg work—the Good Beach Guide, by text, maps, and easily understood symbols, will tell him instantly all he wants to know, and much more. Lifeboat enthusiasts will, in addition, find a special article on lifeboats, together with a lifeboat map.

The guide should interest most people, and motorists in particular will find it a useful addition to the maps and hotel and food guides carried in most cars.— S.E.B.

• So you want to go to Sea? by Richard Wiggan (Colin Venton, price £3.15) sets out to give the background— qualifications needed, training, types of ships—for those whose ambition it is to follow the sea as a career. The book tells how to go about joining the Royal Navy, Merchant Navy, the luxury liners, oil tankers, etc., and also includes brief histories of organisations involved in safety and rescue at sea. This section tells the story of the RNLI and recounts the service of the Valentia lifeboat to the Oranmore when Coxswain Dermot Walsh won his silver medal.—A.B.

Cornish lifeboat appeal The Cornish Lifeboat Appeal, which at the RNLI's annual meeting was reported to stand at £38,000 at the end of 1972, is to continue until the end of September. The sum of £50,000 is needed to complete the purchase of two new lifeboats to be stationed at Falmouth and Sennen Cove in Cornwall..