• The first edition of The Small-Boat Skipper's Safety Book by Denny Desoutter (Hollis and Carter, £1.95) was published in 1972. The revised second edition published this year is in the light, no doubt, of after thoughts; but it also takes account of statistics of incidents involving pleasure craft made available from the RNLI computerised records. Generous tribute is made to the RNLI in this respect; and my only, and minor, criticism is that, when so doing, Denny does not say that but for Professor W. W. Flexner of the USA the RNLI would not have a computerised record.

The coverage is comprehensive both as to types of craft and of types of hazard for which to be on the alert, before, during, and even after a trip.

Explained in particular is the need not to relax concentration and care when closing the land where shallows, bars and tide rips may make for more turbulent conditions than those prevailing whence one has come. With respect to Monsarrat, the reviewer has never found it sensible to consider the the sea as either 'cruel' or enemy. Even so, it is a fact that conditions in the approaches to a haven lie in wait for the unwary; vide the concentration of RNLI services to pleasure craft in such places.

'Safety Book' is not a title such as to make the average reader reach for it if in search of interest and excitement.

But the average reader would be mistaken; both are there; and the book is excellently written, and with a kindly humour when pointing out the egregious lack of forethought that can lead to discomfort or worse.—P.C.C.

• Yachtsmen who have seen, but have not been able to obtain, one of the rare copies of 'The English Channel Handbook' published in 1943 by the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty, will welcome a new publication being prepared by R. M. Bowker, The Channel Handbook. The first volume in the series, Central Section, has recently been published.

It is a loose-leaf book made up of 66 large scale charts showing about 100 anchorages within the areas Chichester to Portland, the Channel Islands and the French Coast from St Malo to Barfleur. There is a chart on the front of each detachable sheet, with navigational notes and tidal data on its reverse. Well printed in two colours on thick paper, it is clear and easy to read, with plenty of room for personal notes.

Many of the charts included are not readily available elsewhere, some being based on large scale Admiralty charts no longer in print and some on French charts not normally found in this country, and the publishers will maintain a simple correction service so that the book need never go out of date; each year stockists will offer a package containing a list of corrections in the form of a page of the book, or new editions of charts, should that be necessary.

This first volume, which will surely step straight into the category of basic navigational reference books, is available from marine booksellers, price £12, or direct from the publishers (75p extra for postage), Bowker and Bertram Ltd, Whitewalls, Harbour Way, Old Bosham, West Sussex. —J.D.

% For naval historians, Patrick Stephens have recently published a useful book of reference, British Vessels Lost at Sea 1939-45 (£3.95). Originally published by HMSO on behalf of the Admiralty in 1947 as two books, these have now been combined into one volume. Valuable data and statistics are given in concise tabular form, wellindexed.

—J.D.

0 Although we are apt to describe the British climate as comparatively equable, it takes no feat of memory to recall that during recent years the weather has on occasions caused much hardship, destruction and even death.

Such dramatic events are the subject of British Weather Disasters, by Ingrid Holford (David and Charles, £4.95).

The book deals with every type of extreme weather conditions: storms over land and sea, floods, snow and ice, tidal surges, fog and even drought. The examples are mainly twentieth century ones, which are well documented, but some earlier disasters are examined, such as the Fire of London in 1666, and the Royal Charter storm of 1859.

It seems that some weather disasters are bound to visit us in the future. For example, much of eastern England is below sea level, and under constant threat from the North Sea. Defenceshave been improved since the floods of 1953, but there is no guarantee that there will be no repetition; weather conditions in 1953 were actually not as bad as they might have been, and it is a disconcerting thought that the south east of England is sinking at about one foot per century.

Ingrid Holford has many words of sympathy for the forecasters of the Meteorological Office, who have often been blamed for not giving sufficient warning of trouble. There is a very thin dividing line between weather that is bad, and weather that is positively dangerous. The worst effects of a storm may be caused by tornadoes, which are quite unpredictable and highly localised.

Flood water may pour off high ground, but damage will only result if rivers and drains become blocked by debris, thus building up a battering ram of thousands of tons of water, which is what happened at Lynmouth in 1952.

The book is well illustrated with photographs and weather maps, and the explanations of how the weather works to produce such unfortunate results are positively dramatic.—A.H.G.

• Why do they do it? What is it that calls people from the land and sends them off, alone, on long ocean voyages under sail? There are, of course, as many answers to that question as there are ocean voyagers; that is part of the fascination of the stories they have to tell. In Adventure in Depth (Nautical Publishing Co., £4.65), a book difficult to put down, Bill King tells of his singlehanded circumnavigation in Calway Blazer II. Rounding all five capes— Good Hope of South Africa, Leeuwin of Western Australia, South Cape of Tasmania, South-East of Stewart Island off New Zealand, and the Horn—he allowed 'the absolute freedom, the violent beauty of battling above, not under the waves' to release springs wound tight by submarine warfare and still not really loosened after 23 years of peace.—J.D.

0 In the introduction to Famous Rescues at Sea (Arthur Barker, £3.95) the author, Richard Garrett, speaks of his 'amazement that human beings could endure so much and still live; awe that the combined forces of wind and sea can create such excesses of violence.'' His selection includes the stories, among others, of Grace Darling and Forfarshire, of Captain Carlsen of the Flying Enterprise and the recovery of an US Air Force H-bomb lost in the Mediterranean. The final chapter is a tribute to old lifeboats, giving the early history of lifesaving round our coasts.

One chapter records the first occasion on which a vessel in distress sought help with the aid of Marconi's discovery, wireless—in 1899. And there is a reminder, early in the book, that the first official weather forecasts were not produced until 1861.—J.D..