• Lifeboats of the World by E. W.

Middleton (Blandford Press £3.75) is the most comprehensive study yet made of the way in which different countries organise their lifeboat services. The author examines the services in no fewer than 30 countries.

Two distinct administrative patterns emerge. One is that of the voluntary society which is commonly to be found in Europe. The architects of many of the European services deliberately chose the RNLI as their model and many of their early lifeboats were built in Britain. By contrast there are the statecontrolled services, of which by far the best known is the United States Coast Guard, which undertakes many responsibilities in addition to providing a lifeboat service. The author calls attention, for example, to the work in ice breakers in the Great Lakes, to the weather ships and to a variety of Coast Guard duties such as evacuating people from the shore when hurricanes strike the Gulf of Mexico.

A common thread in the establishment of new lifeboat services is to be found in the incidence of disasters.

Students of the lifeboat service in Britain are familiar with the story of the wreck of the Adventure near the mouth of the Tyne in 1789 which led to the construction of the first boat designed from the outset and built as a lifeboat.

Eric Middleton also calls attention to the consequences of the wrecks off the New Jersey coast in 1854 which caused the loss of some 300 lives, the loss of the Dutch frigate De Vreede off Den Helder in 1824, which was followed by the foundation of the Dutch Lifeboat Societies, and the loss with all hands of the brig Alliance near Borkum in 1860.

Following this disaster an appeal was made in Germany for the establishment of a lifeboat service to be formed on the lines of the RNLI.

Eric Middleton is illuminating in describing how different lifeboat societies have made new technical and other advances. The United States Coast Guard for example was already operating its own air section in 1916.

The Breton Humane Society, which was founded in 1873, led the world in the use of the modern inflatable inshore lifeboat. The lifeboat service in the German Federal Republic was the first to introduce the rescue cruiser with a daughter boat. The government-controlled service in Canada made interesting experiments in the crewing of rescue boats in summer months by students.

Lifeboats of the World is a serious contribution to lifeboat history yet contains accounts of a number of colourful incidents. No doubt writing from first-hand knowledge, Eric Middleton describes how inspectors of the RNLI operated shortly after the second world war, when motorcars were not readily available and equipment was often far from perfect. On one occasion a lifeboat on passage ran aground on a lee shore in the middle of the night. The inspector in command, who was suffering from raging toothache, climbed a formidable cliff to get help and also discover where he was.

The commander of a Canadian hovercraft used his searchlight to illuminate a naked girl about to enter the water. The hovercraft promptly hit a concrete post, the commander later reporting that he had experienced 'rudder overbalance'.

The author perhaps wisely makes no serious attempt to solve the mystery, which has long puzzled historians of the lifeboat service, of what happened in China, whether there was or was not an effective lifeboat service in the first half of the 18th century. A strange omission is the failure to mention that the RNLI operates in the Irish Republic as well as in the United Kingdom.

The book is well produced with no fewer than 102 colour illustrations and a foreword by the former Moelfre coxswain, Richard Evans.—P.H.

% 'Man the lifeboat! Man the lifeboat! Vessel on the Doom Bar!' Such cries were to be heard in the narrow streets of Padstow when pulling lifeboats were in service and many vessels went aground on the sandbanks near the entrance to the harbour. The record of those early boats has been vividly portrayed in The Story of Padstow's Life-boats by Claude Berry (Lodenek Press, £1.80).

One of the incidents described was a rescue of a baby from a barque and of the baby's mother. A lifeboatman is quoted as saying: 'In the water we had a momentary glimpse of a white face, a pair of glazed eyes, and a mass of black hair and skirts floating about—then, we had her aboard.' The baby, a boy, grew up to become captain of a liner.

At one time there were three lifeboats at Padstow, two propelled by oars and the other a steam lifeboat. A steam tug replaced the steam lifeboat lost in a disaster in 1900. Describing how it felt to be at the helm of a lifeboat under tow, the author writes of the coxswain: 'For twelve hours he stands at the helm of the boat in a position of the greatest exposure. His face is whipped with spray. . . . At last the coxswain is physically unable to get out of the boat and has to be lifted ashore, so stiff are his limbs with the long and unrelieved stay at his post.' Pen portraits of different Padstow coxswains are included in Claude Berry's admirable account. One of the outstanding coxswains was Thomas Edyvane, a shipwright who became a Trinity House pilot. On one occasion, when a pulling lifeboat was being drawn on her carriage by ten horses, a thick, rusty iron hook used for coupling the horses to the carriage was driven right through the palm of Coxswain Edyvane's hand. He pulled the hook out, bound his hand with a handkerchief, and then took his place in the lifeboat as if nothing had happened.

Claude Berry's history of Padstow lifeboats was first published in 1927 to mark the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Padstow station.

It has been brought up-to-date by his brother-in-law, Charles Tarry, and re-issued with numerous photographs of exceptional historical interest.—P.H.

• John Russell, the author of Yachtmaster Offshore: The Art of Seamanship (Royal Yachting Association in association with David and Charles, £3.95) is clearly a very experienced seaman and writes with authority and insight about the subject of seamanship as applied by the knowledgeable yachtmaster. Much emphasis is placed on the art of leadership without which no aspiring yachtmaster can hope to master his trade.

The book is extremely readable and does not get lost in the depths of technical appreciation of types of design' and equipment available to the yachtsman.

The author covers most of the problems and situations afloat, offering commonsense advice and instructing the reader to prepare and master his subject in advance.

Nicely illustrated, this book, all the royalties of which are being given to the RYA Seamanship Foundation, should appeal to both novice and experienced sailor alike.—D.J.W.

• The narrative of Ross Cunningham's Portpatrick and its Lifeboat, 1877-1977 reads well, and is evidence of very thorough research, not just into rescues, but also concerning personalities and station events. There are two useful maps and full details of the lifeboats in the appendix.

As so often happened, the establish- merit of a lifeboat followed a succession of shipwrecks, and the first boat was the third to bear the name of the Civil Service Fund. An unusual feature was the method of launching, by crane, which lasted until 1924 when the station's last sailing lifeboat departed.

The importance of the lifeboat in such a seafaring community is well illustrated by a 'pop' concert in recent years which came to an abrupt end when the maroons were fired and the youthful audience departed to see the lifeboat away.

The booklet costs 75p, lOp of which goes to RNLI funds, from the author at Station View, J'ortpatrick, Stranraer, Wigtownshire DG9 8LD. Postage and packing, lOp.—A.H.G.

• The Shell Book of Knots and Ropework by Eric C. Fry, illustrated with photographs taken by Peter Wilson (David and Charles, £3.50) is an exceptionally clear exposition of an art which, even when being demonstrated, can often be muddling. Stage by stage photographs and the full description of each knot bend, hitch or splice appear on the same double opening, and the photographs are taken from such an angle that the hands manipulating the ropes might be the reader's own. A book, not expensive by today's prices, which can be thoroughly recommended—R.P.

• The Sailing Cruiser by W. M.

Nixon (Nautical Publishing Co., £9.95) is not only a book for experts by an expert but is absorbing and instructive for anybody who is interested in going afloat in something larger than a dinghy. It is well illustrated with photographs and drawings and contains a wealth of practical information on nearly all subjects concerning the cruising sailor. The style is easy to read and the book would be worthy of a place in the limited library on board.— E.J.

Q Dipping lug and spritsail, burton and snotter are words which don't trip lightly from the tongue of today's dinghy sailor, but 60 years and more ago it was a different story and one that is well worth reading as told by John Glasspool in Boats of the Longshoremen (Nautical Publishing Co., £5.50). However eagerly you have frequented the feet of Edgar J. March and other giants of his ilk, you will learn much from this book, including three ways of dipping your lug if you are lucky enough to possess one.—B.A..