• Sailing Years, an autobiography by K. Adlard Coles (Granada Publishing, £9.95) is .fascinating reading because alongside the tales of this well-known sailor there emerges the story of the development of sailing and racing offshore. I also appreciated the candour with which the author, splendid seaman that he is, nevertheless relates his early mistakes; one learns from one's own mistakes but it is less painful to learn from those of others! Yachtsmen have always been a very generous race.

When reading the book, which I found hard to put down, it is inevitable that a sailor will compare his own experiences with those recounted, although few of us can go back to those really early days we read about and which so fire the imagination.—E.J.

• Determined that the long absences from home inevitable in the life of a nineteenth-century merchant seaman should not estrange him from his young children, Captain Robert Thomas, master of the iron sailing ship Merioneth, set himself the task of writing down all the main events of his life for his eldest daughter, Catherine Bruce. It was 1883 and his 'dear Brusey' was but five years old.

' has often come to mind to give you a short history of my life, for as I am so little with you, you will know but little of my past life . . .' It took Captain Thomas the five months of a voyage out of Penarth Roads to San Francisco to complete his 'diary' and this very human, but in no way condescending, document was followed by many letters both to Brusey and to his second daughter, Cecilia.

There is something both deeply touching and reassuring when a father can bridge the distance, perhaps from the other side of the world, to teach such little girls the meaning of nautical terms and to tell them about the countries he visited, about the state of the sea, about how icebergs are formed or about the origin of the Gulf Stream; about loading ship . . . about, in fact, whatever formed a part of his life: 'My dear child perhaps it will be well for me to tell you something about quarantine . . .' 'Now you must know that to lose a rudder is indeed a sad thing for nothing can be done with a ship without a rudder . . . " 'My darling children, I am now in what we call the "doldrums", just between the two trade winds . . . " 'Isuppose my little girl don't know what a log is so I must try and explain . . . " 'My little girl must know being such an old sailor that the way we talk at sea are by flags . . .' Captain Thomas's love and perseverance were well rewarded; no father and daughter could ever have been closer than he and his darling Brusey. She crossed the world to be with him in his last illness and she kept and treasured all his letters and other papers. They were handed down to her nephew, Reginald Froom and it is on these writings that Aled Eames has based his book Ship Master: the Life and Letters of Captain Robert Thomas of Llandwrog and Liverpool, 1843-1903 (Gwynedd Archives Service, price £2.95). Here, mostly in his own words, is a record of the experiences of a Victorian seaman, sailing in slate schooners, in the salt fish trade of Newfoundland and finally as master of full-rigged ships in the Cape Horn and Far East trades. A book that is good to read.—J.D.

• During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the ships of the Royal Navy were transformed from the creaking wood and rigging type of Nelson's day to the forerunners of today's sleek battleships, and they reigned supreme on the oceans. In his book Rule Britannia—The Victorian and Edwardian Navy (Routledge and Kegan Paul, £8.95), Peter Padfield explores the way of life in the navy during this time of change, telling how legends were made, of battles that were won and lost, and how the men lived and amused themselves, often letting the sailors tell the stories in their own words, using extracts from their diaries.—s.c.

• Schoonerman by Captain Richard England (Hollis and Carter, £8.95) is the personal account of the master/ owner of the last fully-rigged merchant schooner to trade under sail around our coasts. It brings together in a most readable form both a factual account of the decline in the schooner trade and an insight into the dogged determination of a family devoted to sail and the sea to extract a living for themselves and their crews against insuperable odds.

Mention is made of a number of RNLI rescues, but alas there was no opportunity for such assistance to be available to Nellie Bywater when at Christmastide 1951 she was caught in the same gale as Flying Enterprise, with tragic consequences. One cannot help but be moved by the graphic and compelling reading which is well supported by photographs, plans and a good glossary for those who find it hard to differentiate between a catstopper and a bulldog grip.—R.M.S.P.

• Three new booklets each concentrating on a particular part of the coast have recently been published.

Jeff Morris and Dave Hendy have added to their collection of local station histories by recording Eastbourne's story from 1822 to the present day. The Story of the Eastbourne Lifeboats, generously illustrated with old and upto- date photographs, faithfully records the active lives of the 11 lifeboats that have been stationed at Eastbourne over the past 160 years. Both this and Gordon R. Zeller's The Story of the 'Bolton' Lifeboats at Kessingland are printed by Jeff Morris and generously sold in aid of the RNLI, each price 75p plus 25p postage and packing. The Story of the Eastbourne Lifeboats is available from Mr D. Huggett, c/o The Lifeboat Museum, Grand Parade, Eastbourne, East Sussex; The Story of the 'Bolton' Lifeboats is available from the author at 227 Longfield Road, Bolton, Lancashire BL3 3SY.

Generosity in fund raising explains the title of Gordon Zeller's booklet which gives an intriguing history of how the people of inland Bolton organised themselves into raising money for 'one or more lifeboats'. The unlikely link between the people of Bolton and the tiny Suffolk village of Kessingland was forged when their first lifeboat was stationed there in 1870. In 1893 a second 'Bolton' lifeboat replaced the first at Kessingland and with the help of some contemporary photographs the author describes the design of these two pulling and sailing lifeboats and relates their 31 services at this station.

Grahame Farr has produced the sixth in his most valuable series of papers on lifeboat history. His story of The Lincolnshire Coast Shipwreck Association 1827-1864 records the activities of the independent organisation that ran seven lifeboat stations in the county before the RNLI took over in 1864. Thirtynine services were rendered by the association's lifeboats during its history and a brief description is given of each of these. The booklet is available, price 60p, from Graham Farr, 98 Combe Avenue, Portishead, Bristol BS20 9JX; money should be sent with orders, please.

—E.w.-w.

• The Ship, a series of ten books representing an authoritative short history of ship development, has been published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office in conjunction with the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. The last three volumes, now in print, are: Rafts, Boats and Ships from Prehistoric Times to the Medieval Era, by Sean McGrail; Tiller and Whipstaff, the Development of the Sailing Ship 1400-1700, by Alan McGowan; and The Revolution in Merchant Shipping 1950-1980, by Ewan Corlett. Like the others, these three volumes are available, price £2.95 each, through booksellers, Government bookshops and the National Maritime Museum. Clearly written and ably illustrated, they trace the development of the ship from raft and sailing to the modern fleet of today.

The last volume, written by Ewan Corlett, is a most interesting description of the advance in ship design this century from the Blue Ribbon liners of theNorth Atlantic to the container ship and modern car ferry. Those of us who still think of the simple propeller and the triple expansion steam engine as being the basic propulsion are in for a rude shock. Constant speed diesels developing 50,000 shaft horse power, variable pitch propellers and bow thrusters have transformed ship handling techniques.

Anyone interested in the sea will find these volumes fascinating reading.— E.F.P.

• Next year's almanacs are coming out. Reed's Nautical Almanac 1982 (Thomas Reed Publications Ltd) has a waterproof cover, bolder print and is improved in many other ways, including tidal predictions of high and low water.

At £8.95 this must represent for the same size of book the usual good value.

Channel West and Solent: A Nautical Almanac for Yachtsmen (Channel Press, £7.95) has expanded its coverage and, as intended, presents in easy form information on tides and all aspects of particular interest to yachtsmen. The search and rescue section, in keeping with the almanac itself, covers both sides of the English Channel west of Newhaven to Fecamp.—E.J.

• Advanced Sailboat Cruising (Nautical, £9.95) pools the considerable experience of three seamen of long standing to offer guidance to cruising yachtsmen who would like to undertake longer passages than average or who would like to be able to embark with confidence on short passages under more arduous conditions than they might previously have considered possible.

It is written for the skipper who realises that if his cruising is to be enjoyable it must be well planned on a basis of sound knowledge.

The first part, concerned with choice of boat, is written by Colin Mudie, a naval architect and a seaman of unusually wide experience who explains clearly the effects of different design characteristics on a yacht's performance.

Colin Mudie is one of those people who generously put their wisdom at the disposal of the RNLI by acting as a member of its Technical Consultative Committee.

Geoff Hales, a trans-ocean sailor, devotes his section of the book to 'a better cruising style', concentrating on equipment, seamanship and navigation, while Michael Handford, a former director of Cranfield Sails and a specialist on sails for long distance passage making, discusses the yacht's rig.—J.D.

• Just out is a new edition of Brown's Pocket-Book for Seamen compiled by Gerald Forsberg, QBE FNI, Master Mariner, and published by Brown, Son and Ferguson (£10). It will be of particular interest to professional seamen of all sorts. It would also certainly make a good present to a young man keen to improve his way of life at sea or to anybody wishing to have facts, figures, tips, wrinkles and a note of particular reference books readily available.—E.J..