Let Not The Deep by Mike Lunnon-Wood published byHarper Collins at £4.99 (paperback) ISBN 0 00 647590 6 Novels which centre around the lifeboat service are rare enough, but one which is well constructed, gripping and also moving is a very rare beast indeed.

Let Not The Deep revolves around the St Mary's lifeboat station in the Isles of Scilly, where the Arun class of lifeboat is real enough but the actual boat, her coxswain, crew and those ashore are products of the author's literary skills.

If one were to quibble there could be a touch too much coincidence in the way the characters arrive at the focal point, and once or twice a lifeboat fact, or the use of a word, might jar - but these are minor comments. Far outweighing any small criticisms are the finely written passages which bring to life graphically what it is like to be at sea in a blow, the 'feel' of a sea, and the way in which a close-knit crew operates, each member knowing how the other will react, their strengths and their total reliance on each other.

The atmosphere created by Mike Lunnon-Wood's writing is very real and almost anyone would find this book gripping.

Anyone with an interest in lifeboats or the sea will find it doubly so.

This reviewer carried the volume with him, unable to rest until Maeve Corrigan, St Mary's fictional Arun, and her crew were safely home!Sailor's Daughter by Jean Cunninghame Graham published by the author at £7.50 ISBN 0 9522632 0 3 It is often the minutiae of history which brings it to life - the way in which events affect individuals and families seems so much more real than the dry facts encountered in the history books.

For this reason alone Jean Cunninghame Graham's (Lady Polwarth's) account of her childhood up to the age of 18 would be interesting, but when coupled with her insight and subtle sense of humour this small paperback becomes quite intriguing.

The daughter of Admiral Sir Angus Cunninghame Graham the author's early years were dominated by the itinerant nature of the Service - moves of house, changes in governess and even changes in country, not a common thing in the 1930s despite the ever-present presence of the British Empire and its effect on all those caught up with it.

Young recollections retold in maturity provide a graphic, and charming, glimpse of life as it once was.Call Out Service Records of the Gourdon Lifeboats 1878-1969 transcribed from the original by Roy Souter published by the author at £4 There was a lifeboat at Gourdon from 1878 until the station was closed in 1969, and this book is sold in aid of funds to preserve the surf boat Maggie Law which served the station for some 40 years from 1890 to 1930.

The original Service Books survived by chance, being discovered in a clear-out at the local Primary School and given to two pupils who were interested in lifeboats.

Some time later their father realised the importance of the documents and they found their way to Roy Souter. The book is available from Roy Souter, 2 Seaview Terrace, Gourdon, Montrose, Angus DD10 OLE at £4.00 including postage and packing.Diary of a National Serviceman in the Royal Navy by John Fairbank Barnes published by The Pentland Press at £7.50 ISBN1 85821 1271 A collection of more than 50 letters written by the author to his family while serving in the Royal Navy during 1956 and 1957, followed by a narrative filling in the months between his last letter and demobilisation at the end of '57.

Rather factual, but nonetheless giving an interesting aspect on the life of a national servicemen at sea more than 30 years ago.Diary of a National Serviceman in the Royal Navy by John Fairbank Barnes published by The Pentland Press at £7.50 ISBN1 85821 1271 A collection of more than 50 letters written by the author to his family while serving in the Royal Navy during 1956 and 1957, followed by a narrative filling in the months between his last letter and demobilisation at the end of '57.

Rather factual, but nonetheless giving an interesting aspect on the life of a national servicemen at sea more than 30 years ago.The Sailor's Good Club Guide edited by Jim Evans published by Windyriggers Publishing Company at £4.95 (from Radwinter, Saffron Walden, Essex CB102UE) Facts and figures for more than 230 sailing and motor boat clubs around the UK, including names and addresses of many Owners' Associations and other useful clubs and societies.

Since membership of an established club is one of the better ways of gleaning information and exchanging information any encouragement to the sailor or motor boater to join up is to be encouraged, and this book provides a useful starting point.

A starting point only, unfortunately, as the list is not comprehensive - our standard test of looking up known facts revealed that only one of the seven well-established clubs with which this reviewer has been connected appear in the listings.

Appeals to club secretaries within the book should, however, help make further editions more comprehensive.Marine VHP Radio published by Prestige Power at £5.40 (inc. post and packing) A handy aide memoir to VHP use and channels produced on water resistant paper. A trifle expensive but very handy. Available from Prestige Power at Maritime Walk, Ocean Village Marina, Canute Road, Southampton, Hants SOI 1TL.

An Illustrated Guide to Our by Jeff Morris In 1986 Jeff Morris, the Honorary Archivist of the Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society, set himself the task of writing books to cover every RNLI lifeboat station, past and present in his series of booklets. With Part 8, Ireland, the task is complete - although with such an informed and prolific author it cannot be long before the next circuit begins and up-dated volumes begin to appear! Working its way round the Irish coast clockwise from Lifeboat Stations - Part 8 Portrush details of boats, accidents and medals are given for each station, with any interesting additional material appearing as a note. Well illustrated with black-andwhite photographs this is a valuable little volume for the bookshelf.

The final part of Jeff Morris's magnum opus can be obtained from the author at 14 Medina Road, Coventry CV6 5JB for £2.50 including postage and packing.Heave Ho! by Charles Mazel published by Waterline Books at £6.95 ISBN 185310 454 X A book dedicated to seasickness might be considered in questionable taste. However, there is no doubt that it is a subject of considerable importance to many who venture afloat and, if you have the stomach for it (no more puns, promise) then this light-hearted paperback with a serious message could be for you.

The serious part comes from the fact that the author is an authority on inner ear balance functions and motion sickness and has carried out research on four NASA spacelab missions.

He is also a lifelong small boat 'Nitroglycerin, so useful against heart attacks, has been used against seasickness' sailor and possessed of a sense of humour which enables him to convey some sensible ob- servations with wit and style - aided, it must be said with a good many quotes from writers over the centuries. The illustrations too have been chosen to lighten the subject somewhat.

And, to save you searching for the miracle cure - there isn't one! One of the book's quotes, from The British Medical Journal in 1952, might sum up nwl de mer.

'Everything that can be swallowed has been claimed to cure motion sickness...' The choice is yours - the 2nd century recipe 'Grind fleabane and wormwood together in olive oil and vinegar, and rub on the nostrils frequently' or carry on with 20th century Dramamine...Arctic Convoys by Richard Woodman published by John Murray at £25.00 ISBN 07195 5079 3 Although Richard Woodman is best known for his fiction - in particular the Nathaniel Drinkwater naval historical novels - his interest in the Arctic Convoys of World War II was aroused when he sailed with survivors from the ill-fated convoy PQ17.

Relying on both British and German sources and the accounts of those involved Arctic Convoys is a comprehensive history - running to more than 530 pages - of the lifeline to Stalin's efforts against the Nazis on the Eastern Front.

The conditions described are quite appalling, but perhaps the best guide to the accuracy of the accounts comes from historian Ludovic Kennedy: Those of us who sailed on the Arctic Convoys are the best judges of books written about them: I can say with truth that this account is the most comprehensive and the most accurate I have read...' Chilling and not exactly light reading, but a fascinating review of both the events and their effect on those involved.

British Cross-Channel Railway Passenger Ships by John de S. Winser published by Patrick Stephens at £14.99 ISBN 1 85260 459 X A comprehensively illustrated (more than 130 photographs in 80 pages) look at the vessels introduced by the railway companies to extend their sphere of operation beyond the railheads.

Although beginning with paddle steamers in the late 1800s the book concentrates mainly on the period from the end of the First World War until the final Sealink steamer in 1980.Northwest Passage Solo by David Scott Cowper published by Seafarer Books at £14.95 ISBN 0850364299 Most readers of THE LIFEBOAT will have heard David Scott Cowper's name, if only because two of his recordbreaking voyages have been aboard an ex-lifeboat. Yet Scott Cowper's record of long-distance sailing far exceeds that of many of the 'household names'. Chay Blyth may have been the first person to sail singlehanded the 'wrong way' - against the prevailing winds - but Scott Cowper made the same trip in 72 days less, in a virtually standard boat and added this feat to a circumnavigation he had already made in the opposite direction! The first singlehanded circumnavigation in a motor boat followed (in the ex-Watson class lifeboat Mabel E. Holland) and then the subject of this book - another singlehanded circumnavigation but via the North-West Passage.

Scott Cowper is certainly not a self-publicist, for after the end of the voyage in late 1990 it took nearly four years for yachting journalist David Pelly to wheedle the story from him and finally publish the book.

Mabel E.Holland took fourand- a-half years on this circumnavigation, and it was obviously not all plain sailing, despite the author's lack of dramatisation in the telling.

Although the fact that the vessel is an ex-lifeboat will obviously influence many of the readers of this journal to take an interest in Northwest Passage Solo, it deserves a much wider audience as it is not merely a sailor's book, it is a story of adventure which happens to be set aboard an ex-lifeboat.

Scott Cowper's matter-offact- tone both makes and mars his book - it is refreshing in these days of hype and exaggeration yet sometimes one feels that there is a little more behind what has been said - a yearning perhaps for some tabloid-style shouting from the rooftops from a man who could put most self publicists in their place!.