Books RMS Queen Mary: 101 questions and answers about the great transatlantic liner By David Ellery, published by Conway ISBN 1844860337 Price: £9.99 (plus p&p) hardback David Ellery's engaging text is structured into bite-sized sections offering an insight into every aspect of the Queen Mary's life from conception in 1930 to the present day, from Captain's table to crew's quarters, and from financial to aesthetic details.

Over her 31 years at sea, this majestic 350m ship was the favourite luxury cruise liner for the stars of the day, broke the record for the fastest round voyage across the Atlantic and carried a . k.

record 16,683 troops.

Having conquered the Great Depression and the Second World War, sadly it was the rise of the passenger jet that finally put an end to the reign of RMS Queen Mary.

But today she can be visited as a floating museum at Long Beach, California. For those of us not lucky enough to visit her in person, this high-quality book - with its 130 photographs from the ship's archive - is an excellent substitute! Available through the RNLI gift catalogue, ref: 453986.

Call 0870 600 1824 or visit rnlishop.org.uk to place your order.

This thing of darkness By Harry Thompson Published by Headline Review ISBN 0780755302818 Price: £7.99 paperback This astounding account of the crew of the Beagle, the 19th century surveying brig, goes much further than describe an historic episode. In his story of Admiral Robert Fitzroy - inventor of the weather forecast, charter of coastlines and pioneer of the use of the Beaufort scale - and Charles Darwin, author of Origin of the Species, the late Harry Thompson has produced an entertaining and thought-provoking novel.

Readers will enjoy the bracing nautical adventures, but the book is more than a tale of the high seas. There's humour, sadness, a touch of Dickensian coincidence, and theological argument as Fitzroy wrestles with possible explanations of his discoveries and experiences: was there really a Great Flood? His comradeship and debate with the young Charles Darwin is sometimes stormy.

Like the wild coast of Tierra del Fuego, where Fitzroy began his adventures, this book takes some navigating and there are some very dark moments. But it is a journey worth making and the saddest news of all is that it was the author's first and last novel.

The biggest boat I could afford by Lee Hughes Published by Seafarer Boats ISBN 0954275047 Price: £12.95 paperback This book tells of the writer's ordeals in a 4.5m sailing dinghy after he decided he would use it to explore the east coast of the US - minus his wife and any sailing experience. Hughes, petrified of the sea since he was a young boy, recounts his perilous wanderings, during which he was beaten up by the elements more than once.

Despite some of the grim situations described, this is a funny book. It is entertaining to discover what Hughes gets up to and whom he meets on this journey of spiritual recognition and surprises. It should also serve to put anyone else off making such a crazy journey themselves.

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NEVER TURN BACK Look out for Ray and Susannah Kipling's Never turn bad: just out and available from the RNLI catalogue.

See page 3 Unless other ordering details are stated, all books reviewed in the Lifeboat are available from all good bookshops and online from Amazon via the RNLI website at rnli.org.uk/amazon.Amazon will donate a minimum of 5% of the value of all such orders to the RNLI. (For the RNLI to benefit in this way you must access Amazon via the RNLI website and not go direct to Amazon.).