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Members'of the Institute may save money by ordering books through its Book Department, which will supply ny obtainable book. A discount of 10 per cent is allowed on books published by the Institute, and 5 per cent on °oks of other publishers (government publications excepted). Address Secretary-Treasurer, U.S.Naval Institute, ^napolis, Maryland.
GRIFFITH’S TRIMMING TABLES. By E. Griffith. Glasgow: Brown, Son & Ferguson, Ltd. 1933. 3s.6d.
Reviewed by Lieutenant Commander P- L. Meadows, U. S. Navy
This little handbook of tables provides a ready means of determining the effect °n a ship’s trim about its transverse axis by a change in weight at any distance in mul- Pples of five feet from that axis, or, as the author terms it, the tipping center.
. For the ship of standard lines,, a table ls provided, based on the functions of tons Per inch immersion against distances in eet of the center of weight involved from ae tipping center. From this table two c°nstants are picked out, corresponding tp the values of the two functions mentioned. The first one, marked positive, ^hen multiplied by the weight in tons in- v°lved, gives the change in draft of the vessel’s end affected. The second, marked negative, when multiplied by the same ^eight, gives the change in draft of the Vessel’s opposite end, being applied, of c°urse, in accordance with its sign. But not aP ships are built on standard lines and compensate for this difference a second tpble is included which provides a correc- Ron to be applied to the constants mentioned.
This book is evidently intended primarily for merchant ships, which are not likely to have the elaborate curves provided large naval vessels for determining change of trim for change of weight. However, we are all familiar with the aptitude of plans and curves for getting themselves lost or stowed in the most inaccessible places in accordance with the law of “innate perverseness of inanimate objects.” This compact little book in handy pocket form might well be the companion of engineer officers and others having to do with stowage and shifting of weights as a sure protection against the imps of black magic who mislay their plans.
METEOROLOGY FOR MASTERS AND MATES. By Charles H. Brown, F.R.S. G.S. Glasgow: Brown, Son & Ferguson, Ltd. (7th Ed.) 1933. 7s.6d.
Reviewed by Lieutenant Commander E. H. Kincaid, U. S. Navy
1635
This volume, as the name implies, is intended primarily for masters and mates. The material selected for its contents makes it of particular interest to those engaged in the study of elementary meteorology and its relation to navigation. 1 The arrangement of compiled data is unique. Excellent illustrations aid in clarifying descriptions of physical phenomena that make up the study of meteorology,
as well as the theories involved in instrument construction and their practical applications.
Among subheads covered are: Pressure Distribution and Winds, Clouds and Types of Weather, Tropical Cyclones, Currents and Sea Ice, Optical Phenomena, Organized Meteorology, and an Alphabetical Glossary.
The most valuable part of the book, and it has much merit, is a description of how to construct an ocean synoptic weather map based on ship reports and selected stations in the British Isles.
Unfortunately, the rate and direction of motion of highs and lows are not shown. The value of the book would be enhanced by more information on forecasting, using actual maps based upon combinations of major radio synoptic weather broadcasts, such as Arlington, Rugby, etc.
It is, however, a timely volume and includes changes brought about for the mariners’ benefit by the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea, 1929, including the new international code for ships’ reports.
It will make a valuable addition to any navigating bridge and in classrooms where the subject of meteorology is taught to nautical students.
SEA-LORE. THE ATLANTIC. THE PACIFIC. These three books by Stanley Rogers are 1930 publications of Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York, and sell at $2.75 each.
Reviewed by Lieutenant G. C. Wel- din, U. S. Navy
To read one of these books is to create a desire to read them all. With their great store of the knowledge and lore of the sea, their neat bindings in the blue and gold of the Navy, and their many pen and ink and color sketches they make up a set of volumes that every seagoing man would delight to have upon his library shelves. It is recommended that the order of reading be that order in which the books have been named above. The style of writing is very informal and entertaining while being at the same time very instructive. The unusually large number of illustrations by the author are excellently designed to truly illustrate the text and are so well placed next that portion to which they appertain that the reader is spared the break in his train of thought that so often occurs when the text and the pictures to which it refers are far separated.
The author, though British, writes well to an American audience, probably due to his early days spent around Puget Sound. It was there, apparently, that he acquired his love of the sea and the ships that sailed over it. As a boy he was often taken on board many of the windjammers, which in those days of the late nineties were carrying most of the world’s cargoes, by his father whose business was connected with shipping. It is only in a few places that it is brought home that the author is an alien to us. The most noticeable case is in his chapter, “Atlantic Battles” (in The Atlantic), in the minimizing of American successes in the War of 1812 by emphasizing the conflict between the Chesapeake and the Shannon (a British victory), by relating the battle between the Wasp and the Frolic (which it is pointed out, though an American victory, was soon nullified by the Wasp immediately being gobbled up by the Poictiers), and by entirely omitting all reference to the Constitution and her victories. The latter is mentioned in the volume Sea-Lore, but here again much more space is devoted to the Chesa- peake-Shannon affray. The grudging praise given to the United States for the prowess of her Navy in the War of 1812 is perhaps the more desirable kind as it shows how deserving is praise to those few ships that gave us a Navy to accompany the “ship that was a Navy.”
But the seas are broad and in the deeds of seamen of all nations there is sufficient glory for all beyond such provincialism and one finds much in these volumes of value for entertainment, for educational unprovement, and for increasing one’s store of sea lore.
Sea-Lore is just what its title indicates, a collection of material pertaining to the sea and those who follow the sea. It will prove indispensable to the landsman who wishes to gain an accurate knowledge of the sea and has much that will be found of value to the seaman in brushing UP his knowledge of the days of the “wooden ships and iron men” and the traditions pf the sea which have been passed down mto his keeping. Though one seldom sights a sailing vessel at sea these days a knowledge of the various rigs still seems desirable to round out a “sea education.” The descriptions, accompanied by excellent silhouette sketches, enable one to quickly gain this knowledge. Something of the language of the sea, from whence it came, ds meanings, and how much more of it the landsman uses in his everyday conversa- jaon than he perhaps realizes will be found ln a chapter devoted to that subject. The development of sea craft from antiquity to Ihe time of the combination steamer-sail- lng vessel is traced. One chapter is devoted !p the derivation of the names and definitions of the terms used to indicate the Parts of ships and boats, as gunwale, dead- eyes, etc. Of particular interest to those of the Navy is the tracing of the development
war vessels, of navigating instruments fthe compass and chronometer), and of n,aval uniforms. There are tales of explora- tl0n> of whalers, of famous ships, of lost treasures and ships, and of sea adventures °1 all descriptions. In this book one can gain much information of those famous ships that to most of us are merely names (or bring to our minds ship models stuck in store windows), as the Terra Nova, Pilgrim, Endurance, Ann McKim, Sea Witch, Red Jacket, Sovereign of the Seas, Victory, Great Republic, and many others. In no other single volume does it seem that one would be able to gain so much sea lore in such compact form.
The Atlantic follows somewhat the style of the previous volume but is, as its name indicates, limited more particularly to the Atlantic Ocean. First is given information having to do with that ocean itself, then of those who first crossed it, of the many queer crossings by all sorts and kinds of craft from rowboats to planes, something of the little-known lonely islands, of the pirates who frequented the ocean, of the sea battles that have been fought upon it, of the records hung up by the swift-sailing packet ships, of the coming of steam vessels, and tales of mutinies and lost ships.
The Pacific treats of the Pacific Ocean in a similar manner. The names of the chapters themselves indicate the nature of the contents, “ The Pacific,” “ Pacific Navigators,” “Pacific Privateers,” “Pacific Isles,” “Polynesia,” “Pacific Merchant Shipping” (our pride is rather hurt to learn that the British and the Japanese are the great transpacific steamship operators, no mention being made of our lines), “The Literary Pacific,” “The Language of the Pacific,” “Pacific Adventure,” and “Pacific Shipwreck.”
There is not a boring moment in any of the three volumes, truly a great triad of the sea.
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