OLD SHIP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19267, 2 January 1931, Page 9

OLD SHIP.

Week-End Books.

LENNOX KERR.

By

E. J. Bell.

M R KERR is a young Scotsman who served with the Dover Patrol during the war, and afterwards in the merchant service, so that he knows quite a lot about the sea and the hard life of the sailors which he has described so vividly in this book “ Old Ship.” The chief character in the book is a rather dull and stupid young man named Dixon. He was a farm lad but had felt the call of the sea and eventually signed on as a member of the crew of the steamer “ Hillgrove ” where we find him l a target for the abuse and humour of those on board, from the cook’s boy upwards. The time comes when Dixon wants to sign off and return home in order to marry his girl. The captain refuses to let him off so he jumps the ship at Lisbon, is caught, imprisoned, and afterwards put back on board the steamer, where he seeks to revenge himself upon the captain. The whole life of the sea sweeps through the book so that we have a very fine story which graphically describes the life on board a modern tramp steamer, as well as the storms and beauty of the ocean. The language, too, bears the tang of the sea and it is a book which I think most men will really enjoy.