BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 44, 15 November 1919, Page 11

BOOKS OF THE DAY

The Battle of the Falklands. The naval batfc fnu ; ?ht off the Falklarnl Islands must always possess a special interest for Xev Zealuiulors, for it was therein that the enemy's two powerful cm«rs, (ho Hcharnhorst and the Oneisenau, v.'hieh, but a few weeks ]irevinuily, are known to have come very clcsz to our coasts, were destroyed. It was the Battle of the Falklands which finally freed Australasia from the danger of any serious naval aHr.'k liy the ene;'ny. The story of that famous engagement, atid of the Biiltlp of Coronel, is to!d in a hnndsome volume enticed "The Buttle of the Falkland Islands: Before and After" (Ca.'sell and Co.; per S. and W. Jlnd-ay), the author being Commander If. Sper.eer-C'ooper. In the first -part of his book tho author deals briefly with the movements of British and German warships in the Pac'fic and South Atlantic, describing in detail the duel fought by tho armed ex-Cunarder, the Carnmnia, and the Cap Trafalgar, and the action which took place off Coroner. In Part II the Falkland Islands battle is described in great detail, an account being also given of the subsequent fate of the German cruiser Dresden. In Port TIT we are given the official dispatches hearing on these happenings. After his triumph off Coronel. when the utterly out-gunned Monmouth and Cape of Good Hope were sunk, the German Admiral seems to lmve decided he had shot his bolt in the Pacific, and p'owied n. dramatic coup in attacking the Falklands. If. off Coronel. the British were, out-gunned and outMiianoeuvred —as to this latter point there is. it is understood, still considerable difference of opinion in British naval circles—tho Hun fell into u veritable death-trap at the Fa, Hands. Von Spec's intelligence department must have been fiwlly at fault, for the presence of fiio two Brit'sh lmttlecruisers the Inflexible and Tnvincibls at Port Stanley came apparently iis a co:nplets surprise to the" Ilutis.' Sup-ivors froni_ the Gneiaenan iiwl Scharnhorst testified to this Iwing the case. When they camo np and found out tho truth, "they tried," they told their captors, "not to .believe it," for they recr,<;nised they had found themselves "face to 'ace with aJ'most certain destruction." The fight which ensued is described in great detail, every movement of the ressnls engaged being set forth in turn The author pays a generons tribute, to the gallantry displayed by the enemy, who put np what was, under all the circumstances, a wonderfully ftcod fight. Weight of gnns, however, told from tho very beginning, and the result wo ail know. Tho value of the present account is its wealth of interesting detail. The author tells, his story with all that directness and simplicity characteristic of the British naval officer. There is no attempt at fine writing, no trace of theatricality. A curious yarn is connected with Admiral Stcddart, who was in the Carnarvon. "110 had .1 distant cousin in tho German Navy whom he had never met and about whoso career he had fref|tiently been asked in years gone by. AVhen the cousin, who was one ! of those saved by the Carnarvon, cor, on board that vessel, he said: "I believe. T have a cousin in one of the British ships. .His name is Stoddart." To find that his relative was the Admiral on beard that very ship must have given him, fays the author, what tho sailor terms a "fair . knock-out." This man stated that practically every man on the upper deck of tho Cinoiseiiau was either killed or wounded, and that it was a feat of the greatest difficulty to climb across tho deck, eo great was the havoc wrought in all directions. Another German officer, who was stationed in one of the Gncisenan's 8.2 turrets, had a remarkable experience. Says the author: Tho turret was hit by a 12-inch shell, and he emerged the sole survivor. He th;n went on to a casemate, which was also knocked out. and most of the crew killed. Trying a. third c:un, he was perhaps even more fortunate, as it was also hit by a 12inch shell, and the same thins happenr-d. ShorUy after the ship sank, and he was saved! This lad was a. fat, yonni; lieutenant, who apparently drowned his sorrows tho evening before he quitted the Carnarvon. Jietorc retiring to bed he stood up in the mess, drink in hand, bowed blandly to everyone, and said, with a broad smile on his fat face-. "Gentlemen, I thank you very milch—you have, all been Kind to me, and I wish you all in Hell!" The German sailors seem lo have received the same foul teaching as lo the alleged inhumanity of their British foes as was, it is notorious,. drilled into the mind' of the (lennan soldier. A few of the rescued Huns succumbed to exposure and shock. They were given a naval funeral with full' naval honours and were buried at sea the day after the battle. •When the funeral service was about, to take place on the onartev-decl;. of one of our warships, the German prisoners were told to come aft to attend it. On rounding the superstructure. howc\er, the leading men Buddenly halted de>\ brought nr, aghaßt with fright at the right of the guard of armed Marines falling in. across tho decks, who were about to pay the last tributes of military honours to the dead. When ordered on these terrified Huns point-blank refused to move, being convinced that, the Marino guard was there in order to shoot them! A peculiarly weird incident occurred almost immediately after the sinking, by the Kent, of the iVurnberg: Darkness was closing in, one ship heaving to the swell, well battered, the fore-topgallant mast gone. 01' the other, nothiug to be seen but floating' wreckage, with here and there a mall clinging, and the moll.yhawkn swooping by. Tho wind moaned, and rleath was in the air. Then sect. Out of the mist, loomed a great four-masted barque, under full canvas. A great ghofit ship she. Slowly, majestically, j|hq sailed by and vanished in the night, this was the same ghost ship that had appeared in the middle of the. action fought by the battlc-cruisers-a, very fitting apparition, which upholds the .egend that one always appears at a British 9av.1l cnfragenicnt. Meeting one of the oliicors of this sailing vessel later on in tiio Dardanelles, it. was revealc/1 that eho had been out at sea bo long that she was unaware that war hail even been declared until sho suddenly found herself a t-pec-tatnr of two navaP actions on the. came day. The book contains a number of maps and diagr.'ims by which the niovmnits cf tho various sliipi in action can be traced, and the appendices include the official dispatches relative to the engagements, also lists of officers on the British vessels and other interesting information. A colour,v| f>onti«|)iif \ !'r::m a. wabM'-eolour drawing l).y Lieut-Commander Bennett, K-N., shows tho Cornwall engaging the Leipzig. LIBER'S NOTE BOOK otrsy Leaves. The September number of "The Bookman" (Iloddcr and Mtuuglilonj contains tin interesting article on Henry Lawson and his work, by A. St. John Adcock. Lawson is rightfully described as "the mast typical, most representative Australian poet of his time. . . . His verse is. not merely or even primarily a matter of technique; he has never tried to model himself on the standard Knglish poets; whatever he is lint, he is always himself, finding his themes in his own country and exposing them with an nrt that seems as natural to him as if he were but a pipe through which the spirit of Australia blew to music." Longstall's lino portrait of Lawson, which hangs in the National Art: Gallery in Sydney, is reproduced, 'in "The ilookman Gallery" Clive Holland gives a gossipy account of \V. IS. .Maxwell's work as a novelist. Maxwell's molTi.'r was, if may be remembered, 1 that popular Victorian novelist, .M. li. Braddon. His father, John Maxwell, was a publisher. There are several oilier interesting articles in the •September "liookiuan"; an exceptionally good number. "According lo Mr. Kdgar Jepson chillies are an essential ingredient of the young girl's fiction. Sho likes a medley of thrills and frills. V.'lien our authors

recognise this fact more widely, they will probably re-christen their books to meet the demand: 'it's never tulle late to mend,' tor instance, and 'Chitlons that pass in the night.'Arthur Tristram, in the "Lady's Pictorial." Those who read and enjoyed—as who could not y—that excellent novel, "Patricia Piient. Spinster," will welcome a new story, "The liain Girl: A Romance of To-day," from the same pen. The author i.-. understood lo be a lady, but her anonymity is preserved. The book is published by Sir. Herbert Jenkins, who also publishes a novel of his own writing. "John Dene of Toronto." Mr. Jenkins's "Kindle" books still continue to be in great demand. "He had seriously thought of the pulpit. Hut the clergyman with ideas must first popularise religion to get a hearing. Must introduce into his church the cinema, or dabble' in politics and personalities, to tempt an audience. Otherwise his talk falls on the ears of village deaf mutes or retired Indian colonels."—"The Trial Stone," by John Gower. Mr. Stephen Owynn has written the "History of John Hedmond's Last Years," to be published by Mr. Edward Arnold this autumn. In the last chnpter ho gives for the'first time a full" account of the Irish Convention, and there is also a study of the Irish, leader's gallant brother, who fell in action, at the head of his battalion, at the Battle of Messines. After the Battle of Jutland, v.hen thev were landing a number of wounded at a certain port in the north, a p?.l cnm« down to meet a man who had had his leg shot off close to the thigh. Eecog- ! nising him as they were, carrying him I ashore 011 a stretcher, he shouted out:— | "Halloa, Charlc, how are' yon, old ! man?" j "Top hole, matey, and only one boot to clean.' 1- —"Dover During the Dark Days." By Lieutenant-Commander Stanley Coxon. Amongst forthcoming books announced in Mr. Edward Arnold's autumn list is a volume entitled "Xoel Ross and His Work." edited by his parents, Mr. .and Mrs. Malcolm Ttoss—a series of sketches by a young New Zealander well known in journalistic circles. Ross, it may )>e remembered, was wounded at Gallipoli and discharged from the Army. He rejoined in London and obtained a commission in the Royal Field Artillery, afterwards becoming a member of the editorial staff of the "Times," only to di« in December. 1917. Every year, with conimendaWe regularity, Mr. E. V. J.uens gives 11s a new collection of the p'easantly humorous ways which he contributes to "Punch," "The Sphere," and other periodicals. This year's title is "The Phantom Journal and Other Essavs," to be published by Mttlmen. So far, however, there is no announcement of the Lucas novel which is usually.due about this time of tho year. An Englishman never knows 011 going to work in the morning whether lo tav> a pnlm-len.f bat. or a fur overcoat, or a divingTStiit.—"The Last Million," bv lan ITay. Edward Yizetelly, who translated Zola's novels, and who has written several books 011 France an<l French life, was found in a London workhouse wa.rd in September. He was ill and penni'ess, a small grant from the Royal Literary Fund having become exhausted. "The Lif" .■ind lin-'iiHons of Sir Hiram S. Maxim," by P. F. Mottolay, is a new biography announced by Mr. John Lane. Mr. Lano is writing his own autobicsr.'iphy, which 'I'ould be verv interesting, for as a publ'islier he had not a little to do with introducing several of the later Victorian authors fa the reading public. " 'Then I am not rational?' pouted Mi's. ■Tnine. 'You are charming, madam, which is much belter.' 'Many thanks, but the age of chivalry, when women were treated as. children or pets, is dead. Jane Austen's heroines were the last, of that tvpn. Tl"'r, is the a:-:e of Mcred'th and Wells.' 'Never heard of the firm; is it in Oxford Sb P et,?' he a«kr:j."—"The Leopard's Leap," bvl?oxwal!ah. A vl'ime on "Rare" Hon .Tonsmi, is to be added to the well-known "F.ng'ish Men of Letters" series. The author is 'Mr. Orogory Sn'ilii, who recently edited a charming little hook, "Seventeenth Century Characters," for the Oxford Univeisity Press. Although in that clever, bul very morb'd book. "The Journal of a Oie-inpoint-ed Man," the author, Mr. Bnrbellion, hinted nt his forlhcoming death from an incurable disease, the book is now, itappears, 1 to have a. successor, hearing the much more pleasantly sounding title. "Enjoying Life." Evidently BarbcUion's incurable disease, like that nf Mr. W. <"!. Welly's modern .fob, Mr. Huss, in "T'-e Undying Fire," had been incorrectly diagnosed. Tho?e who read and. enioyWl Urn! very out of the way and riuile brill'nnt novl, "1 I'ose." of wlr'"h Miss SteMa Benson is the author, will lie ?lad to kii"w that a new «dorv, "T.ivirT Alone." from Ihn seme elever pen, is almost ready for publication.