Speaking Likeness

New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 918, 15 March 1957, Page 20

Speaking Likeness

CANNOT say when a programme more delighted me than Captain Davey’s Portrait from Life. As rich, salty, and vigorous as a chapter from Conrad, this radio portrait eclipses all the others by its ripeness and rotundity, The old salt (I hope he will forgive this term; it seems entirely appropriate) is a splendid speaker, with a feeling for the robust image, and the deep satisfaction of a man whose life has been well spent. And for once, the glassy, oversmooth commentary was _ properly balanced with the sitter; it formed an excellent counterpoint to the warm ruminations of this most likeable speaker. Captain Davey gave a forthright account of life at sea in the days before steam; no bed of roses, perhaps, but always invigorating. Without rancour, he created a vivid contrast with the conditions of a young man going to sea now. My favourite passage, which I still recall with a chuckle, was his hilarious account of falling forty feet from the mast on to the captain taking the sun in his deck chair; he collapsed the chair, and flattened the captain, who was not seen on deck for three days. On shanties, too, he was most illuminating, remarking that "the better the shanty, the better the ship," and explaining their practical importance; that without a compulsive rhythm, some heavy sails