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Reviews of Late Books SSS eo ue reo see Practical Marine Diesel Engineer- ing, by Louis R. Ford, M. A., second edition, revised and enlarged cloth, 772 pages, 6 x 9 inches, published by Simmons-Boardman Publishing Co., New York, and supplied by MARINE Review, Cleveland, for $7 plus 15 cents postage, and in Europe by the Penton Publishing Co., Ltd., Caxton House London, for 35s, postage extra. This book deals with the construc- tion and operation of the marine diesel engine from the viewpoint of the practical engineer. Owing to the rapid strides made in the develop- ment of the diesel engine since the first edition was published. the text has been revised to make it fully and accurately informative in re- gard to latest diesel engineering practice. The major portion of the book has been entirely rewritten and additional matter inserted. The pre- liminary chapters, dealing with fun- damental facts, have not been altered other than to add some material in the interest of clarity. The section dealing with engine parts has been considerably enlarged to include im- portant new developments in design practice. Liberal use is made of sketches and sectional drawing. A chapter has been added dealing with shipyard repairs of diesel engines. The chapter covering the subject of motorship engineer licenses has been brought up to date and a dis- cussion added regarding require- ments for obtaining a British engi- neer’s certificate. Origins of the Early English Maritime and Commercial Law, by Frederic Rockwell Sanborn, LL.B., D. Phil., cloth, 424 pages, 6 x 9 inches; published by the Century Co., New York, for the American Historical association, and supplied by Marine Review, Cleveland, for $4 plus 15 cents postage, and in Eu- rope by the Penton Publishing Co., Ltd., Caxton House, London, for 20s postage extra. In this interesting and authentic discussion of the early English mari- time law, Dr. Sanborn presents an historical study that is unique in ex- isting legal history. There is no other history in English of early maritime law, nor has any such his- tory been published in any language since the general work by Desjardins about 50 years ago. The author undertakes to prove the unbroken continuity of the develop- ment of maritime law from Roman days to English. Also, he traces con- vincingly, in pairs of parallel chap- ters, the very close connection exist- ing between maritime and commer- cial law during the medieval period and points out the considerably wid- er scope of the words “maritime law” in those early days ag contrasted with our modern usage. At that time, maritime law dealt also with the primitive branches of modern commercial law and the beginnings of international law. Admiralty law- yers, lawyers with a general commer- -cial practice, and students of legal history will find a wealth of informa- tion in this very readable book. Sir William Holdsworth. Vinerian pro- fessor of English law in the Univer- sity of Oxford, has written the fore- word, Resistance of Ships and Models, by .N. W.. Akimofl,. cloth, 7 3 9a inches, 136 pages, printed in Italy (written in English) and supplied by MARINE Review, Cleveland, and by Penton Publishing Co., Ltd., Caxton House, London. This new book is a treatise on new methods for estimating the effective horsepower of ships’ hulls. It is di- vided into two parts, Part 1 being devoted to a brief history of the au- thor’s investigations, a synopsis of present day views and results, analy- sis, tables, thrust measurement tests, determination of _ effective horsepower by the usual tank meth- ods abnormal values of propulsive coefficient, general deductions and suggestions and answers to possible objections, desiderata and _ conclu- sions. Part II deals with the mechan- ism of the wake, general remarks on turbulence and trip wire principle. The text throughout is amplified with illustrations and drawings. What the British Are Doing in Shipbuilding HERE were launched all over Scot- land in January 13 vessels aggre- gating 32,979 tons gross. Of that total, eight vessels of 31,642 tons were built on the Clyde, three of 720 tons were launched in the Aberdeen area, and two of 617 tons in the Forth district. The Clyde total compares with 15 ves- sels of 31,910 tons in January last year, and the present figure is above the average for the month. * oe ox HE only order of importance booked by Clyde shipbuilders in January was that placed with William Simons & Co. Ltd., of Renfrew who have contracted to build a large twin- screw suction hopper dredger. The new vessel will be similar to the powerful dredger Riernok built last year by William Simons for the South African railways and harbors admin- istration. This work will provide 48 about a year’s employment for their workpeople. * % * UGH McLean & Sons who have just completed the lifeboat con- tract for the Empress or BRITAIN, building at Clydebank, have secured the lifeboat contracts for the five new P. & O. liners at present under con- struction. The same firm have also the lifeboat contract for a large pas- senger liner in France, comprising 28 lifeboats. % * % Tis first shipbuilding contract for 1931 has just been placed on the Tees. A valuable Canadian order for two oil-tankers of 2740 tons each, se- cured by the Furness Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. of Haverton Hill has a distinctly pleasing feature, in that it represents a flattering tribute to the high stand- ard of Tees-built ships. The two ships MARINE REVIEw—March. 1931 have been ordered by entirely new clients to the Furness Co. and they are to be of a similar type to other tank- ers which have been sent out from the Haverton Hill yards to do oil carrying service on the Canadian lakes. The new ships will be 257 feet in length and of 2740 tons deadweight. As quick delivery is demanded the keels will be laid down at once, and within the next few weeks additional shipyard hands will be taken on. At present there are two very large whalers on the stocks. These are of over 500 feet in length and 21,000 tons deadweight. * * * HE largest and most powerful ves sel launched last month was the motorship Opawa built by Alexander Stephen & Sons Ltd. Linthouse, for the New Zealand Shipping Co. She 1s similar to the Orart which is at pres ent being fitted out.