New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-06
I.andlubbers of the Pen.

About the most dangerous toSh ~" N
set yourself if you are novelist or poet
is writing of ships and sailors and the sea
unless. like Joseph Conrad, you are fully
qualified as an able-bodied seaman and
have served your time below decks. Other
subjects have their technique and catchy
facts of detail. The delightful crop OF de-
nartment store sales-heroines now current
in our magazines always dazzle US with
their grasp of their duties, grasp far ex-
ceeding any possessed by maidens whom 1t
has been our fortune to accost in everyday
purchasing. But few glittering, gum
chewing details carry long way IN such
fiction. There is not the same hard mass
of irrefutable fact, established by the ages,
that confronts the author pushing out to
sea.
AS a sample Of the rigorous seataring
critic which the poor landlubber faces on
soundings take a correspondent OF the
London "Athenaum." He starts off fairly
enough by calling Sir Gilbert Parker to
account for little matter Of masts IN
"The Battle of the Strong" The author
sailed a brig out upon his printed page
with the observation that cher main and
mizzen mast were not visible Quite
likely as to the mizzen, it is to be
observed, for brig has but two masts
and those the fore and main. That is a
typical landlubber blunder, and quite as
linexcusable as the marvellous yacht in a
much displayed magazine illustration Of
the late Christy-Gibson vintage. which
bowled along in sprightly fashion despite
the complete absence of a main sheet.
A shade more carping is the second crit
icism of the "Athensum" writer. Sir Gil
bert Parker in the same volume sets a
boats crew of the Narcissus frigate to
singing:
! O you A B sailor-man,
Wet YOUR whistle while you can,
For the piping of the bugle calls you
'ome-
Ome-'Ome-'ome-
Calls YOU on 70 your fo'c'stle 'ome..
Now the year of the action is 1898 and
the poem is Kipling's. Perhaps Sir Gil
bert Parker thought Mr.. Kipling was flch-
ing an old refrain; but in view of the
modern verbiage that hardly seems likely
The critic is altogether justified in his
complaint that the chanty is vulgar and
out of date and yields a very unpleasant
effect in the eighteenth century setting
Why. he excaims, did not Sir Gilbert use
a real sea song: admiral Benbow-Oh.
We sailed to Virginia and thence to
Fayal." Captain Kidd" "The Arethusa,"
Sank Her in the Lowlands Low" High
Barbaree" or Farewell and Adieu to You
Fair Spanish Ladies'" Why, indeed?
There is no catching John Masefeld in
landlubberly slips. But the same critic
protests against his use Of American slang
in Captain Margaret his seafaring
novel. The book is ancient in atmosphere
save for such language as Mr. Masefeld
outs in the mouths of his sailor men: "Oh
mommerw Gee, can sing alright. al
right" "And your wife's a peach,
guess"-all of which do smack a little
highly of a Sixth Avenue bar, we confess
But there are various ways of producing
an ancient atmosphere without sticking
strictly to ancient speech, and Mr.. Mase-
fields transmutation of eighteenth CEN
fury British into twentieth century Ameri-
can is not TO be narrowly or easily dis
missed. In the same volume there is this
description Of the ship The Broken Heart:
"She was a small ship, built Of aro-
saatic cedar, and like all wooden ships
she would have looked ungainly, had