The Last Cruise of the Carnegie

Abstract

THREE years ago the Carnegie met her fate when at anchor in Samoa owing to an explosion when loading gasoline for her auxiliary engine. The loss of a fine vessel, built expressly for the study of terrestrial magnetism, was a catastrophe, but this was completely overshadowed by the death of Capt. Ault, fine seaman, skipper and navigator, enthusiastic and generous scientific chief. The Carnegie was the most widely known of all vessels, for she had already made six cruises mostly across unknown areas of sea and visited many strange ports. Capt. Ault was in command of three of these, and this story of her seventh cruise is eloquent as to his practical qualities and to his high efficiency as leader. Ventures and dangers are passed by so lightly, as in recent War dispatches, that at times the reader wonders whether the author appreciated them and understood fully the quality of his ‘skipper’.

The Last Cruise of the Carnegie.

By J. Harland Paul. Pp. xvii + 331. (Baltimore: The Williams and Wilkins Co.; London: Baillière, Tindall and Cox, 1932.) 26s. 6d. net.