IN THE FIRST WATCH (334 pp.)William McFeeRandom House ($3).
"The fourth engineer scrawls F W E . . . on the log-board and we all sigh with relief. We have to work on, of course, but the voyage is over. 'Finished with the engines' about describes the effect intended by this book."
Author McFee's memoir of his youth waddles along like an old tramp steamer, picking up a memory here, unloading a prejudice there, sleepily reviving the log of McFee's "first watch" (1906-11) as ship's engineer and as author. In retrospect, McFee isn't sure which of his two callings has meant more to...