Books: Lee Rail Under

SAIL Ho! (288 pp.)—Sir James Bisset, written in collaboration with P. R. Stephensen—Criterion ($5).

The bark County of Pembroke was running her easting down in the roaring forties off the Cape of Good Hope when she shipped a monstrous sea over the lee rail. Tailing onto the heavy rope of the main brace was a runty, down-cheeked lad of 16 named Jimmy Bisset. His feet swept from under him by the surge of boiling green water, he was washed overboard. His shouts were drowned in the roar of wind and sea. But he held onto...