When The Queens Met

In the normal course of events you could say that three, large sized volumes about any one man’s life is at least two volumes too long.

HOWEVER, not every man with three volumes to his credit has had 50 years at sea, stretching from a three-masted barque on the Cape Horn route, at one end, to command of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth at the other.

With Commodore, Sir James Bisset finishes his triology—the other two books being Sail Ho! (published in 1958); and Tramps and Ladies (1959). At 78 he says that he is now

retiring from writing.

Even with the professional colla boration of P. R. Stephenson, all three of Bisset’s books remain the simple chronicle of a sailor, and therein no doubt lie their charm for those who feel that a gimmicky modern approach would be out of place in such a story.

Bisset went to sea in sail at 15, made several voyages round the Horn and transferred to steam in 1905. The present story covers the years from 1913 to his retirement in 1947, and thus takes in two World Wars, the 1920’s that saw the intro duction of the luxury cruise, and the Depression Thirties that brought the cheap, floating holiday for the masses.

Although the author had a tough training in his youth, on sailing ships and later on steam-driven tramps, the greater part of his career at sea was on Cunard passenger liners, mixing with the world’s great—or at least the world’s well-heeled.

He was an officer on Franconia (20,000 tons) on a number of her post World War I, round-the-world cruises. These were patronised largely by American millionaires and their appendages and in the course of one, in 1927, Port Moresby was visited.

Bisset was First Mate, and entered this in his diary for March 13; “Port Moresby. Anchored one mile from the pier and took our passengers ashore in lifeboats to visit the native village of Hanuabada, and to see a native war-dance at the cricket ground. Despite the steamy heat, the squalor of the native village and the dinginess of the white town, our pas sengers considered that Port Moresby was one of the most interesting places we had visited—probably be cause there were so many natives on view, naked, or nearly so.”

The world has moved on a lot

since then but apparently tourist}; are still attracted by the same things Alas, the shapely, bare torsoedf grass-skirted maidens of Moresby have all but disappeared in the las< few years.

The most interesting part of Bis* set’s career was in command oj< Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth when these giant ships were engaged in transporting troops. A painting ol< the first meeting of the two Queens outside Sydney Heads on April 6c 1942, when the Mary was departing after delivering the first contingent of American troops to Sydney, and Elizabeth was arriving with the second contingent, is reproduced on the dust-jacket.

In the arrival of the Queen Mary on that Australian voyage, the authors recreate the atmosphere in which the first “Yanks” were re-; ceived ashore. No Australian, who in those days fully expected to wake one morning and find Japanese alj the bottom of his garden, is evei likely to forget the thankfulness withl which he viewed the American “ini vasion” in that March of 1942. (COMMODORE. Published by Anguii and Robertson Ltd. 35/-.)