... This is one of the best, most concise, and most comprehensive guides to the care and use of really small vessels (up to about ten tons) that have yet been written. It is thoroughly practical. Its authors have kept themselves in touch with all the latest developments in gear and theory, and yet in writing their book they have never allowed themselves to forget for a moment that they are writing for beginners. They are good teachers, and even the oldest hands would admit that they could overhear such lessons with interest and profit.

[Arthur Ransome in The Manchester Guardian, 8 May 1933; reproduced in Christina Hardyment, Ransome on blue water sailing, p. 67].