Freda Bone (1905–1991)

This most unusual book is a collection (with many additions) of the vivid, salty articles and tales which for some years now have been appearing in the Manchester Guardian over the initials 'AHB'. ... There have been hundreds of books that have tried to reconstruct the old life at sea (his brother David's are among the best), but never one that has done just what, almost, it would seem, unintentionally, he has managed to do. ... There are a lot of pickings on this Bone. His first is a rich book, but no-one who reads it and is interested in the sea will put it down without hoping that its author has started on another. His niece's wood-engravings are charming, but there are not enough of them. His book deserved at least three times as many.

[Arthur Ransome in The Manchester Guardian, 9 Nov. 1932; reproduced in Christina Hardyment, Ransome on blue water sailing, p. 66].… (more)