PUSHING WATER by Dawson, Eric P - 1918

Toronto: Frederick D. Goodchild, 1918. 123 pp. This is an ex-University of Victoria library copy with very few library markings. Blue cloth lettered in silver on the front panel and spine; black and white frontis photograph of the author in his naval uniform. Light wear at the corners with some discolouration on the front panel; previous owner's name inside. When asked what he had been doing lately, one of the officers replied, "Pushing water." Wrote the author, "This succinct phrase sums up pretty thoroughly the life of those of us who serve in that department of the British Navy which the civilian knows as the Mosquito Fleet. Day and night we push water. We are known by all kinds of names, from Harry Tate's Navy (a comedian whose chief wit lies in the contortions performed by his whiskers) to our official name, the Auxiliary Motor Boat Patrol. When you come to describe the ship itself you have a varied choice of names; sometimes it's the Stink Pot, at others the Special or ironically, the Semi-Submersible, but perhaps the name we like best ourselves is the Movies. There's something about this name Movy, which seems to fit, for the M. L. is nothing if not movement. To speed, and for the sake of speed, everything else has been given the go-by.". First Printing - First Thus. Hardcover. Very Good-. 12mo. Book.