p. 109: As far as reading was concerned we never saw so much as a Swedish newspaper in three years.
p. 111: It was the lack of books….at this time and previously, in my opinion, that turned sailors to making things, models, mats, picture-frames, mostly out of scrap.
p. 111: Lack of reading matter, writes an old seaman, turned the men to other things…; these pastimes have to a large extent dropped out since fo’c’sles have been better lit and larger supplies of books have been available. (See M. K. Cook In the Watch Below,1937.)
p. 115, (cf. Rex Clements, A Gipsy of the Horn, 1951, p. 230): finds reading aboard ship limited by?? and those few didn’t survive well; pages were used for cigarette paper or toiler paper; there was poor lighting for seamen below deck; and was sometimes condemned by captains. Procurement did occur from Seamens’ mission and women’s association, as well as exchange on board ship.
Map in flap: “The Countries around the North Pole”