not in worldcat



Composed by Captain Mac Lachlan (late Mercantile Marine), this soft cover 32 page booklet is entitled Poems and Recitations and was printed by the Shepparton Advertiser c.1920.

Big mention is made of Capt. Mac Lachlan’s incapacitated state, writing from his invalid chair and as the introductory puts it “now has to depend almost entirely on the productions of his brain for his livelihood”!

He saw service in both the Royal Navy and the Naval Reserves and after severe injuries sustained at sea, decided to relay the graphic accounts and personal experiences of an English sailor who had fought through all parts of the world.

The contents cover;
A poem of part of Capt. Mac Lachlan’s experiences from the age of 14 to the year 1901,
Admiral Sir Dave Beatty,
An answer to the child’s question: What did you do at the great war, Daddy?,
Drunken Jim,
Sailor Mac’s Opinion of Alcohol,
Capt. Mac’s Special,
Capt. Mac Lachlan’s Opinion of the recent Seamen’s Strike,
The Matron,
and The Nurse.

The booklet is in nice solid condition and quite clean and neat inside. The cover is rather grubby on the left hand side where it has spent many years folded leaving this side exposed. Consequently, it has a fold line done the middle of each page…but really doesn’t detract too much. It is held securely with one large (slightly rusty) staple.

Wonderful historic information from the late 1800s through to the great war….all in great early, but easy to read poetry with a very personal flavour. Rather sad reading verse on our brave Aussies falling at Gallipoli (he was there, helping land the troops on the beach!).