Welsh Journals

Ruth Frow, in their revealing chapter on Manchester, point out that the Communist Party backed the General Council to the bitter end and beyond. Again, the obvious question is why? If the working class was betrayed by its leaders, those leaders included the CP. But there is no real discussion of the Party's role, nor any attempt to set it within the international context of Moscow's United Front policy of the 1920s. There are some useful maps especially those on government military preparations, but no index and too much Party line. To understand the General Strike it is usually better to listen to the likes of Dai Lossin. Indeed, given the loss of other sources, that is often all we have left. PATRICK RENSHAW Sheffield CYMRU A'R M6R: MARITIME WALES. Edited by Aled Eames, Lewis Lloyd, Bryn Parry, John Stubbs. Gwynedd Archives Service, No.1 (1976). Pp. 135. £ 1.25. All historians must be grateful to the Gwynedd Archives Service and County Record Office for their pioneering work in the field of Welsh mari- time history. That this subject attracts growing public interest is illustrated by the first issue of this new journal. The contributors are retired sea captains, academics, professional historians, engineers and journalists. The journal will cover diverse aspects of Welsh maritime life and its European and world connections. A section on Notes and News gives information on maritime museums, exhibitions and the work of groups of maritime historians in existence or being planned, in Wales and abroad, and it is hoped that the Correspondence section will reflect something of this international flavour. The editors likewise hope to encourage contri- butions of personal reminiscences of Welsh seafaring life with its strong family traditions, and in this number have tapped the memories of Welsh and German contributors. The chronological range of the twelve articles stretches from the Romans to the Second World War; the subjects from two articles on marine archae- ology, something of a speciality in north-west Wales, for which it is hoped, this journal will provide a forum, to a brief history of the Mercantile Marine Service Association training ship, H.M.S. Conway. The historical value of the articles is variable. Graham Farr contributes a brief survey on the use and value of the statutory ship registers of Welsh ports. Aled Eames provides an introductory study of the fortunes of a ship-owning family in nineteeth-century Anglesey and Caemarfon, based on a manuscript collection recently acquired by the Gwynedd Record Office, the Rhuddgaer and Plas Penrhyn Papers. Ivor Wynne Jones examines an incident in the American Civil War which took place in Welsh waters. Based on original documents and research, these are important and useful contributions. The article by Lewis Lloyd on Aberdyfi shipping and seamen, 1565-1907, similarly based, is chronologically too ambitious. The bulk of his material comes from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and a comparative study of other Cardigan Bay ports, such as he is currently engaged in, should prove useful.