"Voyage to Somewhere" is the story of Lieutenant Barton and his first command. Some time in May, 1944, Mr. Barton reported to a San Francisco yard to take over his new ship from the lady welders…. Lieutenant Barton and his green hands sailed the SV-126 safely to New Guinea and thereafter, for two years, shuttled her back and forth between steaming tropic islands….

Sloan Wilson 1920– Courtesy of Sloan Wilson

When you live within 180 feet of men twenty-four hours a day for two years, life gets pretty intimate…. The climax comes during a roaring sea typhoon, in which the author's clean and compact prose appears at its best.

For the most part, Mr. Wilson turns in a creditable performance. It is unfortunate that "Voyage to Somewhere" is the victim of bad timing: its author could hardly know that Thomas Heggen's "Mister Roberts" would reach the bookstalls first—or that that...