226 THE WHALEMAN ; OR, 



CHAPTER XIII, 



The Ocean. — The Seaman's Home. — Confidence of the Mariner in 

 his Ship. — Shipwreck. — Moral and religious Claims of Seamen. 



— The Spirit of the Age. — Interest in the Mariners' Meeting. — 

 Seaport Places. — Sudden Intelligence. — Seamen remembered else- 

 where. — Ships supplied with Books. — Bible and Tract Societies. 



— Good seed sown. — Field for Usefulness. — The American Sea- 

 man. — Concert of Prayer. — All interested. — The most important 

 Reform for Seamen. 



Whatever pertains to seamen in their ad- 

 ventures, explorations, privations, and disasters, 

 never fails to be of interest to all classes in the 

 community. 



The ocean is a vast and mysterious world in 

 itself; a world of mighty waters, grand, sublime ; 

 an image of eternity, a scene of wonders and 

 terrors, which no mortal tongue can adequately 

 describe. Man, with his frail bark, borne on its 

 ever restless and heaving bosom, is but a mere 

 particle on the surface of the boundless ex- 

 panse. 



Those, however, whose " home is on the deep," 

 inured both to its smiles and frowns, are familiar 

 with this mode of life, and thus become daily 

 conversant w r ith its varied phases around them. 



