INTRODUCTION. XI 



additional. The instrimieiits that these observations at sea call for 

 are such as are already in use on board of every well- conditioned 

 ship, and the observations that are required are precisely those 

 which are necessary for her safe and proper navigation. 



As great as is the value attached to what has been accomphshed 

 by these researches in the way of shortening passages and lessening 

 the dangers of the sea, a good of higher value is, in the opinion of 

 many seamen, yet to come out of the moral, the educational 

 influence which they are calculated to exert upon the seafaring 

 commimity of the world. A very clever English ship-master, 

 speaking recently of the advantages of educational influences among 

 those who intend to follow the sea, remarks : 



" To the cultivated lad there is a new world spread out when he 

 enters on his first voyage. As his education has fitted, so will he 

 perceive, year by year, that his profession makes h iin acquainted 

 mth things new and instructive. His intelligence Y^ll enable him 

 to appreciate the contrasts of each coimtry in its general aspect, 

 manners, and productions, and in modes of navigation adapted to 

 the character of coast, cKmate, and rivers. He vvill dwell with 

 interest on the phases of the ocean, the storm, the calm, and the 

 breeze, and v/ill look for traces of the laws which regulate them. 

 All this will induce a serious earnestness in his work, and teach him 

 to view hghtly those irksome and often ofi'ensive duties incident to 

 the beginner."* 



And that these researches do have such an effect many noble- 

 hearted mariners have testified. Captain Phinney, of the American 

 ship " Gertrude," writing from Callao, January, 1855, thus ex- 

 presses himseK: 



" Having to proceed from this to the Chincha Islands and remain 

 three months, I avail myself of the present opportunity to forward 

 to you abstracts of my two passages over your southern routes, 

 although not required to do so until my ovvn return to the United 

 States next summer ; knowing that you are less amply supplied 

 with abstracts of voyages over these regions than of many other 

 parts of the ocean, and, such as it is, I am happy to contribute my 

 mite towards famishing you with material to work out still farther 

 towards perfection yom^ great and glorious task, not only of pointing 



* "The Log of a Merchant Officep. ; viewed witli reference to the Educa- 

 tion of young Officers and the Youth of the Merchant Service. By Egbert 

 Methrex, Commander in the Peninsular and Oriental Company, and author of 

 the ' Narrative of the Blenheim Hurricane of 1851.'" London: John W^eale, 

 59 High Holborn ; Smith, Elder & Co., Cornhill ; Ackermann & Co., Strand. 1854. 



