Vlll INTRODUCTION 



moment's notice, the names, pedigrees, owners, riders, 

 and starting-prices of the winners of all the " classic " 

 races for a dozen years back, throwing in with mental 

 exuberance many extraneous details concerning these 

 events. Yet such men could not, if their freedom 

 depended upon it, give you the faintest idea of what 

 the merchant service means to the country at large, 

 much less to their own particular trade. 



This being so (and I have not the slightest fear 

 of its being questioned), I feel that no apology is 

 needed for my present attempt to present, in a series 

 of sketches, the salient points concerning our heritage 

 the sea, while fully conscious of my many limitations 

 and scanty equipment for so important a task. In 

 this respect I may say that I have endeavoured to 

 summarize in readable fashion the substance of many 

 most important works upon the sea, and set the 

 summary forth in the light of personal acquaintance, 

 in the hope that, without my book being definitely 

 entitled a romance, it will be found genuinely romantic 

 in the highest sense. 



I have divided the work into sections, of which the 

 first is the ocean as the health reservoir of the world. 

 A brief consideration of this title will, I think, con- 

 vince most readers that it would of itself suggest a most 

 fascinating volume, and that the attempt to condense 

 it within the limits of a couple of short chapters was 

 somewhat hardy. Still, the attempt has been made, 

 and I can only hope that it may lend itself to a 

 stimulation of thought about the matter that will 

 have a great effect. It is also entirely wonderful to 

 note how the early navigators took to the sea as an 

 open road, free from the terrors which then beset the 



