338 OUR HERITAGE THE SEA 



he cannot get employment even as a subordinate 

 officer. It is the only profession among us where 

 an error of judgment or an absolute misfortune is 

 construed into a crime worthy of ruin after a blame- 

 less career, and its victims are rightfully very bitter 

 about their treatment. But it cannot be gainsaid that 

 the tremendous penalty attaching to failure has made 

 our Mercantile Marine what it is, and has kept down 

 our list of disasters at sea, reducing it each year until 

 sea traffic compares very favourably with railway work, 

 for instance, in its immunity from loss of life. 



Here I must close this discursive chapter, with the 

 earnest hope that those who do me the honour to read 

 it will first of all take home to themselves, and then 

 endeavour to impress upon all with whom they come 

 in contact, the transcendent importance of the ocean 

 to our beloved country, Great Britain. 



THE END 



PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMIT KD, LONDON AND BBCCLE9, 



