ITS HISTORY. 3 



The civilised man's fear is founded, it must be admitted, on a reasonable knowledge of the 

 ocean, so much his friend and yet so often his foe. Man is not independent of his fellow-man 

 in distant countries, nor is it desirable that he should be. No land produces all the necessaries, 

 and the luxuries which have begun to be considered necessaries, sufficient for itself. Transpor- 

 tation by land is often impracticable, or too costly, and the ocean thus becomes the great 

 highway of nations. Vessel after vessel, fleet after fleet, arrive safely and speedily. But as 

 there is danger for man lurking everywhere on land, so also is there on the sea. The world's 

 wreck-chart for one year must, as we shall see hereafter, be something appalling. That for the 

 British Empire alone in one year has often exceeded 1,000 vessels, great and small ! Averaging 

 three years, we find that there was an annual loss during that period of 1,095 vessels and 1,952 

 lives. * Nor are the ravages of ocean confined to the engulf ment of vessels, from rotten 

 " coffin-ships " to splendid ironclads. The coasts often bear witness of her fury. 



The history of the sea virtually comprises the history of adventure, conquest, and 

 commerce, in all times, and might almost be said to be that of the world itself. We 

 cannot think of it without remembering the great voyagers and sea-captains, the brave 

 naval commanders, the pirates, rovers, and buccaneers of bygone days. Great sea-fights 

 and notable shipwrecks recur to our memory the progress of naval supremacy, and the 

 means by which millions of people and countless millions of wealth have been transferred 

 from one part of the earth to another. We cannot help thinking, too, of "Poor Jack" 

 and life before the mast, whether on the finest vessel of the Royal Navy, or in the worst 

 form of trading ship. We recall the famous ships themselves, and their careers. We remember, 

 too, the "toilers of the sea" the fishermen, whalers, pearl-divers, and coral-gatherers; 

 the noble men of the lighthouse, lifeboat, and coastguard services. The horrors of the sea 

 its storms, Imrricanes, whirlpools, waterspouts, impetuous and treacherous currents rise 

 vividly before our mental vision. Then there are the inhabitants of the sea to be considered 

 from the tiniest germ of life to the great leviathan, or even the doubtful sea-serpent. 

 And even the lowest depths of ocean, with their mountains, valleys, plains, and luxurious 

 marine vegetation, are full of interest; while at the same time we irresistibly think of the 

 submerged treasure-ships of days gone by, and the submarine cables of to-day. Such 

 are among the subjects we propose to lay before our readers. THE SEA, as one great topic, 

 must comprise descriptions of life on, around, and in the ocean the perils, mysteries, pheno- 

 mena, and poetry of the great deep. The subject is too vast for superfluous detail : it would 

 require as many volumes as a grand encyclopaedia to do it justice; whilst a formal and 

 chronological history Would weary the reader. At all events, the present writer purposes 

 to occasionally gossip and digress, and to arrange facts in groups, not always following 

 the strict sequence of events. The voyage of to-day may recall that of long ago : the 

 discovery made long ago may be traced, by successive leaps, as it were, to its results in 

 the present epoch. We can hardly be wrong in believing that this grand subject has an 

 especial interest for the English reader everywhere ; for the spirit of enterprise, enthusiasm, 

 and. ( daring which has carried our flag to the uttermost parts of the earth, and has made 

 the proud words "Britannia rules the waves" no idle vaunt, is shared by a very large 



* "W. S. Lindsay, " History of Merchant Shipping," &o. 



