INTRODUCTION xiii 



Like every youngster I always wanted to 

 know how and why ^'the wheels went round" 

 and my insatiable appetite for information 

 was freely and fully satisfied by the good- 

 natured officers and crew, who took the great- 

 est pleasure — and no doubt obtained plenty of 

 amusement as well — in explaining the mean- 

 ing of charts, signals and buoys, the operation 

 of the compass and sextant, the mechanism of 

 engines and machinery and in pointing out the 

 importance of waves, winds, tides and cur- 

 rents. 



Oftentimes, when the dredging and trawl- 

 ing was over and the ship headed for port 

 with her load of natural history prizes, the 

 crew would foregather on the "fo'c's'le" and 

 the grizzled old men-o'-warsmen would vie 

 with one another in entertaining the "Profes- 

 sor's Kid" with deep-sea yarns. 



One memorable summer was passed at a 

 lighthouse-service station and there I found 

 never-ending sources of entertainment and 

 amusement in company with a boy companion 

 whose father commanded the lighthouse ten- 

 der Anemone. To watch the great buoys be- 



