VI INTRODUCTION 



very sternly borne in upon my experience in con- 

 nection with my book, " The Men of the Merchant 

 Service." My object in writing that book was solely 

 to acquaint the general public with the work of our 

 merchant seamen of all grades, by giving in the most 

 untechnical terms a description of their various duties, 

 interspersed with illustrative anecdotes, mostly drawn 

 from personal experience. Never was a book more 

 favourably received by the critics; out of hundreds 

 of reviews, I do not recall one that was not eulogistic, 

 while many of the critiques in the great reviews were 

 couched in language calculated to turn a poor author's 

 head. But still more gratifying was the reception 

 the book met with from seamen of every grade, both 

 active and retired. These men are naturally the very 

 keenest critics of books about the sea, because they 

 know the subject so well, and are consequently in- 

 tolerant of amateur writing thereon. Most gratefully 

 do I record that from all parts of the world nautical 

 men have written to me, praising the work in the 

 highest terms ; and chiefly do I remember and cherish 

 the long letter of commendation which I received 

 from a man whom I, in common with most of my 

 fellow-seamen, regard as the greatest all-round mer- 

 chant seaman of his day, Captain S. T. S. Lecky, 

 author of " Wrinkles." This gifted man, from a bed 

 of pain attendant upon the disease which shortened 

 his most valuable life, was good enough to say that, 

 finding my book during a period of enforced leisure, 

 he had searched it with the most jealous care, and 

 had been unable to find the slightest error of tech- 

 nique or detail, which, of course, was most gratifying 

 to me. 



