Introduction 
The history of mankind is a story of adaptation of nature to 
man and man to nature. On land men have been remark- 
ably successful in turning nature to their needs: they till the 
soil, dam up rivers, hew forests, blast mountains and _har- 
ness many of nature's forces. But, as every mariner knows, 
this conquest of nature by man halts abruptly at the ocean 
shores. 
In the ocean, nature reigns supreme. Man's ability to 
cross the oceans lies in his adaptation of himself to nature’s 
whims. On the high seas man does not subjugate nature for, 
although he is tolerated upon its surface for a while, he is 
often crushed by its waves and its winds or smashed on its 
rocks and shoals. 
There is a great challenge in the sea—a powerful urge 
which attracts and enslaves us—and there is happiness and 
companionship too, but we know that the sea is one domain 
which we must never dare hope to conquer. There will never 
be a successful mutiny against the sea. 
Except for the small comforts of the ship, a voyage at sea 
presents a vast unbroken expanse of sea and sky. Poets often 
speak of the “vast waste of the sea” or “the silent void of 
the sky.” They imply that sea and sky are great empty spaces 
because they do not see familiar objects in the waters or in 
the air. Actually, both sea and sky are far from being the 
dull, plain, uninteresting things that they at first may appear 
to be. 
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