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The Log of a Sea-Waif: Being Recollections of the First Four Years of My Sea Life
The Log of a SeaWaif Being Recollections of the First Four Years of My Sea Life Author:Frank Thomas Bullen THE LOG OF A SEA-WAIF BEING RECOLLECTIONS OF THE FIRST FOUR YEARS OF MY SEA LIFE FRANK T. BULLEN, - I899 - PREFACE - NOTWITHSTANDIN th G e oft-reiterated statement that the days of sea romance are over, it may re11 be doubted vhethei-any period of our literary history has been more prolific in books dealing with that subject than the last twenty... more »-five years. Nor does the output show any signs of lessening, while the quality of the work done is certainly not clet eriorating. Writers like Kipling, Cutcliffe Hyne, Joseph Conrad, and Clark Russell, each in his own style, have presented us with a series of sea-pictures that need not fear comparison with any nautical writers work of any day, although they deal almost exclusively with the generally considered unromantic merchant service. Having admitted this, the question perforce follows, Who, then, are you, that presumes to compete with these master magicians To that inevitable cluestion I woultl modestly answer that the present book is in no sense a competitor with the works of any writers of nautical romance. But having been for fifteen years a sea farer in almost every capacity except that of a master, and now, by the greatest kindness and indulgence on the part of men, holding high o s i - tions in the literary world, being permitted to cater for the reading public in sterling periodicals, it has often occurred to me how little landsmell really kilow of the seamans actual life. Two Years before the Mast, although written by an American, and of life on board an American merchantman, has long held undisputed sway as a classic upon the subject...« less