Preface. THE wonders of the Ocean, and all connected therewith, need no preface, either by way of explanation or apology. They are of themselves sufficiently attractive to most minds to warrant the launching of this book without a preface. But we think it right, in justice to ourself, to say that the information contained in the following pages is by no means meant to be regarded as a complete account of Ocean and its concerns. It is simply such a desultory narration and explanation of things maritime-historically and otherwise—as, it is hoped, will imbue the reader's mind with a just conception of the nature of man's doings upon the Great Deep from the earliest ages to the present time. R. M. B. EDINBURGH, 1862. |