The Boy, Me and the Cat
The Boy, Me and the Cat
Cruise of the Mascot, 1912-1913
Henry M. Plummer
The Cyrus Chandler Company
Rye, New Hampshire
Copyright 1961
by
The Cyrus Chandler Company
Fourth Printing, 1986
Printed in the United States of America
by
Commonwealth Press, Worcester, Massachusetts
PUBLISHERS’ PROLOGUE
We first heard about The Boy, Me and the Cat when asked if we had read it. When we said we hadn’t, our interrogator shook his head with pity, and then made the flat statement, “It is the greatest cruising story ever written.” As you can imagine, our curiosity was piqued and even more so as we began to dig into the matter.
We learned that the book was originally published by the author in a paper covered, fish-line bound, mimeographed edition of 700 copies. Where those 700 copies have all gone to no one seems to know. There are a few in the hands of a small group who prize them rather highly. As William Taylor, Managing Editor of Yachting described it, “Borrowing one is about as simple as borrowing a man’s favorite wife.” We don’t know about that, inasmuch as we aren’t married and have yet to borrow a wife, but we do know that we had a terrible time trying to get a copy.
It soon appeared that the easiest way to read the book was to publish it, and so we set out. And that is the why of this second edition. Now that we have read it, we agree, this is the greatest cruising story ever written. We hope that you will think so, too.