|
To my late Shipmates IN H.M.S. "IRON DUKE," The following pages are respectfully inscribed. |
| ——— |
| Those who voyage beyond sea change their climate often, but their affections never. |
PREFACE.
To write something which shall please one's own friends is one thing; to undertake the task of pleasing anybody else is another; and, I take it, a far more difficult one. The writer of the following pages never sought to sail beyond the peaceful and well-marked area of the first, until induced—at the suggestions of his shipmates, though against his better judgment—to venture on the dark and tempest-swept ocean of the second.
The only originality claimed for the narrative is that of introducing such a manifestly inferior production to your notice.
Shipmates, my little bark is frail; deal gently with her, and—let me ask it as a special favor—do not blow too fiercely on her untried sails.
Much depends on the title of a book. Does it convey an adequate idea of the subject-matter? I would claim for mine at least that merit; for is not every sea over which we have voyaged to the eastward of England?
CONTENTS.
| Page | |
| [Chapter I.] | |
| We Commission our Ship—Visit Portsmouth—Prepare to Sail | [1] |
| [Chapter II.] | |
| Good-by to Albion—Southward Ho!—Gibraltar | [12] |
| [Chapter III.] | |
| Up the Mediterranean—Malta | [26] |
| [Chapter IV.] | |
| Port Said—The Suez Canal—Voyage down the Red Sea—Aden | [39] |
| [Chapter V.] | |
| Across the Indian Ocean—Ceylon—Singapore—A Cruise inthe Straits of Malacca | [47] |
| [Chapter VI.] | |
| Sarawak—Labuan—Manilla—Heavy weather | [62] |
| [Chapter VII.] | |
| Hong Kong—Some Chinese manners and customs | [71] |
| [Chapter VIII.] | |
| Preparations for the North—Amoy—Wosung, and what befellus there | [83] |
| [Chapter IX.] | |
| Arrival at Nagasaki—Something about Japan—A run throughthe Town—Visit to a Sintoo Temple | [94] |
| [Chapter X.] | |
| The Inland Sea—Kobé—Fusi-Yama—Yokohama—Visit toTokio | [113] |
| [Chapter XI.] | |
| Northward—Hakodadi—Dui—Castries Bay—Barracouta—Vladivostock | [131] |
| [Chapter XII.] | |
| Chefoo—Nagasaki en route—Japan revisited—Kobé—Yokohama | [146] |
| [Chapter XIII.] | |
| We attempt an overland route, with the result of the trial | [159] |
| [Chapter XIV.] | |
| The new regime—Something about Saigon—The First Cruiseof the China Squadron—An Alarm of Fire!—Arrival ofFlying Squadron | [181] |
| [Chapter XV.] | |
| Second Cruise of the China Squadron—Principally concerninga Visit to the Loo-Choo Isles and Corea—Welcome newsfrom home—Conclusion | [210] |
| [Appendix A].—Deaths during the Commission | [i.] |
| [Appendix B].—Table of places visited and distances runduring the Commission | [iii.] |