NEW YORK
THE CENTURY CO.

Copyright, 1920, 1921, by
The Century Co.

PRINTED IN U. S. A.

CONTENTS

CHAPTERPAGE
IThe Singular Fate of the Brig Polly[3]
IIHow the Schooner Exertion Fell among Thieves[25]
IIIThe Tragedy of the Frigate Medusa[51]
IVThe Wreck of the Blenden Hall, East Indiaman[76]
VThe Adventures of David Woodard, Chief Mate[107]
VICaptain Paddock on the Coast of Barbary[131]
VIIFour Thousand Miles in an Open Boat[160]
VIIIThe Frigates That Vanished in the South Seas[189]
IXWhen H. M. S. Phoenix Drove Ashore[212]
XThe Roaring Days of Piracy[232]
XIThe Loss of the Wager Man-of-War[259]
XIIThe Cruise of the Wager’s Long-Boat[288]
XIIIThe Grim Tale of the Nottingham Galley[309]
XIVThe Storm-Swept Fleet of Admiral Graves[330]
XVThe Brisk Yarn of the Speedwell Privateer[350]
XVILuckless Seamen Long in Exile[367]
XVIIThe Noble King of the Pelew Islands[393]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The wreck of the Polly[Frontispiece]
FACING
PAGE
Seamanship was helpless to ward off the attack of the storm that left the brig a sodden hulk [8]
Fresh water trickled from the end of the pistol-barrel, and they caught it in a tin cup [16]
Volusia off Salem, built at Falmouth, Mass., in 1801, and Wrecked at Cape Cod in 1802 [20]
The pirate captain boarding the captured Exertion [29]
Armed with as many of the aforementioned weapons as they could well sling about their bodies [33]
Boats were filled with men whose only thought was to save their skins [56]
The brig, which had made a long tack and was now steering straight toward the raft [64]
Governor Glass and his residence [97]
Woodard raised his empty hands to ask for peace and mercy [112]
Wreck of the Grosvenor on the coast of Caffraria [144]
Early American ship of the 18th Century [176]
Perilous situation of the ship [224]
The Charlemagne, a New York packet ship [272]
Brig Topaz of Newburyport, built in 1807 [305]
The brig Olinda of Salem, built in 1825 [352]
Taking on the pilot in the 18th Century [384]

LOST SHIPS AND LONELY SEAS

CHAPTER I
THE SINGULAR FATE OF THE BRIG POLLY