PUNCH,
OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
Vol. 100.
January 24, 1891.
MR. PUNCH'S PRIZE NOVELS.
No. XII.—THE MATE OF THE MARLINSPIKE.
(By SHARK MUSSELL; Author of "Erect with a Stove in Her," "My Gyp made to wheeze," "The Romance of a Penny Parlour," "A Hook for the Bannock," "Found the Gal on Fire," "The Mystery of the Lotion Jar," "The Jokes o' Lead," &c., &c., &c.)
["Here you are, my hearty," writes the Author, "this is a regular briny ocean story, all storms and thunderclaps and sails and rigging and soaring masts and bellying sails. How about 'avast heaving' and 'shiver my timbers,' and 'son of a sea-cook,' and all that? No, thank you; that kind of thing's played out. MARRYAT was all very well in his day, but that day's gone. The public requires stories about merchant ships, and, by Neptune, the public shall have them, with all kinds of hairy villains and tempest-tossed wrecks and human interest and no end of humour, likewise word-pictures of ships and storms. That's me. So clear the decks, and here goes.">[