In words of beauty and of kindness you lately wished me health and content. Health, alas! you cannot give me; but content you have filled me with. My books have done more than ever I had dared dream, by winning for me the friendship and approval of the Author of ‘Typee,’ ‘Omoo,’ ‘Moby-Dick,’ ‘Redburn,’ and other productions which top the list of sea literature in the English tongue. I beg you to accept this dedication as a further public avowal of my hearty admiration of your genius.

In all faithfulness yours,
W. CLARK RUSSELL.

CONTENTS

CHAPTERPAGE
I.MY COUSIN[1]
II.THE ‘BRIDE’[10]
III.LAURA JENNINGS[17]
IV.IN THE SOLENT[27]
V.LONG TOM[39]
VI.FINN TESTS THE CREW’S SIGHT[50]
VII.SAIL HO![58]
VIII.WE SPEAK THE ‘WANDERER’[67]
IX.A SQUALL[76]
X.I GO ALOFT[84]
XI.THE PORTUGUESE BRIG[92]
XII.A SECOND WARNING[105]
XIII.I INTERPRET THE WARNING[116]
XIV.MUFFIN GOES FORWARD[126]
XV.I BOARD A WRECK[136]
XVI.WE SIGHT A SCHOONER-YACHT[147]
XVII.WE RAISE THE SCHOONER[156]
XVIII.IS SHE THE ‘SHARK?’[166]
XIX.A MYSTERIOUS VOICE[178]
XX.MUFFIN IS PUNISHED[188]
XXI.HEAVY WEATHER[198]
XXII.THE ‘LIZA ROBBINS’[206]
XXIII.THE COLONEL AND HER LADYSHIP[215]
XXIV.THE DUEL[224]
XXV.THE COLONEL’S FUNERAL[235]
XXVI.WILFRID’S DELUSION[247]
XXVII.A DEAD CALM[263]
XXVIII.A TERRIBLE NIGHT[274]
XXIX.A VOLCANIC ISLAND[286]
XXX.WE BOARD THE GALLEON[297]
XXXI.THE FIRST NIGHT[308]
XXXII.THE GALLEON’S HOLD[321]
XXXIII.THE SECOND NIGHT[334]
XXXIV.CONCLUSION[348]

AN OCEAN TRAGEDY.

CHAPTER I.
MY COUSIN.

‘Sir Wilfrid Monson, sir,’ exclaimed my man.

It was half-past ten o’clock at night, and I was in my lodgings in Bury Street, St. James, slippers on feet, a pipe of tobacco in my hand, seltzer and brandy at my elbow, and on my knees the ‘Sun’ newspaper, the chief evening sheet of the times.