by

Author of "Naval Occasions"

All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.
And a laughing yarn from a merry fellow rover.
And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

John Masefield

Cassell And Company, Ltd.

London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne

First published September 1915 Reprinted September, October 1915 and January 1916

To H. M. S.

IT is almost superfluous to observe that the following sketches contain no attempt at the portrait of an individual. The majority are etched in with the ink of pure imagination. A few are "composite" sketches of a large number of originals with whom the Author has been shipmates in the past and whose friendship he is grateful to remember.

Of these, some, alas! have finished " the long trick." To them, at no risk of breaking their quiet sleep - Ave asque vale.

"Crab-Pots," " The Day," and "Chummy Ships " appeared originally in Blackwood's Magazine, and are reproduced here by kind permission of the Editor.

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