Description

Sea Stories

240 pages 

Most of us have passed through a period of life during which we have ardently longed to be,
if not actually a rover, a buccaneer, or a pirate, at least and really a sailor! To run away to
sea has been the misdirected ambition of many a youngster, and some lads there are who
have realized their desire to their sorrow. The boy who has not cherished in his heart and
exhibited in his actions at sometime or other during his youthful days, a love of ships and
salt water, is fit for—well, he is fit for the shore, and that is the worst thing a sailor could
say about him!
The virile nations, the strong peoples, are those whose countries border on the sea. They
who go down to the great deep in ships are they who master the world. On the ocean as
well as on the mountain top dwells the spirit of freedom. When men have struggled with
each other in the shock of war, or the emulation of peace, when they have matched skill
against skill, strength to strength, courage with courage, the higher quality of manhood in
each instance has been required upon the sea; for there the sharp contention has been not
only between man and man but between nature and man as well. A double portion of
heroic spirit is needed to meet the double demand. That is the reason we love the sea. It is
this Homeric spirit of the Ocean Masters that fills the dreams of youth and stirs the
memories of old age.