Excerpt from The Sea, Vol. 1: Its History and Romance

The most precious possession of the anglo-saxon race, and of the British people in particular, is the sea sense which always draws them to Blue Water. The Navy and the Merchant Service attract more men than they can hold, in spite of the obvious fact that there are better livings to be made ashore at infinitely less discomfort. Every expedi tion that sails to the unknown, whether it be to the Poles or the Great Waters, is inundated with applications for places. It is the Sea, and that is all that matters. We are not the only people in the World to have this sense, but happily we have it developed to a greater extent than anybody else, for without it our Empire, and indeed our existence as a nation, would soon come to an end.

The aim of this book is to trace the history of the Sea and of Ships through the ages, particularly the part played by the anglo-saxons. Our maritime history is not a matter of chance or of casual growth it is the logical outcome of circumstances and persistent efiort. We have made our mistakes in plenty and have paid for them heavily enough. Time and again we have turned aside after false gods and have lost sight of the lessons that our fathers have taught us, but each time it has been the Seaman who has saved us. Britain and her cousins must always look to Blue Water for their salvation. It is our heritage, but it is a heritage that must be guarded jealously and studied carefully in all its phases. This can only be done through the history of our fathers, and it is this history that is laid before the reader.

Comparatively few except practical seamen can visualise the old ships as they sailed and the old actions as they were fought. For this reason every effort has been made to illustrate the story in all its aspects, and this has been rendered possible only through the kindness and enthusiasm of Mr. A. G. H. Macpherson, who has put the whole of his famous collection of maritime prints at the disposal of the producers of this book. The descendant of some of the pioneers of our Indian Empire, which was one of the first results of Sea Power, he has been an enthusiastic student of all nautical affairs since boyhood, and has succeeded in getting together the finest collection of prints on the subject in the world. No public collection or gallery has achieved a tithe of what he has, and the author and publishers desire to make full acknowledgment of his courtesy in allowing them access to his unique accumulation of pictorial records to illustrate this work.

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