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Contents

The American Ship and the American Sailor—New England's Lead on the Ocean—The Earliest American Ship-Building—How the Shipyards Multiplied—Lawless Times on the High Seas—Ship-Building in the Forests and on the Farm—Some Early Types—The Course of Maritime Trade—The First Schooner and the First Full-rigged Ship—Jealousy and Antagonism of England—The Pest of Privateering—Encouragement from Congress—The Golden Days of Our Merchant Marine—Fighting Captains and Trading Captains—Ground Between France and England—Checked by the Wars—Sealing and Whaling—Into the Pacific—How Yankee Boys Mounted the Quarter-deck—Some Stories of Early Seamen—The Packets and Their Exploits

The Transition from Sails to Steam—The Change in Marine Architecture—the Depopulation of the Ocean—Changes in the Sailor's Lot—From Wood to Steel—The Invention of the Steamboat—The Fate of Fitch—Fulton's Long Struggles—Opposition of the Scientists—The "Clermont"—The Steamboat On the Ocean—On Western Rivers—The Transatlantic Passage—The "Savannah" Makes the First Crossing—Establishment of British Lines—Efforts of United States Ship-Owners to Compete—The Famous Collins Line—The Decadence of Our Merchant Marine—Signs of Its Revival—Our Great Domestic Shipping Interest—America's Future on the Sea

An Ugly Feature of Early Seafaring—The Slave Trade and Its Promoters—Part Played by Eminent New Englanders—How the Trade Grew Up—The Pious Auspices Which Surrounded the Traffic—Slave-Stealing and Sabbath-Breaking—Conditions of the Trade—Size of the Vessels—How the Captives Were Treated—Mutinies, Man-Stealing, and Murder—The Revelations of The Abolition Society—Efforts to Break Up the Trade—An Awful Retribution—England Leads the Way—Difficulty of Enforcing the Law—America's Shame—The End of the Evil—The Last Slaver

The Whaling Industry—Its Early Development in New England—Known to the Ancients—Shore Whaling Beginnings of the Deep-Sea Fisheries—The Prizes of Whaling—Piety of Its Early Promoters—The Right Whale and the Cachalot—A Flurry—Some Fighting Whales—The "Essex" and the "Ann Alexander"—Types of Whalers—Decadence of the Industry—Effect of Our National Wars—The Embargo—Some Stories of Whaling Life

The Privateers—Part Taken by Merchant Sailors in Building up the Privateering System—Lawless State of the High Seas—Method of Distributing Privateering Profits—Picturesque Features of the Calling—The Gentlemen Sailors—Effects on the Revolutionary Army—Perils of Privateering—The Old Jersey Prison Ship—Extent of Privateering—effect On American Marine Architecture—some Famous Privateers—The "Chasseur," the "Prince de Neufchátel," the "Mammoth"—The System of Convoys and the "Running Ships"—A Typical Privateers' Battle—The "General Armstrong" at Fayal—Summary of the Work of the Privateers

The Arctic Tragedy—American Sailors in the Frozen Deep—The Search for Sir John Franklin—Reasons for Seeking the North Pole—Testimony of Scientists And Explorers—Pertinacity of Polar Voyagers—Dr. Kane and Dr. Hayes—Charles F. Hall, Journalist and Explorer—Miraculous Escape of His Party—The Ill-Fated "Jeannette" Expedition—Suffering and Death of DeLong and His Companions—A Pitiful Diary—The Greely Expedition—Its Careful Plan and Complete Disaster—Rescue of the Greely Survivors—Peary, Wellman, and Baldwin

The Great Lakes—Their Share in the Maritime Traffic of the United States—The Earliest Recorded