A long time having elapsed since the publication of the "Autobiography of a Seaman," it has been thought well to give a brief recapitulation of its story in an opening chapter.
The four following chapters recount my father's history during the five years following the cruel Stock Exchange trial, the subject last treated of in the "Autobiography." It is not strange that the harsh treatment to which he was subjected should have led him into opposition, in which there was some violence, which he afterwards condemned, against the Government of the day. But, if there were circumstances to be regretted in this portion of his career, it shows almost more plainly than any other with what strength of philanthropy he sought to aid the poor and the oppressed.
His occupations as Chief Admiral, first of Chili and afterwards of Brazil, were described by himself in two volumes, entitled, "A Narrative of Services in Chili, Peru, and Brazil." Therefore, the seven chapters of the present work which describe these episodes have been made as concise as possible. Only the most memorable circumstances have been dwelt upon, and the details introduced have been drawn to some extent from documents not included in the volumes referred to.
There was no reason for abridgment in treating of my father's connection with Greece. In the service of that country he was less able to achieve beneficial results than in Chili and Brazil; but as, on that ground, he has been frequently traduced by critics and historians, it seemed especially important to show how his successes were greater than these critics and historians have represented, and how his failures sprang from the faults of others and from misfortunes by which he was the chief sufferer. The documents left by him, moreover, afford abundant material for illustrating an eventful period in modern history. The chapters referring to Greece and Greek affairs, accordingly, enter with especial fullness into the circumstances of Lord Dundonald's life at this time, and his connection with contemporary politics.
Eight other chapters recount all that was of most public interest in the thirty years of my father's life after his return from Greece. Except during a brief period of active service in his profession, when he had command of the British squadron in North American and West Indian waters, those thirty years were chiefly spent in efforts—by scientific research, by mechanical experiment, and by persevering argument—to increase the naval power of his country, and in efforts no less zealous to secure for himself that full reversal of the wrongful sentence passed upon him in a former generation, which could only be attained by public restitution of the official rank and national honours of which he had been deprived.