“There is something picturesque, or weird, or sensational, in all of them.... All are entertaining, all are especially suitable for readers in a hurry, or readers who want something that will let thought be quiet.”—BOOKMAN.
“The wonderful fertility of invention which we have once or twice referred to as specially characteristic of Mr. Russell’s maritime novels is well in evidence in this collection of stories. The best of them are really excellent, and even those which are less good than the best stand on an exceptionally high level.”—SPECTATOR.
“‘The Phantom Death’ has all the best characteristics of Mr. Russell’s style—stirring plot, mastery of exact detail, and power of bringing each picture vividly before the mind’s eye of the reader.”—ST. PAUL’S.
“All racy of the real sea, vigorously told, and exciting some admiration at the fertility of the imagination which has contrived to create so many diverse sensational incidents out of such similar materials without a single instance of repetition.”—GUARDIAN.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3_s._ 6_d._ each; post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2_s._ each; cloth limp, 2_s._ 6_d._ each.
ROUND THE GALLEY-FIRE. IN THE MIDDLE WATCH. ON THE FO’K’SLE HEAD. A VOYAGE TO THE CAPE. A BOOK FOR THE HAMMOCK. THE MYSTERY OF THE “OCEAN STAR.” THE ROMANCE OF JENNY HARLOWE. AN OCEAN TRAGEDY. MY SHIPMATE LOUISE. ALONE ON A WIDE WIDE SEA. THE GOOD SHIP “MOHOCK.” THE PHANTOM DEATH. IS HE THE MAN? HEART OF OAK. THE CONVICT SHIP. THE LAST ENTRY. THE TALE OF THE TEN.
THE SHIP: HER STORY. With 50 Illustrations by H. C. SEPPINGS WRIGHT. Small 4to, cloth, 6_s._
THE “PRETTY POLLY”: A VOYAGE OF INCIDENT. With 12 Illustrations by G. E. ROBERTSON. Large crown 8vo, cloth, gilt edges, 5_s._
THE CONVICT SHIP. POPULAR EDITION, medium 8vo, 6_d._
LONDON: CHATTO & WINDUS, 111 ST. MARTIN’S LANE, W.C.
AUTHOR OF “MY SHIPMATE LOUISE,” “ALONE ON A WIDE WIDE SEA,” ETC.
The author begs to thank the proprietors of the _Idler_, _To-Day_, the _Strand Magazine_, the _Pall Mall Magazine_, and _Phil May’s Annual_, for their kind permission to reprint the stories collected in this volume.
On the 24th of April, 1840, having finished the business that had carried me into the Brazils, I arrived at Rio de Janeiro, where I found a vessel lying nearly loaded, and sailing for the port of Bristol in four or five days. In those times, passenger traffic between Great Britain and the eastern coast of South America was almost entirely carried on in small ships, averaging from 200 to 500 tons. The funnel of the ocean mail steamer, with her gilded saloons and side wheels, which, to the great admiration of all beholders, slapped twelve knots an hour out of the composite fabric, had not yet hove into sight above the horizon of commerce, and folks were very well satisfied if they were no longer than three months in reaching the Brazilian coast out of the River Thames.