Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Several years ago I wrote a series of articles for the 'Boy's Own Paper,' relating some of my adventures in the Navy, and my assortment of yarns was very favourably received by the juvenile public for whom it was written. I am consequently encouraged to expand these, bringing the story up to date, and illustrating the principal events, in the hope that they will make an interesting volume, and give some grown-up boys an idea of a sailor's life and experiences during nearly fifty years in her Majesty's service.

The sporting pictures in the volume have been drawn from my rough sketches at the Studio of Design under the supervision of Mr Harry Furniss. I do not pretend to draw figures and animals sufficiently well for reproduction. Otherwise, the illustrations are my own, and most of them are original.

Several years ago I wrote a series of articles for the 'Boy's Own Paper,' relating some of my adventures in the Navy, and my assortment of yarns was very favourably received by the juvenile public for whom it was written. I am consequently encouraged to expand these, bringing the story up to date, and illustrating the principal events, in the hope that they will make an interesting volume, and give some grown-up boys an idea of a sailor's life and experiences during nearly fifty years in her Majesty's service.The sporting pictures in the volume have been drawn from my rough sketches at the Studio of Design under the supervision of Mr Harry Furniss. I do not pretend to draw figures and animals sufficiently well for reproduction. Otherwise, the illustrations are my own, and most of them are original.