In all times and ages, the deeds of the men who sail the deep as its policemen or its soldiery have rightfully been sung in praise, but there are triumphs to be won by sea and by land greater than those of war, dangers to be braved more menacing than the odds of battle. The daily life of those who go down to the sea in ships is one of constant battle, and the whaler caught in the ice-pack is in more direful case than the blockaded cruiser. The captain of the ocean liner, guiding through a dense fog his colossal craft freighted with two thousand human lives, has on his mind a weightier load of responsibility than the admiral of the fleet. This book, originally published in 1902, is a timeless tribute and historically significant chronicle of the high courage, the reckless daring, and oftentimes the noble self-sacrifice of those who use the seven seas to extend the markets of the world, to bring nations nearer together, to advance science, and to cement the world into one great interdependent whole.
