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Originally published in 1857, this book offers a vivid and engaging portrait of life at sea, as experienced by a young sailor on both naval and merchant ships. Nordhoff draws on his own experiences to describe the routines and challenges of seafaring life, as well as the camaraderie, conflict, and adventure that characterized it. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Excerpt from Sailor Life on Man of War and Merchant Vessel In accordance with this idea, when some two years ago the writer of these pages returned home, after an absence of nine years at sea, he was considered by the young folks a fit subject to levy upon for a story. But, unluckily, yarns are not ever ready on demand, at beck and nod. It requires various peculiarities in the surroundings, certain favoring circumstances as to time and place, to draw out your real old tar. Let the gale blow, and the good ship plough deeply through the rugged seas, as he lies snugly ensconced under his huge pea-jacket, protected by stout bulwarks from the cold blast and drenching spray, with the bright stars look ing kindly down upon him, and you may be sure of a yarn. There is somewhat suggestive in the scene, and the memories of other times come freely to him, as though driven back on the breeze which roars through the rigging overhead. But sitting at home, by the fireside, among his friends, there is nothing to remind him of his past life; the incite ment is wanting-the yarn can't be spun. Not being able, in any other way, to gratify the wishes of certain of my young friends, I have endeavored here to jot down such reminiscences as will not, it is trusted, prove em titely uninteresting. To give a sailor's impressions of a sailor's life, nothing extenuating, nor aught setting down in malice, has been the aim. Neither exaggerating its hardships - they do not need it - nor highly coloring its delights, whatever those may be, the very plainest truth has been thought sufficient for the purpose in View. With one more remark, the Book is handed over to the reader. It is to beg indulgence for the frequent occurrence of the first person singular in these pages. The nature of the story renders it impossible to avoid this. And I can only repeat what was once said by an Irishman under somewhat similar circumstances Knock out my 1's, and what would be the use of me P. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This book is a non-fictional travel adventure novel by the American sailor and journalist John Sherburne Sleeper. Using the pen name Hawser Martingale, he writes this book about his own travels and the adventures he had for eight years in his early life between the years 1809 and 1817. It offers a good view of life at sea, the character of sailors and the struggles that they experience and the moral and physical dangers that beset him.