Excerpt from All About Ships Though the literature of the sea is wellnigh inexhaustible, there is, I venture to think, no work at a popular price dealing with sea subjects as a whole, and in compiling this volume it is my hope that it may be of interest and use to all boys, and particularly those who one day will serve their country either in the Royal Navy or the equally important Mercantile Marine. The book is not intended to run in competition with more elaborate and comprehensive volumes already upon the market, each of which deals with its own particular nautical subject, nor for the perusal of the professional seaman; but, of course, it goes without saying that I shall be much gratified if there is anything in this work which arouses his interest. I have included a certain amount of historical information, and have touched upon certain matters not frequently discussed outside the covers of technical works. 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.