_This book is dedicated to Your Majesty with the respectful admiration
of one who is proud to have been associated with an effort to make the
world more hopeful and beautiful for men who not long ago knew little
hope and felt no beauty._
_In the wild weather, when the struggle for life never slackens from
hour to hour on the trawling grounds, the great work of the Mission to
Deep Sea Fishermen, like some mighty Pharos, sheds light on the troubled
darkness, and brave men, in hundreds, are thankful for its wise care and
steady helpfulness._
_Perhaps, of all the tribe of writers, I know most minutely the scope
and significance of that Mission--"as well for the body as the soul"--of
which Your Majesty is the Patron; and it is my earnest conviction that
no event in your brilliant and beneficent reign could well be appraised
at a higher value than the despatch of Hospital Cruisers to the
smacksmen, which your gracious and practical sympathy has done so much
to bring about._
_Permit me to subscribe myself,_
_MADAM,_
_Your Majesty's most humble,_
_obedient Servant,_
JAMES RUNCIMAN.
KINGSTON-ON-THAMES,
_May_ 1, 1889.
*CONTENTS.*
*BOOK I.*