[Illustration: THE ROCKET.]
ON BOARD THE "ROCKET."
BY
ROBERT C. ADAMS.
"----Ships are but boards, sailors but men: there be land-rats
and water-rats, water-thieves and land-thieves."
--_Merchant of Venice._
BOSTON:
D. LOTHROP COMPANY,
FRANKLIN ST., CORNER OF HAWLEY.
COPYRIGHT BY
Robert C. Adams,
1879.
PREFACE.
All the incidents of this book are facts, occurring in the writer's
own experience. In a few cases names have been altered, in accordance
with his desire, neither to give offence to the living, nor to cast
discredit upon the dead. He makes no apology for its imperfections;
for he issues it, not as a contribution to literature, but as a needed
exposure of abuses on shipboard, which are too common, but too little
known. He refers with diffidence to his own methods of discipline,
believing that in the principles which prompted them, lie the means of
promoting the interests and good repute of our Merchant Marine.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
The _Rocket_--The Cargo--Shipping the Crew--The
Start--Rolling--Discomfort--Quiet--Gale--Storm
Music--Discipline--Northeast
Trades--Aye! Aye!--Doldrums--Sharks--A
Shark Story--South-east Trades.