Introduction.
In 1898 I was in Hongkong on a business affair which gave me much
leisure, when Murray Bain, editor of the China Mail, whom I had long
known, asked why I did not send him a letter occasionally. This led to
my venturing to give him "Some Notes by the Way in A Sailor's Life."
These Notes, I considered, could only be of interest locally. But some
of my friends have urged me to overcome my diffidence and put them in
pamphlet form, which I now do for distribution among my friends,
trusting that they will treat leniently the literary efforts of one who
is a sailor and not a cleric.