Some time ago a friend suggested that a selection of the most
interesting naval shipwrecks might be made from the official documents
of the Admiralty, in illustration of the discipline and heroism
displayed by British seamen under the most trying circumstances of
danger: permission to search the records was accordingly asked, and
most kindly granted by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and
the present volume is the result.
The Author is well aware that the task of preparing these materials
for publication might have fallen into better hands; and whilst he
gratefully acknowledges his obligations to the Lords Commissioners of
the Admiralty, for allowing him to have access to their Records, he
desires also to express his most cordial thanks for the assistance he
has received from those friends, who have kindly revised and improved
his pages as they passed through the press. Without such aid, his own
literary inexperience would have left the work more defective than it
is. He is especially indebted to some naval friends for correcting
his errors in the use of nautical terms and descriptions.
A list of all the shipwrecks that have occurred in the Royal Navy
since the year 1793 has been appended to this volume, in the hope that
it may be useful as a table of reference. The ships are classed,
first, under the initial letter of their names; and secondly, they are
arranged in chronological order as regards the time of their wreck.