E-text prepared by Jason Isbell, Emmy, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (www.pgdp.net) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 15648-h.htm or 15648-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/6/4/15648/15648-h/15648-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/6/4/15648/15648-h.zip) Transcriber's Note: General: Varied hyphenation is retained. In list of Illustrations DeLong is one word; in Table of Contents it is De Long; in text it is DeLong. More Transcriber's notes will be found at the end of sections. AMERICAN MERCHANT SHIPS AND SAILORS by WILLIS J. ABBOT Author of _Naval History of the United States_, _Bluejackets of 1898_, etc. Illustrated by RAY BROWN New York Dodd, Mead & Company The Caxton Press New York 1902 [Illustration] BOOKS BY WILLIS J. ABBOT [Illustration] Naval History of the United States Blue Jackets of 1898 Battlefields of '61 Battlefields and Campfires Battlefields and Victory Preface In an earlier series of books the present writer told the story of the high achievements of the men of the United States Navy, from the day of Paul Jones to that of Dewey, Schley, and Sampson. It is a record Americans may well regard with pride, for in wars of defense or offense, in wars just or unjust, the American blue jacket has discharged the duty allotted to him cheerfully, gallantly, and efficiently. But there are triumphs to be won by sea and by land greater than those of war, dangers to be braved, more menacing than the odds of battle. It was a glorious deed to win the battle of Santiago, but Fulton and Ericsson influenced the progress of the world more than all the heroes of history. The daily life of those who go down to the sea in ships is one of constant battle, and the whaler caught in the ice-pack is in more direful case than the blockaded cruiser; while the captain of the ocean liner, guiding through a dense fog his colossal craft freighted with two thousand human lives, has on his mind a weightier load of responsibility than the admiral of the fleet. In all times and ages, the deeds of the men who sail the deep as its policemen or its soldiery have been sung in praise. It is time for chronicle of the high courage, the reckless daring, and oftentimes the noble self-sacrifice of those who use the Seven Seas to extend the markets of the world, to bring nations nearer together, to advance science, and to cement the world into one great interdependent whole. WILLIS JOHN ABBOT. Ann Arbor, Mich., May 1, 1902. [Illustration: NEW ENGLAND EARLY TOOK THE LEAD IN BUILDING SHIPS] List of Illustrations PAGE NEW ENGLAND EARLY TOOK THE LEAD IN BUILDING SHIPS _Frontispiece_