Produced by Jeannie Howse and Friend, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) THE LAST CRUISE OF THE SAGINAW [Illustration: LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER MONTGOMERY SICARD] THE LAST CRUISE OF THE SAGINAW BY GEORGE H. READ PAY INSPECTOR, U.S.N. (RETIRED) _With Illustrations from Sketches by Lieutenant Commander (afterwards Rear-Admiral) Sicard and from Contemporary Photographs_ [Illustration] BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge 1912 COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY GEORGE H. READ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED _Published February 1912_ ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY COPIES OF THIS FIRST EDITION PRINTED AND BOUND UNCUT WITH PAPER LABEL THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF THE NOBLE MEN WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN THE EFFORT TO OBTAIN RELIEF FOR THEIR SHIPWRECKED COMRADES PREFACE Dear Mr. Read:-- I am greatly obliged to you for letting me read your deeply interesting account of the wreck of the poor Saginaw and the loss of Lieutenant Talbot. With General Cutter's approval I shall take the manuscript with me to Boston, but I will return it carefully. I leave the two photographs, but I have the curious drawing and newspaper scraps, which I will safely return. Very truly yours, EDWARD E. HALE. Dec. 21, 1880. WASHINGTON. A recent re-reading of the above old letter from a friend who in his lifetime stood so high in the literary world, has, together with the suggestions of other friends and shipmates, decided me to launch my narrative of the cruise and wreck of the Saginaw on the sea of publicity. The story itself may be lost in the immense current of literature constantly pouring forth, but some good friends advise me to the contrary. The fact that stories of sea life and adventure have ever possessed the power to attract the interest and stir the imagination, adds to the courage given me to set forth my plain unadorned story without any pretensions to literary excellence. Some of the first instructions given to a newly fledged naval officer enjoin upon him the necessity for brevity and directness in his official communications, both oral and written, and eventually he becomes addicted to formal expressions that pervade his entire correspondence. Eloquence or sentiment would probably be crushed with a reprimand. I trust, therefore, that the reader will consider the above conditions as they have surrounded me throughout my service, should he or she find a lack of decorative language in my narrative.