THE SEA ROVERS [Illustration: A GLOUCESTER FISHERMAN] THE SEA ROVERS _By_ RUFUS ROCKWELL WILSON Author of "Rambles in Colonial Byways," etc. _ILLUSTRATED BY MAY FRATZ_ NEW YORK B. W. DODGE AND COMPANY 1906 COPYRIGHT, 1906 BY B. W. DODGE AND COMPANY New York CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. GLOUCESTER FISHER FOLK 1 II. AN OCEAN FLYER'S CREW 28 III. THE MAN-OF-WARSMAN 61 IV. SOLDIERS WHO SERVE AFLOAT 94 V. THE POLICE OF THE COAST 121 VI. THE OCEAN PILOT 149 VII. THE DEEP-SEA DIVER 169 VIII. THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER 198 IX. LIFE-SAVING ALONG SHORE 231 X. WHALERS OF THE ARCTIC SEA 254 ILLUSTRATIONS. FACING PAGE A GLOUCESTER FISHERMAN--_Frontispiece_ THE CAPTAIN OF AN OCEAN LINER 42 A MAN-OF-WARSMAN 76 AN OFFICER IN THE REVENUE CUTTER SERVICE 128 PILOT SIGNALING A VESSEL 156 A DIVER READY TO DESCEND 180 A LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER 214 A LIFE-SAVER ON PATROL 242 THE SEA ROVERS CHAPTER I GLOUCESTER FISHER FOLK A glorious vision is Gloucester harbor, whether seen under the radiant sun of a clear June morning or through the haze and smoke of a mellow October afternoon. Gloucester town lies on a range of hills around the harbor, and fortunate is the man who chances to see it as the background to a stirring marine picture when on a still summer's morning a fleet of two or three hundred schooners is putting to sea after a storm, spreading their white duck against the blue sky and fanning gently hither and thither, singly or in picturesque groups, before the catspaws or idly drifting to eastward, stretching in a long line beyond Thatcher's Island and catching the fresh breeze that darkens the distant offing. Here the green of their graceful hulls, the gilt scrollwork on the bows and the canvas on the tall, tapering masts are reflected as in a mirror on the calm surface; or beyond they are seen heeling over to the first breath of the incoming sea wind that ruffles the glinting steel of the sheeny swell, forming as a whole a scene of inexhaustible variety and beauty.