by John Scott Hughes
Sketches by Frank Mason, R.I.
A delightful collections of reminicenses and experiences cruising in small craft and illustrated by some very fine sepia-tone washes of boats, places and people. From Chapter 1: "The following pages are mostly concerned with my personal experiences and impressions of the sea-life in small craft, so that I should offer them with the more diffidence did it not seem to me that Herman Melville may have been right in saying that ‘almost all men in their degree, at some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feeling towards the ocean with me.’ But, different ships—different long-splices; and it may be that the ocean speaks to each with a different voice. There are even those for whom no sort of ship has any enchantment, yet who, when they look long at the horizon or wonder at the inaudible marching of the tides, hear in the sea’s voice what Jean Paul Richter heard in music: ‘Thou speakest to me of things which in all my endless life I have not found, and shall not find,’ and for a spell the spirit is set free. But those whose blood is salted, who cannot tread any deck without a strange excitement, must work a ship and handle gear before they tast the sea. Watch how they lay hold of a rope--caressingly, as though it were a lock of hair!"
HOME PAGE
