We propose in the followmg pages to keep these two classes, as far as may be, distinct. Part II. Shall be reserved for those narratives which partake, more or less, of what we may be allowed to call a Robinson Crusoe character. In Part I. We shall tell the story of some of those catastrophes — in volving, many of them, such lamentable loss of life — which again and again remind man of his im potence in the presence of the fully-aroused forces of Nature. And here, too, we propose to arrange our illustrations in reference to some of the leading causes to which maritime disasters owe their origin.
A portion of this book is a reprint. Some years ago the issued a volume entitled, Ship wrecks and Adventures at Sea, from which work most of the narratives of wrecks previous to that of the Royal C/zan'er, in 1859, have been taken in an abridged and somewhat altered form.