orizon.

[Illustration: THE 'HOUGOUMONT'[A]]

[Illustration: POOR JACK!]

It is many years now since 'The Wreck of the "Grosvenor"' was written,
and I do not very clearly recollect its reception in this country. I
believe it speedily went into a second edition. But before we talk of an
edition seriously we must first learn the number of copies which make
it. Since this was written, my friend, Mr. R. B. Marston, of the firm of
Sampson Low & Co., has been good enough to look into the sales of 'The
Wreck of the "Grosvenor,"' and he informs me that down to 1891 there had
been sold 34,950 copies. One of the most cordial welcomes the story
received was from _Vanity Fair_. I supposed that the review was written
by the editor, Mr. Thomas Gibson Bowles, until I learnt that the late
Mr. James Runciman was the author. The critics on the whole were
generous. They thought the book fresh. They judged that it was an
original piece of work wrought largely out of the personal experiences
of the writer. One gentleman, indeed, said that he had crossed the
Channel on several occasions between Boulogne and Folkestone, but had
never witnessed such seas as I described; and another that he had
frequently travelled to Plymouth on the Great Western Railway in company
with sailors, but had never met such seamen as the forecastle hands I
depicted. The book is considered my best--this, perhaps, because it was
my first, and its reputation lies in the memory and impression of its
freshness. It is far from being my best. Were it my property I would
re-write it. I had quitted the sea some years when I wrote the story,
and here and there my memory played me false; that is to say, in the
direction of certain minute technicalities and in accounts of the
internal discipline of the ship. Yet, on the whole, the blunders are
few considering how very complicated a fabric a vessel is, and how
ceaselessly one needs to go on living the life of the sea to hold all
parts of it clear to the sight of the mind. Professionally, the
influence of the book has been small. I have heard that it made one
ship-owner sorry and rather virtuous, and that for some time his
harness-casks went their voyages fairly sweet. He is, however, but a
solitary figure, the lonesome Crusoe of my little principality of fancy.
As a piece of literature, 'The Wreck of the "Grosvenor"' has been
occasionally imitated. Mr. Plimsoll, I understand, has lately been
dealing with the subject of sailor