The Project Gutenberg EBook of In Eastern Seas, by J. J. Smith

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Title: In Eastern Seas
The Commission of H.M.S. 'Iron Duke,' flag-ship in China, 1878-83

Author: J. J. Smith

Release Date: January 29, 2009 [EBook #27926]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN EASTERN SEAS ***

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[Illustration: O'Kosiri, 1880.

Iron Duke. Themis. Raiden. Kerguelen. Champlain. Modeste. Naezdnik.

H.M.S. IRON DUKE AGROUND AT O'KOSIRI.]

IN EASTERN SEAS;
OR,
THE COMMISSION OF
H.M.S. "IRON DUKE,"
_Flag-ship in China_, 1878-83.

BY
J. J. SMITH, N. S.

DEVONPORT:
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY A. H. SWISS, 111 AND 112 FORE STREET.
1883.

To my late Shipmates
IN
H.M.S. "IRON DUKE,"

_The following pages are respectfully inscribed._

Those who voyage beyond sea change their climate
often, but their affections never.

PREFACE.

To write something which shall please one's own friends is one thing; to
undertake the task of pleasing anybody else is another; and, I take it,
a far more difficult one. The writer of the following pages never sought
to sail beyond the peaceful and well-marked area of the first, until
induced--at the suggestions of his shipmates, though against his better
judgment--to venture on the dark and tempest-swept ocean of the second.

The only originality claimed for the narrative is that of introducing
such a manifestly inferior production to your notice.

Shipmates, my little bark is frail; deal gently with her, and--let me
ask it as a special favor--do not blow too fiercely on her untried
sails.

Much depends on the title of a book. Does it convey an adequate idea of
the subject-matter? I would claim for mine at least that merit; for is
not every sea over which we have voyaged to the eastward of England?

CONTENTS.

Page
CHAPTER I.

We Commission our Ship--Visit Portsmouth--Prepare to Sail 1

CH