: 15 EAST 16th STREET
1889

_All rights reserved_

Preface.

In giving to the reading world these pages of the last Journal of one
of the most popular writers of our day, no apology can be needed, and
but little explanation.

A word had better perhaps be said, and said here, as to my share in
its composition. It is now twelve years ago since my friend--then Mrs.
Brassey--asked my advice and assistance in arranging the Diary she had
kept during the eleven months' cruise of the 'Sunbeam.' This
assistance I gladly gave, and she and I worked together, chiefly at
reducing the mass of information gathered during the voyage. I often
felt it hard to have to do away with interesting and amusing matter in
order to reduce the book even to the size in which it appeared. It was
a very pleasant and easy task, and I think the only difference of
opinion which ever arose between us was as to the intrinsic merit of
the manuscript. No one could have been more diffident than the writer
of those charming pages; and it needed all the encouragement which
both I and her friend and publisher, Mr. T. Norton Longman, could
offer, to induce her to use many of the simple little details of her
life, literally 'on the ocean wave.'

The success of the 'Voyage of the "Sunbeam"' need not be dwelt on
here; it fully justified our opinion, surprising its writer more than
any one else by its sudden and yet lasting popularity. Other works,
also well received and well known to the public, followed during the
next few years, with which I had nothing to do. This last Journal now
comes before Lady Brassey's world-wide public, invested with a pathos
and sadness all its own.

I venture to think that no one can read these pages without admiration
and regret; admiration for the courage which sustained the writer amid
the weakness of failing health, and regret that the story of a life so
unselfish and so devoted to the welfare of others should have ended so
soon.

On his return home, in December 1887, from this last cruise, Lord
Brassey placed in my hands his wife's journals and manuscript notes,
knowing that they would be reverently and tenderly dealt with, and
believing that, on account of my previous experience with the 'Voyage
of the "Sunbeam,"' I should understand better than any one else the
writer's wishes.

My task has been a sad and in some respects a difficult one. Not only
do I keenly miss the bright intelligence which on a former occas