Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber’s Note: Italics are enclosed in _underscores_. Additional notes will be found near the end of this ebook.

LOST SHIPS AND LONELY SEAS

LOST SHIPS
AND
LONELY SEAS

BY
RALPH D. PAINE

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK
THE CENTURY CO.

Copyright, 1920, 1921, by
THE CENTURY CO.

PRINTED IN U. S. A.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I THE SINGULAR FATE OF THE BRIG POLLY 3

II HOW THE SCHOONER EXERTION FELL AMONG THIEVES 25

III THE TRAGEDY OF THE FRIGATE MEDUSA 51

IV THE WRECK OF THE BLENDEN HALL, EAST INDIAMAN 76

V THE ADVENTURES OF DAVID WOODARD, CHIEF MATE 107

VI CAPTAIN PADDOCK ON THE COAST OF BARBARY 131

VII FOUR THOUSAND MILES IN AN OPEN BOAT 160

VIII THE FRIGATES THAT VANISHED IN THE SOUTH SEAS 189

IX WHEN H. M. S. PHOENIX DROVE ASHORE 212

X THE ROARING DAYS OF PIRACY 232

XI THE LOSS OF THE WAGER MAN-OF-WAR 259

XII THE CRUISE OF THE WAGER’S LONG-BOAT 288

XIII THE GRIM TALE OF THE NOTTINGHAM GALLEY 309

XIV THE STORM-SWEPT FLEET OF ADMIRAL GRAVES 330

XV THE BRISK YARN OF THE SPEEDWELL PRIVATEER 350

XVI LUCKLESS SEAMEN LONG IN EXILE 367

XVII THE NOBLE KING OF THE PELEW ISLANDS 393

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The wreck of the _Polly_ _Frontispiece_

FACING
PAGE

Seamanship was helpless to ward off the attack of the storm
that left the brig a sodden hulk 8

Fresh water trickled from the end of the pistol-barrel, and
they caught it in a tin cup 16

_Volusia_ off Salem, built at Falmouth, Mass., in 1801, and
Wrecked at Cape Cod in 1802 20

The pirate captain boarding the captured _Exertion_ 29

Armed with as many of the aforementioned weapons as they could
well sling about their bodies 33

Boats were filled with men whose only thought was to save their
skins 56

The brig, which had made a long tack and was now steering
straight toward the raft 64

Governor Glass and his residence 97

Woodard raised his empty hands to ask for peace and mercy 112

Wreck of the _Grosvenor_ on the coast of Caffraria 144

Early American ship of the 18th Century 176

Perilous situation of the ship 224

The _Charlemagne_, a New York packet ship 272

Brig _Topaz_ of Newburyport, built in 1807 305

The brig _Olinda_ of Salem, built in 1825 352

Taking on the pilot in the 18th Century 384

LOST SHIPS AND LONELY SEAS