A Child Under Sail

It is a story of considerable interest and some small historical value. It does not compete with any of the major narratives of the sea, but it is supplementary to them in its relation of the domestic detail of a ship and in the occasional light it throws on the temper of the men and the conditions of their life. A shipmaster has always been ill-paid for his twin privileges of exercising supreme authority and becoming the scapegoat for any mishap; and the fo'c'sle lived in utter poverty. As a comment on a hand-to-mouth existence, and the humorous grim philosophy with which it was faced, that could hardly be bettered; and it should be compared with her mother's reiterated belief in the essential goodness of sailors.