CHAPTER I. Gonzalo. Had I a plantation of this isle, my lord, And were the king of it, what would I do? Sebastian.‘Scape getting drunk, for want of wine. TEMPEST. In the Pacific Ocean, and within two days’ sail of the coast of Chili, lies the little island of Masafuero, or, as the word is […]

“Qualia multa mari nautae patiuntur in alto!” VIRGIL. What Yankee man-of-war’s-man is there, ashore or afloat, who has “helped Uncle Sam,” any time between the beginning of the “long embargo,” and the year 1827, who does not know or has not heard of Old Cuff? His real patronymic appellation is nobody’s business;–perhaps it would puzzle […]

CHAPTER I. “Nautaeque, per omneAudaces mare qui currunt, hac mente laborumSese ferre, senes ut in otia tuta recedunt,Aiunt.”HORACE. Captain Robert Bowline, a retired sea-captain, occupied a snug little farm in the town of B—-, one of the many pleasant villages on the coast of New England. He had followed the sea for many years, acquired […]