The romantic interest which many take in the sea, and in those who
live upon it, may be of use in exciting their attention to this
subject, though I cannot but feel sure that all who have followed me
in my narrative must be convinced that the sailor has no romance in
his every-day life to sustain him, but that it is very much the same
plain, matter-of-fact drudgery and hardship, which would be
experienced on shore. If I have not produced this conviction, I have
failed in persuading others of what my own experience has most fully
impressed upon myself.
There is a witchery in the sea, its songs and stories, and in the
mere sight of a ship, and the sailor's dress, especially to a young
mind, which has done more to man navies, and fill merchantmen, than
all the press-gangs of Europe. I have known a young man with such a
passion for the sea, that the very creaking of a block stirred up
his imagination so that he could hardly keep his feet on dry ground;
and many are the boys, in every seaport, who are drawn away, as by
an almost irresistible attraction, from their work and schools, and
hang about the decks and yards of vessels, with a fondness which, it
is plain, will have its way.
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