The brilliant author of "The Cruise of the Cachalot" and "Idylls of the Sea" presents in this new work (1899) the continuous story of the actual experiences of his first four years at sea. In graphic and picturesque phrases he has sketched the events of voyages to the West Indies, to Bombay and the Coromandel coast, to Melbourne and Rangoon. Nothing could be of more absorbing interest than this wonderfully vivid account of foks'l humanity and the adventures and strange sights and experiences attendant upon deep-sea voyages. It is easy to see in this book an English companion to our own "Two Years before the Mast." (Publisher's Advertisement) [Bullen (1857 - 1915)] led a roving and adventurous life from quite an early age, and many of the most thrilling episodes in his books were records of his own experiences. After various adventures on shore he went to sea in 1869, and for some years roughed it in various capacities in the merchant service, suffering great hardships, as vividly described in The Log of a Sea Waif and other books. (Royal Geographic Society Obituary, 1915) - Summary by David Wales
