Publisher's Synopsis
Who my grandfather was, I cannot inform the reader, nor is it, perhaps, of muchconsequence. My father was a man who invariably looked forward, and hatedanything like retrospection: he never mentioned either his father or his mother;perhaps he was not personally acquainted with them. All I could collect from him atintervals was, that he served in a collier from South Shields, and that a few monthsafter his apprenticeship was out, he found himself one fine morning on board of aman-of-war, having been picked up in a state of unconsciousness, and hoisted upthe side without his knowledge or consent. Some people may infer from this, thathe was at the time tipsy; he never told me so; all he said was, "Why, Jack, the fact iswhen they picked me up I was quite altogether non pompus." I also collected atvarious times the following facts, -that he was put into the mizen-top, and servedthree years in the West Indies; that he was transferred to the main-top, and servedfive years in the Mediterranean; that he was made captain of the foretop, and sailedsix years in the East Indies; and, at last, was rated captain's coxswain in the Druidfrigate, attached to the Channel fleet cruising during the peace. Having thuscondensed the genealogical and chronological part of this history, I now come to aportion of it in which it will be necessary that I should enter more into detail
