Excerpt from Ocean Adventures: Or, Cabin and Forecastle Yarns of Thrilling Incidents

To this it may be replied that the character of the American sailor, or the sailor in the American merchant serwce, 18 greatly misunderstood. Indeed, the language attributed to sailors in nearly all the popular volumes, which aim at giving a correct transcript of sailor character, is too far-strained, overdone and unnatural. It is not the case that a sailor cannot utter a sen tence of a dozen words without interlarding it with oaths and slang expressions. The language of the forecastle, although often vigorous, expressive and manly, and 'sometimes, I regret to say, objectionable in many respects, has not, necessarily, and in all cases, that smack of tar and profanity about it which is believed by many to be the inseparable attribute of a prime sea man. Besides, it should be recollected that we often meet with inmates of a ship's forecastle who are well-educated, and familiar with the conventional rules of civilized society, whose language is correct in every sense, and whose modes of expression are in good taste and o¿en eloquent. The in¿uence which such men exert on a ship's company, composed of different and coarser ma terials, is always great and highly salutary. I trust, however, that an apology will hardly be necessary for the course I have thought proper to adopt, in excluding from these pages aught which borders on profanity or indelicacy, while giving the lan guage of the forecastle.

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