Transcriber’s Note
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THE HISTORY OF OUR NAVY
JOHN PAUL JONES.
From a mezzotint of the painting by Notté.
THE
HISTORY OF OUR NAVY
FROM ITS ORIGIN TO THE PRESENT DAY
1775–1897
BY
JOHN R. SPEARS
AUTHOR OF “THE PORT OF MISSING SHIPS,”
“THE GOLD DIGGINGSOF CAPE HORN,” ETC.
WITH MORE THAN FOUR HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS
MAPS AND DIAGRAMS
IN FOUR VOLUMES
VOLUME I.
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
1897
COPYRIGHT, 1897, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
MANHATTAN PRESS
474 W. BROADWAY
NEW YORK
TO ALL WHO WOULD SEEK PEACE
AND PURSUE IT
ix
PREFACE
This work is to tell the story of the Americannavy from the time when the fathers ofthe nation first conceived the idea of sendingwarships to sea “at the expense of the Continent”down to this year of our Lord 1897.It seems to me that the memory of what thenaval heroes of the nation have done is worthpreserving if only as a mark of gratitude—gratitudeto the men whose sole incentivewas patrio