This volume is an attempt to trace the history of the Mercantile Marine, and to show the reader how much we owe to our ancestors for the ingenuity, enterprise, courage and perseverance by which the Merchant Service has been built up for the good of nations, the increase of trade and the spread of civilization. It is high time that the public appreciated all that is meant by the term Mercantile Marine.Edward Keble Chatterton, British marine expert and author of many naval books, describes in detail the history of the Mercantile Marine.Reprint of the original edition from 1923.