p. iv, gives his purpose: To present, therefore, a series of the most remarkable calamities recorded in the History of Navigation ; to rouse the dormant sensations of sympathy and benevolence ; to warn by
the errors of the unhappy sufferers on the one hand, and to en-
courage by their example on the other; to display the energies
of which, even in the most forlorn situation, the mind of man
is susceptible— such is the object of the following pages.