Publisher's Synopsis
Between June, 1916, and February, 1918, I contributed a good many articles and sketches on Naval subjects to The Cornhill Magazine. They were not designed upon any plan or published in any settled sequence. As one article led up to another, and information came to me from my generously appreciative readers (many of whom were in the Service), I revised those which I had written and ventured to write still more. This book contains my Cornhill articles-revised and sometimes re-written in the light of wider information and kindly criticism-and several additional chapters which have not previously been published anywhere. I have endeavoured to weave into a connected series articles and sketches which were originally disconnected, and I have introduced new strands to give strength to the fabric. Through the whole runs a golden thread which I have called The Secret of the Navy.
