The Lost Ship

William Wymark Jacobs was an english novella and short story writer, novelist, and dramatist. One of the most popular English humorists of the early twentieth century, Jacobs is best remembered today for his classic tale of horror, “The Monkey's Paw.” He also wrote comic stories set on the London waterfront, horror stories, and crime tales. Many Cargoes is a riveting collection of stories of ships, sailors, adventures on the high seas and maritime mysteries. The Lost Ship is one of the short stories from volume of sea fiction. The narrator of this story is the Night Watchmen, one memorable character recurring throughout Jacobs's work, a retired sailor familiar with the life on the docks, who adopts a London cockney dialect prevalent on the waterfront. He narrates many of the stories. Jacobs's tales can be characterized by surprise endings, restrained humor, and an economical narrative style. Read this story to find adventures on the high sea that will not leave you indifferent.