THE PILOT

A Tale of the Sea.




BY

J. FENIMORE COOPER




TO

WILLIAM BRANFORD SHUBRICK, ESQ.,

U. S. NAVY.


MY DEAR SHUBRICK,


Each year brings some new and melancholy chasm in what is now the brief
list of my naval friends and former associates. War, disease, and the
casualties of a hazardous profession have made fearful inroads in the
limited number; while the places of the dead are supplied by names that
to me are those of strangers. With the consequences of these sad changes
before me, I cherish the recollection of those with whom I once lived in