Exploits and Adventures
of a Soldier Ashore
and Afloat
Exploits and Adventures
of a Soldier Ashore
and Afloat
BY
WILLIAM LLEWELLYN ADAMS
PRESS OF
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
PHILADELPHIA
1911
Copyright, 1911
By William L. Adams
All Rights Reserved
This Book is Respectfully
Inscribed to my
“BUNKIES AND SHIPMATES”
OF THE
ARMY AND NAVY
Preface
In introducing the following narratives,the contents of which have been gleanedthrough my voyage around the earth in questof excitement and natural oddities, for whichsince childhood I have possessed an insatiabledesire, I wish to acquaint the reader, in abrief prefatory discourse, with the nature ofthe work that is to follow, and therebygratify the curiosity, so natural at the beginning,in a reader of reminiscences.
Through the prevailing influence of someloyal friends, whom it has been my goodfortune to have had as correspondents duringmy military career, I herein attempt todepict events as they actually happened,without recourse to imagination.
Having served under the dominion of“Old Glory” in the Occident and Orient,on land and on sea, in war and peace, for theperiod of ten years, I naturally fell heir tonovel and interesting occurrences, so numerousthat to attempt to describe in detailwould necessitate the space of many volumes;I therefore resort to conciseness, atthe same time selecting and giving a comprehensivedescription of those occurrenceswhich are most important in my categoryof adventures.
As an author I do not wish to be misunderstood.I merely desire to portray whathas come under my observation, rather thanmake a Marathon with the laurels of so dignifieda profession, and in so doing communicateto those whose arduous duties at homehave deprived them of the romance of globetrotting,and thereby distribute the knowledgethat some more silent person mightnever unfetter.
In conclusion to this preface, I desire tosay, that I have refrained from the manufactureof episodes or any tendency towardfiction, which I trust the following pageswill confirm, and that, as from the descriptionof a spectator, these narratives will meetwith the approval of those into whose handsthey might chance to fall.
The Author.