The Pilot Author:James Fenimore Cooper

A Tale of the Sea(1823)DEDICATED 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 close familiarity with peculiar interest, and feel a triumph in their growing reputations, that is but little short of their own honest pride. But neither time nor separation has shaken our intimacy: and I know that in dedicating to you this volume, I tell you nothing new, when I add that it is a tribute paid to an enduring friendship, by Your old Messmate, THE AUTHOR.