This eBook was produced by Bruce Miller
TO THE
OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES
OF THE
LIGHT HOUSE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNITED STATES
This Book is Dedicated
BY ONE WHO HAS LEARNED TO RESPECT THEIR
HONEST, INTELLIGENT AND EFFICIENT LABORS
IN SERVING THEIR GOVERNMENT, THEIR
COUNTRYMEN, AND MANKIND
GENERALLY.
EIGHTEEN months ago the author gave to the public his "VOYAGE OF THE
PAPER CANOE:—A GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNEY OF 2500 MILES FROM QUEBEC TO THE
GULF OF MEXICO, DURING THE YEARS 1874-5."
The kind reception by the American press of the author's first journeyto the great southern sea, and its republication in Great Britain andin France within so short a time of its appearance in the UnitedStates, have encouraged him to give the public a companion volume,—"FOUR MONTHS IN A SNEAK-BOX,"—which is a relation of the experiencesof a second cruise to the Gulf of Mexico, but by a different routefrom that followed in the "VOYAGE OF THE PAPER CANOE." This time theauthor procured one of the smallest and most comfortable of boats—apurely American model, developed by the bay-men of the New Jerseycoast of the United States, and recently introduced to the gunningfraternity as the BARNEGAT SNEAK-BOX. This curious and stanch littlecraft, though only twelve feet in length, proved a most comfortableand serviceable home while the author rowed in it more than 2600 milesdown the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and along the coast of the Gulfof Mexico, until he reached the goal of his voyage—the mouth of thewild Suwanee River—which was the terminus of his "VOYAGE OF THE PAPERCANOE."
The maps which illustrate the contours of the coast of the Gulf ofMexico, like those in the other volume, are the most reliable evergiven to the public, having been drawn and engraved, by contract forthe work, by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Bureau.
SEPTEMBER 1st, 1879.