Upon the death, in 1889, of the last surviving son of Captain Robert William Eastwick - the Master Mariner whose life and adventures are recorded in the following pages - a box of old family papers passed into my hands, and on going through them with a view to their preservation or destruction, I came across an autobiographical manuscript that at once arrested my attention. It was the story of my grandfather's life, dictated by himself about the year 1836. With a few additions from other authentic sources, and especially from some valuable papers placed at my disposal by a member of the family, the narrative is given in Chapters II. to XVI. of this book.