{"product_id":"2940013313118","title":"MAN ON THE OCEAN","description":"CHAPTER ONE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTREATS OF SHIPS IN GENERAL.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere is, perhaps, no contrivance in the wide world more wonderful than\u003cbr\u003ea ship--a full-rigged, well-manned, gigantic ship!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThose who regard familiar objects in art and nature as mere matters of\u003cbr\u003ecourse, and do not trouble themselves to wander out of the beaten track\u003cbr\u003eof everyday thought, may not at first feel the force or admit the truth\u003cbr\u003eof this statement.  Let such folk endeavour to shake themselves\u003cbr\u003evigorously out of this beaten track of everyday thought.  Let them knit\u003cbr\u003etheir brows and clench their teeth, and gaze steadfastly into the fire,\u003cbr\u003eor up at the sky, and try to realise what is involved in the idea of--a\u003cbr\u003eship.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat would the men of old have said, if you had told them that you\u003cbr\u003eintended to take yonder large wooden house, launch it upon the sea, and\u003cbr\u003eproceed in it out of sight of land for a few days?  \"Poor fellow,\" they\u003cbr\u003ewould have replied, \"you are mad!\"  Ah! many a wise philosopher has been\u003cbr\u003edeemed mad, not only by men of old, but by men of modern days.  This\u003cbr\u003e\"mad\" idea has long since been fulfilled; for what is a ship but a\u003cbr\u003ewooden house made to float upon the sea, and sail with its inmates\u003cbr\u003ehither and thither, at the will of the guiding spirit, over a trackless\u003cbr\u003eunstable ocean for months together?  It is a self-sustaining movable\u003cbr\u003ehotel upon the sea.  It is an oasis in the desert of waters, so\u003cbr\u003eskilfully contrived as to be capable of advancing against wind and tide,\u003cbr\u003eand of outliving the wildest storms--the bitterest fury of winds and\u003cbr\u003ewaves.  It is the residence of a community, whose country for the time\u003cbr\u003ebeing is the ocean; or, as in the case of the _Great Eastern_ steamship,\u003cbr\u003eit is a _town_ with some thousands of inhabitants launched upon the\u003cbr\u003edeep.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47082604298480,"sku":"2940013313118","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013313118_p0.jpg?v=1763579739","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013313118","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}