The Cruise of the Branwen

PREFACE Haec scripsi non otii abtmdantia sed amoris erga te Tms little book was originally meant to be a record, for the English Fencing Team of I 906 in Athens and a few other friends, of our journey from London, and our return. But the decision to hold the Olympic Games of 1908 in London has given a greater importance to our expedition into Greece, for that decision was greatly influenced by the facts that the King and Queen of England were present with the Prince and Princess of Wales in Athens, during a most interesting and successful celebration of international sport, and that the official British representative at the Athenian Games was not only a member of our Fencing Team, but also the President of the British Olympic Council, on which two other members of that team have since been assisting him in the organisation of the great English festival of 1908. For these reasons I deliberately refrained from putting my rough notes into anything like a permanent shape until the near approach of the Olympic Games in London gave them a more immediate and perhaps more lasting interest than they might otherwise have had. Their value is of course largely increased by the pen– and-ink drawings contributed by the Branwen's owner, and by the photographs kindly given me for illustration by Messrs. Bowden, the onlr. Vll