A charming collection of short stories, P. G. Wodehouse claimed Jacobs was one of his greatest influences, it's not hard to see why. Jacobs stories are generally about the misadventures of sailors (tramp steamer sailors rather than Royal Navy)although there is the occasional non seafaring story, usually told by an old codger sitting outside a pub. There are sixteen stories here all are good lightly humorous pieces generally with a twist in the end.
William Wymark Jacobs was an English author of short stories and novels. Quite popular in his lifetime primarily for his amusing maritime tales of life along the London docks (many of them humorous as well as sardonic in tone). Today he is best known for a few short works of horror fiction. One being "The Monkey's Paw"(published 1902). It has in its own right become a well-known and widely anthologized classic.