Besides his parliamentary work, he has been an able and voluminous writer.  His Foreign Work and English Wages I purchased in England, and have found it valuable in facts and helpful in spirit.  The statement in the preface that he “has had under consideration the expediency of retiring from Parliament, with the view of devoting an undivided attention to the elucidation of industrial problems, and the improvement of the relations between capital and labor,” shows the heart of the man.  In 1880 he was made Civil Lord of the Admiralty, and in 1881 was created by the Queen a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, for his important services in connection with the organization of the Naval Reserve forces of the country.

[Illustration:  SIR THOMAS BRASSEY.]

In 1869, after Sir Thomas and Lady Brassey had been nine years married, they determined to take a sea-voyage in his yacht, and between this time and 1872 they made two cruises in the Mediterranean and the East.  From her childhood the wife had kept a journal, and from fine powers of observation and much general knowledge was well fitted to see whatever was to be seen, and describe it graphically.  She wrote long, journal-like letters to her father, and on her return The Flight of the Meteor was prepared for distribution among relatives and intimate friends.

In the year last mentioned, 1872, they took a trip to Canada and the United States, sailing up several of the long rivers, and on her return, A Cruise in the Eothen was published for friends.

Four years later they decided to go round the world, and for this purpose the beautiful yacht Sunbeam was built.  The children, the animal pets, two dogs, three birds, and a Persian kitten for the baby, were all taken, and the happy family left England July 1, 1876.  With the crew, the whole number of persons on board was forty-three.  Almost at the beginning of the voyage they encountered a severe storm.  Captain Lecky would have been lost but for the presence of mind of Mabelle Brassey, the oldest daughter, who has her mother’s courage and calmness.  When asked if she thought she was going overboard, she answered, “I did not think at all, mamma, but felt sure we were gone.”

“Soon after this adventure,” says Lady Brassey, “we all went to bed, full of thanksgiving that it had ended as well as it did; but, alas, not, so far as I was concerned, to rest in peace.  In about two hours I was awakened by a tremendous weight of water suddenly descending upon me and flooding the bed.  I immediately sprang out, only to find myself in another pool on the floor.  It was pitch dark, and I could not think what had happened; so I rushed on deck, and found that the weather having moderated a little, some kind sailor, knowing my love of fresh air, had opened the skylight rather too soon, and one of the angry waves had popped on board, deluging the cabin.