Classics Illustrated 070 The Pilot

On a gloomy December day during the American Revolution, two strange vessels were seen hovering off the east coast of England, in that expanse of water known at the time as the German Ocean. One, a small black schooner, moved slowly amid the sand bars and sunken rocks with which the immediate coast abounded. The second was a gallant ship of the frigate class, and floated majestically in the tide drawing closer to the smaller vessel. These were an American frigate and its consort, the "Ariel" on a secret mission among the dangerous shoals and reefs of the English coast.