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Bracketed title thus in the Office Book: see Lohrli, p. 161.

The paragraph beginning 'Before I go on to relate what happened' (p. 585) - almost certainly by Dickens - comes immediately after Collins' section of 'The Wreck' but has no connection with Collins' narrative and serves instead as a part of the framework, introducing the next major section of the story, 'The Beguilement in the Boats.' Dickens usually wrote the framework himself. See notes to The Seven Poor Travellers, The Wreck of the 'Golden Mary,' [1856 Christmas] and 'The Beguilement in the Boats.'

Harry Stone; © Bloomington and Indiana University Press, 1968. DJO gratefully acknowledges permission to reproduce this material.

See Lohrli, p. 161: In this and in the other prose stories of "The Beguilement," passages identifying the narrator and linking him with the framework are not set off typographically from the stories themselves. Dickens and Collins collaborated on the number. In reprinting "The Armourer's Story," Fitzgerald deleted from the opening paragraph only the explanatory comment, "(it was the Armourer who spun this yarn.)."'

The tales which compose 'The Beguilement in the Boats,' the section of The Wreck of the 'Golden Mary' in which passengers and members of the crew, shipwrecked and adrift in open boats, tell stories to while away the time (see 'The Wreck'), are as follows: 'The Armourer's Story' by Percy Fitzgerald, 'Poor Dick's Story' by Harriet Parr ('Holme Lee'), 'The Supercargo's Story' by Percy Fitzgerald, 'The Old Sailor's Story,' by Adelaide Anne Procter, and 'The Scotch Boy's Story' by the Rev. James White. It was for this section that Dickens solicited contributions to The Wreck of the 'Golden Mary'. In accordance with his usual practice, Dickens probably wrote most of the link passages which integrate this section. These passages, hitherto uncollected, are reprinted in the following pages. See notes to The Seven Poor Travellers and The Wreck of the 'Golden Mary' [1856 Christmas].

The interpolated story told in 'The Armourer's Story' is by Percy Fitzgerald. The Introduction to 'The Armourer's Story' [the opening paragraph, p. 585], however, are part of the framework of The Wreck of the 'Golden Mary' - part, that is, of the linking and bridging sections that Dickens usually wrote himself. 

Harry Stone; © Bloomington and Indiana University Press, 1968. DJO gratefully acknowledges permission to reproduce this material.

The hymn that concludes 'Poor Dick's Story' has been attributed to Dickens by F. G. Kitton (Poems and Verses of Charles Dickens, 1903, pp. 203-4) and by Harry Stone (Uncollected Writings, II, 564) on the basis of a letter sent by Dickens to an enquirer about its author (Letters, 8, 244). Harriet Parr (pseud., 'Holme Lee') reprinted the entire 'Poor Dick' item, including the poem, in The Wortlebank Diary [...] by Holme Lee (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1860), acknowledging its original publication in Household Words. See Deborah Thomas, Dickens and the Short Story (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982) 180n. for sources that reaffirm Parr's authorship of the poem.

The interpolated story told in 'Poor Dick's Story' is by Harriet Parr ('Holme Lee'). The Introduction [from the start to 'as if he must tell us who and what he was' , p. 590] and Conclusion [from 'When he ceased speaking' to the end, p. 593] to 'Poor Dick's Story,' however, are part of the framework of The Wreck of the 'Golden Mary' - part, that is, of the linking and bridging sections that Dickens usually wrote himself. See also The Seven Poor Travellers, The Wreck of the 'Golden Mary,' [1856 Christmas] and 'The Beguilement in the Boats.'

Harry Stone; © Bloomington and Indiana University Press, 1968. DJO gratefully acknowledges permission to reproduce this material.

Title as in the Household Words Office Book (see Lohrli, p. 161); not in original text (introduced into transcript as interpolation).

The interpolated story told in 'The Supercargo's Story' is by Percy Fitzgerald. The Introduction to 'The Supercargo's Story' [the first paragraph, p. 593,] however, is part of the framework of The Wreck of the 'Golden Mary' - part, that is, of the linking and bridging sections that Dickens usually wrote himself. See notes to The Seven Poor Travellers, The Wreck of the 'Golden Mary,' [1856 Christmas] and 'The Beguilement in the Boats.'

Harry Stone; © Bloomington and Indiana University Press, 1968. DJO gratefully acknowledges permission to reproduce this material.

Title as in the Household Words Office Book (see Lohrli, p. 161); not in original text (introduced into transcript as interpolation). The story is introduced by over a column and a quarter of narrative, and begins in full on page 600 of the volume (28 of the 'Extra' number for Christmas).

'The Deliverance,' the third major section of The Wreck of the 'Golden Mary,' was by Wilkie Collins (see note for The Wreck of the 'Golden Mary' [1856 Christmas]). The opening paragraph after the rescue [starting 'From this point, I recollect nothing very distinctly', p. 607,] however, marked by a typographical break, and very different in style and quality from the material in which it is embedded, seems to be by Dickens.

Harry Stone; © Bloomington and Indiana University Press, 1968. DJO gratefully acknowledges permission to reproduce this material.