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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Snapshot of a Forgotten Way of Life, April 8, 2000
In the early days of American history, the merchant trade was the predominant occupation on the Eastern Seaboard. Charles Tyng's memoir, "Before the Wind," captures that life in a way histories written today never can. Tyng lived a colorful, adventurous life, and had the ability to record it in a fresh and vivid style. Tyng's early life reads like a combination of Charles Dickens and Horatio Alger. The son of an affluent but no-nonsense father, Tyng was farmed out to various relatives and school headmasters until his father sent him to sea, hoping to cure his son's self-confessed rebellious streak, and to teach him a trade. Although this sounds rather severe, it was far from uncommon, especially in large families such as Tyng's to apprentice or force children to seek their way at a very early age. Once at sea, Tyng experienced a variety of hardships at the hands of sadistic shipmates who seemed to have no regard for a boy's safety or well-being. However, his early experiences at sea energized Tyng's dormant ambition to rise above the position of sailor and become a ship's officer. The memoir contains recollections of Tyng's studies, trips, and early efforts at trading on a small scale. Eventually Tyng rose through the ranks to become a ship's officer, captain, and eventually the owner of two ships. His memoir is filled with recollections of entrepreneurial deals, mutinies, and pirates. It is also filled with the day-to-day details of life aboard a merchant vessel. In a more general sense, it is also filled with the routine, but now forgotten, details of life in the early 19th century. One notable quality of this memoir is how Tyng's tone actually changes from that of an overwhelmed and somewhat unruly "ship's boy" to a mature, ambitious, and self-assured ship's captain and merchant. This change and growth in character seems natural and unforced, which lends a greater air of credibility to this book. Tyng's story is typical of many New England boys who turned to the sea and the merchant trade to make their fortune. In his case, Tyng actually succeeded at both his chosen trade and in his ability to recount a life once common, but now forgotten. Highly recommended.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting account of merchant service on tall ships, May 31, 2000
I came across a reference to this book when checking the book reviews of another amazon.com reviewer. It is an autobiography of Captain Charles Tyng, covering the early part of his life and, in particular, his career in as a merchant mariner from the time he was 13 to the time he was 31. It was taken from a hand written manuscript which he wrote 45 years after the last event detailed, and not published until 120 years after his death after being found by one of his descendents. He started as a ship's boy, shortly after the end of the War of 1812 on a voyage to Canton, China; rapidly rose to a ship's captain by his own initiative, family connections, and matters of chance; and established his early fortune by the private trading allowed to ships' captains, trading in things as exotic as live monkeys, parrots, bird nests, and other commodities. He had an eye for potential profit. The book details the harsh life of merchant sailors, with miserly ship owners often giving them insufficient food and low pay (if they did not try to steal even that), and bad treatment from some sadistic ships' officers. Captain Tyng managed to become a ship owner at an early age, and was a successful merchant brokering cargo by the time he was 31 (the ending point of the tale). The last chapter covers a conflict in Charleston, SC, between the State and the Federal Government about 30 years before the Civil War when South Carolina passed the Nullification Act, refusing to pay duties on imported goods, and President Jackson sent a frigate to Charleston to enforce the customs and General Scott to restore order in the city. The book is the manuscript pretty much as written and has a few flaws as a novel, e.g., excessive repetition of the phrase, "I can't remember his name," some repetition of descriptions, and a lot of short digressions. It is an interesting historical account providing details of the U.S. merchant service during the early 19th century including shipwrecks, pirates, mutinies, connivery, etc., as well as extensive details of the merchantile business of that era when it was possible to make large profits on a well placed investment. There are some side details such as the U.S. and British business of smuggling opium into China.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting Memoir of the Sea, August 9, 1999
By A Customer
This is an interesting memoir of the early life of sailor, captain, and businessman. Unlike other memoirs of the sea, this covers life on the sea from bottom to top: from Tyne's start as a child-sailor, to his rise to captain, finally to ship owner and commodities speculator. It includes some very good passages, which vididly portray the many dangers of a life at sea in the early 19th century. Most of it is interestings and enlightening, but this book is not the literary equal of Two Years Before The Mast.
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