Customer Reviews

Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative (Signet Classics)

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Why should you read this book? Yes, it is a classic. Yes, it documents the wonderful, adventurous time of the clipper ship. But that's not why you should read it.

Richard Henry Dana must have been a most extraordinary man. While attending Harvard as a young man, his eyesight became weak and his health declined. He decided that the austere prescription of salt air and plain hard work would be the cure. Not many would give up comfort and privelege, but for two years, Dana served as a common sailor, given no special treatment as the gentleman he was, and lived in the forecastle of the Alert, eating the mess of salt beef and common hardtack, risking his life and serving under a captain crueler than most.

Dana was able to write in such a way as to re-create the life on board a sailing ship, down to the smallest details and that's what makes this book so real and touching. You can feel the cold of Tierra del Fuego, taste the salt beef, and feel the wind and damp. What's more amazing is that Dana's carefully-kept journal was lost along with his other mementos of his voyage when he landed back on shore in Boston, due to some tragic carelessness of someone he entrusted with his chest of belongings. Yet he was able to recreate his voyage in loving detail and in some very excellent writing.

Dana's later life as a lawyer was far from happy, though he made some critical contributions to maritime law. He died a poor and disappointed man, but left us the richer with his book. I just re-read it again for the tenth time, and it is fresher than ever. Read it along side of Moby Dick. It's American literature and American history and culture at its very best.

This book is a great in many ways - as history, as narrative, as travelogue, as social documentary and as Adventure, but I feel that it's probably fair to caution the modern reader that it's written in a style that he or she may not be used to - not flowery, but not spare either. You do get the sense that you're not reading a modern work.

Aside from its other merits, it's great background reading for fans of the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, even though it takes place about 20 years after their last published exploits.

Faults? Well, for my taste, there was perhaps a little more sailor jargon than I could take in (the version of the book I read, not this edition, had no diagrams). When he was going into great detail on sails and ropes, I skimmed past some material, but not too much, and was able to pick up the sense of what he was writing about, without necessarily being able to determine the precise difference between two types of sails on the same mast (call me Maturin). Overall, you get the sense that he spent two years in almost unceasing toil, and that life as a sailor in those days was not one that anyone today would envy.

Also, since this was a recount of an actual two year voyage, there was perhaps one or two too many recounts of cruises up and down the coast for those seeking "adventure" reading, but this is an actual historical account, and can't be faulted for some slow pacing - I have no doubt it WAS awfully tedious at times (which the book is not).

However, it has SO many other merits that any patient reader will gain much from it, particularly an authentic, well documented perspective from another time.

So, read the book, but don't think you'll knock it off in one night, or that it'll read like Tom Clancy, or even Mark Twain. Nevertheless, read it anyway, it's well worth it.

Just finished reading this book today and thought that it was really good. Myself, being from the San Francisco Bay Area, I was thrilled to hear Dana describe areas that I am well familiar with. The book was a history lesson for me of early California. My book, the Penguin Classic edition, had an extra chapter at the end written by Dana called "Twenty-four Years After". In this chapter he returns to California 24 yrs later and writes about all the changes that have occurred since he was last there, a lot due to the fact of the gold rush. He also goes into some detail on the whereabouts of his former crewmates and the two ships that he sailed on while on his adventure. I have to say that this book probably would have more appeal to someone who is familiar with California as I am. I'm not sure if the book centered on Oregon lets say, that I would have enjoyed it as much as I did. I picked this book up at a second-hand store and am glad I decided to give it a try. I would suggest the same for anyone else that may have an interest in how it was to work and live on ships in the 1800's and early California before statehood.

I waited 58 years to read Two Years Before the Mast! It was always on my list of books to read, but I had never reached it until recently, when my interest was sparked by a comment made by David McCullough (the author of the great biography of Truman) that this book greatly influenced him when he read it as a very young man. It is a a beautifully written book --- prose as good as any I have ever read. Dana's accurate and detailed narrative of his own life at sea on sailing ships in the 1830's, and his time spent on the coast of California,when it was true wilderness, is an unforgettable reading experience. The book has a personal intimate quality about; it is as if the author is a friend writing to you from abroad about his extraordinary adventure. This book deserves its esteemed place in American and world literature.

This book should have a much higher spot on the list of defining American works than it presently occupies.

Why beat kids up with Moby Dick when this book exists? This book is a great read, but also ties in with many historical concepts.

Always look for the version that includes Dana's essay on his return to California after the gold rush. The change is mind blowing.

What is most remarkable about this book is that it has aged so little. Dana provides very modern humanistic views in this book, and most remarkably, after returning to Boston actually becomes an activist for sailor's rights.

Let me start out by stating that Dana was a born story teller.

The two years before the mast tells the story of Henry Dana's two years as a sailor during a journey from the America East Coast to the distant land of California via Cape Horn. Book portrays a fascinating insight into the life of a sailor during the years of sail upon a merchant ship - both the incredible hardships to be endured, the tangible moments of joy like rounding the cape and heading for home in a good wind with all sails set to the everyday relationships between crew and officers . Also it provides a truly interesting picture of California before the gold rush, a wild uninhabited place more Spanish than American, vast unspoilt stretches of coasts, with small settlements with familiar names such as San Francisco and San Diego.

As an officer worker, I also founded Dana's portrayal of his Capitan to be a equally telling study of the failed middle manager you know the guy who is competent but not truly experienced, who is aware of his failure and is aware that his competence is questioned by others. An insecure man forced to take his insecurities out on his underlings. The more things change the one thing that remains the same is human nature.

Also found myself sympathising with the sailors, far from home life. Men who at least while isolated are sailors first and American or French or English second.

A great adventure tale and a picture of a world long gone.

Dana has a keen eye for detail and character, and tells his tale in a straightforward way that makes you feel that you are there with him experiencing what he does. I like to imagine what it was like to read this in 1840, when California was a distant and exotic land not much more accessible than the far side of the moon is to us.

What seems almost inconceivable to us is the danger, discomfort and indignities the common sailors of the 1830s. They were often swept off the deck in high seas or fell from the rigging at night. Dana describes having to climb out on icy spars to struggle bare-handed with frozen ropes during a storm tossed winter crossing of Cape. And for that they were legally not much better than slaves who could be whipped at the masters whim.

Of course there is Dana. While this autobiographical tale is not in the least self-serving, he unconsciously paints a picture of himself as an adventurous but sensitive young man, who, despite his education and class, which in most cases would have put him far over the master of the ship, never thinks himself above his mates or his duty.

After finishing this book, I am amazed that this book is not more prominent in famous literature. Much of US and Sailing history can be learned through this true firsthand account of a Harvard student gone temporary salty dog. I am not from California or even the west coast but still found the stories contained throughout the book fascinating. Dana did an excellent job of describing the life at sea in the early 1800's without a moment of boring reading. I would recommend (and have been recommending) this book to anyone and everyone.

This book is utterly fascinating. It represents the first lengthy account of a sea voyage ever published by a sailor, and is thus a must have for all interested in maritime history.
Two Years at the Mast was written and is narrated by Charles Henry Dana. He was a rather naive young man who at slightly past twenty years in age contracted a sickness, measles to be precise. During the mid nineteenth century this was quite serious, and he accordingly decided to go to sea for a period of some months in the hope that the weather would improve his health. Little did he know what he was in for. The work of a sailor was and is one of the most difficult, punishing and dangerous jobs in the history of mankind. The Captain of Dana's ship believed it was bad for discipline to have any man idle at any time of day save for a brief period on Sunday. As a result the crew was kept constantly at work, all day, every day.
This book can be appreciated on two different levels. The first is for the fascinating historical insights it gives. It is the most complete and accurate account of the nineteenth century shipping industry ever written. As it is a first-hand narrative the events are presented far more vividly than even the best of historical writing can hope to match.
The second factor to be taken into account is the literary quality of the book. Although it may seem rather dry at first glance incredibly compelling. It reads like a novel, and is far more rewarding in the amount of historical knowledge gained. It is a must-have for readers interested in history and for those who simply enjoy a good yarn.

As a college student, Dana was probably uniqely qualified to write this book. Surely few of his fellow sailors were as articulate as he was. This book reads almost like two; a book about early California surrounded by a "life at sea" book. Both at sea and on land Dana found fascinating characters, places and events. His interest in them make the book a fun adventure to read.
As a native San Diegan I also get the pleasure of walking in Dana's footsteps; through the house of Don Juan Bandini and the Mission Dana and his friend Stimson visited. Many of the landmarks Dana described are still here.
Lastly, my father told about reading TYBtM as a young man and wanting to see San Diego. He came as an adult and the rest of his life was lived here so it's fair to say that his love of this book profoundly shaped my life. The only regret I have after reading this book is not getting to it sooner so we could have talked about it together.