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Richard Henry Dana

Two Years Before the Mast (Signet Classics) Mass Market Paperback – April 7, 2009

by Richard Henry Dana Jr. (Author), John Seelye (Introduction), Wes Davis (Afterword)

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Tracing an awe-inspiring oceanic route from Boston, around Cape Horn, to the California coast, Two Years Before the Mast is both a riveting story of adventure and the most eloquent, insightful account we have of life at sea in the early nineteenth century. Richard Henry Dana is only nineteen when he abandons the patrician world of Boston and Harvard for an arduous voyage among real sailors, amid genuine danger. The result is an astonishing read, replete with vivid descriptions of storms, whales, and the ship's mad captain, terrible hardship and magical beauty, and fascinating historical detail, including an intriguing portrait of California before the gold rush. As D. H. Lawrence proclaimed, "Dana's small book is a very great book."

Print length

432 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Signet
Publication date

April 7, 2009
Dimensions

4.2 x 1 x 6.7 inches
ISBN-10

0451531256
ISBN-13

978-0451531254
Lexile measure

1290L
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Possesses . . . the romantic charm of Robinson Crusoe."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

About the Author

John Seelye is a graduate research professor of American literature at the University of Florida. He is the author of The True Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain at the Movies, Prophetic Waters: The River in Early American Literature, Beautiful Machine: Rivers and the Early Republic, Memory's Nation: The Place of Plymouth Rock, and War Games: Richard Harding Davis and the New Imperialism. He is also the consulting editor for Penguin Classics in American literature.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter I

I am unwilling to present this narrative to the public without a few words in explanation of my reasons for publishing it. Since Mr. Cooper’s Pilot and Red Rover, there have been so many stories of sea-life written, that I should really think it unjustifiable in me to add one to the number without being able to give reasons in some measure warranting me in so doing.

With the single exception, as I am quite confident, of Mr. Ames entertaining, but hasty and desultory work, called “Mariner’s Sketches,” all the books professing to give life at sea have been written by persons who have gained their experience as naval officers, or passengers, and of these, there are very few which are intended to be taken as narratives of facts.

Now, in the first place, the whole course of life, and daily duties, the discipline, habits and customs of a man-of-war are very different from those of the merchant service; and in the next place, however entertaining and well written these books may be, and however accurately they may give sea-life as it appears to their authors, it must still be plain to every one that a naval officer, who goes to sea as a gentleman, “with his gloves on,” (as the phrase is,) and who associates only with his fellow-officers, and hardly speaks to a sailor except through a boatswain’s mate, must take a very different view of the whole matter from that which would be taken by a common sailor.

Besides the interest which every one must feel in exhibitions of life in those forms in which he himself has never experienced it; there has been, of late years, a great deal of attention directed toward common seamen, and a strong sympathy awakened in their behalf. Yet I believe that, with the single exception which I have mentioned, there has not been a book written, professing to give their life and experiences, by one who has been of them, and can know what their life really is. A voice from the forecastle has hardly yet been heard.

In the following pages I design to give an accurate and authentic narrative of a little more than two years spent as a common sailor, before the mast, in the American merchant service. It is written out from a journal which I kept at the time, and from notes which I made of most of the events as they happened; and in it I have adhered closely to fact in every particular, and endeavored to give each thing its true character. In so doing, I have been obliged occasionally to use strong and coarse expressions, and in some instances to give scenes which may be painful to nice feelings; but I have very carefully avoided doing so, whenever I have not felt them essential to giving the true character of a scene. My design is, and it is this which has induced me to publish the book, to present the life of a common sailor at sea as it really is,—the light and the dark together.

There may be in some parts a good deal that is unintelligible to the general reader; but I have found from my own experience, and from what I have heard from others, that plain matters of fact in relation to customs and habits of life new to us, and descriptions of life under new aspects, act upon the inexperienced through the imagination, so that we are hardly aware of our want of technical knowledge. Thousands read the escape of the American frigate through the British Channel, and the chase and wreck of the Bristol trader in the Red Rover, and follow the minute nautical manœuvres with breathless interest, who do not know the name of a rope in the ship; and perhaps with none the less admiration and enthusiasm for their want of acquaintance with the professional detail.

In preparing this narrative I have carefully avoided incorporating into it any impressions but those made upon me by the events as they occurred, leaving to my concluding chapter, to which I shall respectfully call the reader’s attention, those views which have been suggested to me by subsequent reflection.

These reasons, and the advice of a few friends, have led me to give this narrative to the press. If it shall interest the general reader, and call more attention to the welfare of seamen, or give any information as to their real condition, which may serve to raise them in the rank of beings, and to promote in any measure their religious and moral improvement, and diminish the hardships of their daily life, the end of its publication will be answered.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Signet; Reprint edition (April 7, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0451531256
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0451531254
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1290L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.2 x 1 x 6.7 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,227,507 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #623 in Maritime History & Piracy (Books)
- #1,203 in Sailing (Books)
- #3,510 in Deals in Books

Customer Reviews:
1,202 ratings

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Amazon Customer

Many pages are illegible, like photocopies with too little toner. I expect better from Amazon.

Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2018

Verified Purchase

When I first leafed through the book, I could see that most of the right hand pages were almost illegible, as if they hade been printed on an old copier which was low on toner. Indeed, the entire book looks like a bound collection of poor Xerox pages. In many cases, you can still see the margin shadows created by photocopiers. I requested a replacement, but I am skeptical that it will be an improvement.

I expect better form Amazon. This was a disappointment.

32 people found this helpful

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Erin O'Quinn

“There is a witchery in the sea…”

Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2017

Verified Purchase

“There is a witchery in the sea…” Richard Dana’s classic memoir of a two-year sea voyage still draws spell-bound readers after nearly 200 years. More than a diary, his story is the result of extensive notes he jots down—somehow—in between seaman’s strenuous duties, above-deck watches every four hours, near-death experiences, and exhausted sleep.

Well-educated and from a family of means, the young Dana decides to take to sea as an able-bodied seaman (not an officer) at a time when life on board a merchant brig could be nasty, brutish and short. He takes us out of the Boston Harbor of 1834, around Cape Horn, and up the coast of California in the trader brig Pilgrim before changing ships to the Alert and returning via the same route.

Here’s a passage that tells a modern reader how a ship of those days actually looks and sounds as she hits the murderous waves:

“Two men at the wheel had as much as they could do to keep her within three points of her course, for she steered as wild as a young colt. The mate walked the deck, looking at the sails, and then over the side to see the foam fly by her, slapping his hands upon his thighs and talking to the ship… And when she leaped over the seas, and almost out of the water, and trembled to her very keel, the spars and masts snapping and creaking,—‘There she goes!—There she goes…as long as she cracks she holds!’”

As much as being the story of life at sea in the mid-nineteenth century, TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST is also a rare glimpse into the Mexican state of California before it gained statehood a few years later—the people, the harbor towns and presidios, the thriving cattle-hide trade.
The hardy mariners return with their cargo through the bitter-cold and dangerous seas of the southern hemisphere which threatens to kill them all. Herman Melville, after reading Dana’s account, remarked that it seemed to have been “written with an icicle.”

When Dana published his memoir in 1840 it was with the hope that contemporaries and future generations would better understand the maritime life and even work toward righting the injustices of that life. He could not know that, when gold was discovered in California a few years later, his book would become almost a travelogue for “forty-niners” who flocked to our largest and richest state. Indeed, Dana Point, California, was named after him.

33 people found this helpful

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Rick Blaine

A nice narrative of the 1835 coast of California

Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2021

Verified Purchase

First, I read this book from Amazon on the Kindle edition and there were no skipped or misplaced pages and the font size was uniform and perfect throughout. Second, the main reason I read this was because it was recommended by Daniel Brown, author of probably the best book about the ill fated Donner party, 'The Indifferent Stars Above'. Third, to be honest, all of the NUMEROUS pages describing in great detail the setting and striking of the multitude of sails, ropes, rigging, spars, yardarms and masts of a ship didn't interest me that much. If that's what you're looking for, this is your book, but it was a bit much for me. What I like is the geography, the bringing alive of the history of a part of this country that is now populated by tens of millions of people, but in 1835 consisted of a few thousand Indians, Spaniards, Mexicans, Russians, Chinese, English, French and 'Americans' who travelled thousands of miles through treacherous wind, waves, snow, rain and sometimes dead calm seas to trade goods and food from New England for cow hides with the people of California. This is before Melville wrote about the white whale, before the Donners's and thousands of immigrants risked their lives to travel overland to get to the west coast and a decade or more before millions to travelled the hills, rivers, mountains and streams of the Sierra and surrounding valleys looking for gold. His vivid descriptions of desolate, nearly uninhabited areas where the only true permanent structure is the missions built by the Spanish 50 to 80 years before: San Diego, San Juan Capistrano, San Pedro (Long Beach), San Gabriel (Los Angeles), Santa Barbera, San Francisco and others, is fascinating. The descriptions of the people who live there, many of whom are Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islanders, is very vivid and interesting. It helps if you've spent time living in California (I've lived there on and off over the last 20 years) but even if you haven't it's a very enlightening read. Check it out if you get a chance.

6 people found this helpful

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mikey d.

Un-readable due to mimiscule font size !!

Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2018

Verified Purchase

This edition is completely un-readable due to the smallest font size I've ever seen in any book. Must be a 4 point font here. It's too small even with a magnifying glass !
Returning this one for credit. I wish Amazon would - on every single book sold - let the buyer know what the font size is. I would have never bought this edition if Amazon had done that.

21 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

An Amazing Account of 19th Century Merchant Sailors

Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2018

Verified Purchase

This is a beautifully written account of a young Harvard student who takes two years off from his studies to sail around Cape Horn as a sailor on a merchant ship. He expected an eighteen month hiatus, but it extended into two long years. He had no sailing experience, so learned on the job through much hardship, hard work, and hard tack. It is possible to "read around" the descriptions of the specific tasks of raising sails, climbing masts, tightening ropes without understanding it all. What is conveyed, though, is the hard toil, the beauty and capriciousness of the sea, andthe importance of loyalty and trust. Months are spent
laboring on the West coast, which was Mexico at the time. Their business was gathering hides, curing them, and loading them on ship for transport back to Boston. The account is enlivened by deeply formed relationships, disappointments, cruel treatment of the crew contrasted with the fair treatment by a good captain. I love it when I learn so much about things I was not even curious about before!

the beauty of the ocean as well as its capriciousness
and danger.

10 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Desmond J. Keenan

a classic book on a facet of American history

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 2, 2021

Verified Purchase

In the early part of the 18th century, before the American Civil War, a young university student in New England was obliged to interrupt his studies because of eyestrain. He decided on a voyage at sea, and volunteered as a landsman on a ship trading with California, on America’s West Coast. The voyage had to be made round the Cape Horn. California was then part of Mexico, and it was before the gold rush in 1849.
The ship carried trade goods to exchange principally for the hides of cattle. They were wild cattle, and were caught by the local Indians, and driven to mission stations managed by various Catholic religious orders. There they were bought by the ship’s captain, slaughtered and skinned. The hides were then dried, and collected aboard the ship. It might take a couple of years to fill the ship. But the demand for leather in New England was great so the trade was profitable.
The trade was short-lived. All the cattle were slaughtered. Then gold was discovered in California and the United States seized California. After the voyage he returned to his studies, and later he re-visited California where little traces of the trade remained. And railways were built across the continent.
But the book remains as a great account of life in California early in the 19th century

Jackie M

Very interesting.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 15, 2017

Verified Purchase

This is a very good insight into life at sea in 1834 - 1836. It is about life on an American merchant ship but it would be very similar to life aboard an English ship. The narrative is easy to read and the many references to naval terms does not detract from the understanding. In fact, I found these naval terms interesting and appropriate to the text and, with a Kindle, easily searched for in the dictionary when my curiosity was arose.
Richard Henry Dana related his time aboard ship in a way which I found captivating; constantly waiting for the next call, "All hands ahoy." And the sorrow felt about the tragic loss of a man overboard and the emptiness felt aboard ship afterwards was so sensitively related that it brought tears to my eyes.
The extreme harsh conditions that the sailors endured is unbelievable; not only from the daily battle against the eliments but also from the tyrannical ship's captain. The poor sailors had hardly any time to themselves; often their few free hours on a Sunday afternoon was spent on the constant necessity of repairing their clothing.

2 people found this helpful

David Powell

I enjoyed it as an account of life in the age ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 17, 2018

Verified Purchase

I first read this book 40 years ago, as a paper copy without the sequel. I enjoyed it as an account of life in the age of sail. I was recently moved to reread it and enjoyed it even more. This time round I was also interested in the descriptions of the Californian coast at a time just before people arrived en masse. I enjoyed trying to use Google Earth to understand the geographical details even though success was relatively infrequent.
I have seen the sequel, an account of a revisit some 20 years later, described as disappointing. Well, if you are expecting further adventures, then maybe so. For my part I found it fascinating as it underlined just how rapid urbanisation had been and how completely the map had been changed. Place names from the '30s had disappeared by the '50s, which expains why I had failed to find so many! Furthermore, although I had been aware that it had been a well known even a classic book, I had had no idea just how famous it had been back in the day and how prominent its author had become just from describing two years of his youth.
A good read for anyone with a taste for history.

One person found this helpful

Richard Law

Classic American

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 19, 2016

Verified Purchase

I'd not read this book until recently. American classics were part of my school diet - Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn in particular, but not this one. The author dropped out of college and took ship in a bid to get his health back. Tough way to do it; they went around the Horn to California where the task was dressing and compressing cowhides as the return cargo. It's an adventure all the way to California, where I found the repetition of what they did with hides in need of editing, before his eventual return. Time-wise, he was on the Californian coast in 1836 and heard about the fall of the Alamo there. One fascinating encounter is with a retired sea captain with whom he has a conversation about the advances in sailing ships since the old dude retired some fifteen years earlier. The beaches and creeks he worked hides on were long gone in his lifetime, built over by San Diego and San Francisco, which he mentions visiting in later years. And the San Francisco he saw is long gone too, what with the earthquake and the fire. He gives a lot of detail of the daily grind on ship where there is always something to do, make, mend, repair, paint, tar, splice or clean. He comes across as one who got stuck into whatever task he was given and eventually manages to get as good at it as the crew; men who seem quite tolerant of this bookish, sickly youth from the start and proud to have known him by the end. He went on to be a lawyer, an abolitionist and one who stood tall for the rights of others - seamen, slaves or free. His book became an instant hit when published, being one of the very few (at the time) reference books about California.

Kindle Customer

A flashback into the lives of sailors

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 2, 2019

Verified Purchase

Interesting to read. A true account of the lives of sailors in the 1830's. Interesting to read about the hardships on board and sailing past Cape Horn. Also revisiting old haunts only 24 years later and how much had changed with the completion of the Panama Canal. This book is far more intriguing to me, than reading a history text book.

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