A true story of the battered life of a foremast crewman, Two Years Before the Mast is Richard Henry Dana’s classic travel narrative, which inspired canonical works such as Moby Dick and Sailing Alone Around the World. As Rod Scher follows Dana (the Harvard dropout-turned-sailor) on his voyages around North America, he annotates Dana’s tale with critiques, tie-ins to today, and little-known facts about both the book and the milieu of Dana’s time.

Two years before the mast were but an episode in the life of Richard Henry Dana, Jr.; yet the narrative in which he details the experiences of that period is, perhaps, his chief claim to a wide remembrance. His services in other than literary fields occupied the greater part of his life, but they brought him comparatively small recognition and many disappointments. His happiest associations were literary, his pleasantest acquaintanceships those which arose through his fame as the author of one book. The story of his life is one of honest and competent effort, of sincere purpose, of many thwarted hopes. The traditions of his family forced him into a profession for which he was intellectually but not temperamentally fitted: he should have been a scholar, teacher, and author; instead he became a lawyer.

In Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., presents a narrative of his two years as a sailor aboard the Pilgrim, trading on the coast of California. He describes the sailor's life in the early days of shipping, as well as life in California before the gold rush. His eyesight impaired by measles, Dana left Harvard University to take a voyage during his convalescence--but as a sailor rather than passenger. Upon his return, he published his narrative of that sea journey. The book consists of thirty-seven chapters, most of them subdivided into journal entries written on particular days of interest. The concluding chapter, written some time later, suggests reforms to remedy the injustices of sailors' lives.Dana begins on the day of sailing, August 14, 1834, on the brig Pilgrim. The ship was bound for the West Coast of North America from Boston. His first impression of the ship was negative. The captain described himself to the crew as "clever," but "a bloody rascal" when crossed. The narrative follows the daily life and hardships of the sailors on the journey around Cape Horn. Dana describes memorable experiences such as the sighting of albatrosses, dolphins, and whales. He also shares much technical knowledge about the ship itself. Arriving at the California coast, the vessel anchored in the bay of Santa Barbara. Dana describes the coast of California and its inhabitants. The brig engaged in trading, traveling up the coast to Monterey and back down to San Pedro and San Diego.

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."

Two Years Before the Mast By Richard Henry Dana Two Years Before the Mast is a book by the American author Richard Henry Dana, Jr., written after a two-year sea voyage starting in 1834 and published in 1840. While at Harvard College, Dana had an attack of the measles which affected his vision. Thinking it might help his sight, Dana, rather than going on a Grand Tour as most of his fellow classmates traditionally did (and unable to afford it anyway) and being something of a non-conformist, left Harvard to enlist as a common sailor on a voyage around Cape Horn on the brig Pilgrim. He returned to Massachusetts two years later aboard the Alert (which left California sooner than the Pilgrim). He kept a diary throughout the voyage, and, after returning, he wrote a recognized American classic, Two Years Before the Mast, published in 1840, the same year of his admission to the bar. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience. Two Years Before the Mast, Two Years Before the Mast pdf, Two Years Before the Mast book, Richard Henry Dana books, Richard Henry Dan