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topdragon 's review for:
Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative
by Richard Henry Dana
This was a hand-me-down book from my dad and as such, has been in my TBR shelves for years. Essentially, it is the diary of the author who, as a student at Harvard in the 1830s, suffered a bout of measles which affected his vision. He decided to enlist as a common sailor, planning not to write a rousing sea adventure tale but rather to expose many of the hardships faced by common sailors.
The author and the crew sailed from Boston, around Cape Horn to the early California coastal towns where they worked the California Hide trade, ultimately returning to Boston in what turned out to be a two year journey.
This could have been very dry material, as the author does spend quite a bit of time describing in detail the everyday life aboard the sailing ships. But he also offers his insights into the people he encounters, both his shipmates and the native peoples of California. The book is one of the few that exists about that time in California and with the onset of the gold rush in 1849 has become a valuable historical resource for that period. Herman Melville was also, reportedly heavily influenced by this book.
An interesting read, told in a narrative style but certainly an opportunity to gain some insight on sailing ships of that time and how they operated.
The author and the crew sailed from Boston, around Cape Horn to the early California coastal towns where they worked the California Hide trade, ultimately returning to Boston in what turned out to be a two year journey.
This could have been very dry material, as the author does spend quite a bit of time describing in detail the everyday life aboard the sailing ships. But he also offers his insights into the people he encounters, both his shipmates and the native peoples of California. The book is one of the few that exists about that time in California and with the onset of the gold rush in 1849 has become a valuable historical resource for that period. Herman Melville was also, reportedly heavily influenced by this book.
An interesting read, told in a narrative style but certainly an opportunity to gain some insight on sailing ships of that time and how they operated.