Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea

from TizzzieLish

A journey from Boston around South America, then traveling the west coast of California before it was part of America - they were buying hides and selling goods. #14 on the National Geographic Adventure list of "The 100 greatest adventure books of all time" I read it aloud some years ago with my ...

from dswaddell

This is the story of Richard Henry Dana Jr. adventure from his jornals written in 1834. It contains excerpts from his journal he kept for two years after leaving harvard and embarking as a seaman abourd the Pilgrim and later transfering to the Alert sailing vessels. The descriptions of the inhabi...

from RMMee

It is difficult to give any objective reasons why I enjoyed this book so much. It has so much unusual terminology in it, that, despite a glossary and a diagram of a ship's rigging, it is often confusing. It does not describe an era or a location that I have any particular interest in (in fact the...

from Pondlife

This is the true story of R.H. Dana's two years as a common sailor. The "before the mast" refers to the sailor's quarters in the forecastle. The book is based on the diary he kept during the voyage. R.H. Dana was from a good family, and was an undergraduate at Harvard when he had an attack of mea...

from HenriMoreaux

An amazing glimpse into 1800s, this is the autobiographical account of two years in the life of Richard Henry Dana from 1834 to 1836. Leaving America he sails on the Pilgrim and its voyage heads from Boston to South America and around Cape Horn to California where he spends a season in San Diego ...