Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea (Paperback) by Richard Henry Dana

from corinneblackmer

 A harrowing tale of the life of a common sailor in 1840. The author, an undergraduate at Harvard, took to the sea because he thought it might improve his eyesight (after a bout with measles). The work is backbreaking; his witness to a flogging and the merciless discipline of the sea unforgettabl...

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 AltheaAnn

This was a really excellent book. It's a true story, written by a young man who took time off his studies at Harvard to ship as a common seaman on a merchant marine in 1834.Upon his return, he wrote the book to, in part, counter the popular, romanticized ideas of life at sea. Dana said that most ...

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 MrsLee

I read this aloud to my children when we were studying California history. It is a fascinating story written as a memoir of a young man who went to sea as a way to cure his weak eyes! It was a rough wake-up call for him, but he became a man and his eyes improved. He details life aboard a sailing ...