Two Years Before the Mast (Signet Classics)
by Richard Henry Dana
published
March 1st 2000
by New American Library
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binding
Mass Market Paperback, 432 pages
isbn
0451527593
(isbn13: 9780451527592)
description
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 a...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 299)
Read in February, 2004
recommends it for:
Kerouac fans
I read this book after reading about it in Kevin Starr's excellent history of California: California and the American Dream as well as reading about it in the foreword to Herman Melville's "White Jacket".
White Jacket was, of course, at least partially inspired by this book, and after reading "Two Years" I can certainly see the influence reflected in Dana's work.
This book has, essentially, two scenes that are varied throughout the book. The first scene is "life on b...more
White Jacket was, of course, at least partially inspired by this book, and after reading "Two Years" I can certainly see the influence reflected in Dana's work.
This book has, essentially, two scenes that are varied throughout the book. The first scene is "life on b...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
mates, office types
This book made me cry multiple times, but not for the direct subject matter. I think there were just a few too many references to the California coast described in enough detail that the effect was to pry out long-lingering ghosts haunting the coastline of my own isle of denial. his descriptions are never quite up to the par of his literary contemporaries, but the detail leaves any California-lover desperately lamenting the irretrievable passage of those first rough-and-tumble times that "...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to brendan by:
sailorsrecommends it for: sailors and wannabe o'brien fans
this book is absolutely essential for anyone who has any desire of stepping off the quarterdeck of his historical fiction (O'Brien novels) and heading down to the focs'l to hear about sailing traditional ships from the men who were actually sweating lines, heave-yo-ho-ing, and climbing the rigging to furl the royals before a gale.
dana passes the equator four times over the two years that he is a merchant mariner sailing to, the then mexican owned california, to load his ship with...more
dana passes the equator four times over the two years that he is a merchant mariner sailing to, the then mexican owned california, to load his ship with...more
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Read in February, 2008
California before the Gold Rush. Life at sea during the great age of sail. An autobiographical coming of age story for the son of a Cambridge, Massachusetts, aristocracy. (His grandfather Francis Dana was a secretary to John Adams, signer of the Articles of the Confederation, third chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, etc. A few streets in Cambridge are named for family members.) Richard Henry Dana, Jr.'s intent was to bring some dignity to the person of the sailorman in his contemp...more
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Read in January, 2008
Somehow I missed this classic growing up. I think I confused it with Conrad & Melville's fiction. After reading a review in an online group I got a copy for myself. The author was a Harvard student from Boston. In 1834 he signed on as a common seaman in hopes that a break from his studies would cure vision problems. The ship went from Boston round Cape Horn to California where they traded goods for hides. The descriptions are vivid & compelling, & the information about ship life chil...more
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I read this book because I was looking for insight on what California was like 180 years ago. However, I found myself really enjoying the stories of life on the high seas as well. I was fascinated with the amazingly dangerous, rough, and sometimes beautiful life of a sailor in the time of tall ships.
In the 1830s, California was a backwater... the mission system was coming to an end, indigenous people in the area had already been torn from their land, and excessively cattle were quickly ...more
In the 1830s, California was a backwater... the mission system was coming to an end, indigenous people in the area had already been torn from their land, and excessively cattle were quickly ...more
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Read in July, 2008
I really enjoyed this book. The author, who was educated at Harvard and later went on to a successful career as an attorney, sailed "before the mast", as a common sailor, from 1835-1836. He gives an excellent account of what life was like for a sailor in this period. The ship sailed around Cape Horn to California to trade for cattle hides, and made stops all up and down the coast. It was very interesting to read his descriptions of many cities in California that I have visited. San Fr...more
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Besides the story of a Sailor's life and how horrible it was,
it was very interesting to read the parts about early California. I was especially interested in his accounts of Monterey and San Francisco. How in the harbor of Yerba Buena, San Francisco there was no other habitation except a shanty belonging to a man named Richardson and then that year he built a one story adobe house that was the first house in San Francisco. He also states that he thinks that if California ever became prosper...more
it was very interesting to read the parts about early California. I was especially interested in his accounts of Monterey and San Francisco. How in the harbor of Yerba Buena, San Francisco there was no other habitation except a shanty belonging to a man named Richardson and then that year he built a one story adobe house that was the first house in San Francisco. He also states that he thinks that if California ever became prosper...more
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Read in January, 1997
Dana's book illustrates so much of what makes America, that it is hard to believe it was written in the middle of the 1800's. The descriptions of the people, the attitudes, and California are as modern as the binding.
Yeah, California really hasn't changed that much.
The pious ending 24 years later could be taken from today's self-congratulatory piety that is seen in every right wing politician.
Because Dana seemed to be writing for himself and his friends, the writing is clear and i...more
Yeah, California really hasn't changed that much.
The pious ending 24 years later could be taken from today's self-congratulatory piety that is seen in every right wing politician.
Because Dana seemed to be writing for himself and his friends, the writing is clear and i...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone interested in the day to day details of nautical life in the 1830's, early California history
This is a fascinating read--and an interesting comparison to many first hand accounts of recent extreme sports activities, such as modern moutain climbing misadventures.
A Harvard student with poor eyesight signs on as a common sailor and leaves Boston for a trip around South America up to California. Day to day life is described, as well as encounters with early Californians, the process of curing hides, economies of early American towns, bad weather and big waves and other odd and vivid...more
A Harvard student with poor eyesight signs on as a common sailor and leaves Boston for a trip around South America up to California. Day to day life is described, as well as encounters with early Californians, the process of curing hides, economies of early American towns, bad weather and big waves and other odd and vivid...more
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My favorite part of this book is its setting. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about pre-Gold Rush, pre-statehood California. Much of the action occurs in Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Francisco, and L.A. I have spent time in all but the latter, so I paid special attention to see what I could recognize of these cities in Dana's descriptions of their infancy. This book both appeals to and adds to my sense of place, which is very valuable since I feel that a sense of place is something that is increas...more
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Read in March, 2007
This is considered the first account of a common sailor's life at sea. Dana contracted the measles while a student at Harvard. His eyes were damaged from the disease, and he set sail in 1834 because his doctor said the sea air would be good for him.
He spent 2 years sailing and recounts his travels in this narrative. This certainly isn't a swashbuckling adventure -- they outran the only pirate ship they encountered -- but interested for its historical value. YEAH HISTORY!
He spent 2 years sailing and recounts his travels in this narrative. This certainly isn't a swashbuckling adventure -- they outran the only pirate ship they encountered -- but interested for its historical value. YEAH HISTORY!
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Read in November, 2006
An excellent account of the beauties of sailing and the horrors of being a sailor. I think the most interesting part of the book is definitely his descriptions of pre-colonized California. Where deer roamed in the hundreds, angel island was a forest, and indigenous folk fished from their canoes. I've sailed through Dana Point, and it's hard for me to imagine Henry Dana dangling of the top of it, suspended by a block and tackle, trying to kick loose a few hides.
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Read in June, 2008
Richard Dana drops out of Harvard, and joins the crew of the Pilgrim, a merchant vessel, in the 1840's. They travel around the horn, and trade up and down the coast of California. A fascinating tale of life at sea from a unique perspective. Dana lavishes his account with great details about the working an sailing of his brig. If you've ever wondered what a sailors life before the mast is like, then this is the book to read.
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
Jimmy
A true story outlining the lives of sailor, in the last days of sailing merchantman, by R.H. Dana Jr., weaves a plain spoken but eloquent yarn of men of the high seas. Slow at times, but overall a great work, Dana account of the unjustified flogging of two of his innocent shipmate by the petty and cruel captain, is a painful but profound statement against tyranny. It is powerful and historically relevant work.
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Read in July, 1985
My Dad recommended this one to me. He lived in Dana Point, Cali -- which was named in honor of Richard Henry Dana because of his adventures accounted in this memoir. I love adventure nautical stories very much. This one is a classic. Whenever Dad and I would tour the Star of India in San Diego he'd relate his deep admiration for this book when he was a boy. It has great sentimental value to me.
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If reading about sailor boys sewing all their own clothes from head to toe out of ducking is appealing to you, read this book. The descriptive day to day life on board as well as on shore is amazing. This book was written before the west coast of america was populated by europeans. The description of "ports" are so interesting. San Francisco before being populated? Fabulous.
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I am actually still reading this - it takes me 2 years to read it it seems, a few pages every month. It is very dense and the writing, between the time it was written and the sailor-speak, is very hard for me to get through. All the same, it is a compelling look at the life of a sailor and the geography of the west coast of the US during the 1850s.
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Read in January, 2005
This one pretty much captures the life of a sailor at sea, with the terror, the pain, miserable food, nasty brutish shipmates and distance officers. But this was real! I totally loved this book and recommend it to everyone, even if you don’t like sea stories you might like this one. A very nice peek into the life of one young man in 1834.
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It has taken me awhile to get into this book, even though it is full of interesting information about being a sailor on a merchant ship in the 1800's. The sailor jargon confuses me a bit and it makes the book hard to get through sometimes. My favorite part so far is when Dana decribes his life on shore in California as a hide tanner.
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