[.ca] Two Years Before the Mast (ISBN 1582182868)

What He Did on His Vacation:
Richard Henry Dana suffered from measles while a student at Harvard in 1834. Rather than suffer a slow recovery from weakened eyesight, he shipped out as a common sailor, rather than as a passenger, on a long sea voyage. After becoming a lawyer, he published his recollection of his voyage in 1840; it was an immediate success. He became an active member of the Free Soil Party, and represented fugitive slaves. This first and greatest book shows his sympathy for the suffering and the oppressed, and his courage, unselfishness, and fair-mindedness that characterized his life. This important book describes California before statehood and the gold rush, and life in those times. RHD hoped this book would promote religion and moral improvement for seamen, and diminish their hardships. Chapter IV tells of being chased by a black hulled ship that flew no colors. They were able to outrun this ship, then lost it in the dark. Chapter V tells of the bad weather while rounding Cape Horn. They passed a whaler from Poughkeepsie NY. Chapter XIII gives his impressions of the Californians. RHD knew that local officials were appointed from the capital, but didn't ask if they controlled the local economy as a colony: produce raw material, buy finished goods. Chapter XVII tells how their captain, known for his flogging, could not hire any new seamen. Chapter XVIII tells of Easter celebration in California. The crews of Catholic vessels get about three more weeks of vacation in a year, and "Yankees don't keep Christmas". Chapter XXI tells more about California politics. Since the independence of Mexico the missions and their lands became the prey of administradores, and became diminished and decayed. RHD describes the lack of common law, and the private morality. It was a rich country waiting to be exploited. Chapter XXIII tells of the advantages of a bigger ship over a smaller ship: more hands make lighter work. But a smaller lighter ship can catch a slight breeze that becalms a bigger ship. Chapter XXV tells how the heavy import taxes of Mexico are handled. A vessel puts in to declare a moderate cargo, then sells a large part. It then sails to another port; but on the way it gets other goods to replenish its cargo. RHD describes his visit to a whaleship, whose crew resembled fishermen and farmers. \oWhalers got a share of the profits, not a wage.\c The chapter ends with a description of a 3-day gale. Chapter XXIX tells of preparations to sail home: ballast is dumped, the ship sealed and fumigated to kill vermin. Then the hides are loaded, then steeved to pack in more. This hard work was fueled by a constant diet of fresh beef. Chapter XXX tells of the return trip by a shorthanded and inexperienced crew; they would round Cape Horn in the dead of winter, the worst possible time. Chapter XXXI tells of the sailor's need for rum or hot coffee in wintertime; and what it is like to have a tooth-ache at sea. Chapter XXXII describes the terrible times in the iceberg fields. Chapter XXXV tells of the haste to get home by keeping sails aloft. Scurvy had broken out on the ship due to no fresh provisions. They met a brig and got potatoes and onions for a cure. The Concluding Chapter tells that drudgery and hardship is a sailor's life, not romantic fantasies. The captain must control everything, and be responsible for everything (mistreatment of seamen). Passengers on board (independent witnesses) result in better treatment of seamen. The lives of merchant seamen are shortened by a lack of sleep. RHD would not abolish flogging: most seamen are foreigners, the cast-offs of war vessels, and unknown to the captains. Force is needed to control them. Gradual improvement will correct this, he claims. RHD strongly objects to the practice of granting leniency to a convicted captain or officer because of previous good character, or a family to support. First, they don't know what it was like there, and this excuse is never granted to seamen! It is just a reward for class differences. Moral improvement is the seamen's best friend. RHD visited California 24 years later and writes about this in the last chapter.

Fascinating glimpse of a bygone era:
Let me start out by stating that Dana was a born story teller. The two years before the mast tells the story of Henry Dana's two years as a sailor during a journey from the America East Coast to the distant land of California via Cape Horn. Book portrays a fascinating insight into the life of a sailor during the years of sail upon a merchant ship - both the incredible hardships to be endured, the tangible moments of joy like rounding the cape and heading for home in a good wind with all sails set to the everyday relationships between crew and officers . Also it provides a truly interesting picture of California before the gold rush, a wild uninhabited place more Spanish than American, vast unspoilt stretches of coasts, with small settlements with familiar names such as San Francisco and San Diego. As an officer worker, I also founded Dana's portrayal of his Capitan to be a equally telling study of the failed middle manager you know the guy who is competent but not truly experienced, who is aware of his failure and is aware that his competence is questioned by others. An insecure man forced to take his insecurities out on his underlings. The more things change the one thing that remains the same is human nature. Also found myself sympathising with the sailors, far from home life. Men who at least while isolated are sailors first and American or French or English second. A great adventure tale and a picture of a world long gone.

A timeless escape from academia:
I'm working in a lab this summer. I've had all manner of jobs, but this is the first where I do nothing but think, and I feel ambivalent about it. When I go on lunch breaks, I bring TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST. I've never found a non-fiction book quite like it before, though I own many in this genre. You may find other sea stories with more excitment (the O'Brien series is excellent), more daring (Joshua Slocum's account SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD is a classic), or a more contemporary feeling (Robin Lee Grahm's DOVE has an optimistic 60's sensibility), but you will NOT find the sheer thoughtfulness that makes this book so much worth reading. Dana is a remarkable observer. He is farsighted, identifying San Francisco as the likely center of California's future prosperity, yet he is clearly affected by many of the prejudices of his era. He is always honest about his thoughts and feelings and he never lets his education or his background spoil his intercourse with the fascinating and often raw characters that he meets. Still, Dana wavers in his original objective. Though he intends to lay bare the iniquities of sea life to the landlubber, he ends up seducing his readers with the sheer adventure of his life. This book will take you away (in the best of "Reading Rainbow" fashion) whenever you read it. For that extra touch of authenticity, bring it along on a cruise, or better yet, read it in a hammock.

Not a swashbuckler but a great insight to fur & lumber trade:
This book is dry, but then life on a boat is probably not all that exciting. You do have time to watch paint dry, and wood rot, and canvas sag while waiting for a breeze. What I liked about this book was the description of California before it became "civilized". If you are looking for close calls with pirates, and lots of rambo action, look elsewhere. If you like history books that tell it like it was, then this is for you. Moby Dick is a good litnus test, if you liked Moby Dick, you'll like this, if not skip on to something else.

Dana: Pioneer of the "Year Off"...:
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 board the 19th century clipper ship". Examples include: The tyranny of the captain (most notably), travelling around the cape, the daily routine (monotony of), encountering other ships, talking to the other sailors, the daily routine (complaining about), and so forth. As far as I'm concerned, Dana handles this subject just about as well as anybody COULD handle this subject. I would be lying if I said I understood all of the sailing vocabularly (how many sails did they have on those clipper ships? To me, it sounded like about a thousand or so!). None the less, life on a ship is life on a ship. The second scene is Dana's interaction with the California coast. Were this book merely a description of life at sea, I probably would not have read it. According to Starr, this book was the ONLY English language book written about California at the time of the gold rush of 1848, and so it plays a prominent (though largely forgotten(?)) part in the shaping of the image of California in the minds of Americans (and if you want to see where I'm cribbing this from see the Starr book pgs. 38-47 thereabouts). When Dana sails into San Francisco at the time of this book, there was one (1!) house in the entire Bay Area. That's impressive. We also get first hand descriptions of Santa Barbara and San Diego (where I live), that are unique. Dana treats the residents of California as one might expect from a wealthy white dude from the east coast of the U.S.: The Mexicans/Spanish are "noble" but "lazy" and the indians are nearly beneath mention. Dana is quick to see the potential in California but equally as quick to dismiss the current residents as hopelessly lazy. At one point Dana refers to the "California Disease"(laziness). By the end of his time on the coast, he is calling California "Hell". That probably has more to do with his daily work (processing hides) then California itself.