Two Years Before the Mast is a book by the
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author
Richard Henry Dana, Jr.Richard Henry Dana Jr. was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts, a descendant of an eminent colonial family who gained renown as the author of the American classic, the memoir Two Years Before the Mast...
, written after a two-year
seaA sea is any large amount of water filled with animals such as crabs, whales, sharks, and fish, but there is inconsistency as to its precise definition and application. Most commonly, a sea may refer to a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, but it is also used sometimes for a...
voyage starting in 1834 and published in 1840. A
film adaptation under the same nameTwo Years Before the Mast is a 1946 adventure film based on Richard Henry Dana, Jr.'s novel of the same name. It starred Alan Ladd, Brian Donlevy, William Bendix, Howard Da Silva and Esther Fernández.-Plot summary:...
was released in 1946.
While an undergrad at
Harvard CollegeHarvard College is one of two undergraduate degree granting schools, and the oldest school, of Harvard University, a private university in the United States founded in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature...
, Dana had an attack of the
measlesMeasles is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...
which affected his vision. Thinking it might help his sight, Dana, rather than going on a
Grand TourThe Grand Tour was the traditional travel of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary...
as most of his classmates traditionally did (and unable to afford it anyway) and being something of a non-conformist, left Harvard to enlist as a common sailor on a voyage around
Cape HornCape Horn island is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile....
on the
brigIn nautical terms, a brig is a vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and maneuverable and were used as both naval war ships and merchant ships. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
PilgrimThe Pilgrim was a sailing brig engaged in the California hide trade of the early 19th century. Although just one among many other ships engaged in the business, the Pilgrim was immortalized by one of her sailors, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., who wrote the classic account Two Years Before the Mast...
.
Two Years Before the Mast is a book by the
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author
Richard Henry Dana, Jr.Richard Henry Dana Jr. was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts, a descendant of an eminent colonial family who gained renown as the author of the American classic, the memoir Two Years Before the Mast...
, written after a two-year
seaA sea is any large amount of water filled with animals such as crabs, whales, sharks, and fish, but there is inconsistency as to its precise definition and application. Most commonly, a sea may refer to a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, but it is also used sometimes for a...
voyage starting in 1834 and published in 1840. A
film adaptation under the same nameTwo Years Before the Mast is a 1946 adventure film based on Richard Henry Dana, Jr.'s novel of the same name. It starred Alan Ladd, Brian Donlevy, William Bendix, Howard Da Silva and Esther Fernández.-Plot summary:...
was released in 1946.
Background
While an undergrad at
Harvard CollegeHarvard College is one of two undergraduate degree granting schools, and the oldest school, of Harvard University, a private university in the United States founded in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature...
, Dana had an attack of the
measlesMeasles is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...
which affected his vision. Thinking it might help his sight, Dana, rather than going on a
Grand TourThe Grand Tour was the traditional travel of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary...
as most of his classmates traditionally did (and unable to afford it anyway) and being something of a non-conformist, left Harvard to enlist as a common sailor on a voyage around
Cape HornCape Horn island is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile....
on the
brigIn nautical terms, a brig is a vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and maneuverable and were used as both naval war ships and merchant ships. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
PilgrimThe Pilgrim was a sailing brig engaged in the California hide trade of the early 19th century. Although just one among many other ships engaged in the business, the Pilgrim was immortalized by one of her sailors, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., who wrote the classic account Two Years Before the Mast...
. He returned to
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
two years later aboard the
Alert (which left California sooner than the
Pilgrim).
He kept a
diaryA diary is a record with discreet entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries undertaken for institutional purposes play a role in many aspects of human civilization, including government records , business ledgers and military records...
throughout the voyage, and, after returning, he wrote a recognized American classic,
Two Years Before the Mast, published in 1840, the same year of his admission to the bar.
A sailor's story
The term "before the mast" refers to the quarters of the common sailors — in the
forecastleForecastle refers to the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast.The syncope of the word, fo'c'sle , is common among nautical terms due to the nature of their pronunciation during the age of sail by sailors with strong accents and varying language skills.Among defensive troops on...
, in the front of the ship. His writing evidences his later social feeling for the oppressed; he later became a prominent anti-
slaverySlavery is a form of forced labor in which people are considered to be the property of others. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive compensation...
activist and helped found the
Free Soil PartyThe Free Soil Party was a short-lived political party in the United States active in the 1848 and 1852 presidential elections, and in some state elections. It was a third party that largely appealed to and drew its greatest strength from New York State. The party leadership consisted of former...
.
It is of note that he did not set out to write
Two Years Before the Mast as a sea adventure, but to highlight how poorly common sailors were treated on ships. It quickly became a best seller.
The journey
In the book, which takes place between 1834 and 1836, Dana gives a vivid account of "the life of a common sailor at sea as it really is". He sails from
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
, around Cape Horn, arriving in
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
when it was a remote
MexicanThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
land, and San Diego, San Pedro,
Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara is a city in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the west coast, between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the sea, and having a Mediterranean climate, it is called California's...
, and San Francisco were not much more than a few sheds. He gives descriptions of landing at each of the ports up and down the California coast as they existed then. In the book, he makes a tellingly accurate prediction of San Francisco's future. He also gives a nice description of a society wedding amongst the "
CalifornioCalifornio is a term used to identify a Californian of Hispanic—and in some rare cases, of Portuguese, Brazilian, or other non-Hispanic Latin American—descent, regardless of race, during the period that California was part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain and Mexico...
s."
His ship was on a voyage to trade goods from the east for cow hides. Interestingly, the bluffs near
Mission San Juan CapistranoMission San Juan Capistrano was founded on All Saints Day November 1, 1776 by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order. Named for Giovanni da Capistrano, a 15th century theologian and "warrior priest" who resided in the Abruzzo region of Italy, San Juan Capistrano has the distinction of being home...
presented an obstacle to taking the cow hides to the beach for subsequent loading onto the ship. So, Dana, along with others of the Pilgrim's crew, tossed the hides from the bluffs, while spinning them like a frisbee. Some hides got stuck part way down the cliff and Dana was lowered with ropes to retrieve them. Since that day, that point where the bluffs were located, took on Dana's name, and is today the city of
Dana PointDana Point is a city located in southern Orange County, California. The population was 35,110 at the 2000 census, making it Orange County's 26th most populous city out of 34...
. Being an educated person on his ship, he learned
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
and became an interpreter. He befriended a
KanakaKanaka may refer to:* Kanaka Maoli, native subject of the Kingdom of Hawaii* kanaka hawaii, naturalized subject of the Kingdom of Hawaii* Kanaka , Indian Film actress...
(a native of modern-day
HawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states, and is the only state made up entirely of islands. It is located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia. The state was admitted to the Union on August...
), later saving his life when his captain would as soon see him die. He spent a season in San Diego preparing hides for the journey home.
On the return trip around Cape Horn in the middle of the
Antarctic| style="border-top:solid 1px #ccd2d9; padding:0.4em 1em 0.4em 0; vertical-align:top;" | 14,000,000 km
2 280,000 km
2 13,720,000 km
2 |-! style="border-top: solid 1px #ccd2d9; padding: 0.4em 1em 0.4em 0; vertical-align: top;...
winter he describes terrifying storms and incredible beauty, giving vivid descriptions of
icebergAn iceberg is a large piece of ice from freshwater that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. It may subsequently become frozen into pack ice...
s, and the
scurvyScurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus. Scurvy leads to the formation of spots on the skin, spongy gums, and bleeding...
that afflicts members of the crew. In
White-JacketWhite-Jacket, or The World in a Man-of-War, usually referred to as White-Jacket, is an 1850 novel by Herman Melville first published in England on January 23 by Richard Bentley and in the U.S...
,
Herman MelvilleHerman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist and poet who is often classified as part of dark romanticism...
wrote, "But if you want the best idea of Cape Horn, get my friend Dana's unmatchable
Two Years Before the Mast. But you can read, and so you must have read it. His chapters describing Cape Horn must have been written with an icicle."
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=44863&pageno=75
Publication history
Two Years Before the Mast was originally titled
Journal and was rejected by four publishing houses before Harper and Brothers made an offer in 1839. The book was finally published in September 1846 in two versions. Dana had asked for assistance from the poet
William Cullen BryantWilliam Cullen Bryant was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post.-Youth and education:...
, whose poem "
ThanatopsisThis article is about the poem. For the band, see Thanatopsis ."Thanatopsis" is a poem by American poet William Cullen Bryant.-Overview:...
" was praised by Dana's father. Bryant had passed the manuscript on to Harper's, hoping they would pay $500 to its author, though they ultimately paid Dana only $250 along with 24 complimentary copies.
1869 and 1911 editions
In 1869, Richard Henry Dana, Jr. added an appendix entitled "Twenty-Four Years After". This appendix recounts his visit to California after the Gold Rush. During this trip, he revisited some of the sites mentioned in the book as well as seeing old friends, including some that had been mentioned in the book, and one unnamed person, the "Agent" (of the trading company), whom he intensely disliked (a man named Fitch, who had married into the wealthy Spanish Colonial Moraga family). He visited the Fremont mining operations in
Mariposa CountyMariposa County is a county in the U.S. state of California, located in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It lies north of Fresno, east of Merced, and southeast of Stockton. As of 2000, its population was 17,130...
. Along with
Jessie FremontJessie Ann Benton Frémont was an American writer and political activist.Notably remembered for being the daughter of Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton and the wife of military officer, explorer and politician, John C...
and her party, he went to
Yosemite ValleyYosemite Valley is a world-famous scenic location in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. It is the centerpiece of Yosemite National Park, attracting visitors from all parts of the globe....
. Stopping along the way at Clark's Station in
WawonaWawona is an unincorporated community in Mariposa County, California. It is located east of Mariposa, at an elevation of 3999 feet ....
, he described
Galen ClarkGalen Clark is known for his discovery of the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia trees and for his role as Guardian of Yosemite National Park for 21 years. In 1853, Clark had a severe lung infection that was diagnosed as consumption...
as a gracious host.
In 1911, Dana's son, Richard Henry Dana III, added an introduction detailing the "subsequent story and fate of the vessels, and of some of the persons with whom the reader is made acquainted."
Legacy
With the onset of the 1849
California Gold RushThe California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered by James Wilson Marshall at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, California. News of the discovery soon spread, resulting in some 300,000 men, women, and children coming to California from the rest of the United States and...
, Dana's book was one of the few books in existence that described California, adding greatly to the book's readership as well as Dana's renown and legacy. When he returned to San Francisco in 1869 he was treated as a minor celebrity.
External links