Two Years before the Mast

A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea

by Richard Henry Dana

Paperback, 447 pages

English language

Published Jan. 19, 2001 by Adamant Media Corporation.

ISBN:: 978-1-4021-8031-6

(9 reviews)

Two Years before the Mast is but an episode in the life of Richard Henry Dana, Jr., yet the narrative in which he details the experiences of that period is, perhaps, his chief claim to a wide remembrance.

His services in fields other than literary occupied the greater part of his life. Dana was a well known and respected lawyer, a stalwart abolitionist, and an advocate for the rights of common sailors. He and his wife, Sarah, had many friends among New England's cultural elite, including Henry Wadsworth and Fanny (Appleton) Longfellow and the artist Washington Allston and his wife, Martha Remington (Dana), who was Richard's aunt.

Two Years before the Mast appeared in 1840, while its author was still a law student. Though at the time it created no great stir in the United States, it was most favorably received in England, where it paved the way for many pleasant and valuable acquaintances. The following year, Dana produced The Seaman's Friend, a treatise on practical seamanship. Later, he wrote a a short account of an 1859 trip to Cuba in 1859. He was a copious letter-writer and kept journals of his travels and every day life. Yet, long before his death, he had seen the narrative of his sailor days recognized as an American classic.

Time has not diminished its reputation. We read it today not merely for its simple, unpretentious style, but for its clear picture of a life at sea previous to the era of steam navigation and for its graphic description of conditions in California before visions of gold sent the long lines of "prairie schooners" drifting across the plains to unfold the hidden destiny of the West.

40 editions

gregorgross reviewed Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana

Ich hab's in Deutsch gelesen...

4 stars

... denn die Bezeichnungen für all die Segel-Hardware ist bereits in deutsch kaum verständlich. Ich mag Tagebücher und Reisen, und dies hier ist anscheinend das erste Buch eines Matrosen übers Segeln. Dana studierte an Harvard, als seine Augen schlecht wurden und er sich dachte, eine Seereise als Matrose vorm Mast würde dies lindern (was es am Ende auch tat). Dana schrieb alles auf über die Lebensumstände von Matrosen und setzte sich später auch als Anwalt und Lobbyist für Matrosen ein. Seine Schilderung des Lebens auf der Pilgrim und der Alert sind sehr eindeutig und offenlegend, seine Beobachtungen der Natur, des Wetters und eines Kaliforniens, das noch im Tiefschlaf liegt, beschreiben eine Welt, die wir vermissen, würde ich sagen. Auch was wir übers Leben an Bord eines Schiffes lernen, über die Arbeit der Zubereitung von Rinderhäuten für den Transport, übers Handling eines Segelschiffs, sind zugleich romantisch und manchmal auch etwas ermüdend. …

In Summe habe ich es sehr genossen. Bin wohl drüber gestolpert in einem Nachwort zu Patrick O'Briens Audrey/Maturin-Serie und hole mir jetzt weitere Seefahrtromane wie z.B. Weißjacke von Hermann Melville.

Chris reviewed Two Years before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana

None

4 stars

Sank.
Actually that's unfair, this is a good yarn and for once from the perspective of a non-sailor (at least at first). I expect I'll get back to it in time.

altlovesbooks reviewed Two Years before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana

Review of 'Two Years before the Mast' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

Not quite the naval adventure I was expecting. The first part was actually interesting, and then we get mired in California and have to listen to a bunch of period-specific factoids about Californian people that I could do without. Dropped.