Two Years Before The Mast

The story of a young man's adventure sailing from Boston, around Cape Horn, to the California coast is a riveting, insig... (more)

The story of a young man's adventure sailing from Boston, around Cape Horn, to the California coast is a riveting, insightful account of life at sea (and the best surviving account of what it was like in 1834), replete with fascinating historical detail on California before the gold rush. This edition contains a new introduction by Gary Kinder. (less)

Tracing an awe-inspiring oceanic route from Boston, around Cape Horn, to the California coast, Two Years Before the Mast... (more)

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 adventure and the most eloquent, insightful account we have of life at sea in the early nineteenth century. Richard Henry Dana is only nineteen when he abandons the patrician world of Boston and Harvard for an arduous voyage among real sailors, amid genuine danger. The result is an astonishing read, replete with vivid descriptions of storms, whales, and the ship's mad captain, terrible hardship and magical beauty, and fascinating historical detail, including an intriguing portrait of California before the gold rush. (less)

After a bout with the measles that left his vision impaired, Harvard undergrad Richard Henry Dana signed up for a two-ye... (more)

After a bout with the measles that left his vision impaired, Harvard undergrad Richard Henry Dana signed up for a two-year engagement as a sailor, thinking that the fresh sea air might improve his vision. The diary that Dana kept during his stint on the open sea formed the basis for this wildly popular memoir, which was later made into a movie. A must-read for fans of rip-roaring nautical tales or social history buffs. (less)

After a bout with the measles that left his vision impaired, Harvard undergrad Richard Henry Dana signed up for a two-ye... (more)

After a bout with the measles that left his vision impaired, Harvard undergrad Richard Henry Dana signed up for a two-year engagement as a sailor, thinking that the fresh sea air might improve his vision. The diary that Dana kept during his stint on the open sea formed the basis for this wildly popular memoir, which was later made into a movie. A must-read for fans of rip-roaring nautical tales or social history buffs. (less)

Richard Henry Dana referred to this book as "a voice from the sea." It is a book that influenced Conrad and Melville, an... (more)

Richard Henry Dana referred to this book as "a voice from the sea." It is a book that influenced Conrad and Melville, and it has become a maritime classic that has inflicted legions of men with a passion for the sea. Dana, a law student turned sailor for health reasons, sailed in 1834 on the brig Pilgrim for a voyage from Boston around Cape Horn to California. (Hence Dana Point was named). Drawing from his journals, Two Years Before the Mast gives a vivid and detailed account-shrewdly observed and beautifully described-of a common sailor's wretched treatment at sea, and of a way of life virtually unknown at that time. (less)