Two Years Before the Mast

Two Years Before the Mast is a book by the American author Richard Henry Dana, Jr., written after a two-year sea voyage starting in 1834 and published in 1840.

While at Harvard College, Dana had an attack of the measles that affected his vision. Thinking it might help his sight, Dana, rather than going on a Grand Tour as most of his fellow classmates traditionally did (and unable to afford it anyway), and being something of a nonconformist, he left Harvard to enlist as a common sailor on a voyage around Cape Horn on the brig Pilgrim. He returned to Massachusetts two years later aboard the Alert (which left California sooner than the Pilgrim). He kept a diary throughout the voyage, and, after returning, he wrote a book based on his experiences.

Recognized as an American classic, Two Years Before the Mast was published the same year that Dana was admitted to the bar.

Public Domain (P)2010 Tantor

Excellent story

This is a great story of sailing and the sailors lot back in the 1800’s.

The young man's voice was appropriate for the story.

I listened while driving from Ft. Worth Texas to Los Angeles. The ancient seas during the same month the voyage was taking place. A wonderful listen driving over an ancient sea bed.

Great story and narrator

The storytelling was easy to listen to and the narrator used their voice inflection with perfect timing. I think any young middle schooler who attends Dana middle school in Point Loma, San Diego should read this to provide a wonderful accounting to what went on nearby so many years ago on what is now known as Kellogg beach.

Great reader and ok story

Fairly interesting account of being a merchant sailor in 1830 and a detail of early CA. The author ended up seeming pretty pompous in the end, but the reader was terrific.

A nautical and historical classic

I really enjoyed this story of the lives of sailors in the 1800s. It's easy to think our work is hard until one hears and imagines the incredibly difficult lives of sailors in this time period. I love his description of the beauty he experienced as a sailor and of California in the early days of the forming of the US.