Two Years Before the Mast is a memoir by the American author Richard Henry Dana, published in 1840, having been written after a two-year sea voyage from Boston to California on a merchant ship starting in 1834. A film adaptation under the same name was released in 1946. It is the true story of Richard Henry Dana’s voyage aboard the merchant vessel the ‘Pilgrim’ on a trip around Cape Horn during the years 1834 to 1836. Dana was a student at Harvard when a case of the measles affected his vision. He left school and enlisted as a sailor on a merchant vessel, believing that the experience might help his eyesight. Dana kept a diary during his adventures and he intended his account to be ‘The life of a common sailor at sea as it really is.’ He details the trip from Boston, around South Africa and to San Francisco to trade goods from the United States for cow hides from Mexican colonial missions and ranchos.
’Two Years Before the Mast’ depicts maritime life in the 19th Century as it truly was; brutal, harsh, dangerous, and sometimes incredibly beautiful. Dana’s account also includes a fascinating description of California before the Gold Rush. This book is considered as one of the most remarkable and influential adventure stories in American literature.
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