Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea

by Richard Henry Dana Jr., Thomas Philbrick (Introduction)

Overview

Two Years Before The Mast is Richard Henry Dana Jr.'s account of his life as a common seaman aboard the brig the Pilgrim which set out from Boston on August 14, 1835 destined for California by way of the treacherous Cape Horn.

Dana gives a detailed account of the workings of the ship, the day-to-day routines of the deck hands, and the brutal shortcomings of inept, tyrannical officers. This "author's edition" includes a chapter written by Dana twenty-four years after his initial voyage where he revisits some of the people, places and vessels that he had encountered on his original journey.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780140390087
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/17/1981
Series:	Penguin American Library Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	576
Sales rank:	165,337
Product dimensions:	5.05(w) x 7.73(h) x 1.29(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Gary Kinder is the author of Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea. He lives in Seattle.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter I
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Two Years Before the Mast"
by .
Copyright © 1981 Richard Henry Dana.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Chapter I.
	Departure
	First Impressions
	Ship's Duties
Chapter II.
	First Impressions
	Ship's Duties
Chapter III.
	Ship's Duties
Chapter IV.
	Sundays At Sea
	Trouble on Board
	Land Ho
	A Pampero
	Cape Horn
Chapter V.
	Cape Horn
	A Visit
Chapter VI.
	Loss Of a Man
Chapter VII.
	Superstitions
	Juan Fernandez
	Putting the Vessel In Order
Chapter VIII.
	Painting
	Daily Life
	Point Conception
Chapter IX.
	Santa Barbara
	Beach-Combing
	A Southeaster
Chapter X.
	A Southeaster
	Passage Up the Coast
Chapter XI.
	Passage Up the Coast
	Monterey
Chapter XII.
	Monterey
Chapter XIII.
	Monterey
	A British Sailor
	Santa Barbara
Chapter XIV.
	Hide Droghing
	Discontent
	San Pedro
	Flogging
Chapter XV.
	Flogging
	Night On Shore
	State of Things On Board
	San Diego
Chapter XVI.
	Liberty-Day On Shore
Chapter XVII.
	San Diego
	Desertion
	San Pedro Again
	Easter Sunday
Chapter XVIII.
	Easter Sunday
	Italian Sailors
	San Juan
	San Diego Again
	Life on Shore
Chapter XIX.
	Sandwich-Islanders
	Hide-Curing
	Wood-Cutting
	Coyotes
	Rattlesnakes
Chapter XX.
	New Comers
	People at the Hide-Houses
	Leisure
	Pilgrim News from Home
	Pilgrim Occupations on the Beach
	California and its Inhabitants
Chapter XXI.
	California and its Inhabitants
Chapter XXII.
	Life on the Beach
	The Alert
Chapter XXIII.
	New Ship and Shipmates
	A Race
	My Watchmate, Tom Harris
	San Diego Again
Chapter XXIV.
	A Descent
	A Hurried Departure
	A New Shipmate
Chapter XXV.
	Rumors of War
	A Spouter
	Sudden Slipping for a Southeaster
	To Windward
	A Dry Gale
Chapter XXVI.
	San Francisco
	Monterey Revisited
Chapter XVII.
	Monterey Revisited
	A Set-to
	A Decayed Gentleman
	A Contrabandista
	A Fandango
Chapter XVIII.
	A Victim
	California Rangers-Beach-Combers
	News From Home
	Last Looks
Chapter XXIX.
	Loading for Home
	A Surprise
	Last of an Old Friend
	The Last Hide
	A Hard Case
	An Anchor, for Home!
	The Alert and California
	Homeward Bound
Chapter XXX.
	Homeward Bound
	Our Passenger, Professor Nuttall
	Homeward Bound
Chapter XXXI.
	Bad Prospects
	First Touch of Cape Horn
	Iceburgs
	Temperance Ships
	Lying-Up
	Ice
	Difficulty on Board
	Change of Course
	Straits of Magellan
Chapter XXXII.
	Ice Again
	Disappointment
	Cape Horn
	Land Ho!
Chapter XXXIII.
	Cracking On
	Progress Homeward
	A Fine Sight
	Fitting Ship
	By-Plane
Chapter XXXIV.
	An Escape
	Equator
	Tropical Squalls
	Tropical Thunder-Storm
Chapter XXXV.
	A Reef-Topsail Breeze
	Scurvy
	A Friend in Need
	Preparing for Port
	Gulf Stream
Chapter XXXVI.
	Soundings
	Sights About Home
	Boston Harbo
	Leaving the Ship
	Twenty Four Years After	432

Reading Group Guide

1. Discuss Dana's motives for the voyage. What do you feel was the predominating factor in his decision to undertake such a journey? What were the risks involved, and how serious do you feel they were? What is your view of Dana's momentous choice?

2. What do you make of Dana's attitude toward religion, and religious instruction? Do you agree or not? Why? Is his a perspective that is anachronistic, or not?

3. How does social class play a role in the book? Discuss the implications of Dana's background. How did it affect his experience on the ship? Did you find it important, or inconsequential?

4. What is your opinion of the book's stark realism? Does Dana have an agenda in writing the book? If so, what is it? Do you think the experience was a positive one for Dana, or not?

5. What is the role of nature and the outdoors for Dana? How does he view the American West? How does his voyage attest to his view of the outdoors? Does this view change throughout his experience on the ship? If so, how?

6. Discuss the contrasts between Captain Thompson and Captain Faucon. How do their leadership skills differ? Who is more effective, and why? Discuss Dana's book on a political level. What do his portrayals of each captain reveal?

7. Discuss the considerable shift in Dana's perspective as evidenced in 'Twenty-Four Years After.' How do you account for this change? Do you agree or disagree with the author's decision to replace the original final chapter with this later account? Why or why not?

Editorial Reviews

"Possesses . . . the romantic charm of Robinson Crusoe."
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

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