Two Years Before the Mast

by Richard Henry Dana Jr., John Seelye (Introduction), Wes Davis (Afterword)

Overview

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. As D. H. Lawrence proclaimed, "Dana's small book is a very great book."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780451531254
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/07/2009
Series:	Signet Classics
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	507,410
Product dimensions:	4.10(w) x 6.70(h) x 1.40(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

John Seelye is a graduate research professor of American literature at the University of Florida. He is the author of The True Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain at the Movies, Prophetic Waters: The River in Early American Literature, Beautiful Machine: Rivers and the Early Republic, Memory's Nation: The Place of Plymouth Rock, and War Games: Richard Harding Davis and the New Imperialism. He is also the consulting editor for Penguin Classics in American literature.

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Chapter I
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Two Years Before the Mast"
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Copyright © 2009 Richard Henry Dana.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
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Editorial Reviews

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

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