Two Years Before the Mast
by Richard Henry Dana Jr. Author
A personal narrative of life at sea from Boston, around Cape Horn, to the California coast. Riveting adventure story.
Additional Details
- Resource Type
- Book
- ISBN
- 0375757945
- Print Status
- In Print
- Chapters
- 37
- Pages
- 544
- Suggested Grades
- 7th - 12th
- Geographical Setting
- Boston, Cape Horn, Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, California
- Historical Setting
- 1834 - 1836
- Publisher
- Modern Library
- Copyright
- 2001
- Written
- 1840
Chapters
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
User Reviews
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True story of life on a sailing ship
Reviewed by Parent/Teacher
This book is the true account of a young college-aged man who takes a break from his studies at college to "rest his eyes". He signs onto a ship for two years (or so he thought) and sails from Boston to California. In his account he describes life on board ship, what it is like to round Cape Horn, what coastal California is like before the gold rush, and much more. He describes the people, the land, the ships, the weather, etc. Very readable and very insightful to life in general in the early 1800s.
Two Years Before the Mast is definitely high school reading only. Some of the author's descriptions of the people could be called racist, though he is just describing them through the culture of the 1800s. The chapters are longish. The descriptions of what happens on a ship (setting the sails, swabbing the decks, etc.) are given with correct terminology which for the most part is not defined. For instance, he talks about reefing the sails, but never really tells us what that means. There are a few spots with language but mostly the bad word is dashed out.