Two Years Before the Mast

R. H. Dana

ISBN 10: 0451531256 / ISBN 13: 9780451531254

Published by SIGNET CLASSICS, London England, 1966

About this Item

This book is a must for every boy - or girl! - who loves the sea, and its tales of hardship and adventure. Here is a sea story with a difference since every word of it is true and recounts the author's own personal experiences during the two arduous and adventures years, from 1834 to 1836, when he shipped before the mast as an able seaman. The author wrote this book as a protest against the hardships and cruelties endured by American sailors in the middle of the nineteenth century. But even to-day, when these terrible conditions no longer exist, people still love to read this classic of the sTracing 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.".

Seller Inventory # 105583

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Two Years Before the Mast
• Publisher: SIGNET CLASSICS, London England
• Publication Date: 1966
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0451531256
• ISBN 13: 9780451531254
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: First Edition
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

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."

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.