Book Description:
Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana Jr. is a gripping memoir and maritime classic that offers a rare, firsthand account of life at sea in the early 19th century. Written by a Harvard student who left school due to illness and signed on as a common sailor aboard a merchant ship, the book chronicles Dana’s two-year voyage from Boston to California and back — long before the Gold Rush transformed the region.
Through vivid detail and clear-eyed observation, Dana documents the harsh conditions faced by sailors, the brutal discipline imposed by captains, and the breathtaking beauty and dangers of the Pacific. His narrative also includes encounters with coastal California’s Mexican ranchos, indigenous people, and early trade ports, creating a valuable portrait of pre-statehood California.
Originally published in 1840, Two Years Before the Mast remains a landmark in American nonfiction — part travelogue, part labor testimony, and part seafaring adventure — written with honesty, empathy, and literary grace.
