Two Years Before the Mast and Twenty-Four Years After

by Richard Henry Dana Jr., Charles William Eliot (Editor)

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Genres: History, Classics, Travel, Nonfiction, Biography, Adventure, Memoir

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1909

About the author

Dana was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on August 1, 1815, into a family that first settled in colonial America in 1640. As a boy, Dana studied in Cambridgeport under a strict schoolmaster named Samuel Barrett, alongside fellow Cambridge native and future writer James Russell Lowell. Barrett was infamous as a disciplinarian, punishing his students for any infraction by flogging. He also often pulled students by their ears and, on one such occasion, nearly pulled Dana's ear off, causing his father to protest enough that the practice was abolished.

In 1825, Dana enrolled in a private school overseen by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who Dana later mildly praised as "a very pleasant instructor", though he lacked a "system or discipline enough to insure regular and vigorous study". In July 1831, Dana began his studies at Harvard College, though he was suspended for six months before the end of his first year for supporting a student protest. In his junior year, he had a case of measles which also caused ophthalmia and his weakening vision inspired him to take a sea voyage.

Rather than going on a Grand Tour of Europe, he decided to enlist as a common sailor, despite his high-class birth. He left Boston on the brig Pilgrim on August 14, 1834, on a voyage around Cape Horn to the then-remote California, at that time still a part of Mexico. On the 180-ton, 86.5 foot-long Pilgrim, Dana visited a number of settlements in California (including Monterey, San Pedro, San Juan Capistrano, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Santa Clara and San Francisco). He returned to Massachusetts aboard the ship Alert on September 22, 1836, after two years away from home.

He kept a diary, and after the trip wrote Two Years Before the Mast based on his experiences. The term "before the mast" refers to sailor's quarters -- in the forecastle, in the bow of the ship, the officers dwelling near the stern. His writing evidences his later social feeling for the oppressed. After witnessing a flogging on board the Pilgrim, he vowed that he would try to help improve the lot of the common seaman.

After his sea voyage, he returned to Harvard to take up study at its law school, completing his education in 1837. He subsequently became a lawyer, and an expert on maritime law, many times defending common seamen, and wrote The Seaman's Friend, which became a standard reference text on the legal rights and responsibilities of sailors.

Reviews

[David Eppenstein · Rating 2 out of 5]

Running out of good reading material I dug this book up from my PUPA pile (piled up and pushed aside for another day). I should have buried this book deeper in that pile. I am a fan of books from the age of sail and this is supposed to be an American classic so how could I go wrong? Well it did go wrong, very wrong.

The author got sick and weakened his vision during his third year at Harvard so he withdrew from classes in order to attend to his health. His remedy was to sign on as an ordinary seaman on a merchant ship bound for California. I can understand an ocean cruise as a remedy for one's health but life as a sailor in the early 19th century is a very long way from a Princess Cruise and this was in 1834 when California was still a forgotten and neglected possession of Spain. I don't know but it struck me odd that anyone would consider life as an ordinary sailor on a merchant ship would be a cure for anything but after reading about their ideas concerning scurvy I guess I just wasn't using early 19th century thinking. So young Mr. Dana signs onboard and some how miraculously becomes an accomplished sailor. I say miraculously because there is no mention of prior sailing experience or any instruction or mentoring while onboard. Nevertheless, Dana does become a respectable member of the crew we just don't know how that was accomplished and it might have made interesting reading. Unfortunately, there is no story in this book. It is basically a journal of the life of an ordinary sailor engaged for a two year voyage on a 19th century merchant sailing ship. After the author details the his daily routine then that is pretty much the whole book except for those out of the ordinary storms and going around Cape Horn which is always big in sailing adventures. What the book is filled with and I do mean filled with is incomprehensible sailing jargon describing sailing maneuvers and sail trimming. Since there is not a hint of explanation as to what is being described any reader without extensive knowledge of sailing in a square rigged sailing ship will be left totally in the dark. If all of this sailing detail were removed from the book all that would be left would probably be a fair short story.

The last chapter of the book amounts to an essay by the author concerning the plight of America's ordinary seamen and how their situations can be improved and what should and should not be changed. Considering the emphasis the author places on religious influences to be promoted for the benefit of these sailors it is not hard to imagine his Puritan Boston background.

The only part of the book that I did find interesting was something that was added to the book in later editions. In 1859, twenty-four years after the end of his voyage and well after this book was published the author started a round the world tour and began that tour with a return to California. His encounter with people he knew from his first trip and his reminisces with these people about how much things had changed and the reception he was given because of the popularity and influence of his book were more of a story. Had the author's story demonstrated some personal growth or awakening resulting from the ordeals and hardships endured then this book would had some value and would have been worth reading. While the book is well written I see nothing in it that gives it a claim to being a classic. Why?

As I have come to understand Dana published this book in 1840 after writing it while in law school. Since Herman Melville used the same publisher as Dana's father it is believed that Melville was influenced by the book in the writing of Moby Dick. Further, when the California Gold Rush began in 1849 there were no books describing California or its coasts except Dana's. The dearth of available written resources lead to a sudden burst of popularity for this book and the detail it offered. Finally, in 1909 the president of Harvard included this book in the collection of Harvard Classics. In fact at the time of its publication it was generally accepted as a brilliant telling of life at sea and highly regarded. I can only assume early 19th century people knew a whole lot more about sailing than we do today so maybe what Dana wrote had more meaning for them than it did for me. As I see it this book is merely a historic artifact in American literary history and it hasn't aged well at all.

[Sharon Knapik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am fortunate to own a set of the Harvard Classics, of which, Dana's 'Two Years Before the Mast' is a part.

It is simply a fantastic read. The gripping narrative moves quickly and takes the reader to a place and circumstance today's readers will never experience. The amount of hardship endured by all would have most people today either curled in the fetal position or whinging to all and sundry about the 'unfairness' of it all. Or both.

This is also an excellent book for pre-teen and teenage readers. Far better than the sappy pablum the schools are now peddling on students.

[JQ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never really wanted to pick this book up and read it but every time I did pick it up I enjoyed it. Some of it was dry and near the end I just wanted it to be over. Yet, there were some passages that were so great I went back and read them multiple times. Those passages equal five stars, the rest of the book gets two.

[Al "Tank" · Rating 3 out of 5]

The version I read was published in 1965 by Harper & Row. That version doesn't seem to be anywhere, so I chose this one for my review.

Mr. Dana was an educated man pursuing a law degree when he took time off for the voyage. His eyesight was giving him trouble and he thought the trip would put him in better health. It did.

Rather than buying passage, he signed on as a common sailor ("before the mast") as opposed to a passenger or officer ("behind the mast"). The entire narrative is first person and mostly self-centered. Although he tries to hide it, he's still stuck up on himself because of his education, which would normally put him above his fellow sailors. However, that does not dominate his narrative.

The book is written in the style of the 19th century, and thus reminds us of other classics of that period. If you can adjust to that, you'll enjoy his account of sailing around Cape Horn twice and his adventures in Mexican California (Mexico owned it then). Everything was primitive then and the goal of the trip was to obtain, cure, and ship beef hides back to Boston.

We get a view of a California (before the gold rush), very sparsely settled, that is absent from the movies that portray "old" California. Dropping anchor in most bays was hazardous because the winds cold blow up suddently (the dreaded "south easters") and the ship would have to put out to see quickly to weather the storm or risk getting dashed against the shoals.

Richard had adventures both on board and on shore that are worth reading about. His lot was not always easy, especially under his first skipper, who was often cruel. We learn about life in the forecastle ("foc'sl") where the crew lived -- often in wet or damp conditions and the boring diet (salt pork and sometimes tea) along with the other hardships that come with climbing around in the rigging of a "square rigged" ship.

He uses sailor's terms without explaining them, so often his narrative left me glassy-eyed (I barely know a boom from a jib, let alone the names of every spar, sail, and rope (line) on those ships, so his narratives of pulling in some sails and letting out others (and a few other terms) left me glassy-eyed. There's a lot of that.

He finally made it home and 24 years later, sailed as a passenger, back to California on his way for a trip around the world. He revisited the spots where he worked the first time, but by now, California is booming, belongs to the United States, and only a few people he met the first time are still there, although in altered (often better) circumstances.

Overall, it's a good look into 19th century sailing (merchant) and the history of southern California over 24 years. An enjoyable read.

[Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before Moby Dick was written author Richard Henry Dana Jr. went to sea. He was the latest of a long line of upper middle class men and had had some problems with his eyes while at Harvard College, making it so it was impossible for him to read. He decided to go to sea to effect a cure and signed on to the Pilgrim for a voyage to California.

Dana got his cure and a whole lot more in the bargain. He went around Cape Horn (a terribly difficult passage with storm and ice everywhere) twice. (Melville joked that Dana’s descriptions of Cape Horn “must have been written with an icicle.” (Brendan McCabe, Smithsonian)) He spent nearly two years in California roaming up and down the coast on the ship, which was selling supplies and luxuries to the local Spanish settlers in exchange for cow hides to take back to Boston. He witnessed cruelty, encountered people from various parts of the world, including some Hawaiians he fell in with and fell in love with them and their culture, he sweated and toiled, and was brutally used by the captains who sometimes seemed to see him as more like a mule than a man.

Cock fights, festive funerals, wild horse rides through the brush and along the beaches, interesting characters, tedium, all these and so much more fill the book. It's written in a matter of fact way, not in poetry but in reporting the facts of the matter. This can seem boring to the modern reader but if you read between the lines it is often gripping stuff.

I will say that it does get tedious in bits where he constantly describes the minutia of the running of the ship. First we furled the top gallant sails but we left the sky sails and mizzened the other thing. It got to be a bit much and I began skipping over most of it, just skimming for when the action started again. I did the same thing in Moby Dick also when he went off on the different whales and such. That was too much as well.

This book influenced Melville in his writing of Moby Dick and has influenced many writers since in their own yarns of youthful adventures. It was one of the first American classics, telling the story from "before the mast" where the common sailors toiled, not from the perspective of the captain or passenger like all seafaring books before it. It is a unique tale and not to be missed.

[Brock Meier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dogged by a continuing decline in his physical health, Dana concluded that a stint at sea, employed as a common sailor, would either cure him or kill him. Fortunately, for untold numbers of readers the former proved true.

About two hundred years ago, he sailed on a typical merchant ship down the Atlantic seaboard, along the eastern shore of South America, passing between its tip and Antarctica, and all the way back north to the Pacific coast of North America, which was then in the hands of Spain. He spent most of a year as the ship traded for cow-hides along the California coast, and he finally wangled passage on another boat heading back to Boston along the same route.

He recounts in dramatic and intimate detail the severe life of a common merchant sailor of the early nineteenth century. It is difficult, two hundred years later, to fully grasp the hardships these men encountered, and the incredibly stern stuff of which they were made.

A particularly noteworthy example is his lengthy description of the voyage homeward, in which they passed near Antarctica in mid-winter (a superbly difficult and dangerous undertaking even today!), in the midst of a below-zero blizzard. He describes how they were awake for days on end, battling to keep the ship afloat, climbing the rigging in blinding snow and ice. He writes about pounding his ungloved hands (they couldn't tie or untie ropes with gloves on) on the sides of a wooden mast just to get the blood flowing again so he could feel his fingers.

The diary also gives engaging and lively personal accounts of the early Californians, their culture, and their business.

If you enjoy the unfettered adventure and possibilities of the human spirit, read this book.

[Michael Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The books I have read, and those that I want to read, largely follow the captain or the officers aboard ship (and its only natural as thier roles are grander and more remembered by history)
I thought this would be an interesting read as it follows the life and activites of a common salt who, while always present in other books, may often be overlooked.

Reading this books blurb online I knew it was essentially a diary, which didn’t fill me with much enthusiasm.
I have previously read ‘The Ship Beneath The Ice’ by Mensum Bound, which is a diary of his journey to find Shackleton‘s ship The Endurance.
That book took it very literal as each day was a new chapter, and it was very factual and direct. It was such a dull read that, as my review on Goodreads will show, I did not enjoy it and actually returned it to library without finishing.

This diary however has been written into more of a narrative which flowed better, and the passing of one day to the next was almost indistinct, as the days were often only a paragraph heading at most.

Some days were very short, but understandably so when the daily routine was pretty much the same as previous.
In fact there was a spell of three days rounding Cape Horn going to California that literally said “Tuesday. The same. Wednesday. The same. Thursday. The same.”

Reading this book showed me how little I actually knew about the working of a ship.
I thought I understood the principles of making sail, but there was some occasions where I would read a section and think ‘I have no idea what was just said’ - sometimes I was able to get a feel for what they were doing from context, but other times I couldn’t even picture the end result.
Often when doing tasks aboard ship, on the Pilgrim and the Alert, Dana wrote in a fast pace, to show the urgency of his actions, but sometimes I wanted him to slow down his writing to explain in more lamens terms what he’s doing.

When they reached California, and were sailing from port to port to trade thier cargo, and when Dana briefly remained on land to cure the hides, his work at first varied compared to his shipboard duties, but these too became monotonous for him and were occasionally glazed over.

It was interesting how the attitude on ship changed here, with the dwindling crew due to death, promotion or desertion, and how the flogging affecting morale, but they’re having to continue in their duties lest they suffer a flogging or death for mutiny. I enjoyed how the crew still showed their discontent and got thier revenge in other ways.

I went through spells here of not reading for a day, then coming back to it every second day, I just found it quite repetitive going from port to port with the same routine each time, and nothing really new or exciting happening.
It grew rather tiresome and would be an understatement to say it failed to hold my attention for very long.

I can well imagine how Dana and the rest of the crew lost heart and came to think this would be a voyage of several years with this pattern.
Especially when it transpired that they were actually due to load the ship with hide multiple times, to give the hides to a larger ship. Then once THAT ship was full and homeward bound, they would go about California again in the same way to fill their own hold and finally going home.

Here Dana transferred to another ship, the Alert, (which was actually the larger ship which they were to fill before they could go home)
I wish more had been said about this ship as it seemed to me that he transferred from a two masted full-rigged brig to a three masted full-rigged ship? But those words were never said.

I was totally lost as he described how he loaded the hides on the Alert, and packed them tight into the ship, a drawing or something would have been useful.

I was glad when they finally did go home.
The way the captains tried to make Dana return to his old ship was rather shameful, I can well imagine any less educated and weaker willed man would not be able to defend himself so well (as evidenced by them then trying to get the English boy to go instead).

It looked at one point that they were going to avoid Cape Horn and return via the Cape of Good Hope, I think this would have been a longer journey but the easier route (I kind of guessed they wouldn’t though, otherwise the online blurb would’ve mentioned Dana’s circumnavigation of the world)

Aside from the afore mentioned rushing through shipboard duties, the speed of Danas writing mimicing the speed of which things had to be done, and not taking any liberty to properly explain anything.
Aside from this a common thing was to give the ships co-ordinates in latitude and longitude.
Not really neccesary I thought as A: I don’t know latitude and longitudes so not helpful (except where they said they were “in the latitude of Cape Horn” etc as this gave me some point of reference) and B: Dana said himself they couldn’t accuratly place thier position as they haddn’t sighted land in days, not spoken a ship in weeks, and had likely drifted off course several point due to the weather around the Cape.
It was a relief that they returned to Boston, though when they fiannly arrived at the harbour things seemed to drag on.

The story however didn’t end here, I didn’t realise from the library rental, but rather tham getting Two Years Before The Mast as I’d requested, it was ‘Two Years Before The Mast and Twenty-Four Years After’ (and included a chapter by Danas son entitled ‘Seventy-Six Years After’)

The chapter ‘Twenty-Four Years After’ is as the title suggests, Dana returning to California, now in his 40’s (in 1859) and revising some of the locations of his younger voyage as a passenger on a steamer ship. Commenting upon the changes and difference since he last visted these shores, but also encountering old friends and acquaintances from the book.

‘Seventy-Six Years After’ runs in a similar vein, now describing the changes that have taken place in California since the previous ‘Twenty-Four Years After’
Now 1911, he talks about the impact of his father book and the fate (where know) of people or ships therein. TBH I did glaze over this last chapter, concluding ‘Twenty-Four Years After’ was a satisfactory ending

It was an interesting read, but not for the lamen (as this book has shown me to be!)
So sadly I can’t rate it highly as I hoped

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first time I read this book it sent me searching for nautical definitions, what is a topsail, hermaphrodite brig and where the heck is the forecastle? I became so interested in where they were going I started using google earth to look up all the locations. Be aware it's a bit dry in places, and is written for an 1840 audience. As a historical look at life of the times, I think it portrays an accurate picture of a shipowners son going to sea.

[Easton Dompier · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did very much enjoy the book. It was a very nice historical peek into the past, back to the days of exploration and the exploitation of North American resources. I do enjoy books of this caliber, some of which explore the olden days, from the perspectives of pioneers and trailblazers. This list includes, but is not limited to:
- 30,000 on the Hoof by Zane Grey
- Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- The Odyssey of Charles H. Lightoller by Patrick Stenson
- The Call of the Wild by Jack London
...as well as many others. The book accurately describes the period and the conditions, in which the book takes place. The book uses commonplace terms of the time, which most people can't understand, but if you look at authors like Charles Dickens, Zane Grey, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, they use terms from their time, that might not be easy to understand. However, context brings those stories to light, similar to this novel.

The book looks at the POVs of sailors exploring the West back in the 1830s, before the Gold Rush. It tells of tales from Richard Henry Dana Jr., and his naval exploration of the West, which includes the strenuous difficult life of a sailor, and the fight for justice for all sailors as well as any discrimination between races that may occur. Richard Henry Dana Jr. believed in justice for all, and rite this book, not as a book for money, but as a book to push for the equality between the average person and a sailor, undefinitve of racial or social status.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating account of the life of a lowly sailor (who later graduated Harvard Law) on a tall ship in 1834-36, a time when the California coast is nearly empty of humans and the main trade is in hides. Details of harrowing sailing and mundane hard work. It shocked me that a cargo of hides was sufficiently valuable to risk rounding Cape Horn in winter. Readers of the time undoubtedly understood much of the sailing terminology - I didn't, but I loved the book anyway.

[Astrid · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved travelling with Dana. It was amazing to follow him on a sailing ship - a newcomer, discovering himself this very special environment - to the California of 1835 - then still mexican, and nearly void of people. Danas intelligence, capacity of description and his deep humanism have produced a truly delicious travelling book. I didn't want it to end. He must have been a person that did a lot of good around him.

[Peter Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keep in mind this book is not fiction. If you are looking for a novel full of adventure or romance then look elsewhere.

This book is a remarkable historical account of life as a crew member aboard a merchant vessel in the last great age of sail. It is also a fascinating account of Spanish California.

From my 21st century perspective, what hits me most is the transition that California experiences in just 24 years; from nearly empty farm and Indian lands to towns and cities.

[Kevin Byron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this while my wife was on deployment. Dana introduced me to duff, id get an email from my wife about this doughy treat with molasses. He’d complain about the captain pulling them in on a Sunday and Id get emails about ports call being pushed to Sunday and loosing holiday routine.
He does a great job of putting you on the ship with him. Having the parallels to my wife’s career added an amusing dimension to the read.

[Kurt Ronn · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are few books that I’ve read a second time, Two Years Before The Mast is one of the few. Dana’s diary is window into a world long gone at sea and on shore. The daily view into routine of a tall ship merchant sailor’s life and the rare vista of California as Mexican territory is preserved within Dana’s diary. It’s a good today as it was when I first read it twenty years ago.

[Vanjr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Books are like time machines taking us back to places and seeing people from history. This book is fascinating for its mid 1830s look at the California coast with a brief update at the end from 1859. Not a book to re-read, I enjoyed certainly enjoyed it and would recommend it for anyone interested in early 1800s merchant marines or anyone with interests in early California.

[G Meier · Rating 2 out of 5]

reads just like a journal, there isn't any real story, no hook. it gives an interesting perspective of a lower ranking sailor during the time but it just doesn't hold interest when it is said how a ship passed one day and a new one from a different country passed another day.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great classic, so much about california

[George Hodgson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book. Does drag a bit in the middle, but very readable.

[Melinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute classic! Fascinating story, and it is all true. The description of the ship headed around Cape Horn on his return voyage is amazing. Excellent excellent... well worth the reading.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read about life on a ship in the 1800s. It is a long read with a lot of details.

[Mrod · Rating 3 out of 5]

More boating terminology than I could digest. Some beautiful description of storms and oceans and icebergs. Some boring stretches too.

[Doug Brockman · Rating 5 out of 5]

true sea story

I wish i could understand all the nautical terms and procedures. The ending reminded me of mark twains return to missouri in life on the Mississippi

[Logan Strait · Rating 4 out of 5]

Invaluable as a historical primary source. Compelling and yet meandering.

[Dewey Fladd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great adventure story about a young man going to sea.

[Edny Hobbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

*2.75*

[Ryan Donohue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book did an amazing job of showing what life was like for sailors before our modern age, especially with the descriptions of traveling around Cape Horn.

[Becky Lake · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would never have considered reading this book, but a short comment on Book Shout coughs my attention! Since I enjoy history, I thought I would read a little to see if I would like it. I couldn't put it down! A great read!

[Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by a young man that sailed from Boston, around Cape Horn, and over to the coast of California on board a ship as common sailor in the American merchant service in 1835 to 1836. The task was to gather hides from California, fill the hold, and bring back the filled ship to Boston.

The author left his collegiate lifestyle in attempt to improve his health, fortunately for us. His journal provides ample material for a wonderfully engaging book about his voyage. His book is full of details, many nautical terms, numerous sketches of those sailing with him, the mundane work required to sail a ship, all sorts of weather, and detailed descriptions of the vast emptiness of California decades before it was a state.

I really enjoyed the book. It's long, some 450 pages, and at times drags a little, but well worth reading. Don't let the nautical terms overwhelm you, most of them start to make more sense with usage and increased descriptions. I found looking up terms to be valuable, and at the risk of sounding like a product shill, the Kindle Fire's dictionary and web browser made looking up terms a breeze. The two epilogue chapters added a unique perspective to his already engaging tale. He comes back to his adventure, this time as a tourist and separated by 29 years, and records his reaction to the great changes to the California coast.

I think what has made this so enduring aren't just things like his attention to details for a trade that no longer exists on board a type of ship that's now for enthusiasts but no longer for work, it's his ability to show us a human experience. He told a unique tale of ropes, sheets and storms, back breaking labor and rolling deeps, but with humanity at the center of it all.

Recommended with a "yo-heave-ho".

[Abe Kazemzadeh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot and towards the end I could barely put it down. I'm into sailing and boating so I liked the description of the sea, weather, and life as a sailor. For people who aren't as into sailing, the terminology might get boring, but in my case it added to the experience of reading the book, even though square rigged vessels have a different terminology that modern fore-and-aft rigged boats. Also, I really loved reading about California before it was part of the U.S. and before anyone was there except a random assortment of Native Americans, Mexican/Spaniards, Hawaiians, Chinese, Yankees, and Russians. The "twenty-four years after" part was amazing to read how San Francisco had gone from a mission, a presidio, and a shanty to a bustling port town of 100,000 in 24 years. It was also interesting to research a bit about how the older Mexican families and first Yankee immigrants became California's founding fathers, and how Dana was connected with the old literary families of Boston, like Emerson and Longfellow, and how one of the ships saw was destroyed in the civil war. The 24 years later part packed a punch like the end of Swann's Way, but even more exciting because the effect of time was so dramatic, e.g., how much San Francisco had changed and how the characters ended up in a variety of ways, from dying of decease in the tropics, to marrying into the old families of California, to succumbing to sailor vice, etc. The part of the story about the two years voyage was very clear and easy to feel like you were actually there in terms of the physical surroundings and person-to-person relationships, e.g., rounding Cape Horn with ice on the rigging, having friends with scurvy, and dodging icebergs and storms.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before the mast is not a temporal reference, but the location of quarters for common sailors in sailing vessels. I may have know that, but did not connect that idea to this title until I started reading, before that I was curious what "the mast" might mean and when that might be!

Anyway, I found the description of sailing on a merchant ship in 1835-6 fascinating. Beyond the sailing, the details of California in that period were mostly new to me. Once part of Spanish holdings in the new world - the Americas - and just 13 years as part of Mexico after the revolution there, the sparsely populated western coast of North America was not at all what I expected. This time 12 or so years before the area was ceded to the US after the Mexican-American war and 15 years before California became a state. Gold was discovered there in early 1848.

The interesting descriptions of the people, mostly Spanish and Mexican, but a few Americans, Europeans and even Hawaiians (Sandwich Islands in those days) was surprising to me. I didn't know Mexicans actually dressed as depicted in movies of the modern era. The import trade was about as one might expect, but the exports consisted mostly of hides. No mention is made of what happened to the rest of the animal, but there must have been a lot of wasted meat to provide that many hides with such a small population.

The remarks in the concluding chapter and the addition of details from a visit 24 years later added to the enjoyment and knowledge of history. I noted the mention that the climate had changed during those 24 years, but there was no real detail except that the southeasterly storms didn't reek havoc as they had in the past, maybe didn't even exist anymore.