Two Years Before the Mast Book Reviews

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Remarkable, if a bit tedious in spots. This book is remarkable in many ways: that Mr Dana, while a student at Harvard, would suspend his studies and crew on a Boston trading vessel bound for California, by all accounts meeting or besting seasoned sailors in discharging his duties; that he found the time and had the discipline to maintain such a detailed journal of the 2&1/2 year voyage; that the crew and ship survived the perils he chronicles; and that his account of California in the 1830's (when San Francisco boasted one clapboard shack and San Diego was essentially deserted) was the first such written and became a must-read for the thousands who relocated there a few decades later. I read with fascination his accounts of the Spanish, Mexicans, Russians and Hawaiians he encountered, but found his detailed descriptions of all the canvas and rigging and ship anatomy a bit much for my non-nautical mind. No doubt this would not be so for those more familiar with all the terms. In a delightful final chapter, he outlines his return as a steamer passenger (of some renown) some 20 years later, writing candidly of the mix of emotions this evokes.

True Life. Wow! What a read! To learn of living history rather than a political one. It’s no wonder that Jack London made reference to this work in his own collection, The Human Drift. I’d recommend for any reader to allot extra time to truly absorb this work. So glad I did to the very end.

A treasure!. What a gift that the days of sailing ships, life at sea, and the earliest days of the development of the California coast is so well captured in such descriptive detail in this book. I recommend it to everyone.

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Two Years Before the Mast. Outstanding book describing life and geography of California before statehood. Truly a great book!

Two years before the mast. What a great seafaring and historical book. Contains a rare account of California history, especially of San Francisco. a unique , well written true account of an seaman's life at sea. Rodney

Nostalgic Trip for an Old Sailor. Unlike most "sea stories", this book is a true account of a young man's time at sea. I first encountered this book over fifty years ago when dredging up quotes to put in a maritime academy yearbook. Dana's account of living and working about a sailing vessel in the early 19th Century made my six years aboard ship seem like a pleasure cruise. To make it even more fun for this California boy, Dana describes in detail the surrounding landmarks during time spent ashore in old California. The real treat was the closing chapter, written 25 years after Dana's return to Boston. He takes a steamer to San Francisco, then tours the now state, meeting old acquaintances who later became famous historical figures in California's history. You don't have to be a sailor or a Californian to get a good kick out of this book.

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