Two Years Before the Mast

In 1834, a young Harvard student with weakened eyesight left his books behind and signed on as a common sailor aboard the brig Pilgrim, bound from Boston around Cape Horn to California. Two Years Before the Mast is Richard Henry Dana Jr.'s plain, firsthand account of what followed: cold watches, hard labor, cramped quarters, and the strict discipline of a merchant ship. It is also an early eyewitness portrait of Mexican California, its missions, ranchos, and the hide-and-tallow trade that linked the coast to Boston. Dana writes without romance or exaggeration, recording the work, the people, and the places he encountered, including Mexicans, Native peoples, Kanakas, and sailors of many nations. The book remains compelling as adventure, as social history, and as a young man's education in the world of work. This edition contains the complete text, including the final section written twenty-four years later, when Dana returned to a transformed California. It also includes a new introduction, a guide to key ideas, a summary, themes, a glossary of period and nautical terms, and discussion questions for readers, students, and book clubs.