The ports served (south to north) the Mission San Diego de Alcalá, Mission San Juan Capistrano, Pueblo de Los Angeles (and Mission San Gabriel Arcángel), Mission Santa Barbara (and Presidio of Santa Barbara), Presidio of Monterey, and Presidio of San Francisco with their very small settlements and surrounding large Mexican land grant ranchos. In return the Californians sold more than cattle hides. The men are employed, most of the time, in tending the cattle of the mission, and in working in the garden, which is a very large one, including several acres, and filled, it is said, with the best fruits of the climate” (Dana, Two Years before the Mast, p. 173). A film adaptation under the same name was released in 1946. On one occasion the captain, already in a foul mood, was preparing to go ashore when he encountered Sam and became irate with him for no reason. Stopping along the way at Clark's Station in Wawona, he described Galen Clark as a gracious host. 3.5* As one who enjoys sea-stories, especially those of the tall ships - this book gave me a more realistic account of a sailor's life. For the next two years he experienced a sailor's rugged life, traveling around Cape Horn, visiting Mexico's California territory a full 15 years before it became a U.S. state, and returning home in 1836. Two years before the mast (1911) is based on the diary Dana kept while at sea. this book is absolutely essential for anyone who has any desire of stepping off the quarterdeck of his historical fiction (O'Brien novels) and heading down to the focs'l to hear about sailing traditional ships from the men who were actually sweating lines, heave-yo-ho-ing, and climbing the rigging to furl the royals before a gale. Only 19 years old, the Harvard student signed on as a deck hand. Writes Morris, "Dana is something more of a poet than either he or his contemporaries were aware; and that his ignorance of this gift was a loss to him as well as to us."[13]. The edition of the book reproduced here includes the chapter "Twenty-four Years After" prepared by Dana to accompany the "author's" edition published in 1869 as well as his son's "Seventy-six Years After," an appendix prepared in 1911. On August 14, 1834, the merchant ship Pilgrim sets sail from Boston around the southernmost tip of South America, Cape Horn, to the coast of California. The little children were running about amongst the huts, stark naked, and the men were not much better; but the women had generally coarse gowns, of a sort of tow cloth. Published in 1840, this is the well-educated Dana's account of his two year voyage as an ordinary seaman, sailing from Boston around Cape Horn to California and back. He also often pu. California exported about a million hides and more than 60 million pounds of tallow between 1826 and 1848. Born into an illustrious and prosperous family, Richard Henry Dana, Jr. resisted an inclination to join the navy and instead entered Harvard College at age sixteen, in 1831. Because he was educated, Dana was able to express what the other sailors had merely to accept. Faster and trimmer sailboats appeared. R. H. Dana was a student at Harvard in the 1830s who, following an illness which compromised his eyesight and forced an extended leave from study, signed on as a rank-and-file seaman aboard a merchant vessel bound to California via the arduous passage around Cape Horn. After the trek, in 1940, the diary was released as the memoir titled Two Years Before the Mast. Dana’s document was praised for its clean, lyrical literary style as well as for its powerful social commentary. Barrett was infamous as a disciplinarian, punishing his students for any infraction by flogging. Even when all major tasks are accomplished, the first mate keeps the sailors busy by having them spin yarn and ropes. So Dana, along with others of the Pilgrim's and later Alert's crews, tosses the hides from the bluffs, which he compared to flying a kite without a string. by Adamant Media Corporation. Meanwhile, in 1810, Mexico made attempts to withdraw from Spanish rule. For anyone interested in sea stories, the early victorian era, or the history of California, this book is required reading. The headlands, along with the adjacent present day city, took on Dana's name as Dana Point. These sailors sought help in a variety of areas. He visited the Fremont mining operations in Mariposa County. Arlington Heights, 111.: Harlan Davidson, 1963. March 29th 2005 The fact that one might sign up for a year's voyage, and end up out there for 3 or 4 years appalled me. Trip Planning Caution: RoadsideAmerica.com offers maps, directions and attraction details as a convenience, providing all information as is. The vessel spends several months traveling up and down the California coast, trading manufactured goods for silver and hides. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988. Most of the world trade was still transported by sailing vessels, but these vessels, too, were changing, becoming larger and faster. So he quits to work in the world outside of Cambridge--the world of real men. ‎Richard Henry Dana referred to this book as “a voice from the sea.” Influencing such authors as Conrad and Melville, it has become a maritime classic that has inflicted legions of men with a passion for the sea. Dana will later recount in painstaking detail what is expected of each and every man on board, explaining the duties of the officers and sailors alike. Reform took many years. Apparently Captain Thompson was from the same mold as Herman Wouk's Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny. Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain; Man marks the earth with ruin, his control Stops with the shore; upon the watery plain The wrecks are all thy... ... tis to cast one's eyes so low ! He was hazed for insignificant mistakes. See Spence 337 for 1st edition. "He died as he had lived, with extreme humility…, A Franciscan missionary and founder of the Spanish missions of California, Junípero Serra (1713-1784) was one of the most respected and best-known fi…, Drake, Francis The growing American population in the area, coupled with the country’s hunger to expand its land holdings, set the stage for the takeover of the area by the United States. This appendix recounts his visit to California in 1859, after the Gold Rush, by which time the state had been totally transformed. Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean, roll! This book made me cry multiple times, but not for the direct subject matter. Flogging continued to be administered at the discretion of the seaman’s superiors even after Dana’s death in 1882. This was an unusual choice for a well-to-do, well-educated young gentleman, but Dana seems to have been an extraordinary person. Dana, a law student turned sailor for health reasons, sailed in 1834 on the b… This is supposedly a classic,a sailor's life at sea in the year 1834. Two Years Before the Mast is a memoir by the American author Richard Henry Dana Jr., published in 1840, having been written after a two-year sea voyage from Boston to California on a merchant ship starting in 1834. Based on his autobiographical, This book made me cry multiple times, but not for the direct subject matter. Rereading this book is a real pleasure. The royal yards were all crossed at once, and royals and skysails set, and, as we had the wind free, the booms were run out, and all were aloft, active as cats, laying out on the yards and booms, reeving the studding-sail gear; and sail after sail the captain piled upon her, until she was covered with canvas, her sails looking like a great white cloud resting upon a black speck.