Two Years Before the Mast

A novel by Richard Dana

I came across this novel via the Harvard Classics (HC). Earlier in the year I managed to find a really good deal on a complete set of the HC. One of the volumes in this set is Two Years Before the Mast, a true account of Richard Dana's travels from Boston to the southern tip of South America and around to California - all during the pre-gold-rush era when the land was still more-or-less pristine.

What struck me most about Two Years Before the Mast is how vividly Dana captures the raw, often unforgiving life of a common sailor in the early 19th century. Unlike the romanticized versions of sea life we often see in fiction, Dana’s account is grounded and gritty. He didn't sail as a gentleman observer, but as an ordinary crew member (hence "Before the Mast" in the title), trading his Harvard education for a sailor’s hard labor due to poor eyesight.

Through his eyes (no pun intended), we see a world that feels both alien and familiar — a California coastline untouched by development, the harsh hierarchies aboard ship, and the camaraderie (and conflict) among seamen from all walks of life. There’s something strangely compelling about the way Dana writes—straightforward and observant, but also reflective and deeply humane.

For me, one of the most moving parts of the novel comes when a sailor goes overboard and the finality of that. Back in this time, that was it, it was rare to be saved in swells.