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Michelle Kerns
Book ExaminerMichelle Kerns writes for a disturbingly eccentric assortment of publications. She loves the movie Hot Fuzz, the fictional character Melrose Plant, and extra dry gin martinis, but most of all, she loves books. Join her daily for an intelligent and uninhibited romp through Book Land.
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THE ANNALS OF LIT HISTORY: On August 14th 1834...
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by Michelle Kerns, Book Examiner
...Richard Henry Dana was a 19 year-old setting sail from Boston Harbor on a two year stint as a seaman. Six years later, Dana wrote a book about his experience detailing the difficult life of sailors. Titled Two Years Before the Mast, the book was an instant success. Here is a summary, reprinted from wikipedia:In the book, which takes place between 1834 and 1836, Dana gives a vivid account of "the life of a common sailor at sea as it really is". He sails from Boston, around Cape Horn, arriving in California when it was a remote Mexican land, and San Diego, San Pedro, Santa Barbara, and San Francisco were not much more than a few sheds. He gives descriptions of landing at each of the ports up and down the California coast as they existed then. In the book, he makes a tellingly accurate prediction of San Francisco's future. He also gives a nice description of a society wedding amongst the "Californios."
His ship was on a voyage to trade goods from the east for cow hides. Being an educated person on his ship, he learned Spanish and became an interpreter. He befriended a Kanaka (a native of modern-day Hawaii), later saving his life when his racist captain would as soon see him die. He spent a season in San Diego preparing hides for the journey home.
On the return trip around Cape Horn in the middle of the Antarctic winter he describes terrifying storms and incredible beauty, giving vivid descriptions of icebergs, and the scurvy that afflicts members of the crew. In White-Jacket, Herman Melville wrote, "But if you want the best idea of Cape Horn, get my friend Dana's unmatchable Two Years Before the Mast. But you can read, and so you must have read it. His chapters describing Cape Horn must have been written with an icicle."
Topics: Annals of Lit History
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