Two Years Before the Mast. Richard Henry Dana

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СКАЧАТЬ LIFE ON SHORE—THE ALERT

       CHAPTER XXIII

       NEW SHIP AND SHIPMATES—MY WATCHMATE

       CHAPTER XXIV

       SAN DIEGO AGAIN—A DESCENT—HURRIED DEPARTURE—A NEW SHIPMATE

       CHAPTER XXV

       RUMORS OF WAR—A SPOUTER—SLIPPING FOR A SOUTH-EASTER—A GALE

       CHAPTER XXVI

       SAN FRANCISCO—MONTEREY

       CHAPTER XXVII

       THE SUNDAY WASH-UP—ON SHORE—A SET-TO—A GRANDEE—"SAIL HO!"—A FANDANGO

       CHAPTER XXVIII

       AN OLD FRIEND—A VICTIM—CALIFORNIA RANGERS—NEWS FROM HOME—LAST LOOKS

       CHAPTER XXIX

       LOADING FOR HOME—A SURPRISE—LAST OF AN OLD FRIEND—THE LAST HIDE—A HARD CASE—UP ANCHOR, FOR HOME!—HOMEWARD BOUND

       CHAPTER XXX

       BEGINNING THE LONG RETURN VOYAGE—A SCARE

       CHAPTER XXXI

       BAD PROSPECTS—FIRST TOUCH OF CAPE HORN—ICEBERGS—TEMPERANCE SHIPS—LYING-UP—ICE—DIFFICULTY ON BOARD—CHANGE OF COURSE—STRAITS OF MAGELLAN

       CHAPTER XXXII

       ICE AGAIN—A BEAUTIFUL AFTERNOON—CAPE HORN—"LAND HO!"—HEADING FOR HOME

       CHAPTER XXXIII

       CRACKING ON—PROGRESS HOMEWARD—A PLEASANT SUNDAY—A FINE SIGHT—BY-PLAY

       CHAPTER XXXIV

       NARROW ESCAPES—THE EQUATOR—TROPICAL SQUALLS—A THUNDER STORM

       CHAPTER XXXV

       A DOUBLE-REEF-TOP-SAIL BREEZE—SCURVY—A FRIEND IN NEED—PREPARING FOR PORT—THE GULF STREAM

       CHAPTER XXXVI

       SOUNDINGS—SIGHTS FROM HOME—BOSTON HARBOR—LEAVING THE SHIP

       CONCLUDING CHAPTER

       TWENTY-FOUR YEARS AFTER

INTRODUCTION

       Table of Contents

      Biographical Note

      Two years before the mast were but an episode in the life of Richard Henry Dana, Jr.; yet the narrative in which he details the experiences of that period is, perhaps, his chief claim to a wide remembrance. His services in other than literary fields occupied the greater part of his life, but they brought him comparatively small recognition and many disappointments. His happiest associations were literary, his pleasantest acquaintanceships those which arose through his fame as the author of one book. The story of his life is one of honest and competent effort, of sincere purpose, of many thwarted hopes. The traditions of his family forced him into a profession for which he was intellectually but not temperamentally fitted: he should have been a scholar, teacher, and author; instead he became a lawyer.

      Born in Cambridge, Mass., August 1, 1815, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., came of a line of Colonial ancestors whose legal understanding and patriotic zeal had won them distinction. His father, if possessed of less vigor than his predecessors, was yet a man of culture and ability. He was widely known as poet, critic, and lecturer; and endowed his son with native qualities of intelligence, good breeding, and honesty.

      After somewhat varied and troublous school days, young Dana entered Harvard University, where he took high rank in his classes and bid fair to make a reputation as a scholar. But at the beginning of his third year of college a severe attack of measles interrupted his course, and so affected his eyes as to preclude, for a time at least, all idea of study. The state of the family finances was not such as to permit of foreign travel in search of health. Accordingly, prompted by necessity and by a youthful love of adventure, he shipped as a common sailor in the brig, Pilgrim, bound for the California coast. His term of service lasted a trifle over two years—from August, 1834, to September, 1836. The undertaking was one calculated to kill or cure. Fortunately it had the latter effect; and, upon returning to his native place, physically vigorous but intellectually starved, he reentered Harvard and worked with such enthusiasm as to graduate in six months with honor.

      Then came the question of his life work. Though intensely religious, he did not feel called to the ministry; business made no appeal; his ancestors had been lawyers; it seemed best that he should follow where they had led. Had conditions been those of to-day, he would naturally have drifted into some field of scholarly research—political СКАЧАТЬ