Dana, Richard Henry

Richard Henry Dana Jr. (1815 to 1882) was an American author and maritime lawyer who shipped before the mast as an ordinary seaman on the brig Pilgrim from Boston to California and back, 1834 to 1836. His memoir Two Years Before the Mast (1840) documented forecastle life, flogging, and the California hide trade with first-hand precision. He later practiced admiralty law and wrote The Seaman’s Friend (1841), a manual of shipboard duties, rights, and the law of the sea that became a standard reference.