Two Years Before the Mast

Two Years Before the Mast is Richard Henry Dana Jr.’s 1840 memoir of his 1834 to 1836 voyage as an ordinary seaman, sailing before the mast on the brig Pilgrim from Boston around Cape Horn to California and home on the Alert. It records forecastle work, the flogging of crew, and the hide trade on the pre-Gold-Rush California coast in documentary detail. Written partly to expose seamen’s conditions, it influenced maritime law reform and remains a primary first-hand account of merchant-sail life.