Two Years Before the Mast
Two Years before the Mast: A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea, manuscript by Richard Henry Dana, 1840
Page 37
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., wrote this manuscript of his popular memoir, Two Years Before the Mast, published in 1840, which describes his sea voyage as a young man from Boston to California. The memoir's depiction of the on-ship conditions for sailors inspired a movement to control the living and working conditions of seamen. Dana was the grandson of Francis Dana (1743-1811), Massachusetts revolutionary leader, minister to Russia, and chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. His father, Richard Henry Dana, Sr., was a noted poet and essayist. Dana, Jr., was an anti-slavery lawyer and became the United States attorney for Massachusetts during the Civil War.
See this object in detail
permalink