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Two Years Before the Mast

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About this listen

 Richard Henry Dana referred to this book as "a voice from the sea". It influenced Conrad and Melville, and has become a maritime classic that has inspired legions of men with a passion for the sea.

Dana, a law student turned sailor for health reasons, sailed in 1834 aboard the brig Pilgrim on a voyage from Boston around Cape Horn to California. (Hence the city name Dana Point.) Drawing from his journals, Two Years Before the Mast gives a vivid and detailed account, shrewdly observed and beautifully described, of a common sailor's wretched treatment at sea, and of a way of life virtually unknown at that time.

(P)1995 Blackstone Audio Inc. Adventurers, Explorers & Survival Sailing Sailing & Boating Travel Writing & Commentary Water Sports Sports Latin American Boston
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A worthwhile looong listen describing life on 1840’s sailing ships made difficult to follow by the detailed sailing descriptions, more difficult still by the reader’s style and somewhat annoying because of his too often fumbling of punctuations. Never the less, overall glad I bothered and may listen again sometime having ‘clued up’ on the terms used.

Bit of a marathon but overall worthwhile.

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