In 1834 Harvard dropout Richard Henry Dana Jr. became a common seaman, and soon his Two Years Before the Mast became a classic. Literary acclaim did not erase t

A true story of the battered life of a foremast crewman, Two Years Before the Mast is Richard Henry Dana’s classic travel narrative, which inspired canonical

Richard Henry Dana (1815-1882) of Boston left his studies at Harvard in 1834 in the hope that a sea voyage would aid his failing eyesight. He shipped out of Bos

In 1838, seaman Charles Erskine joined the exploring expedition of Charles Wilkes who was setting out on a voyage of discovery around the world. Here he shares