As some of you may recall, I posted three (!) weeks ago about my school book summaries. Well, last Thursday (the 11th) I finished Two Years Before the Mast by R.H. Dana! (By the way, that's a free, public domain book--click on the link.) It's an amazing, interesting, fascinating book! I love the setting. But I better let you just read the reviews of each chapter yourself. (*Ahem, since I haven't posted this in oh-so-long, I've decided to give you the whole thing. That way, you won't have to look back at the older post.)
JUST A QUICK NOTE: this book is written in first-person.
Chapter 1: The MC (main character) boards the boat he is to sail on. He looks over the ship, and tries to get settled. He is confused with all the activity when they take off from shore.
Chapter 2:
MC begins to learn the ropes. They had a storm. And they saw a ship while they were going.
Chapter 3:
They had fine weather. He learns all about how the crew functions.
Chapter 4:
They passed another ship. They caught their first dolphin. They were threatened by a pirate ship, but were able to escape.
Chapter 5:
They were very close to Cape Horn. They saw SH (southern hemisphere) stars. They had a terrible battling to get around Cape Horn. Very violent weather. Got around Cape Horn safely.
Chapter 6:
They lost a man overboard. They spent most of the day looking for him, all to no avail.
Chapter 7:
They came to the island of Juan Fernandez. It was beautiful. He enjoyed his time there while they refilled water caskets.
Chapter 8:
They caught south-east trade winds, and made good headway toward California. He describes “tarring down”. They crossed the equator for the second time. They landed at Point Conception., then came to anchor in the bay of Santa Barbara.
Chapter 9:
They arrived in California in January (had set sail in August). They were enjoying the beautiful weather. They learned how to beach a boat.
A south-east wind blew, and they had a hard time battling it. They were finally able to come into port.
Chapter 11:
They went sailing again, and had a strong blow. Some of the masts were cracking. Some of the sails shredded. They landed safely in Monterey.
Chapter 12:
In Monterey, they traded with the local Mexican population. He learned the Spanish language.
Chapter 13:
They head down the coast again for Santa Barbara. They had another southeasterly. The seamen were discontent. It appears as though they may be at sea for three or four years.
Chapter 14:
The captain showed his ugly side, and flogged two men seemingly for no reason. He made them work very hard without any slacking off. The crew chose to suffer, rather than be branded pirates (if they got rid of the captain) or mutineers (if they refused to obey).
Chapter 15:
Half of the crew were allowed a whole day's freedom on Sunday to go on shore. They enjoyed their day immensely.
Chapter 16:
They took off again, after spending 2-3 weeks at the port (not sure of name). The second mate ran away, because he couldn't stand the pressure any more. They got underway for Santa Barbara.
Chapter 17:
It was Easter time, three weeks after their whole day freedom in Chapter 15 (one week was spent at sea). So, the first half of the crew were allowed a day off again. The crew enjoyed their time immensely, even though it turned out that they could only have a half day's amount of freedom on shore. They sailed on after several days, and stopped at San Juan, where they got more skins, for a few days. Then they went on, and landed in San Diego. The MC (main character) ends up staying there for several months, while the ship goes on to trade (the captain needed someone to stay and dry the fresh hides, and had hired several other people to be on the ship).
Chapter 18:
The MC is enjoying his less hurried life on shore. He learns how to clean hides. He tells about some of the different wildlife that he's encountered in San Diego.
Chapter 19:
In this chapter, they finish all of the hides, and so have hardly anything to do besides gathering wood. He describes catching craw-fish, interesting method!
Chapter 20:
The MC decides that he will be a sailor all his life. When the ship comes, he trades with another man on board, and is off at sea once more! (This is not the same ship as before, this one is named the Alert, but manned by the same captain. The captains on the Alert and the Pilgrim [which he was on before] switched commands. They were both American ships.)
Chapter 21:
The MC is learning how they run this new ship. And he meets an interesting man, named Tom Harris.
Chapter 22:
They continue on going up and down the coast, trading hides. At one of the ports they took on a very interesting character named George Marsh.
Chapter 23:
They visit Santa Barbara, and also go to several other ports. Then there's a gale, and they loose almost all of their sails (they get ripped to shreds by the wind). But they get most of them mended or replaced.
Chapter 24:
They come into San Francisco harbor. There, they met a Russian crew and weren't very impressed (in other words, they didn't like them). They replenished their wood supply one day, and had a very interesting day of it!
Chapter 25:
It was Sunday, so they went into town. There, they found a wedding taking place, so they followed along and watched. They enjoyed their time.
Chapter 26:
They prepare for sailing home. He finds a former friend, Hope, in a terribly sick condition, and gives him medicine to try to help him get better. Also, a ship, the “California” came, recently having left Boston.
Chapter 27:
Almost ready to get on their way! They spend six weeks loading up dried hides, weighting the ship down considerably. The California came into port while they were loading, and they all enjoyed some Yankee company. It had been just seven months since the California left Boston, and it “seemed but yesterday” to them (the crew of the Alert). They got underway.
Chapter 28:
They are finally on their way home! In this chapter, they crossed the equator. They make good time.
Things began to change (it became more and more winter), and they soon saw icebergs. They couldn't take observations very well. It hailed, sleeted, and snowed a lot.
Chapter 30:
They made several attempts to get around Cape Horn. Originally, they were planning to go through the Straits of Magellan, but they ended up going around the Horn in the end. They finally made it around.
Chapter 31:
They started sailing northward, leaving the icebergs and cold weather behind them! They are enjoying the warm weather.
Chapter 32:
They take up sail, and let it down. Cross the equator again. They come to the tropic of Cancer, and have a tropical thunderstorm.
Chapter 33:
There is a description of a storm. They cross the Gulf Stream.
Chapter 34:
They enter port today, the whole crew is glad to be home. Last scene is the men finishing up on board, being dismissed, and leaving the ship to the old ship-keeper. Very fascinating, one-of-a-kind (at least, from the limited amount of stories I've read) book!
Yes, a very interesting book! :D And the ending is just perfect. :D
It sounds like a VERY interesting book! Pity it isn't already in our book shelf.... But then, we do have a LOT of books. ;-)
ReplyDeleteOne of our friends gave us the book! She was cleaning house, and getting rid of LOTS of stuff--including quite a few books!
ReplyDeleteVery worthwhile putting on your shelf if you're studying that time period. :D
~Esther