Two Years Before the Mast audiobook by Richard Henry Dana. Read by Peter Joyce. Abridged.

Two Years Before the Mast Audiobook by Richard Henry Dana Jr. Read by Peter Joyce. Abridged Two Years Before the Mast published in 1840, is a memoir based on the diaries Richard Henry Dana kept of his two years as a sailor. He sailed out on the merchant vessel Pilgrim in 1834 from Boston to Santa Barbara and returned on the Alert. The book was praised for its realistic account of life as a sailor and is consider an American classic. Even Moby Dick’s author, Herman Melville, (Moby Dick audiobook also here on Great Books on Tape) praised Two Years Before the Mast. So set sail with seaman Dana and enjoy the voyage. Richard Henry Dana Jr. (1815 – 1882) During his early schooling, Richard was taught by a cruel teacher who liked to flog children and pull ears so hard that once he tore part of Richard’s ear off. By age 10, Richard was transferred to a school run by Ralph Waldo Emerson who was a friendly non-violent instructor. At age 20, young Mr. Dana took a break from Harvard college and became a sailor on the two masted merchant sailing brig named Pilgrim. The ship left Boston Massachusetts in August of 1834 rounded Southern America’s southern most tip, Cape Horn (no Panama Canal yet), and arrived at Santa Barbara California in January in 1835. One interesting note is that they stopped at Juan Fernandez Island in the Pacific. It is now also known as Robinson Crusoe Island. If you haven’t read Robinson Crusoe, it is excellent. Anyway, Mr. Dana returned aboard the Alert. He resumed his education and became a lawyer often defending sailors and later fugitive slaves. He even won a case before the Supreme Court on behalf of Abraham Lincoln. There is now a town of 33,000 souls in California called Dana Point, named in his honor. Quote: We have got to choose between two results. With these four million (black men), either you must have four million of disfranchised, disarmed, untaught, landless, thriftless, non-producing, non-consuming, degraded men, or else you must have four million of land-holding, industrious, arms-bearing, and voting population. Choose between the two! Which will you have? Richard Henry Dana Peter Joyce attended the Rose Bruford College in England that teaches acting, drama, music and other aspects of theater. Mr. Joyce has narrated a number of audiobooks, a list of which you can find online. He also performs as Galileo and Isaac Newton in one man educational shows. His performance in Two Years Before the Mast is well done