Two Years Before The Mast by Richard Dana, 1840

bturchin

bturchin

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I don't know if you have already discussed this book or not. Two Years Before The Mast is about Richard Dana, 19 years old, in 1832, signing on as a sailor for 2 years voyage on the brig Pilgrim from Boston to California and back. (At that time, California was part of Mexico.) His descriptions of his life as a sailor on board such a ship were fascinating to understand how a fully rigged ship worked, especially in storms, like going around Cape Horn, which, as I am sure you know, was extremely treacherous. It took over a 100 days to sail from Boston to San Francisco, which at the time was a sleepy little village. (Dana returns 24 years later and San Francisco, after the gold rush has 100,000 people living there.) I had to use a dictionary to understand all the nautical terms. I am not a sailor, so, for example, I didn't understand how the system of bells which represented a 4 hour watch, 8 bells being the end of the watch. How there were two watches of sailors that changed at every 4 hours. I didn't understand the terms: leeward, windward, hove to, reefing, buntlines, leech lines, etc. At the time, you didn't have clothes to buy. So sailors made their own clothes. They worked 6 days a week. On Sunday they had a day off, But not always. If they were in a storm it was all hands on deck. Dana describes what it meant to be aloft in ice storms, where they had to take off their gloves so they could properly feel what they were doing. Having worked on these ships, it was an eye-opener about what life and the operations of the ship were really like. (The picture below is where I am on the Montanes, almost finished with the rigging) Just wanted to share that if you haven't read this book, I would highly recommend itMontanes 1-30-22.jpg
 
Many Thanks for this interesting book recommendation
BTW: Very interesting and well build ship model you are showing us - maybe you can tell us more also about the model
 
bturchin said:
I don't know if you have already discussed this book or not. Two Years Before The Mast is about Richard Dana, 19 years old, in 1832, signing on as a sailor for 2 years voyage on the brig Pilgrim from Boston to California and back. (At that time, California was part of Mexico.) His descriptions of his life as a sailor on board such a ship were fascinating to understand how a fully rigged ship worked, especially in storms, like going around Cape Horn, which, as I am sure you know, was extremely treacherous. It took over a 100 days to sail from Boston to San Francisco, which at the time was a sleepy little village. (Dana returns 24 years later and San Francisco, after the gold rush has 100,000 people living there.) I had to use a dictionary to understand all the nautical terms. I am not a sailor, so, for example, I didn't understand how the system of bells which represented a 4 hour watch, 8 bells being the end of the watch. How there were two watches of sailors that changed at every 4 hours. I didn't understand the terms: leeward, windward, hove to, reefing, buntlines, leech lines, etc. At the time, you didn't have clothes to buy. So sailors made their own clothes. They worked 6 days a week. On Sunday they had a day off, But not always. If they were in a storm it was all hands on deck. Dana describes what it meant to be aloft in ice storms, where they had to take off their gloves so they could properly feel what they were doing. Having worked on these ships, it was an eye-opener about what life and the operations of the ship were really like. (The picture below is where I am on the Montanes, almost finished with the rigging) Just wanted to share that if you haven't read this book, I would highly recommend itView attachment 287408
Click to expand...
good book
 
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