Richard Henry Dana Jr.’s Followers (54)

Richard Henry Dana Jr.

Born

in Cambridge, Massachusetts, The United States

August 01, 1815

Died

January 06, 1882

Website

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Henry_Dan...

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Dana was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on August 1, 1815, into a family that first settled in colonial America in 1640. As a boy, Dana studied in Cambridgeport under a strict schoolmaster named Samuel Barrett, alongside fellow Cambridge native and future writer James Russell Lowell. Barrett was infamous as a disciplinarian, punishing his students for any infraction by flogging. He also often pulled students by their ears and, on one such occasion, nearly pulled Dana's ear off, causing his father to protest enough that the practice was abolished.

In 1825, Dana enrolled in a private school overseen by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who Dana later mildly praised as "a very pleasant instructor", though he lacked a "system or discipline enough to insure Dana was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on August 1, 1815, into a family that first settled in colonial America in 1640. As a boy, Dana studied in Cambridgeport under a strict schoolmaster named Samuel Barrett, alongside fellow Cambridge native and future writer James Russell Lowell. Barrett was infamous as a disciplinarian, punishing his students for any infraction by flogging. He also often pulled students by their ears and, on one such occasion, nearly pulled Dana's ear off, causing his father to protest enough that the practice was abolished.

In 1825, Dana enrolled in a private school overseen by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who Dana later mildly praised as "a very pleasant instructor", though he lacked a "system or discipline enough to insure regular and vigorous study". In July 1831, Dana began his studies at Harvard College, though he was suspended for six months before the end of his first year for supporting a student protest. In his junior year, he had a case of measles which also caused ophthalmia and his weakening vision inspired him to take a sea voyage.

Rather than going on a Grand Tour of Europe, he decided to enlist as a common sailor, despite his high-class birth. He left Boston on the brig Pilgrim on August 14, 1834, on a voyage around Cape Horn to the then-remote California, at that time still a part of Mexico. On the 180-ton, 86.5 foot-long Pilgrim, Dana visited a number of settlements in California (including Monterey, San Pedro, San Juan Capistrano, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Santa Clara and San Francisco). He returned to Massachusetts aboard the ship Alert on September 22, 1836, after two years away from home.

He kept a diary, and after the trip wrote Two Years Before the Mast based on his experiences. The term "before the mast" refers to sailor's quarters -- in the forecastle, in the bow of the ship, the officers dwelling near the stern. His writing evidences his later social feeling for the oppressed. After witnessing a flogging on board the Pilgrim, he vowed that he would try to help improve the lot of the common seaman.

After his sea voyage, he returned to Harvard to take up study at its law school, completing his education in 1837. He subsequently became a lawyer, and an expert on maritime law, many times defending common seamen, and wrote The Seaman's Friend, which became a standard reference text on the legal rights and responsibilities of sailors. ...more

Combine Editions
Richard Henry Dana Jr.’s books

Average rating: 4.01 · 14,958 ratings · 955 reviews · 89 distinct works • Similar authors

	Two Years Before the Mast: A Sailor's Life at Sea 4.02 avg rating — 13,930 ratings — published 1840 — 751 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Two Years Before the Mast and Twenty-Four Years After (Harvard Classics, #23) by Richard Henry Dana Jr., Charles William Eliot (Editor) 4.19 avg rating — 313 ratings — published 1909 — 146 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	To Cuba and Back 3.49 avg rating — 79 ratings — published 2007 — 98 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Seaman's Friend: A Treatise on Practical Seamanship really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 31 ratings — published 1970 — 126 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Sailing Narratives: Two Years Before the Mast/Sir Francis Drake Revived by Richard Henry Dana Jr., Philip Nichols 3.40 avg rating — 5 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Yankee in Mexican California, A, 1834-1836 really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2010	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Best Loved Books for Young Readers #12: Two Years Before the Mast/The Story of King Arthur & His Knights/Microbe Hunters/The Friendly Persuasion by Richard Henry Dana Jr., Howard Pyle, Paul de Kruif 3.50 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 1968 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Two Years Before the Mast and Moby Dick by Richard Henry Dana Jr., Herman Melville 2.40 avg rating — 5 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Speeches in Stirring Times and Letters to a Son 3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2007 — 57 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Directory of Sea Terms: Sailors Dictionary by R H Dana JR. (2012-10-08) 2.50 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2012 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Richard Henry Dana Jr. (?)

“He who dares to teach must never cease to learn.”
― Richard Henry Dana

17 likes

“His is one of those cases which are more numerous than those suppose who have never lived anywhere but in their own homes, and never walked but in one line from their cradles to their graves. We must come down from our heights, and leave our straight paths for the by-ways and low places of life, if we would learn truths by strong contrasts; and in hovels, in forecastles, and among our own outcasts in foreign lands, see what has been wrought among our fellow-creatures by accident, hardship, or vice.”
― Richard Henry Dana Jr., Two Years Before the Mast: A Sailor's Life at Sea

14 likes

“We must come down from our heights, and leave our straight paths, for the byways and low places of life, If we would learn truths by strong contrasts; and in hovels, in forecastles, and among our own outcasts in foreign lands, see what has been wrought upon our fellow-creatures by accident, hardship, or strife.”
― Richard Henry Dana Jr., Two Years Before the Mast and Twenty-Four Years After

11 likes

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Polls

March 2023 Old School Classics Poll

Electra by Sophocles, -410, 128 pp

58 votes, 21.6%

The Aeneid by Virgil, -19, 484 pp

50 votes, 18.7%

The Symposium by Plato, -380, 90 pp

39 votes, 14.6%

The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith, 1889, 176 pp

39 votes, 14.6%

The Magic Skin by Honoré de Balzac, 1831, 252 pp

37 votes, 13.8%

Two Years Before the Mast: A Sailor's Life at Sea by Richard Henry Dana Jr., 1840, 458 pp

32 votes, 11.9%

Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis, 1899, 288 pp

13 votes, 4.9%

268 total votes

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