Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea

By: Richard H. Dana Jr.

Narrated by: Hal Saunders

Two Years Before the Mast is an 1840 memoir by the author Richard Henry Dana. A Harvard graduate, he spent the years 1834 to 1836 as a sailor on a merchant ship on a voyage from Boston to California. The journey took them past Cape Horn on the Tierra del Fuego archipelago where the Pacific and Atlantic oceans meet.

Dana provides detailed descriptions of ship life and the technical aspects of sailing. A chapter on California and its inhabitants offers valuable historical insights on the state which was then a foreign land.

Public Domain (P)2019 Museum Audiobooks

Excellent Story - frustrating reading

Dana’s tale of his time as a sailor is a fascinating, compelling glimpse into life in the mid 19th century and the book earned its place among the classics

But I found this audiobook challenging. Like at least one other reviewer, I thought it might have been read by a computer, although a name is listed in the credits. It is read in a monotone, with an odd rhythm, and is full of mispronunciations. I wish the reader had taken the time to familiarize himself with nautical vocabulary before recording. For a while, I wondered if that was how “tarpaulin” was pronounced in the 1830s, and was it really “‘my zen” mast not “mizzen” mast.
Languages do evolve, but even if it’s historically accurate, the pronunciations, the rhythm and the monotonous tone detract tremendously from the pleasure of this fabulous story.

reality beats fiction

I loved this book. is a real and accurate glimpse into an other time and life. It has started me looking for more historical journals to read

2yrs b4 mast

seemed a little too fast and needing pauses, inflection, changes of pace, modulation otherwisr, enjoyable

Narrator killed it for me

I seriously questioned whether the narrator was a robot sometimes. I was really expecting to enjoy this and couldn't bear to listen to more than the first few chapters.