Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana Jr.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm not quite sure how long this ebook has been in my Nook library because it came as a starter offer of Barnes & Noble Classics. It remains an exciting adventure 179 years after Dana lived it. He writes so vividly I feel a chill while he has to beat the ice off the sails and he must not wear mittens for fear of losing his grip on the riggings. Barnes and Noble's ebook makes it more accessible for the modern reader by the easy link to footnotes that explain terms unfamiliar to me. There is a chapter that tells about Dana's visit to San Francisco on a steamship only 16 years after his work as a seaman and hide-drogher, and how changed its world had become.


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