In 1869 the late Richard Henry Dana, Jr., prepared a new edition of his "Two Years Before the Mast''. In presenting the first 'author's edition' to the public, he has been encouraged to add an account of a visit to the old scenes, made twenty-four years after, together with notices of the subsequent story and fate of the vessels, and of some of the persons with whom the reader is made acquainted. The popularity of this book has been so great and continued that it is now proposed to make an illustrated edition with new material.

A true story of the battered life of a foremast crewman, Two Years Before the Mast is Richard Henry Dana’s classic travel narrative, which inspired canonical works such as Moby Dick and Sailing Alone Around the World. As Rod Scher follows Dana (the Harvard dropout-turned-sailor) on his voyages around North America, he annotates Dana’s tale with critiques, compliments, tie-ins to today, and little-known facts about both the book and the milieu of Dana’s time.

An unparalleled account of merchant men at sea in the early 19th century
This is a well known book with a familiar title. Its contents are probably less known to many. It is the account of one young man's experiences serving on board a sailing brig-the Penelope-bound for California, between the years1834-36.What makes it exceptional is not that it is the literary effort of a common seamen of the time-though they are rare enough-but that it is quite the opposite. Dana came from a well-established middle class American family whose patriarchs had practised law since early colonial days. Dana too was highly educated and destined-if by tradition rather than temperament-for the same path. Sickness struck him down while a Harvard student and a 'kill or cure' experience was deemed to be his only chance of salvation. So it was that an articulate and literate man was able to leave posterity an account of the life of ordinary seamen in the great days of sail that has few peers. A classic book for all those fascinated by the sea and seamanship in days gone by.