Chapter 1

the development of the whole territory west of the Mississippi.

Those who are curious to search out all the items of ship construction will find them adequately illustrated, under the caption, "ship," in both Standard and Century dictionaries.

Explanation of Diagram

The following diagram, from which many details have been omitted, presents sufficient data for an understanding of the more important nautical terms which occur in the text. A number of other such terms have been explained in the notes. In omitting reference to many more, the editor has felt that ovarannotation would turn a straightforward and interesting narrative into a mere excuse for a nautical dictionary, and quite defeat the purpose of the book. The author's technical vocabulary, even when most bewildering, serves to give force and the vividness of local color to his descriptions. To pause in the midst of a storm at sea for comment and definition would result merely in checking the movement of the story and putting a damper upon the imagination.

Two Years before the Mast affords the teacher a somewhat unusual opportunity. Few literary works are better calculated to stimulate inquiry into the remarkable changes which three-quarters of a century have wrought in the United States. Much profitable class employment in the drawing of maps and the writing of brief themes dealing with various phases of the romantic history of California will suggest itself. The numerous geographical allusions should be traced with the aid of an atlas.

| --+-- --+-- | |j| /| | --+-- / |f| | |i| / +-- ---+--- / /|e| | | | / / +--- | | h| / / | | ----+---- /a / |d | | | | /__/ b +---- | | g | / /_____|c | \__|____\ /__/ |___| | \------+----------+------- \_______________________/

a. Flying jib. b. Jib. c. Foresail. d. Foretopsail. e. Foretopgallantsail. f. Foreroyal. g. Mainsail. h. Maintopsail. i. Maintopgallantsail. j. Mainroyal.

| |B2 | | |C2 |A2 6--+-- | 3--+-- | 9--+-- | || | || | || | 5--+-- | 2---+--- |B1 |C1 E --__ |A1 || 8---+--- --__ || | | --| 4----+---- || 1----+---- | 7----+---- G __-- | | | __-- / |A |B |C F __-- \ / D | | | __-- H\/ ------______|________|________|________--------- \_______________________________/

A. Mizzenmast. A1. Mizzentopmast. A2. Mizzentopgallant and royalmast. B. Mainmast. B1. Maintopmast. B2. Maintopgallant and royalmast. C. Foremast. C1. Foretopmast. C2. Foretopgallant and royalmast. D. Spanker boom. E. Spanker gaff. F. Bowsprit. G. Jib boom and flying jib boom. H. Martingale boom.

1. Crossjack yard. 2. Mizzentopsail yard. 3. Mizzentopgallant yard. 4. Main yard. 5. Maintopsail yard. 6. Maintopgallant yard. 7. Fore yard. 8. Foretopsail yard. 9. Foretopgallant yard.

[Editor: Many more numbered lifts, stays, and braces were left out of these simplified diagrams. They are intended to be viewed using a fixed-width font.]

Each mast section is joined to the lower one in two places:

| | | | ___|_|_ \_____/ Mast cap. | | | | | | | | | _|_|_|_ \_____/ Trestletree. | | | |

Each mast also sports net-like rigging from the lowest trestletree to the deck. These are called "shrouds".

TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST

CONTENTS

I DEPARTURE II FIRST IMPRESSIONS--"SAIL HO!" III SHIP'S DUTIES--TROPICS IV A ROGUE--TROUBLE ON BOARD--"LAND HO!"--POMPERO--CAPE HORN V CAPE HORN--A VISIT VI LOSS OF A MAN--SUPERSTITION VII JUAN FERNANDEZ--THE PACIFIC VIII "TARRING DOWN"--DAILY LIFE--"GOING AFT"--CALIFORNIA IX CALIFORNIA--A SOUTH-EASTER X A SOUTH-EASTER--PASSAGE UP THE COAST XI PASSAGE UP THE COAST--MONTEREY XII LIFE AT MONTEREY XIII TRADING--A BRITISH SAILOR XIV SANTA BARBARA--HIDE-DROGHING--HARBOR DUTIES--DISCONTENT--SAN PEDRO XV A FLOGGING--A NIGHT ON SHORE--THE STATE OF THINGS ON BOARD--SAN DIEGO XVI LIBERTY-DAY ON SHORE XVII SAN DIEGO--A DESERTION--SAN PEDRO AGAIN--BEATING THE COAST XVIII EASTER SUNDAY--"SAIL HO!"--WHALES--SAN JUAN--ROMANCE OF HIDE-DROGHING--SAN DIEGO AGAIN XIX THE SANDWICH ISLANDERS--HIDE-CURING--WOOD-CUTTING--RATTLE- SNAKES--NEW-COMERS XX LEISURE--NEWS FROM HOME--"BURNING THE WATER" XXI CALIFORNIA AND ITS INHABITANTS XXII LIFE ON SHORE--THE ALERT XXIII NEW SHIP AND SHIPMATES--MY WATCHMATE XXIV SAN DIEGO AGAIN--A DESCENT--HURRIED DEPARTURE--A NEW SHIPMATE XXV RUMORS OF WAR--A SPOUTER--SLIPPING FOR A SOUTH-EASTER--A GALE XXVI SAN FRANCISCO--MONTEREY XXVII THE SUNDAY WASH-UP--ON SHORE--A SET-TO--A GRANDEE--"SAIL HO!"--A FANDANGO XXVIII AN OLD FRIEND--A VICTIM--CALIFORNIA RANGERS--NEWS FROM XXIX LOADING FOR HOME--A SURPRISE--LAST OF AN OLD FRIEND--THE LAST HIDE--A HARD CASE--UP ANCHOR, FOR HOME!--HOMEWARD BOUND XXX BEGINNING THE LONG RETURN VOYAGE--A SCARE XXXI BAD PROSPECTS--FIRST TOUCH OF CAPE HORN--ICEBERGS--TEMPERANCE SHIPS--LYING-UP--ICE--DIFFICULTY ON BOARD--CHANGE OF COURSE--STRAITS OF MAGELLAN XXXII ICE AGAIN--A BEAUTIFUL AFTERNOON--CAPE HORN--"LAND HO!"--HEADING FOR HOME XXXIII CRACKING ON--PROGRESS HOMEWARD--A PLEASANT SUNDAY--A FINE SIGHT--BY-PLAY XXXIV NARROW ESCAPES--THE EQUATOR--TROPICAL SQUALLS--A THUNDER STORM XXXV A DOUBLE-REEF-TOP-SAIL BREEZE--SCURVY--A FRIEND IN NEED--PREPARING FOR PORT--THE GULF STREAM XXXVI SOUNDINGS--SIGHTS FROM HOME--BOSTON HARBOR--LEAVING THE SHIP CONCLUDING CHAPTER

PREFACE

I am unwilling to present this narrative to the public without a few words in explanation of my reasons for publishing it. Since Mr. Cooper's Pilot and Red Rover, there have been so many stories of sea-life written, that I should really think it unjustifiable in me to add one to the number without being able to give reasons in some measure warranting me in so doing.

With the single exception, as I am quite confident, of Mr. Ames's entertaining, but hasty and desultory work, called "Mariner's Sketches," all the books professing to give life at sea have been written by persons who have gained their experience as naval officers, or passengers, and of these, there are very few which are intended to be taken as narratives of facts.

Now, in the first place, the whole course of life, and daily duties, the discipline, habits and customs of a man-of-war are very different from those of the merchant service; and in the next place, however entertaining and well written these books may be, and however accurately they may give sea-life as it appears to their authors, it must still be plain to every one that a naval officer, who goes to sea as a gentleman, "with his gloves on," (as the phrase is,) and who associated only with his fellow-officers, and hardly speaks to a sailor except through a boatswain's mate, must take a very different view of the whole matter from that which would be taken by a common sailor.

Besides the interest which every one must feel in exhibitions of life in those forms in which he himself has never experienced it; there has been, of late years, a great deal of attention directed toward common seamen, and a strong sympathy awakened in their behalf. Yet I believe that, with the single exception which I have mentioned, there has not been a book written, professing to give their life and experiences, by one who has been of them, and can know what their life really is. A voice from the forecastle has hardly yet been heard.

In the following pages I design to give an accurate and authentic narrative of a little more than two years spent as a common sailor, before the mast, in the American merchant service. It is written out from a journal which I kept at the time, and from notes which I made of most of the events as they happened; and in it I have adhered closely to fact in every particular, and endeavored to give each thing its true character. In so doing, I have been obliged occasionally to use strong and coarse expressions, and in some instances to give scenes which may be painful to nice feelings; but I have very carefully avoided doing so, whenever I have not felt them essential to giving the true character of a scene. My design is, and it is this which has induced me to publish the book, to present the life of a common sailor at sea as it really is,--the light and the dark together.

There may be in some parts a good deal that is unintelligible to the general reader; but I have found from my own experience, and from what I have heard from others, that plain matters of fact in relation to customs and habits of life new to us, and descriptions of life under new aspects, act upon the inexperienced through the imagination, so that we are hardly aware of our want of technical knowledge. Thousands read the escape of the American frigate through the British channel, and the chase and wreck of the Bristol trader in the Red Rover, and follow the minute nautical manoeuvres with breathless interest, who do not know the name of a rope in the ship; and perhaps with none the less admiration and enthusiasm for their want of acquaintance with the professional detail.

In preparing this narrative I have carefully avoided incorporating into it any impressions but those made upon me by the events as they occurred, leaving to my concluding chapter, to which I shall respectfully call the reader's attention, those views which have been suggested to me by subsequent reflection.

These reasons, and the advice of a few friends, have led me to give this narrative to the press. If it shall interest the general reader, and call more attention to the welfare of seamen, or give any information as to their real condition, which may serve to raise them in the rank of beings, and to promote in any measure their religious and moral improvement, and diminish the hardships of their daily life, the end of its publication will be answered.

R.H.D., Jr. Boston, July, 1840.