Track | Section | Length |
1 | 00 Preface | 5:05 |
2 | 01 Departure | 5:48 |
3 | 02 First Impressions | 16:18 |
4 | 03 Ship's Duties | 14:12 |
5 | 04 Sundays At Sea | 18:36 |
6 | 05 Cape Horn | 23:33 |
7 | 06 Loss of a Man | 12:16 |
8 | 07 Juan Fernandez | 16:52 |
9 | 08 Daily Life | 13:57 |
10 | 09 Santa Barbra | 20:19 |
11 | 10 A South Easter | 11:35 |
12 | 11 Passage Up the Coast | 13:09 |
13 | 12 Monterey | 7:33 |
14 | 13 Trading at Monterey | 26:54 |
15 | 14 Discontent | 31:52 |
16 | 15 Flogging pt 1 | 19:53 |
17 | 16 Flogging pt 2 | 18:24 |
18 | 17 Liberty Day on Shore | 20:59 |
19 | 18 San Diego | 19:33 |
20 | 19 Easter Sunday pt 1 | 19:23 |
21 | 20 Easter Sunday pt 2 | 17:24 |
22 | 21 Sandwich-Islanders pt 1 | 20:01 |
23 | 22 Sandwich-Islanders pt 2 | 19:48 |
24 | 23 New Comers | 23:02 |
25 | 24 California and its Inhabitants | 15:38 |
26 | 25 The Alert | 16:21 |
27 | 26 New Ship and Shipmates pt 1 | 25:48 |
28 | 27 New Ship and Shipmates pt 2 | 23:44 |
29 | 28 San Diego Again | 19:19 |
30 | 29 Rumours of War pt 1 | 23:04 |
31 | 30 Rumours of War pt 2 | 21:54 |
32 | 31 San Francisco | 22:22 |
33 | 32 A Fandango | 28:04 |
34 | 33 News From Home | 35:00 |
35 | 34 Loading for Home pt 1 | 24:42 |
36 | 35 Loading for Home pt 2 | 34:25 |
37 | 36 Homeward Bound | 32:19 |
38 | 37 Bad Prospects pt 1 | 29:14 |
39 | 38 Bad Prospects pt 2 | 30:49 |
40 | 39 Doubling Cape Horn | 28:58 |
41 | 40 Northward Ho! | 28:09 |
42 | 41 Nearing Home | 20:50 |
43 | 42 More Stirring Incidents | 24:41 |
44 | 43 Hurrah for Yankee Land! | 24:23 |
45 | 44 Original Concluding Chapter pt 1 | 23:41 |
46 | 45 Original Concluding Chapter pt 2 | 25:15 |
47 | 46 Epilogue pt 1 | 30:37 |
48 | 47 Epilogue pt 2 | 27:44 |
49 | 48 Epilogue pt 3 | 24:17 |
Notes
Running Time: 17 hours 38 minutes
Read by: BethAnne (Tracks 1-47), TriciaG (Tracks 48-49)
Book Coordinator: BethAnne
Meta Coordinator: Jc Guan
Proof Listener: Rapunzelina
Artwork
Cover: Recreation of the cover of the 1911 Houghton Mifflin edition.
Inset: Illustration of Hide Droughing in 1830s Mexican Alta California, part of the California Hide Trade, from the 1911 edition.
Inset: Portrait drawing of Richard Henry Dana, Jr. by Jaques Reich. Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography, v. 2, 1900, p. 71.
Recordings
These recordings were made using the author’s original published work, which is in the public domain. The readings were recorded by members and volunteers of Librivox.org, which has generously made the recordings available to the public domain. The audio files have been lightly edited and have been engineered using professional audio tools for maximum sonic quality. While Librivox condones the sale and distribution of these recordings, it is not associated with the management or operations of MP3 Audiobook Classics.
Afflicted with poor vision following a bout with the measles, Harvard undergraduate Richard Henry Dana left school in 1834 to ship out as a common sailor aboard the brig Pilgrim for a two-year voyage around Cape Horn to California. He kept a diary during the voyage and upon his return wrote the classic Two Years Before the Mast, which was published in 1840 and quickly became a best seller. The term “before the mast” refers to the quarters of common sailors, located in the front of the ship. His initial motive in writing the memoir was to expose the poor treatment of common sailors at sea. The ship was bound with U.S. goods to trade with the missions and ports for cow hides in California, a Mexican colony. The book recounts stays along the coast from San Diego, San Juan Capistrano, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Monterey and San Francisco, the heavy work involved in transporting the hides, and the ways of the Native Americans and Mexican Californios. Dana learns Spanish and becomes interpreter for the ship. The book is famous for his account of the mid-winter return voyage around Cape Horn that took weeks as they battled storms, wind, cold and icebergs, cited by Herman Melville as the best description ever written of the perils of Cape Horn. The book was made into a popular film starring Alan Ladd in 1946.
Play sample:
Download a PDF datasheet
Item Info | |
EAN - DVD case | 0683422134746 |
EAN - CD jacket | 0686175923452 |
Media | MP3 CD |
Package | DVD Box |
Author | Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (1815-1882) |
Year | 1840 |
Recording | |
Read by | BethAnne (1-47) TriciaG (48-49) |
Length | 17 hours 4 minutes |
Type of Reading | Solo |
Two Years Before the Mast
- Author: Richard Henry Dana, Jr.
- Product Code: DB-1159
- Availability: In Stock
-
$11.99
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