![]() ![]() ![]() Most of the world trade was still transported by sailing vessels, but these vessels, too, were changing, becoming larger and faster. The steamship was gradually being tested, improved, and put to use for longer voyages. The period in which Dana grew up was one of marked changes in world shipping. Events in History at the Time the Narrative Takes Place Merchant ships of the 1830s It was while he was in law school that Dana completed Two Years before the Mast, a narrative in which he reported in vivid detail what day-to-day life was like for a merchant seaman of his era. Two years later he returned to his studies at Harvard, graduated, and took up teaching and the study of law. Dana decided to become a seaman on one of these merchant ships. At the time, New England merchant ships were sailing to California to take advantage of a recent trade boom along the Pacific Coast. He, however, interrupted his studies after three years, leaving Harvard because of an eye ailment. resisted an inclination to join the navy and instead entered Harvard College at age sixteen, in 1831. ![]() chronicles two years of his life as a merchant seaman on board a trade vessel voyaging from Boston to California and back.Įvents in History at the Time the Narrative Takes PlaceĮvents in History at the Time the Narrative Was Writtenīorn into an illustrious and prosperous family, Richard Henry Dana, Jr. Narrative set along the California coast from 1834 to 1836 published in 1840. ![]()
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