In 1834, American lawyer and politician Richard Henry Dana took a sea voyage and decided to go as a sailor, not as a passenger. The ship departed from his home town of Boston and traveled to Alto, California—then still a part of Mexico. Dana records his experiences during those two years into a classic memoir, presented here. His writing offers a colorful, personal account of the routine on board the old sailing ships, describes the trading on the coast, and offers a portrait of California, before the discovery of gold had transformed its civilization. Later in life, Dana took another voyage—this time around the world. His observations from that trip form the postscript of this book.
The Harvard Classics
Journey through “Dr. Eliot’s Five Foot Shelf.” This massive collection, designed to provide the elements of a liberal education, was compiled by distinguished Harvard University president Charles Eliot in the early 1900s. Packed with the essential works of the Western classical tradition, the Harvard Classics collection remains one of the most comprehensive and well-researched anthologies of all time—a must-have library for students and lovers of the classics.
