RICHARD HENRY DANA, JR. (1815-1882)

"The younger Dana,' as he was usually designated by his contemporaries to distinguish him from his father the poet, lives in the history of American literature solely because of his book Two Years before the Mast, 1840. He was a native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and naturally in due time entered Harvard College, but in his junior year his eyesight failed him, and so seriously that his physician prescribed the heroic treatment of a long period at sea as a common sailor. Dana accordingly shipped before the mast for a two years' voyage to the coast of California. On his return in 1836 he finished his course at Harvard, studied law, and later became one of the leading lawyers of Boston. His book, Two Years before the Mast, was written from the same motives that prompted Mrs. Stowe in later years to write Uncle Tom's Cabin. Its object primarily was humanitarian. In the words of his biographer, The night after the flogging of his two fellow-sailors off San Pedro, California, Mr. Dana, lying in his berth, "vowed that, if God should ever give me the means, I would do something to redress the grievances and relieve the sufferings of that class of beings with whom my lot has been so long cast." The book accomplished its purpose. It was enormously popular, it was adopted by the British admiralty for free distribution in the navy, and it has long since taken an undisputed place as an American classic.

for it was his voice that we heard, though low and half choked.

That's not what I ask you. ever be impudent to me again?'

Will you

'I never have been, sir,' said Sam. 'Answer my question, or I'll make a spread eagle of you! I'll flog you, by G-d.'

'I'm no negro slave,' said Sam.

'Then I'll make you one,' said the captain; and he came to the hatchway, and sprang on deck, threw off his coat, and, rolling up his sleeves, called out to the mate: Seize that man up, Mr. Amerzene! Seize him up! Make a spread 15 eagle of him! I'll teach you all who is master aboard!'

years of age; and Stimson and I would not have joined the men in a mutiny, as they knew. And then, on the other side, there were (beside the captain) three 5 officers, steward, agent, and clerk, and the cabin supplied with weapons. But beside the numbers, what is there for sailors to do? If they resist, it is mutiny; and if they succeed, and take the vessel, to it is piracy. If they ever yield again, their punishment must come; and if they do not yield, what are they to be for the rest of their lives? If a sailor resist his commander, he resists the law, and piracy or submission is his only alternative. Bad as it was, they saw it must be borne. It is what a sailor ships for. Swinging the rope over his head, and bending his body so as to give full force, the captain brought it down upon the poor fellow's back. Once, twice,- six times. 'Will you ever give me any more of your jaw?' The man writhed with pain, but said not a word. Three times more. This was too much, and he muttered something which I could not hear; this brought as many more as the man could stand, when the captain ordered him to be cut down, and to go forward.

The crew and officers followed the captain up the hatchway; but it was not until after repeated orders that the mate 20 laid hold of Sam, who made no resistance, and carried him to the gangway.

'What are you going to flog that man for, sir?' said John, the Swede, to the captain.

Upon hearing this, the captain turned upon John; but, knowing him to be quick and resolute, he ordered the steward to bring the irons, and, calling upon Russell to help him, went up to John.

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'Let me alone,' said John. 'I'm willing to be put in irons. You need not use any force'; and, putting out his hands, the captain slipped the irons on, and sent him aft to the quarter-deck. 35 Sam, by this time, was seized up, as it is called, that is, placed against the shrouds, with his wrists made fast to them, his jacket off, and his back exposed. The captain stood on the break of the 40 deck, a few feet from him, and a little raised, so as to have a good swing at him, and held in his hand the end of a thick, strong rope. The officers stood round, and the crew grouped together 45 in the waist. All these preparations made me feel sick and almost faint, angry and excited as I was. A man a human being, made in God's likeness - fastened up and flogged like a beast! A man, too, 50 whom I had lived with, eaten with, and stood watch with for months, and knew so well! If a thought of resistance crossed the minds of any of the men, what was to be done? Their time for it had 55 gone by. Two men were fast, and there were left only two men besides Stimson and myself, and a small boy ten or twelve

'Now for you,' said the captain, making up to John, and taking his irons off. As soon as John was loose, he ran forward to the forecastle. Bring that man aft!' shouted the captain. The second mate, who had been in the forecastle with these men the early part of the voyage, stood still in the waist, and the mate walked slowly forward; but our third officer, anxious to show his zeal, sprang forward over the windlass, and laid hold of John; but John soon threw him from him. The captain stood on the quarterdeck, bare-headed, his eyes flashing with rage, and his face as red as blood, swinging the rope, and calling out to his officers: Drag him aft!-Lay hold of him! I'll sweeten him!' &c., &c. The mate now went forward, and told John quietly to go aft; and he, seeing resistance vain, threw the blackguard third mate from him, said he would go aft of himself, that they should not drag him, and went up to the gangway and held out his hands; but as soon as the captain began to make him fast, the indignity was too much, and he struggled; but, the mate and Russell holding him, he was soon seized up.

When he was made fast, he

turned to the captain, who stood rolling up his sleeves and getting ready for the blow, and asked him what he was to be flogged for. Have I ever refused my duty, sir? Have you ever known me to hang back, or to be insolent, or not to know my work?'

'No,' said the captain, it is not that that I flog you for: I flog you for your interference, for asking questions.'

'Can't a man ask a question here without being flogged?'

'No,' shouted the captain; nobody shall open his mouth aboard this vessel but myself,' and began laying the blows upon 15 his back, swinging half round between each blow, to give it full effect. As he went on, his passion increased, and he danced about the deck, calling out, as he swung the rope: If you want to know 20 what I flog you for, I'll tell you. It's because I like to do it!-because I like to do it! It suits me! That's what I do it for!'

The man writhed under the pain until 25 he could endure it no longer, when he called out, with an exclamation more common among foreigners than with us: 'O Jesus Christ! O Jesus Christ!'

'Don't call on Jesus Christ,' shouted 30 the captain: he can't help you. Call on Frank Thompson! He's the man! He can help you! Jesus Christ can't help you now!'

know what I was! Now you know what I am!'-'I'll make you toe the mark, every soul of you, or I'll flog you all, fore and aft, from the boy up!'-You've 5 got a driver over you! Yes, a slavedriver,- a nigger driver! I'll see who 'll tell me he is n't a NIGGER slave!' With this and the like matter, equally calculated to quiet us, and to allay any apprehensions of future trouble, he entertained us for about ten minutes, when he went below. Soon after, John came aft, with his bare back covered with stripes and wales in every direction, and dreadfully swollen, and asked the steward to ask the captain to let him have some salve, or balsam, to put upon it. 'No,' said the captain, who heard him from below; tell him to put his shirt on; that's the best thing for him, and pull me ashore in the boat. Nobody is going to lay-up on board this vessel.' He then called to Mr. Russell to take those two men and two others in the boat, and pull him ashore. I went for one. The two men could hardly bend their backs, and the captain called to them to give way,' 'give way!' but, finding they did their best, he let them alone. The agent was in the stern sheets, but during the whole pull-a league or more — not a word was spoken. We landed; the captain, agent, and officer went up to the house, and left us with the boat. I, and the man with me, stayed near the boat, while John and Sam walked slowly away, and sat down on the rocks. They talked some time together, but at length separated, each sitting alone. I had some fears of John. He was a foreigner, and violently tempered, and under suffering; and he had his knife with him, and the captain was to come down alone to the boat. But nothing happened; and we went quietly on board. The captain was probably armed, and if either of them had lifted a hand against him, they would have had nothing before them but flight, and starvation in the woods of California, or capture by the soldiers and Indians, whom the offer of twenty dollars would have set upon them.

At these words, which I never shall 35 forget, my blood ran cold. I could look on no longer. Disgusted, sick I turned away, and leaned over the rail, and looked down into the water. A few rapid thoughts, I don't know what,- our situa- 40 tion, a resolution to see the captain punished when we got home,- crossed my mind, but the falling of the blows and the cries of the man called me back once more. At length they ceased, and turn- 45 ing round, I found that the mate, at a signal from the captain, had cast him loose. Almost doubled up with pain, the man walked slowly forward, and went down into the forecastle. Every one else 50 stood still at his post, while the captain, swelling with rage, and with the importance of his achievement, walked the quarter-deck, and at each turn, as he came forward, calling out to us: You see your 55 plain supper; but not a word was spoken. condition! You see where I've got you all, and you know what to expect!''You've been mistaken in me; you did n't

After the day's work was done, we went down into the forecastle, and ate our

It was Saturday night; but there was no song, no sweethearts and wives.' A gloom was over everything. The two men

well with the solitary character of everything around. It was the only spot in California that impressed me with anything like poetic interest. Then, too, the 5 man died far from home, without a friend near him,- by poison, it was suspected, and no one to inquire into it, and without proper funeral rites; the mate (as I was told), glad to have him out of the way, hurrying him up the hill and into the ground, without a word or a prayer.

lay in their berths, groaning with pain, and we all turned in, but, for myself, not to sleep. A sound coming now and then from the berths of the two men showed that they were awake, as awake they must have been, for they could hardly lie in one posture long; the dim, swinging lamp shed its light over the dark hole in which we lived, and many and various reflections and purposes coursed through to my mind. I had no apprehension that the captain would try to lay a hand on me; but our situation, living under a tyranny, with an ungoverned, swaggering fellow administering it; of the character of the 15 country we were in; the length of the voyage; the uncertainty attending our return to America; and then, if we should return, the prospect of obtaining justice and satisfaction for these poor men; and 20 blanket. He looked pretty black, but inI vowed that, if God should ever give me the means, I would do something to redress the grievances and relieve the sufferings of that class of beings with whom my lot had so long been cast.

I looked anxiously for a boat, during the latter part of the afternoon, but none came; until toward sundown, when I saw a speck on the water, and as it drew near I found it was the gig, with the captain. The hides, then, were not to go off. The captain came up the hill, with a man, bringing my monkey jacket and a

quired whether I had enough to eat; told me to make a house out of the hides, and keep myself warm, as I should have to sleep there among them, and to keep good 25 watch over them. I got a moment to speak to the man who brought my jacket.

The next day was Sunday. We worked, as usual, washing decks, &c., until breakfast-time. After breakfast we pulled the captain ashore, and, finding some hides there which had been brought down the 30 night before, he ordered me to stay ashore and watch them, saying that the boat would come again before night. They left me, and I spent a quiet day on the hill, eating dinner with the three men 35 at the little house. Unfortunately they had no books; and, after talking with them, and walking about, I began to grow tired of doing nothing. The little brig, the home of so much hardship and suf- 40 fering, lay in the offing, almost as far as one could see; and the only other thing which broke the surface of the great bay was a small, dreary-looking island, steep and conical, of a clayey soil, and 45 without the sign of vegetable life upon it, yet which had a peculiar and melancholy interest, for on the top of it were buried the remains of an Englishman, the commander of a small merchant brig, who 50 died while lying in this port. It was always a solemn and affecting spot to me. There it stood, desolate, and in the midst of desolation; and there were the remains of one who died and was buried 55 alone and friendless. Had it been a common burying-place, it would have been nothing. The single body corresponded

How do things go aboard?' said I. 'Bad enough,' said he; 'hard work and not a kind word spoken.'

What!' said I, have you been at work all day?'

'Yes! no more Sunday for us. Everything has been moved in the hold, from stem to stern, and from the water-ways to the keelson.'

I went up to the house to supper. We had frijoles (the perpetual food of the Californians, but which, when well cooked, are the best bean in the world), coffee made of burnt wheat, and hard bread. After our meal, the three men sat down by the light of a tallow candle, with a pack of greasy Spanish cards, to the favorite game of treinte uno,' a sort of Spanish everlasting.' I left them and went out to take up my bivouac among the hides. It was now dark; the vessel was hidden from sight, and except the three men in the house there was not a living soul within a league. The coyotes (a wild animal of a nature and appearance between that of the fox and the wolf) set up their sharp, quick bark, and two owls, at the end of two distant points running out into the bay, on different sides of the hill where I lay, kept up their alternate dismal notes. I had heard the sound before at night, but did not know