Two Years Before the Mast

Name: Two Years Before the Mast
Author: Dana, Richard Henry

Dana, Richard Henry

Dana, Richard Henry, 1815-1882; Sailors; Seafaring life; Voyages and travels

been near the Cape of Pillars, which is the south-west point of the
mouth of the straits, a gale set in from the eastward, with a heavy
fog, so that we could not see half of the ship's length ahead. This, of
course, put an end to the project, for the present; for a thick fog and
a gale blowing dead ahead are not the most favorable circumstances for
the passage of difficult and dangerous straits. This weather, too,
seemed likely to last for some time, and we could not think of beating
about the mouth of the straits for a week or two, waiting for a
favorable opportunity; so we braced up on the larboard tack, put the
ship's head due south, and struck her off for Cape Horn again.


[1] The proportions of the ingredients of the tea that was made for us
(and ours, as I have before stated, was a favorable specimen of
American merchantmen) were, a pint of tea, and a pint and a half of
molasses, to about three gallons of water.

These are all boiled down together in the "coppers," and before serving
it out, the mess is stirred up with a stick, so as to give each man his
fair share of sweetening and tea-leaves.  The tea for the cabin is, of
course, made in the usual way, in a tea-pot, and drank with sugar.

[2] I do not wish these remarks, so far as they relate to the saving of
expense in the outfit, to be applied to the owners of our ship, for she
was supplied with an abundance of stores, of the best kind that are
given to seamen;, though the dispensing of them is necessarily left to
the captain, Indeed, so high was the reputation of "the employ" among
men and officers, for the character and outfit of their vessels, and
for their liberality in conducting their voyages, that when it was
known that they had a ship fitting out for a long voyage, and that
hands were to be shipped at a certain time,--a half hour before the
time, as one of the crew told me, numbers of sailors were steering down
the wharf, hopping over the barrels, like flocks of sheep.




CHAPTER XXXII

ICE AGAIN--A BEAUTIFUL AFTERNOON--CAPE HORN--"LAND HO!"--HEADING FOR
HOME

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Two Years Before the MastDana, Richard Henry

General

Two Years Before the Mast

Dana, Richard Henry

Dana, Richard Henry, 1815-1882; Sailors; Seafaring life; Voyages and travels

been near the Cape of Pillars, which is the south-west point of the
mouth of the straits, a gale set in from the eastward, with a heavy
fog, so that we could not see half of the ship's length ahead. This, of
course, put an end to the project, for the present; for a thick fog and
a gale blowing dead ahead are not the most favorable circumstances for
the passage of difficult and dangerous straits. This weather, too,
seemed likely to last for some time, and we could not think of beating
about the mouth of the straits for a week or two, waiting for a
favorable opportunity; so we braced up on the larboard tack, put the
ship's head due south, and struck her off for Cape Horn again.


[1] The proportions of the ingredients of the tea that was made for us
(and ours, as I have before stated, was a favorable specimen of
American merchantmen) were, a pint of tea, and a pint and a half of
molasses, to about three gallons of water.

These are all boiled down together in the "coppers," and before serving
it out, the mess is stirred up with a stick, so as to give each man his
fair share of sweetening and tea-leaves.  The tea for the cabin is, of
course, made in the usual way, in a tea-pot, and drank with sugar.

[2] I do not wish these remarks, so far as they relate to the saving of
expense in the outfit, to be applied to the owners of our ship, for she
was supplied with an abundance of stores, of the best kind that are
given to seamen;, though the dispensing of them is necessarily left to
the captain, Indeed, so high was the reputation of "the employ" among
men and officers, for the character and outfit of their vessels, and
for their liberality in conducting their voyages, that when it was
known that they had a ship fitting out for a long voyage, and that
hands were to be shipped at a certain time,--a half hour before the
time, as one of the crew told me, numbers of sailors were steering down
the wharf, hopping over the barrels, like flocks of sheep.




CHAPTER XXXII

ICE AGAIN--A BEAUTIFUL AFTERNOON--CAPE HORN--"LAND HO!"--HEADING FOR
HOME

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Two Years Before the Mast

Two Years Before the Mast

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