A must read for anyone interested in California history, maritime history, commercial history, costume history, 19th century history, linguistic history.

I listened to the audiobook during daily walks, which was preferable to reading the text (which I had started apparently several years ago!). Note that the audiofile of this particular Tantor edition is not broken up into chapters, so is difficult to navigate (luckily I had a paperback copy with which to compare when the audiobook crashed in my Hoopla app so I could figure out where I was).

3.5 Stars.

A very interesting time capsule. The two greatest problems with this book are: casual racism, and a completely unnecessary degree of detail regarding every scrap of sail or rope. The latter can be charming at times, but the former was always jarring and unfortunate. Regarding the over abundance of detail, sometimes Dana would just go on for what felt like pages talking about, in excruciatingly minute detail, descriptions of what they did to which sail, over and over, making it feel like a massive madlibs done only with a sailing glossary. Overall, the book at half as long would have been twice as good, but I enjoyed for the most part looking into the past for a while.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I kept checking to see how many pages I had left. At times it was nice, but for the most part, I found it boring. I think it’s not necessarily my genre.

A journal-driven account of a forecastle hand's two-year journey in the 1830's from New England, around Cape Horn, to the California coast and back. Heavy on nautical lingo and rather straightforward in nature, it offers a very detailed look at the hardships and pleasures of a sailor's life.

I never thought I'd enjoy a book about sailing, especially from the early 1800s, but this was a really good book! Once I got past the technical sailing jargon (and there's a lot) I really appreciated the look into the life of a career sailor of the time and the hardships they endured. (Guys, they had to make all of their own clothes...using canvas and tar.) The details of the year spent in California as it was still part of Mexico was pretty captivating. Apparently they didn't treat the native people any better than the Anglos. (I read this as part of Harvard Classics, v.23)