Two Years Before the Mast

by Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

  Of the lads who, beside myself, composed the gig’s crew, I know something of all but one. Our bright-eyed, quick-witted little cockswain, from the Boston public schools, Harry May, or Harry Bluff, as he was called, with all his songs and gibes, went the road to ruin as fast as the usual means could carry him. Nat, the “bucket-maker,” grave and sober, left the seas, and, I believe, is a hack-driver in his native town, although I have not had the luck to see him since the Alert hauled into her berth at the North End.

  One cold winter evening, a pull at the bell, and a woman in distress wished to see me. Her poor son George,—George Somerby,—“you remember him, sir; he was a boy in the Alert; he always talks of you,—he is dying in my poor house.” I went with her, and in a small room, with the most scanty furniture, upon a mattress on the floor,—emaciated, ashy pale, with hollow voice and sunken eyes,—lay the boy George, whom we took out a small, bright boy of fourteen from a Boston public school, who fought himself into a position on board ship, and whom we brought home a tall, athletic youth, that might have been the pride and support of his widowed mother. There he lay, not over nineteen years of age, ruined by every vice a sailor’s life absorbs. He took my hand in his wasted feeble fingers, and talked a little with his hollow, death-smitten voice. I was to leave town the next day for a fortnight’s absence, and whom had they to see to them? The mother named her landlord,—she knew no one else able to do much for them. It was the name of a physician of wealth and high social position, well known in the city as the owner of many small tenements, and of whom hard things had been said as to his strictness in collecting what he thought his dues. Be that as it may, my memory associates him only with ready and active beneficence. His name has since been known the civilized world over, from his having been the victim of one of the most painful tragedies in the records of the criminal law. I tried the experiment of calling upon him; and, having drawn him away from the cheerful fire, sofa, and curtains of a luxurious parlor, I told him this simple tale of woe, of one of his tenants, unknown to him even by name. He did not hesitate; and I well remember how, in that biting, eager air, and at a late hour, he drew his cloak about his thin and bent form, and walked off with me across the Common, and to the South End, nearly two miles of an exposed walk, to the scene of misery. He gave his full share, and more, of kindness and material aid; and, as George’s mother told me, on my return, had with medical aid and stores, and a clergyman, made the boy’s end as comfortable and hopeful as possible.

  The Alert made two more voyages to the coast of California. successful, and without a mishap, as usual, and was sold by Messrs. Bryant and Sturgis, in 1843, to Mr. Thomas W. Williams, a merchant of New London, Connecticut, who employed her in the whale-trade in the Pacific. She was as lucky and prosperous there as in the merchant service. When I was at the Sandwich Islands in 1860, a man was introduced to me as having commanded the Alert on two cruises, and his friends told me that he was as proud of it as if he had commanded a frigate.

  I am permitted to publish the following letter from the owner of the Alert, giving her later record and her historic end,—captured and burned by the rebel Alabama:—

  New London, March 17, 1868.

  RICHARD H. DANA, ESQ.:

  Dear Sir,—I am happy to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the 14th inst, and to answer your inquiries about the good ship Alert. I bought her of Messrs. Bryant and Sturgis, in the year 1843, for my firm of Williams and Haven, for a whaler, in which business she was successful until captured by the rebel steamer Alabama, September, 1862, making a period of more than nineteen years, during which she took and delivered at New London upwards of twenty-five thousand barrels of whale and sperm oil. She sailed last from this port, August 30, 1862, for Hurd’s Island (the newly discovered land south of Kerguelen’s), commanded by Edwin Church, and was captured and burned on the 9th of September following, only ten days out, near or close to the Azores, with thirty barrels of sperm oil on board, and while her boats were off in pursuit of whales.

  The Alert was a favorite ship with all owners, officers, and men who had anything to do with her; and I may add almost all who heard her name asked if that was the ship the man went in who wrote the book called “Two Years before the Mast;” and thus we feel, with you, no doubt, a sort of sympathy at her loss, and that, too, in such a manner, and by wicked acts of our own countrymen.

  My partner, Mr. Haven, sends me a note from the office this P.M., saying that he had just found the last log-book, and would send up this evening a copy of the last entry on it; and if there should be anything of importance I will enclose it to you, and if you have any further inquiries to put, I will, with great pleasure, endeavor to answer them.

  Remaining very respectfully and truly yours,

  Thomas W. Williams.

  P.S.—Since writing the above I have received the extract from the log-book, and enclose the same.

  The last Entry in the Log-Book of the Alert.

  “September 9, 1862.

  “Shortly after the ship came to the wind, with the main yard aback, we went alongside and were hoisted up, when we found we were prisoners of war, and our ship a prize to the Confederate steamer Alabama. We were then ordered to give up all nautical instruments and letters appertaining to any of us. Afterwards we were offered the privilege, as they called it, of joining the steamer or signing a parole of honor not to serve in the army or navy of the United States. Thank God no one accepted the former of these offers. We were all then ordered to get our things ready in haste, to go on shore,—the ship running offshore all the time. We were allowed four boats to go on shore in, and when we had got what things we could take in them, were ordered to get into the boats and pull for the shore,—the nearest land being about fourteen miles off,—which we reached in safety, and, shortly after, saw the ship in flames.

  “So end all our bright prospects, blasted by a gang of miscreants, who certainly can have no regard for humanity so long as they continue to foster their so-called peculiar institution, which is now destroying our country.”

  I love to think that our noble ship, with her long record of good service and uniform success, attractive and beloved in her life, should have passed, at her death, into the lofty regions of international jurisprudence and debate, forming a part of the body of the “Alabama Claims”;—that, like a true ship, committed to her element once for all at her launching, she perished at sea, and, without an extreme use of language, we may say, a victim in the cause of her country.

  R. H. D., Jr.

  Boston, May 6, 1869.

  *Pronounced Leese.

  * This journal was of 1859 before Colonel Robert E. Lee became the celebrated General Lee in command of the Confederate forces in the Civil War.

  GLOSSARY

  The following definitions have been reprinted from “A Dictionary of Sea Terms,” in Dana’s own The Seaman’s Friend (1841). See the Illustrations, following, for the Plates referred to here.

  ABACK. The situation of the sails when the wind presses their surfaces against the mast, and tends to force the vessel astern.

  ABAFT. Toward the stern of a vessel.

  ABOARD. Within a vessel.

  ABOUT. On the other tack.

  ABREAST. Alongside of. Side by side.

  A-COCK-BILL. The situation of the yards when they are topped up at an angle with the deck. The situation of an anchor when it hangs to the cathead by the ring only.

  ADRIFT. Broken from moorings or fasts. Without fasts.

  AFLOAT. Resting on the surface of the water.

  AFORE. Forward. The opposite of abaft.

  AFT—AFTER. Near the stern.

  AGROUND. Touching the bottom.

  AHEAD. In the direction of the vessel’s head.

  Wind ahead is from the direction toward which the vessel’s head points.

  A-HULL. The situation of a vessel when she lies with all her sails furled and her helm lashed a-lee.

  A-LEE. The situation of the helm when it is put in the
opposite direction from that in which the wind blows.

  ALL-ABACK. When all the sails are aback.

  ALL HANDS. The whole crew.

  ALL IN THE WIND. When all the sails are shaking.

  ALOFT. Above the deck.

  ALOOF. At a distance.

  AMAIN. Suddenly. At once.

  AMIDSHIPS. In the centre of the vessel; either with reference to her length or to her breadth.

  ANCHOR. The machine by which, when dropped to the bottom, the vessel is held fast.

  ANCHOR-WATCH. (See WATCH.)

  AN-END. When a mast is perpendicular to the deck.

  A-PEEK. When the cable is hove taut so as to bring the vessel nearly over her anchor. The yards are a-peek when they are topped up by contrary lifts.

  APRON. A piece of timber fixed behind the lower part of the stern, just above the fore end of the keel. A covering to the vent or lock of a cannon.

  ARM. YARD-ARM. The extremity of a yard. Also, the lower part of an anchor, crossing the shank and terminating in the flukes.

  ARMING. A piece of tallow put in the cavity and over the bottom of a lead-line.

  A-STERN. In the direction of the stern. The opposite of ahead.

  A-TAUNT. (See TAUNT.)

  ATHWART. Across.

  Athviart-ships. Across the line of the vessel’s keel.

  Athviart-havise. Across the direction of a vessel’s head. Across her cable.

  ATHWART-SHIPS. Across the length of a vessel. In opposition to fore-and-aft.

  A-TRIP. The situation of the anchor when it is raised clear of the ground. The same as a-weigh.

  AVAST, or ’VAST. An order to stop; as, “Avast heaving!”

  A-WEATHER. The situation of the helm when it is put in the direction from which the wind blows.

  A-WEIGH. The same as a-trip.

  AWNING. A covering of canvass over a vessel’s deck, or over a boat, to keep off sun or rain.

  BACK. To back an anchor, is to carry out a smaller one ahead of the one by which the vessel rides, to take off some of the strain.

  To back a sail, is to throw it aback.

  To back and fill, is alternately to back and fill the sails.

  BACKSTAYS. Stays running from a masthead to the vessel’s side, slanting a little aft. (See STAYS.)

  BAGPIPE. To bagpipe the mizzen, is to lay it aback by bringing the sheet to the weather mizzen rigging.

  BAIL. To bail a boat, is to throw water out of her.

  BALANCE-REEF. A reef in a spanker or fore-and-aft mainsail, which runs from the outer head-earing, diagonally, to the tack. It is the closest reef, and makes the sail triangular, or nearly so.

  BALLAST. Heavy material, as iron, lead, or stone, placed in the bottom of the hold, to keep a vessel from upsetting.

  To freshen ballast, is to shift it. Coarse gravel is called shingle ballast.

  BANK. A boat is double banked when two oars, one opposite the other, are pulled by men seated on the same thwart.

  BAR. A bank or shoal at the entrance of a harbor.

  Capstan-bars are heavy pieces of wood by which the capstan is hove round.

  BARE-POLES. The condition of a ship when she has no sail set.

  BARGE. A large double-banked boat, used by the commander of a vessel, in the navy.

  BARK, or BARQUE. (See PLATE IV.) A three-masted vessel, having her fore and main masts rigged like a ship’s, and her mizzen mast like the main mast of a schooner, with no sail upon it but a spanker, and gaff topsail.

  BARNACLE. A shell-fish often found on a vessel’s bottom.

  BATTENS. Thin strips of wood put around the hatches, to keep the tarpaulin down. Also, put upon rigging to keep it from chafing. A large batten widened at the end, and put upon rigging, is called a scotchman.

  BEACON. A post or buoy placed over a shoal or bank to warn vessels off.

  Also as a signal-mark on land.

  BEAMS. Strong pieces of timber stretching across the vessel, to support the decks.

  On the weather or lee beam, is in a direction to windward or leeward, at right angles with the keel.

  On beam-ends. The situation of a vessel when turned over so that her beams are inclined toward the vertical.

  BEAR. An object bears so and so, when it is in such a direction from the person looking.

  To bear down upon a vessel, is to approach her from the windward.

  To bear up, is to put the helm up and keep a vessel off from her course, and move her to leeward.

  To bear away, is the same as to bear up; being applied to the vessel instead of to the tiller.

  To bear-a-hand. To make haste.

  BEARING. The direction of an object from the person looking. The bearings of a vessel, are the widest part of her below the plank-shear. That part of her hull which is on the water-line when she is at anchor and in her proper trim.

  BEATING. Going toward the direction of the wind, by alternate tacks.

  BECALM. To intercept the wind. A vessel or highland to windward is said to becalm another. So one sail becalms another.

  BECKET. A piece of rope placed so as to confine a spar or another rope. A handle made of rope, in the form of a circle, (as the handle of a chest,) is called a becket.

  BEES. Pieces of plank bolted to the outer end of the bowsprit, to reeve the foretopmast stays through.

  BELAY. To make a rope fast by turns round a pin or coil, without hitching or seizing it.

  BEND. To make fast.

  To bend a sail, is to make it fast to the yard.

  To bend a cable, is to make it fast to the anchor.

  A bend, is a knot by which one rope is made fast to another.

  BENDS. The strongest part of a vessel’s side, to which the beams, knees, and foot-hooks are bolted. The part between the water’s edge and the bulwarks.

  BENEAPED. (See NEAPED.)

  BENTICK SHROUDS. Formerly used, and extending from the futtock staves to the opposite channels.

  BERTH. The place where a vessel lies. The place in which a man sleeps.

  BETWEEN-DECKS. The space between any two decks of a ship.

  BIBBS. Pieces of timber bolted to the hounds of a mast, to support the trestle-trees.

  BIGHT. The double part of a rope when it is folded; in contradistinction from the ends. Any part of a rope may be called the bight, except the ends. Also, a bend in the shore, making a small bay or inlet.

  BILGE. That part of the floor of a ship upon which she would rest if aground; being the part near the keel which is more in a horizontal than a perpendicular line.

  Bilge-ways. Pieces of timber bolted together and placed under the bilge, in launching.

  Bilged. When the bilge is broken in.

  Bilge Water. Water which settles in the bilge.

  Bilge. The largest circumference of a cask.

  BILL. The point at the extremity of the fluke of an anchor.

  BILLET-HEAD. (See HEAD.)

  BINNACLE. A box near the helm, containing the compass.

  BITTER, or BITTER-END. That part of the cable which is abaft the bitts.

  BITTS. Perpendicular pieces of timber going through the deck, placed to secure anything to. The cables are fastened to them, if there is no windlass. There are also bitts to secure the windlass, and on each side of the heel of the bowsprit.

  BLADE. The flat part of an oar, which goes into the water.

  BLOCK. A piece of wood with sheaves, or wheels, in it, through which the running rigging passes, to add to the purchase.

  BLUFF. A bluff-bowed’or bluff-headed Vessel is one which is full and square forward.

  BOARD. The stretch a vessel makes upon one tack, when she is beating.

  Stern-board. When a vessel goes stern foremost.

  By the board. Said of masts, when they fall over the side.

  BOAT-HOOK. An iron hook with a long staff, held in the hand, by which a boat is kept fast to a wharf, or vessel.

  BOATSWAIN. (Pronounced bo-s’n.) A warrant officer in the navy, who has charge of the rig
ging, and calls the crew to duty.

  BOBSTAYS. Used to confine the bowsprit down to the stem or cutwater.

  BOLSTERS. Pieces of soft wood, covered with canvass, placed on the trestle-trees, for the eyes of the rigging to rest upon.

  BOLT-ROPE. The rope which goes round a sail, and to which the canvass is sewed.

  BOLTS. Long cylindrical bars of iron or copper, used to secure or unite the different parts of a vessel.

  BONNET. An additional piece of canvass attached to the foot of a jib, or a schooner’s foresail, by lacings. Taken off in bad weather.

  BOOM. A spar used to extend the foot of a fore-and-aft sail or studding-sail.

  Boom-irons. Iron rings on the yards, through which the studdingsail booms traverse.

  BOOT-TOPPING. Scraping off the grass, or other matter, which may be on a vessel’s bottom, and daubing it over with tallow, or some mixture.

  BOUND. Wind-bound. When a vessel is kept in port by a head wind.

  Bow. The rounded part of a vessel, forward.

  BOWER. A working anchor, the cable of which is bent and reeved through the hawse-hole.

  Best bower is the larger of the two bowers.

  BOW-GRACE. A frame of old rope or junk, placed round the bows and sides of a vessel, to prevent the ice from injuring her.

  BOWLINE. (Pronounced bo-lin.) A rope leading forward from the leech of a square sail, to keep the leech well out when sailing close-hauled. A vessel is said to be on a bowline, or on a taut bowline, when she is close-hauled.