The Hawaiian gazette., 1884-12-17
An English Sailors ITrfbute to Yankee
Sailors Yarn.

Dana was the trst man 10 look AT the
sea life as a real thing, and to. make the
world know it as a real thing. America
should be proud of that triumphant book,
=. Two Years Before the Mast We are a
great maritime people the oceans of the
world are our realm, and every billoT that
rolls from north to south, from east 20
west. carries British interest along Its
LIQUID path Is it not wonderful that we
should have waited for Yankee student
to show US how 10 write book that should
be true to the sailor, true to the ship he
sails in. true to the deep he navigates
For my part, / heartily begrudge Boston
for her famous warner" and for the hon
or of this country could wish that his
grand sea picture had the Union Jack
hanging over it instead Of the Eagle that
is perched at all times upon its frame.
The difference between Two Years Be
fore the Mast and most of the nautical
novels which have been written on this
side the Atlantic is the difference between
the marine drama, as We are accustomed
TO witness it in London and provincial
theatres, and the calling IT carcatures.
Dana's book is a solid fact from beginning
to end-not one jot more SO because it
forms collection Of his experiences when
at sea, than because Of the superb sailor
like spirit. the exquisite accuracy and the
great hearted sympathy that every page
is full of. Il vowed he says, after de
scribing the fogging on board the Pill
grim. -. vow that il God should ever
give me the means would do something
to redress the grievances and relieve the
sufferings of that class of beings with
whom my lot has so long been cast" He
could not have gone to work more effect
ually than by writing Two Years Before
the Mast" 1t was time that somebody
showed the public down into the merchant
ships forecastle, pointed to the hunks in
which the sailors sleep, the dripping car
lings, the evil smelling slush lamp, the
water splashing through the scuttle, the
poor clothes of the heavily worked men,
the infamous food and vile water on which
they subsisted. 1t was time, ] say. No
landsman could guess the truth, and those
who had suffered who could speak of the
horrors Of scurvy from darkness and damp,
and fare such as u hog might disdain,
were ignorant and unable to put their
story before the world. But then comes
Dana, a fine genius, full Of spirit He
shipped as foremost hand in a little brig
bound round Cape Horn to the Western
American coast, and he spent three years
OF his life among sailors. working with
them. suffering with them, taking their
few pleasures with them. We are used TO
his book now, and since his time plenty of
interest has been taken in the merchant
service; but / sometimes think that an cx-
amazement must have been eI-
cited among those Of the public who cared
for sea yarns when Two Years Before the
Mast was first published. By what mag
ic Dana absorbs the attention Of his read
ers by plain, unvarnished narrative Of
forecastle life in little brig? But that
was not quite it. How did it happen. /
dare say people wanted to know, that
these poor sailors who so deeply interest
ed them in Dana's work were SO utterly
unlike the mariners they had been accus-
toned to read about since the days of
Smollett? Where was the Saturday night
larkingl where the cans of grogl the
= wives and sweethearts?r the dancing on
the main deck? the gay uniforms, the
handsome middies, the sea battles, the
lovely heroines, and all the rest Of the well
known stuff? Instead of this they found
a brutal, course mouthed skipper, a couple
Of mates n9ther handsome nor sentimen-
tai, and forward an odd collection of rude
and rough figures in Scotch caps and old
shirts. There was no heroine, there was
no fighting, there was nothing more spirit |
ed in the way of diversion than landau |
20 at Santa Barbara; but there was the |
best of all things in this world-truth
Because of it the book went straight home |
% the heart, and inasmuch as that it is as |
rue in the main of life on board ship to |
lay as it was when written forty-five
years ago. there can be no excuse for any
,ne DESTROYS to write for or against the |
,ailor not to very fairly understand the
nature and duties of Mercantile Tacks life
while Two Years Before the Mast" re
mains in print.-W. Cart Russell IN tic
fOBfeDi DorrrU Rfrie,r