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Two Years Before the Mast

Gelesen von LibriVox Volunteers

(4,556 Sterne; 116 Bewertungen)

While there are many books upon the subject of sea life, there are few that can compare with Two Years Before the Mast. It is the story of a sailor's life from the forecastle, not a captain, nor a passenger, but a regular hand. The book was a great favorite with the jack tar of Dana's day, and two thousand copies are said to have been sold to Liverpool sailors in a single day. Even those who haven't the faintest idea what reefing topsail is, or which is starboard and which larboard, will find it an engaging story of an era long past told in simple narrative style. (Summary by BethAnne)

Dedicated Proof-Listener: Gesine & Rapunzelina
Meta-Coordinator/Cataloging: Jc Guan & TriciaG
(17 hr 41 min)

Chapters

Preface

5:10

Read by BethAnne

Departure

5:48

Read by BethAnne

First Impressions

16:21

Read by BethAnne

Ship's Duties

14:14

Read by BethAnne

Sundays At Sea

18:40

Read by BethAnne

Cape Horn

23:41

Read by BethAnne

Loss of a Man

12:19

Read by BethAnne

Juan Fernandez

16:55

Read by BethAnne

Daily Life

14:00

Read by BethAnne

Santa Barbra

20:21

Read by BethAnne

A South Easter

11:37

Read by BethAnne

Passage Up the Coast

13:12

Read by BethAnne

Monterey

7:33

Read by BethAnne

Trading At Monterey

27:01

Read by BethAnne

Discontent

32:00

Read by BethAnne

Flogging, Part 1

19:57

Read by BethAnne

Flogging, Part 2

18:28

Read by BethAnne

Liberty Day on Shore

21:03

Read by BethAnne

San Diego

19:37

Read by BethAnne

Easter Sunday, Part 1

19:27

Read by BethAnne

Easter Sunday, Part 2

17:27

Read by BethAnne

Sandwich-Islanders, Part 1

20:05

Read by BethAnne

Sandwich-Islanders, Part 2

19:58

Read by BethAnne

New Comers

23:07

Read by BethAnne

California and its Inhabitants

15:40

Read by BethAnne

The Alert

16:22

Read by BethAnne

New Ship and Shipmates, Part 1

25:53

Read by BethAnne

New Ship and Shipmates, Part 2

23:50

Read by BethAnne

San Diego Again

19:20

Read by BethAnne

Rumours of War, Part 1

23:10

Read by BethAnne

Rumours of War, Part 2

21:56

Read by BethAnne

San Francisco

22:25

Read by BethAnne

A Fandango

28:11

Read by BethAnne

News From Home

35:07

Read by BethAnne

Loading for Home, Part 1

24:48

Read by BethAnne

Loading for Home, Part 2

34:34

Read by BethAnne

Homeward Bound

32:29

Read by BethAnne

Bad Prospects, Part 1

29:18

Read by BethAnne

Bad Prospects, Part 2

30:58

Read by BethAnne

Doubling Cape Horn

29:05

Read by BethAnne

Northward Ho!

28:15

Read by BethAnne

Nearing Home

20:55

Read by BethAnne

More Stirring Incidents

24:43

Read by BethAnne

Hurrah for Yankee Land!

24:29

Read by BethAnne

Original Concluding Chapter, Part 1

23:46

Read by BethAnne

Original Concluding Chapter, Part 2

25:20

Read by BethAnne

Epilogue, Part 1

30:47

Read by BethAnne

Epilogue, Part 2

27:48

Read by TriciaG

Epilogue Part 3

24:22

Read by TriciaG

Bewertungen

I feel as if I've been there

(5 Sterne)

All the descriptive detail leaves one feeling as if they were there. Daily journal entries highlight the unrelenting respect for authority required by everyman under the captain for survival. Day after day cowling and succumbing to unrelenting work schedules and lack of sleep.The shipmates supreme luxury being a full nights sleep. This book is true food for the soul for anyone with any salt in their blood. One can feel the excitement of the return home and the completion of the task. Conclusions and epilogues highlight the interest in returning to California shortly after and seeing tremendous change. Magnificent, worth the second read. Ahoy Dana, if you hear me, Bravo and thank you. The sticks

(5 Sterne)

I really liked her voice. She is smart and the story is great!. This story will explain everything that went on aboard a Sailing vessel back in the old days haha.

Excellent! We're not worthy, wonderful volunteers

(5 Sterne)

Thanks, most enjoyable addition to the archives!

(5 Sterne)

The reader for the content of the book was overall great! However...when I came to the epilogue two and three, I was incensed to hear an AI voice reading. It will NEVER be able to replace a human. It has not the voice inflection nor emotion to be capable to do this!! Please do not allow this on your site. It is a dumbing down of humanity to allow this to go on.

Decent Recording

(4 Sterne)

A compelling history, complete with contemporary social commentary, read with great spirit and good inflection. A few common English words are consistently mispronounced, the Latin could be a more clearly enunciated, but most of all the recording is a bit soft and the epilog needs to be revisited by the original reader (please!)

A Classic - and true - Sea Story

(5 Sterne)

A classic tale of life on a sailing ship from the perspective of a common seaman. Really really good. Although I initially questioned that such a work would be read by a woman, she was an excellent reader and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to her. Well done...

A true classic. It hasn't lost any appeal in 180 years.

(5 Sterne)

I don't get the bad reviews. BethAnne put a lot of effort into this reading including some dramatic reading of dialogue. A soothing voice and cute accent add to the enjoyment too. I would listen to it over again.

(3 Sterne)

I concur that a male voice would lend more credibility to the story, as well as one who can read entire sentences instead of fragments. These distract from the amazing account of sailing a merchant vessel and requires the listener to constantly mentally connect and correct the spoken words.