The first voyage that Richard Henry Dana, Jr. takes is aboard the Pilgrim, which leaves from Boston en route to California via Cape Horn. He immediately swops his fine clothes for the trousers and tarpaulin hat of a sailor, though he is "bewildered" by the "strange cries" and "stranger actions" that he hears on board the ship, as he is unaccustomed to them. He lives in steerage, amid ropes and other items that have not been stored. During this first voyage, he encounters relatively fine weather on his way to trading hides with the Spanish missions along the California coast. He is initiated into life on the sea and witnesses the flogging of members of the crew, including a member of the crew who is flogged merely for disagreeing with the captain. This experience makes him feel "sick and almost faint" (page 52).
On the way home to Boston, Dana is aboard the Alert with too few crew. In addition, the ship is loaded heavily, and it has to travel in winter. He writes, "The prospect of meeting this in a ship half manned, and loaded so deep that every heavy sea must wash her fore and aft, was by no means pleasant." As Dana nears the Cape in summer (which is winter in that part of the world), he develops a horrible toothache, worsened by the cold weather, and can hardly open his mouth. On July 4th, a day on which he'd be celebrating in Boston, a squall develops, and the ship is coated with ice. The ship meets bad weather for a long period of time, and the crew is forced to work overtime. In addition, some members of the crew develop scurvy and are eventually cured by fresh vegetables from another ship. This voyage is far more difficult than the original voyage, and Dana suffers quite a bit during the voyage home. Though he is more initiated into life at sea by the second voyage, Dana finds it incredibly arduous, as do the rest of the crew. Five minutes after they land in Boston, the entire crew has left the ship.
No comments:
Post a Comment