In his book Two Years Before the Mast, the American lawyer and author Richard Henry Dana (1815-1882) reveals his experiences as a young man at sea aboard the brig Pilgrim in 1834.
The mast of a sailing ship was the boundary between the quarters of officers in the rear and the crew in front.
Dana kept a diary of the wretched treatment and conditions experienced by a common seaman living “before the mast,” and from his notes he compiled his book, published in 1840.
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