Before the Mast

"There is witchery in the sea,

its songs and stories,

and in the mere sight of a ship,

and the sailors dress,

espesially to a young mind,

which has done more to man navies,

and fill merchant men,

then all the pressgangs of Europe."

*******

Richard Henry Dana Jr.

two years before the mast:

a salors lfe at sea.