C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (1815–1882)
Dana, Richard Henry, the Younger. A distinguished American publicist, son of R. H. the Elder; born at Cambridge, MA, Aug. 1, 1815; died on Jan. 6, 1882. Obliged to suspend college studies because of an affection of the eyes, he shipped as a seaman on board a whaling vessel. His observations during the two years of his life as a common sailor are contained in his celebrated narrative ‘Two Years Before the Mast’ (1837). Returning to Boston he studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1841 he published ‘The Seaman’s Friend,’ often afterward republished under the title ‘The Seaman’s Manual.’ He details his experiences and observations during a visit to Cuba, in the little volume ‘To Cuba and Back’ (1859). He edited Wheaton’s ‘Elements of International Law’ (1866), and wrote a series of ‘Letters on Italian Unity’ (1871). (See Critical and Biographical Introduction).