Working the Waters

by Jesse Forman 

In Dana's work Two Years Before the Mast, Dana tells about his life at sea from the perspective of an educated outsider becoming a common tar. He appears to have surprisingly little trouble integrating himself into this new lifestyle. Like any other work describing the life of a sailor, he emphasizes the constant hard work, as well as the dismal food and living conditions. One aspect he emphasizes is a sailor's knack for humor and understatement. Just as the fishermen in Trawler call six story waves "lumps," and the fisherwomen in The Entangling Net stop working when it is "a little cold," so too does Dana describe the understated humor a sailor uses when he nearly suffers disaster, such as in the case of falling from aloft and being caught up in the belly of a sail. Such humour would appear to stem from the collective hardships suffered by the sailors. Though each appreciates the suffering of others, it would not do to make such suffering apparent through complaints.