History 140

Midterm

Richard Henry Dana came from a prominent Brahmin family. He attended Harvard college but was forced to drop out his junior year due to a measles attack which temporarily affected his eyesight. Dana wanted to tour Europe but was unable to afford it. Instead, he decided to sign on as a seaman at nineteen years old, and sailed around Cape Horn to California. When trying to recall his motives for becoming a seaman he wasn't sure if it was his "desire to cure my eyes, my love of adventure and the attraction of the novelty of a life before the mast, or anxiety to escape from the depressing situation of inactivity and dependence at home" (vi).

The first place they come to is the island of Juan Fernandez. Here ."..all the people, except the soldiers and a few officers, were convicts sent from Valparaiso" (48). Because of...