Two Years Before the Mast · Chapter
IX explained
The crew experiences their first landing on the California coast, learning the dangerous technique of surf landing and observing Sandwich Islanders loading hides and tallow.
What happens
The crew experiences their first landing on the California coast, learning the dangerous technique of surf landing and observing Sandwich Islanders loading hides and tallow. Tensions between the captain and mate begin to surface, and the narrator reflects on the harsh realities of the hide-droghing trade.
Themes in this chapter
Labor and Economy
The chapter details the physical labor of surf landings and hide loading, highlighting the economic realities of the hide-droghing trade and the division of labor between officers, sailors, and Sandwich Islanders.
Cultural Encounter and Otherness
The narrator encounters Sandwich Islanders, a Spanish horseman, and the unfamiliar customs of the California coast, emphasizing the cultural differences and the narrator's sense of alienation.
Authority and Discipline
Tensions between the captain and mate are introduced, with the narrator anticipating trouble due to the captain's interference and the mate's leniency.
Characters to notice
- Richard Henry Dana Jr.
The narrator observes the surf landing and hide loading, reflecting on the contrast with his Cambridge college life.
- Captain Thompson
The captain takes the steering oar for the return trip and has been finding fault with the mate, hinting at future trouble.
- Mr. Brown
Bill Brown comments on the unfamiliarity of the place, calling it 'the seventh city that ever I was in, and no Christian one neither.'
- Tom Harris
Tom responds to Bill Brown's remark, saying 'you haven't seen the worst of it yet.'
- Captain Nye
Captain Nye is mentioned as the master of the brig Loriotte, engaged in the coastal trade.
- John (French John)
John, the Swedish sailor, is the narrator's watchmate for the anchor watch from midnight to two.
Key passages
“This is what I call 'head work.'”
The second mate jokes that carrying hides on their heads is a literal form of 'head work,' contrasting with intellectual labor.
The second mate's comment underscores the physical demands of the hide trade and the narrator's distance from his academic past.
“This is the seventh city that ever I was in, and no Christian one neither.”
Bill Brown expresses his discomfort and sense of foreignness in this unfamiliar place.
Bill's remark reflects the cultural alienation felt by the crew in Mexican California.