Two Years Before the Mast · Chapter
Chapter XXIII explained
The narrator describes the daily routine of rowing passengers and goods ashore in the gig, the race between the ship and the brig Catalina to Santa Barbara, the crew's composition and duties during tacking, the captain's habit of sailing on
What happens
The narrator describes the daily routine of rowing passengers and goods ashore in the gig, the race between the ship and the brig Catalina to Santa Barbara, the crew's composition and duties during tacking, the captain's habit of sailing on Sundays for economic reasons, and his deepening acquaintance with the remarkable Tom Harris during night watches in port.
Themes in this chapter
Labor and Economy
The crew's labor is maximized by sailing on Sundays, and the gig's duties are preferred for the variety and social opportunities they offer over cargo work.
Isolation and Longing
The quiet, death-like stillness of Santa Barbara and the monotony of port life contrast with the narrator's engagement with Tom Harris's stories and companionship.
Transformation and Identity
The narrator's deepening friendship with Tom Harris and learning of his remarkable mind and history contributes to the narrator's personal growth and understanding of seafaring life.
Characters to notice
- Richard Henry Dana Jr.
Serves in the gig, rows passengers and goods ashore, enjoys the variety and social opportunities, and spends night watches with Tom Harris.
- Tom Harris
The narrator's watchmate for nine months; a remarkable man with perfect memory, rapid calculation, and deep knowledge of seamanship and sailors' lives.
- Captain Thompson
Manages the ship's sailing and arrival on Sundays for economic gain; spends evenings ashore at Santa Barbara.
- John (French John)
Head man of the starboard watch; a first-rate seaman with coal-black whiskers and curly hair.
- Chips
The carpenter, a Swede by birth, sometimes musters in the starboard watch and is accounted the best helmsman in the ship.
- Ben (English Ben)
An English lad who belongs on the mizen topsail yard with the narrator; a good sailor for his years.
Key passages
“Some days, when people were coming and going fast, we were in the boat, pulling off and on, all day long, with hardly time for our meals; making, as we lay nearly three miles from shore, from forty to fifty miles’ rowing in a day.”
On busy days, we rowed back and forth constantly, covering forty to fifty miles and barely stopping to eat.
Highlights the strenuous physical labor of the gig crew.
“The main reason for sailing on the Sabbath is not, as many people suppose, because Sunday is thought a lucky day, but because it is a leisure day.”
Ships sail on Sunday not for superstition but because it's the crew's only day off, allowing owners to get extra work from them.
Explains the economic motive behind Sunday sailing.
“His memory was perfect; seeming to form a regular chain, reaching from his earliest childhood up to the time I knew him, without one link wanting.”
Tom Harris's memory was flawless, connecting every event from his childhood to the present without gaps.
Describes the extraordinary mental capacity of Tom Harris.