# Homeward Bound: Preparations and Anticipation explained — Two Years Before the Mast > Chapter companion for Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana Jr.. ## What happens The chapter describes the beginning of the long return voyage from San Diego to Boston. The crew, though short-handed due to illness and transfers, is in high spirits with fair winds and fine weather. They prepare for the harsh conditions ahead, especially rounding Cape Horn in winter, by mending clothes and gear. The narrator encounters an old acquaintance, Professor N⸺, who joins as a passenger. The crew's daily routines, songs, and discussions about home and the journey ahead are depicted. ## Themes in this chapter ### Hardship and Endurance The crew faces a short-handed voyage, leaking forecastle, and the daunting prospect of rounding Cape Horn in winter, yet they prepare with resilience and ingenuity. ### Isolation and Longing The sailors' constant thoughts of home, their songs and discussions about Boston, and the solitary walks of the narrator underscore the longing for return. ### Labor and Economy The crew's work includes setting up rigging, preparing sails, and mending clothes, all driven by the economic necessity of a swift passage and the captain's demand for maximum speed. ## Character check-ins ### Richard Henry Dana Jr. The narrator reflects on the voyage home, prepares for bad weather, and recalls his surprise at meeting Professor N⸺. ### Mr. N⸺ Professor N⸺ of Cambridge, a former acquaintance, joins as a passenger, collecting specimens on the California coast. ### Captain Thompson The captain drives the ship hard with full sail, and rumors circulate about his plans for rounding Cape Horn. ### Tom Harris Tom is mentioned in the crew's daily discussions about latitude and progress. ### Foster Foster, an older sailor, is left behind at the hide house due to a stroke, despite wishing to return home. ### Sails The sailmaker is taken with palsy early in the voyage, leaving the crew even more short-handed. ## Key lines > Every wave that she threw aside brought us nearer home, and every day's observation at noon showed a progress which, if it continued, would in less than five months, take us into Boston Bay. Each wave pushed us closer to home, and the daily noon readings indicated that if we kept this pace, we would reach Boston Bay in under five months. _Highlights the crew's anticipation and the measured progress of the voyage._ > This is the pleasure of life at sea—fine weather, day after day, without interruption—fair wind, and a plenty of it—and homeward bound. The joy of being at sea comes from endless fine weather, steady fair winds, and the knowledge that we are heading home. _Captures the rare contentment of a favorable voyage._ > Never mind—we're homeward bound! was the answer to everything; and we should not have minded this, were it not for the thought that we should be off Cape Horn in the very dead of winter. The crew's mantra was 'homeward bound' to dismiss hardships, but the looming prospect of rounding Cape Horn in winter weighed heavily on them. _Shows the crew's morale and underlying anxiety about the dangerous passage ahead._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/chapters/xxx - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/chapters