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After a two-year sea voyage from Boston to California on a commerce ship beginning in 1834, American author Richard Henry Dana Jr.s memoir Two Years Before the Mast was published in 1840. Dana quit Harvard to serve as a common seaman on the ship Pilgrim on a voyage around Cape Horn. Two years later, he made his way back to Massachusetts. Throughout the journey, he kept a journal, and after arriving home, he composed this timeless piece. The common sailors quarters are located at the forecastle at the front of the ship and are referred to as being "before the mast." This "full" edition includes diagrams of sailing ships, a preface, comments that were written 24 and 76 years after the voyage, and maps of his travels.