Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

“There is a witchery in the sea, its songs and stories, and in the mere sight of a ship, and the sailor's dress.”

“A sailor's life is at best but a mixture of a little good with much evil, and a little pleasure with much pain.”

“The captain, in the first place, is lord paramount. He stands no responsibility to any one.”

“The sailor is the slave of the capstan.”

“To be a sailor is to be a wanderer.”

“A voice from the forecastle has now been heard on shore.”

“There is no class of men who are so entirely abandoned to spiritual neglect as seamen.”

“They were a hard-favored set, with voices husky with shouting in polar gales.”

“A ship is a little world of its own, which the sailor considers his home for the time being.”

“So much for the romance of the sea. The conditions of the forecastle are those of a dog-kennel.”

“Eight dollars a month, and find yourself, was the wages of a common sailor.”

“I found that a flogging on board of a man-of-war is no momentary thing.”