"A Medium in Which I Seek Relief": Manuscripts of American Sailors 1919-1940Main MenuIntroductionPublication IntroductionTranscriptionsThe SailorsBeginning of PathThe ShipsBeginning of PathContext & AnalysisBeginning of PathSources / CitationsBeginning of PathAnnie Tummino3ab49bb2dc491ebce8f162f5757538b6789c8434
Dana, "Going to sea with gloves on"
12020-04-05T08:19:59-07:00Annie Tummino3ab49bb2dc491ebce8f162f5757538b6789c8434331951Noteplain2020-04-05T08:20:00-07:00Annie Tummino3ab49bb2dc491ebce8f162f5757538b6789c8434"Now, in the first place, the whole course of life, and daily duties, the discipline, habits and customs of a man-of-war are very different from those of the merchant service; and in the next place, however entertaining and well written these books may be, and however accurately they may give sea-life as it appears to their authors, it must still be plain to every one that a naval officer, who goes to sea as a gentleman, 'with his gloves on,' (as the phrase is,) and who associated only with his fellow-officers, and hardly speaks to a sailor except through a boatswain's mate, must take a very different view of the whole matter from that which would be taken by a common sailor." -Richard Henry Dana, from the Preface to Two Years Before the Mast.