If you are expecting a faithful adaptation of the Richard Henry Dana book, you'll be sadly disappointed. Dana's chronicle of shipboard life, rounding the Horn, and his adventures in 1830's California are nowhere to be found. Instead, we get a ridiculous story where a ship owner's son is press-ganged onto one of his father's ships, a tyrannical captain, floggings, and a mutiny--in other words, typical Hollywood.
I happen to be a big fan of the book, and I live in Dana Point, California, the scene of one of Dana's best-known adventures. Even so, I recognize that a certain amount of dramatic license is to be expected. But not completely changing the story.
Richard Henry Dana was a well-to-do child of privilege in Boston. He dropped out of Harvard in the early 1830s for health reasons and signed onto a merchant vessel as an ordinary seaman. Apparently, he thought the fresh air would do him good. He discovered how tough a seaman's lot was, but he toughed it out and made it to California, where he discovered a whole new world.
There was a flogging in the book, but no mutiny. The captain was what the British call a , but that is as far as it went. The experience left Dana a changed man. He went back to Harvard, got a law degree, and became a prominent maritime lawyer. And he did fight for the rights of the common seamen of the day.
I recommend the book; it's far better than the cheap theatrics of this movie.
I happen to be a big fan of the book, and I live in Dana Point, California, the scene of one of Dana's best-known adventures. Even so, I recognize that a certain amount of dramatic license is to be expected. But not completely changing the story.
Richard Henry Dana was a well-to-do child of privilege in Boston. He dropped out of Harvard in the early 1830s for health reasons and signed onto a merchant vessel as an ordinary seaman. Apparently, he thought the fresh air would do him good. He discovered how tough a seaman's lot was, but he toughed it out and made it to California, where he discovered a whole new world.
There was a flogging in the book, but no mutiny. The captain was what the British call a , but that is as far as it went. The experience left Dana a changed man. He went back to Harvard, got a law degree, and became a prominent maritime lawyer. And he did fight for the rights of the common seamen of the day.
I recommend the book; it's far better than the cheap theatrics of this movie.