One Night ‘Before the Mast’ Leaves Indelible Impression on Youngsters

It has been suggested that the best way to see the future is to glimpse the past. At any rate, a glimpse into the past does add richness to the present, because it furnishes historical perspective on the forward-moving continuity of man, despite dismaying breakdowns in the progress.

These thoughts came to me as my wife and I leaned on the railing of the seawall of Dana Point West Marina. We were watching with amusement small parties of youngsters being rowed out to the brig Pilgrim II, replica of the vessel in which Richard Henry Dana sailed around Cape Horn in 1834 and in the next year visited this harbor, no more than a bight then protected from northwesterlies by the brooding headland that now bears his name.

The youngsters, Boy Scouts from Sherman Oaks and Van Nuys, were reliving history meted out to them in pretty heavy doses by marine bilogists from the nearby Orange County Marine Institute. The biologists double as officers on the brig of yore, and they were costumed as seamen of the early 1900s.

Dave Hartje--or, I should say, Mister Hartje--was acting the role of the Pilgrim’s first mate--hoarsely, roughly, and with a rolling, roaring enthusiasm that would have curdled my blood were I of the age of those kids.

The boys were warned ahead of time of what to expect, Hartje told me privately later, out of earshot of his charges, as Ray Nelson, wearing a top hat over his shoulder-length hair and using a quill pen, was signing the new crew onto the ship’s manifest. Nelson’s role this day was captain of the brig.

Only the captain, Hartje had sputtered and growled earlier at his would-be sailors, should be addressed as “Sir.”

“Say ‘Aye, Aye, Sir,’ and sing out when you say it!”

After a few attempts, the scouts were standing straighter and singing out, “Aye, Aye!” with admirable force. Then Hartje had ordered them to leave their gear along the seawall and march into the lecture hall of the Marine Institute, to meet the captain and be signed on for “two years before the mast.”

“You got a bunch of old lady legs on--move it!” he yelled.

During the registration, Hartje took a break to put out the slim cigar he had been puffing. He coughed and grimmaced, and stopped gesturing menacingly with his belaying pin.

“I yelled myself hoarse when I first started this, now I’m used to it. The kids will sleep overnight on the brig and go home in the morning. They’ve all prepared for this by reading Dana’s “Two Years Before the Mast,” he explained.

We were joined by Valerie Farrell, whose turn it was to play the role of Doctor, the ship’s cook. Loren Clark was second mate on this “voyage.” It was Clark who had rowed the youngsters out to the 98-foot (sparred length) brig in the longboat.

The Pilgrim, lying at cables about 100 feet off shore, is owned and operated by the nonprofit Marine Institute, which offers this “hands-on” learning experience weekly to school districts and youth groups.

Toward dusk last weekend, we sat in the cockpit of the Herald Bird and watched the kids learning to row the longboat. They caught the usual number of “crabs” with the oars and raised and lowered one of the brig’s big staysails, their hearty “aye ayes” drifting across the water.

We agreed it was a wonderful program and wished there had been one like it when we were kids, and teachers had simply assigned us to read Dana’s classic. The historical past was surely enriching these youngsters’ present.

If you wish to mark (without getting yelled at) the 150th anniversary of Dana’s arrival at this former bight, you should know about the Marine Institute’s dramatic presentation of this classic book aboard the Pilgrim II, in which Daniel Trent will play the young Dana. Show dates are in July and August. For further information and reservations, phone 496-2274 or 831-3850. Proceeds will go toward supporting the Pilgrim’s educational programs.