Richard Henry Dana

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Richard Henry Dana (credit: Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)

(born Aug. 1, 1815, Cambridge, Mass., U.S. — died Jan. 6, 1882, Rome, Italy) U.S. writer and lawyer. Dana left Harvard College because of weakened eyesight and shipped out as a common sailor; after regaining his health, he returned and became a lawyer. He is remembered for his autobiographical Two Years Before the Mast (1840), which revealed the abuses endured by sailors. The Seaman's Friend (1841) became the authoritative guide to seamen's legal rights and duties. He also produced a scholarly edition of Henry Wheaton's Elements of International Law (1866), provided free legal aid to fugitive slaves, and served as U.S. attorney for Massachusetts.

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Richard Henry Dana achieved prominence as a lawyer and author, and for his knowledge of the sea.

Dana was born August 1, 1815, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A student at Harvard University, he interrupted his studies in 1834 and spent two years as a sailor. In 1836, he returned to Harvard, graduating in 1837. He subsequently received an honorary doctor of laws degree in 1866.

Before entering a legal career Dana taught elocution at Harvard from 1839 to 1840. He was admitted to the bar in 1840 and established a successful legal practice, demonstrating his expertise in admiralty cases.

Dana entered politics in 1848 as an organizer of the Free-Soil party, which opposed the principles of slavery. He attended the party's convention of that same year, held in Buffalo, New York.

In 1861, Dana performed the duties of U.S. attorney for the district of Massachusetts, serving in this capacity until 1866. From 1867 to 1868, he participated in the treason trial against confederate President Jefferson Davis, acting as attorney for the United States. During 1866 and 1868, he also returned to Harvard as a lecturer at the law school. In 1877, Dana was selected to represent the United States as senior counsel at the fisheries commission held at Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Dana is regarded as an eminent writer, as is evidenced by the enduring popularity of Two Years Before the Mast, published in 1840. In this book, Dana described his experiences as a sailor, recounting his voyage from Boston around Cape Horn to California from 1834 to 1836. He also authored The Seaman's Friend (1841) and To Cuba and Back (1859), and he edited Wheaton's Elements of International Law (1866).

He died January 6, 1882, in Rome, Italy.