Two Years Before the Mast: A Sailor's Life at Sea

Mizzen! Jib! Top'sl! Stay'sl! Focsle! Reef'sl! Gallant'sl! Expect to hear those words over and over and over. The most valuable part of this book is historical, especially California in the 1840s, a completely alien place.

Not quite the naval adventure I was expecting. The first part was actually interesting, and then we get mired in California and have to listen to a bunch of period-specific factoids about Californian people that I could do without. Dropped.