DashTrash400
It's a dog's life
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2004
- Posts
- 449
...the more they stay the same.
From "Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea," by R.H. Dana, Jr, first published in 1840 after several years' voyage around Cape Horn and trading in hides on the California coast 1835-6:
"There is witchery in the sea, its songs and stories, and in the mere sight of a ship, and the sailor's dress, especially to a young mind, which has done more to man navies, and fill merchantmen, than all the pressgangs of Europe. I have known a young man with such a passion for the sea, that the very creaking of a block stirred up his imagination so that he could hardly keep his feet on dry ground; and many are the boys, in every seaport, who are drawn away, as by an almost irresistible attraction, from their work and schools, and hang about the decks and yards of vessels, with a fondness which, it is plain, will have its way. No sooner, however, has the young sailor begun his new life in earnest, than all this fine drapery falls off, and he learns that it is but work and hardship, after all."
170 years later, one could replace "sea" with flying, "ship" with airplane, and "sailor" with pilot, and have a pretty accurate description of things. The allure of flying guarantees there always will be an abundance of kids spending a fortune to learn the trade, yet willing to work for peanuts; but once they're wearing the epaulets, it doesn't take long to start griping about low pay, short overnights, long TAFB, hard work.
Just an observation, based on a passage from Dana's book that rang rather true.
From "Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea," by R.H. Dana, Jr, first published in 1840 after several years' voyage around Cape Horn and trading in hides on the California coast 1835-6:
"There is witchery in the sea, its songs and stories, and in the mere sight of a ship, and the sailor's dress, especially to a young mind, which has done more to man navies, and fill merchantmen, than all the pressgangs of Europe. I have known a young man with such a passion for the sea, that the very creaking of a block stirred up his imagination so that he could hardly keep his feet on dry ground; and many are the boys, in every seaport, who are drawn away, as by an almost irresistible attraction, from their work and schools, and hang about the decks and yards of vessels, with a fondness which, it is plain, will have its way. No sooner, however, has the young sailor begun his new life in earnest, than all this fine drapery falls off, and he learns that it is but work and hardship, after all."
170 years later, one could replace "sea" with flying, "ship" with airplane, and "sailor" with pilot, and have a pretty accurate description of things. The allure of flying guarantees there always will be an abundance of kids spending a fortune to learn the trade, yet willing to work for peanuts; but once they're wearing the epaulets, it doesn't take long to start griping about low pay, short overnights, long TAFB, hard work.
Just an observation, based on a passage from Dana's book that rang rather true.
