McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson CVI · Part 11: Franklin, the sea, India and The Raven
112. Homeward Bound (Richard H. Dana, Jr.)
Goal: Your student can describe life on a sailing ship rounding Cape Horn in the cold.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- A notebook and pen
- A dictionary
What's in the book
From Dana's Two Years before the Mast: the ship rounds Cape Horn on the way home, through cold and ice. Notes explain the Falkland Islands and ship's bells.
The lesson, step by step
Words and meanings
Read the notes printed at the end of the lesson together before reading. The book explains, among others:
Falkland Islands: a group of islands in the Atlantic, east of Cape Horn
bells: on shipboard, time is counted in bells, a bell struck every half hour
Ask your student to find two other hard words in the lesson, guess their meaning from the sentence, then check a dictionary.
About the author
The book says Dana (1815–1879) was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of the poet Richard H. Dana. Eye trouble at nineteen stopped his studies at Harvard, so he sailed to California as a common sailor for two years, then graduated in 1837. He became a lawyer. Two Years before the Mast (1840) describes that voyage.
Read aloud
Read it aloud together. Find Cape Horn on a map first.
Listen for these lines:
It is usual, in voyages round the Cape from the Pacific, to keep to the eastward of the Falkland Islands;
Talk about it
SayWhat was the weather like? Find three details that make you feel cold.
SayWhat work did the sailors have to do in it?
SayWhy were they so glad when eight bells struck?
SayDana went to sea to save his eyes. Would you have done it?
Narration
Your student describes one watch on deck as if they were a sailor on the ship.
Writing (optional)
Write a ship's log for one cold night: the time by bells, the weather and the work.