Two Years Before the Mast, by Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

<p>A crew faced the hazardous prospect of rounding the bleak Cape Horn in midwinter. Imagine the terror when a sudden scream pierced the misery-laden air. What was it? A man overboard or a lost soul? (Volume 23, Harvard Classics)</p> <p>R. H. Dana on watch, night of June 6, 1836.</p>