What happens
Captain Thompson takes command of the brig Pilgrim, sailing from Boston for California under the owner's orders, with a crew press-ganged from the waterfront. Richard Dana, a young sailor who signed on voluntarily, clashes with the captain and with Charles Stewart, the owner's idle son who has been forced aboard. Lux Radio Theatre presents this adaptation of Richard Henry Dana's book Two Years Before the Mast, first broadcast on September 22, 1947, with Alan Ladd, Howard De Silva, McDonald Carey and Wanda Hendricks. In this part, the crew endures harsh discipline, a stolen meal and a flogging, and passengers are taken aboard at Pernambuco.
Boston Harbor and aboard the brig Pilgrim on a voyage from Boston to California, 1835
Characters: Captain Thompson, Charles Stewart, Richard Dana, Mr. Amazon, Mr. Foster, Sam Hooper, Maria, Mrs. Stewart
Listen for: Captain Thompson's order that the crew be turned to, and Dana's first conversation with Charles Stewart on the quarterdeck
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.