Jeremy McCauley, age 16, of Dubuque,  Iowa, for his question:

WHO WAS RICHARD HENRY DANA?

Richard Henry Dana was a distinguished American lawyer who lived about 150 years ago. He wrote a widely read book called "Two Years Before the Mast" that was a diary of a two year sea journey he had taken from Boston to California when he was a young man.

Dana had been a student at Harvard but his eyes were giving him trouble. At the age of 19, he decided to take some time away from his school books and go to sea. He shipped out in 1834 on a brig named "Pilgrim."

Dana shared the work and discomforts on the trip that went around Cape born and up the western coasts of South and North America and back again to Massachusetts.

In his book Dana told about life on board ship, the struggle in getting the ship around the cape, and a mutiny.

When he returned from the trip, Dana went back to Harvard and became a lawyer, devoting his life to international law and the cause of sailors.