# Sam — Two Years Before the Mast character guide

> Sam in Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana Jr..

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Uncle Sam

**First appearance:** 0004-ii

## Snapshot

An old, experienced sailor on the Pilgrim whose flogging at the captain's hands becomes the narrator's brutal education in a sailor's legal helplessness.

## Who they are

Sam is a veteran hand whose years at sea earn him the crew's quiet respect, but neither experience nor standing protects him when the captain orders him seized up against the shrouds. The narrator, who has eaten and lived beside him for months, watches in sickened fury as the rope falls, realizing that resistance means mutiny and mutiny means piracy. Sam's suffering crystallizes the book's central outrage: the law offers a sailor submission or nothing.

## Relationships

### [John (French John)](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/john_french_john)

_friendship_

French John and Sam are fellow crew members who share a friendly bond and work together on the ship.

## In the story

### [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/chapters/xv)

Flogged first, bears the punishment in silence until he mutters something unintelligible.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters/sam
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/two_years_before_the_mast_se/characters