{"id":"01KG6GMM50JBMKMDKF0WKT9RWD","cid":"bafkreigo6enerklmtprxl2xbn7hcxg4xv3ctcbxsuc7vthhy2pqkg6bt2i","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2473,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:03.879Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 21","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":2420,"text":"policy adopted in those tragedies of the palace which have occurred more\r\nthan once in the capital founded by Peter the Barbarian, great chiefly\r\nby his crimes.\r\n\r\nThe case was such that fain would the _Indomitable’s_ captain have\r\ndeferred taking any action whatever respecting it further than to keep\r\nthe foretopman a close prisoner till the ship rejoined the squadron, and\r\nthen submitting the matter to the judgment of his admiral.\r\n\r\nBut a true military officer is in one particular like a true monk. Not\r\nwith more of self-abnegation will the latter keep his vows of monastic\r\nobedience than the former his vows of allegiance to martial duty.\r\n\r\nFeeling that unless quick action was taken on it, the deed of the\r\nforetopman, as soon as it should be known on the gun-decks, would tend\r\nto awaken any slumbering embers of the Nore among the crew, a sense of\r\nthe urgency of the case overruled in Captain Vere every other\r\nconsideration. But though a conscientious disciplinarian he was no lover\r\nof authority for mere authority’s sake. Very far was he from embracing\r\nopportunities for monopolising to himself the perils of moral\r\nresponsibility, none at least that could properly be referred to an\r\nofficial superior, or shared with him by his official equals, or even\r\nsubordinates. So thinking, he was glad it would not be at variance with\r\nusage to turn the matter over to a summary court of his own officers,\r\nreserving to himself, as the one on whom the ultimate accountability\r\nwould rest, the right of maintaining a supervision of it, or formally or\r\ninformally interposing at need. Accordingly a drum-head court was\r\nsummarily convened, he electing the individuals composing it--the first\r\nlieutenant, the captain of marines, and the sailing-master.\r\n\r\nIn associating an officer of marines with the sea-lieutenant in a case\r\nhaving to do with a sailor, the commander perhaps deviated from general\r\ncustom. He was prompted thereto by the circumstance that he took that\r\nsoldier to be a judicious person, thoughtful and not altogether\r\nincapable of grappling with a difficult case unprecedented in his prior\r\nexperience. Yet even as to him he was not without some latent misgiving,\r\nfor withal he was an extremely good-natured man, an enjoyer of his\r\ndinner, a sound sleeper, and inclined to obesity. The sort of man who,\r\nthough he would always maintain his manhood in battle, might not prove\r\naltogether reliable in a moral dilemma involving aught of the tragic. As\r\nto the first lieutenant and the sailing-master, Captain Vere could not\r\nbut be aware that though honest natures, of approved gallantry upon\r\noccasion, their intelligence was mostly confined to the matter of active\r\nseamanship, and the fighting demands of their profession. The court was\r\nheld in the same cabin where the unfortunate affair had taken place.\r\nThis cabin, the commander’s, embraced the entire area under the\r\npoop-deck. Aft, and on either side, was a small state-room--the one room\r\ntemporarily a jail, and the other a dead-house--and a yet smaller\r\ncompartment leaving a space between, expanding forward into a goodly\r\noblong of length coinciding with the ship’s beam. A skylight of moderate\r\ndimensions was overhead, and at each end of the oblong space were two\r\nsashed port-hole windows easily convertible back into embrasures for\r\nshort carronades.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 21"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6GK8EG5N9JTTBYRRP0CTKZ","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6GMM50PWRB2159C8DTAJJ5","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6GMMTPM0VCEDBFKDD3MCVR","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:05.760Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:55:14.587Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}