{"id":"01KG6GMNCDCW7E1R46SEEXDNYV","cid":"bafkreife2okxf4at5exf3x46xbb3wetkdaoutndjs423jmordrnbduwzoq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2977,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:03.879Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":2911,"text":"\r\n-----\r\n\r\nFootnote 5:\r\n\r\n  Melville’s MS. contains at this point the words ‘Jonathan Edwards’ in\r\n  brackets. Clearly Melville had in mind the great New England Calvinist\r\n  preacher and theologian when he was writing this sentence.\r\n\r\nFootnote 6:\r\n\r\n  There is an author’s note in the margin of the MS. reading:--_Another\r\n  order to be given here in place of this one._\r\n\r\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n                                   XX\r\n\r\n\r\nIn a seventy-four of the old order the deck known as the upper gun-deck\r\nwas the one covered over by the spar-deck, which last, though not\r\nwithout its armament, was for the most part exposed to the weather. In\r\ngeneral it was at all hours free from hammocks; those of the crew\r\nswinging on the lower gun-deck and berth-deck, the latter being not only\r\na dormitory but also the place for the stowing of the sailors’ bags, and\r\non both sides lined with the large chests or movable pantries of the\r\nmany messes of the men.\r\n\r\nOn the starboard side of the _Indomitable’s_ upper gun-deck, behold\r\nBilly Budd under sentry lying prone in irons in one of the bays formed\r\nby the regular spacing of the guns comprising the batteries on either\r\nside. All these pieces were of the heavier calibre of that period.\r\nMounted on lumbering wooden carriages, they were hampered with\r\ncumbersome harness of breeching and strong side-tackles for running them\r\nout. Guns and carriages, together with the long rammers and shorter\r\nlintstocks lodged in loops overhead--all these, as customary, were\r\npainted black; and the heavy hempen breechings tarred to the same tint,\r\nwore the like livery of the undertaker. In contrast with the funereal\r\ntone of these surroundings the prone sailor’s exterior apparel, white\r\n_jumper_ and white duck trowsers, each more or less soiled, dimly\r\nglimmered in the obscure light of the bay like a patch of discoloured\r\nsnow in early April lingering at some upland cave’s black mouth. In\r\neffect he is already in his shroud or the garments that shall serve him\r\nin lieu of one. Over him, but scarce illuminating him, two\r\nbattle-lanterns swing from two massive beams of the deck above. Fed with\r\nthe oil supplied by the war-contractors (whose gains, honest or\r\notherwise, are in every land an anticipated portion of the harvest of\r\ndeath) with flickering splashes of dirty yellow light they pollute the\r\npale moonshine all but ineffectually struggling in obstructed flecks\r\nthrough the open ports from which the tompioned cannon protrude. Other\r\nlanterns at intervals serve but to bring out somewhat the obscurer bays\r\nwhich, like small confessionals or side-chapels in a cathedral, branch\r\nfrom the long, dim-vistaed, broad aisle, between the two batteries of\r\nthat covered tier.\r\n\r\nSuch was the deck where now lay the Handsome Sailor. Through the\r\nrose-tan of his complexion, no pallor could have shown. It would have\r\ntaken days of sequestration from the winds and the sun to have brought\r\nabout the effacement of that. But the skeleton in the cheek-bone at the\r\npoint of its angle was just beginning delicately to be defined under the\r\nwarm-tinted skin. In fervid hearts self-contained some brief experiences\r\ndevour our human tissue as secret fire in a ship’s hold consumes cotton\r\nin the bale.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6GK8EG6MVE25EJYRF4QYK2","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6GMNCDHQ4VCHT8EYSNAP19","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:07.021Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:55:15.204Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}