{"id":"01KG6YHA8MCD4WMYEEASJM0S5C","cid":"bafkreif5wumjlifwd4u6gk57nuesfdanmeprhtnsmvs5i6ydhrvys2j4oy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2324,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:55.409Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","start_line":2266,"text":"woolly, from long unacquaintance with the scraper, tar, and the brush.\r\nHer keel seemed laid, her ribs put together, and she launched, from\r\nEzekiel’s Valley of Dry Bones.\r\n\r\nIn the present business in which she was engaged, the ship’s general\r\nmodel and rig appeared to have undergone no material change from their\r\noriginal warlike and Froissart pattern. However, no guns were seen.\r\n\r\nThe tops were large, and were railed about with what had once been\r\noctagonal net-work, all now in sad disrepair. These tops hung overhead\r\nlike three ruinous aviaries, in one of which was seen, perched, on a\r\nratlin, a white noddy, a strange fowl, so called from its lethargic,\r\nsomnambulistic character, being frequently caught by hand at sea.\r\nBattered and mouldy, the castellated forecastle seemed some ancient\r\nturret, long ago taken by assault, and then left to decay. Toward the\r\nstern, two high-raised quarter galleries—the balustrades here and there\r\ncovered with dry, tindery sea-moss—opening out from the unoccupied\r\nstate-cabin, whose dead-lights, for all the mild weather, were\r\nhermetically closed and calked—these tenantless balconies hung over the\r\nsea as if it were the grand Venetian canal. But the principal relic of\r\nfaded grandeur was the ample oval of the shield-like stern-piece,\r\nintricately carved with the arms of Castile and Leon, medallioned about\r\nby groups of mythological or symbolical devices; uppermost and central\r\nof which was a dark satyr in a mask, holding his foot on the prostrate\r\nneck of a writhing figure, likewise masked.\r\n\r\nWhether the ship had a figure-head, or only a plain beak, was not quite\r\ncertain, owing to canvas wrapped about that part, either to protect it\r\nwhile undergoing a re-furbishing, or else decently to hide its decay.\r\nRudely painted or chalked, as in a sailor freak, along the forward side\r\nof a sort of pedestal below the canvas, was the sentence, “_Seguid\r\nvuestro jefe_” (follow your leader); while upon the tarnished\r\nheadboards, near by, appeared, in stately capitals, once gilt, the\r\nship’s name, “SAN DOMINICK,” each letter streakingly corroded with\r\ntricklings of copper-spike rust; while, like mourning weeds, dark\r\nfestoons of sea-grass slimily swept to and fro over the name, with\r\nevery hearse-like roll of the hull.\r\n\r\nAs, at last, the boat was hooked from the bow along toward the gangway\r\namidship, its keel, while yet some inches separated from the hull,\r\nharshly grated as on a sunken coral reef. It proved a huge bunch of\r\nconglobated barnacles adhering below the water to the side like a wen—a\r\ntoken of baffling airs and long calms passed somewhere in those seas.\r\n\r\nClimbing the side, the visitor was at once surrounded by a clamorous\r\nthrong of whites and blacks, but the latter outnumbering the former\r\nmore than could have been expected, negro transportation-ship as the\r\nstranger in port was. But, in one language, and as with one voice, all\r\npoured out a common tale of suffering; in which the negresses, of whom\r\nthere were not a few, exceeded the others in their dolorous vehemence.\r\nThe scurvy, together with the fever, had swept off a great part of\r\ntheir number, more especially the Spaniards. Off Cape Horn they had\r\nnarrowly escaped shipwreck; then, for days together, they had lain\r\ntranced without wind; their provisions were low; their water next to\r\nnone; their lips that moment were baked.\r\n\r\nWhile Captain Delano was thus made the mark of all eager tongues, his\r\none eager glance took in all faces, with every other object about him.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6YGB7Z3K8B6BYJGR83VQN5","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6YHA8HDMMZ06KGCP22V3AM","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6YHAXACWRVJEFJ786YY61C","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:57.396Z","ts":"2026-01-30T07:58:03.518Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}