{"id":"01KG8AJRHK0YJN2X7Q39KRVW0T","cid":"bafkreig7lcaoa5cbbo5kopc4x5mt2jaf66nhj7pxnprhswgcdumr5avnpi","type":"chapter","properties":{"description":"# CHAPTER XXXVII.\n\n## Overview\nThis chapter, titled \"Once More They Take To The Chamois,\" is part of the novel *Mardi: And a Voyage Thither*. It details the characters' efforts to survive after their ship, the Parki, begins to sink. The chapter spans from line 4210 to 4283 of the source text.\n\n## Context\nThis chapter is an integral part of Herman Melville's novel *Mardi: And a Voyage Thither*, which was originally published in 1849. The novel is a complex allegorical romance that critiques contemporary society and politics through the adventures of its characters in the South Pacific. This chapter follows \"CHAPTER XXXVI.\" and precedes \"CHAPTER XXXVIII.\"\n\n## Contents\nThe narrative focuses on the precarious situation of the protagonists aboard the sinking ship, the Parki. They work to keep the vessel afloat by pumping out water, while simultaneously preparing their smaller boat, the Chamois, for departure. The text highlights the emotional connection a seaman can have with a ship, describing the abandonment of the Parki as a painful necessity. After ensuring the Chamois is provisioned and equipped, the characters, including the Skyeman, Samoa, and the narrator, make their escape just moments before the Parki sinks. The chapter concludes with the survivors setting sail westward in the Chamois, their spirits dampened by the ordeal.","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:15.395Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"CHAPTER XXXVII.","end_line":4283,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:39.468Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"CHAPTER XXXVII.","source_file":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","start_line":4210,"text":"CHAPTER XXXVII.\r\nOnce More They Take To The Chamois\r\n\r\n\r\nTry the pumps. We dropped the sinker, and found the Parki bleeding at\r\nevery pore. Up from her well, the water, spring-like, came bubbling,\r\npure and limpid as the water of Saratoga. Her time had come. But by\r\nkeeping two hands at the pumps, we had no doubt she would float till\r\ndaylight; previous to which we liked not to abandon her.\r\n\r\nThe interval was employed in clanging at the pump-breaks, and preparing\r\nthe Chamois for our reception. So soon as the sea permitted, we lowered\r\nit over the side; and letting it float under the stern, stowed it with\r\nwater and provisions, together with various other things, including\r\nmuskets and cutlasses.\r\n\r\nShortly after daylight, a violent jostling and thumping under foot\r\nshowed that the water, gaining rapidly in the, hold, spite of all\r\npumping, had floated the lighter casks up-ward to the deck, against\r\nwhich they were striking.\r\n\r\nNow, owing to the number of empty butts in the hold, there would have\r\nbeen, perhaps, but small danger of the vessel’s sinking outright—all\r\nawash as her decks would soon be—were it not, that many of her timbers\r\nwere of a native wood, which, like the Teak of India, is specifically\r\nheavier than water. This, with the pearl shells on board, counteracted\r\nthe buoyancy of the casks.\r\n\r\nAt last, the sun—long waited for—arose; the Parki meantime sinking\r\nlower and lower.\r\n\r\nAll things being in readiness, we proceeded to embark from the wreck,\r\nas from a wharf.\r\n\r\nBut not without some show of love for our poor brigantine.\r\n\r\nTo a seaman, a ship is no piece of mechanism merely; but a creature of\r\nthoughts and fancies, instinct with life. Standing at her vibrating\r\nhelm, you feel her beating pulse. I have loved ships, as I have loved\r\nmen.\r\n\r\nTo abandon the poor Parki was like leaving to its fate something that\r\ncould feel. It was meet that she should die decently and bravely.\r\n\r\nAll this thought the Skyeman. Samoa and I were in the boat, calling\r\nupon him to enter quickly, lest the vessel should sink, and carry us\r\ndown in the eddies; for already she had gone round twice. But cutting\r\nadrift the last fragments of her broken shrouds, and putting her decks\r\nin order, Jarl buried his ax in the splintered stump of the mainmast,\r\nand not till then did he join us.\r\n\r\nWe slowly cheered, and sailed away.\r\n\r\nNot ten minutes after, the hull rolled convulsively in the sea; went\r\nround once more; lifted its sharp prow as a man with arms pointed for a\r\ndive; gave a long seething plunge; and went down.\r\n\r\nMany of her old planks were twice wrecked; once strown upon ocean’s\r\nbeach; now dropped into its lowermost vaults, with the bones of drowned\r\nships and drowned men.\r\n\r\nOnce more afloat in our shell! But not with the intrepid spirit that\r\nshoved off with us from the deck of the Arcturion. A bold deed done\r\nfrom impulse, for the time carries few or no misgivings along with it.\r\nBut forced upon you, its terrors stare you in the face. So now. I had\r\npushed from the Arcturion with a stout heart; but quitting the sinking\r\nParki, my heart sunk with her.\r\n\r\nWith a fair wind, we held on our way westward, hoping to see land\r\nbefore many days.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"CHAPTER XXXVII."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJA6157W2830190N652KA","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AJRHK0CPCX9THJ2JHJFPM","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AJS9JYQQ9TV14A1NCR256","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:42.131Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:16.495Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}