{"id":"01KG8AKRYS28MZP25QWZG2YFSZ","cid":"bafkreibgqv22gzhrtguq5gr2lnlkg7fqi46lpux6ukhbsk7bs2e56s73ki","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":417,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.149Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":359,"text":"All English whalemen are bound by-law to carry a physician, who, of\r\ncourse, is rated a gentleman, and lives in the cabin, with nothing but\r\nhis professional duties to attend to; but incidentally he drinks “flip”\r\nand plays cards with the captain. There was such a worthy aboard of the\r\nJulia; but, curious to tell, he lived in the forecastle with the men.\r\nAnd this was the way it happened.\r\n\r\nIn the early part of the voyage the doctor and the captain lived\r\ntogether as pleasantly as could be. To say nothing of many a can they\r\ndrank over the cabin transom, both of them had read books, and one of\r\nthem had travelled; so their stories never flagged. But once on a time\r\nthey got into a dispute about politics, and the doctor, moreover,\r\ngetting into a rage, drove home an argument with his fist, and left the\r\ncaptain on the floor literally silenced. This was carrying it with a\r\nhigh hand; so he was shut up in his state-room for ten days, and left\r\nto meditate on bread and water, and the impropriety of flying into a\r\npassion. Smarting under his disgrace, he undertook, a short time after\r\nhis liberation, to leave the vessel clandestinely at one of the\r\nislands, but was brought back ignominiously, and again shut up. Being\r\nset at large for the second time, he vowed he would not live any longer\r\nwith the captain, and went forward with his chests among the sailors,\r\nwhere he was received with open arms as a good fellow and an injured\r\nman.\r\n\r\nI must give some further account of him, for he figures largely in the\r\nnarrative. His early history, like that of many other heroes, was\r\nenveloped in the profoundest obscurity; though he threw out hints of a\r\npatrimonial estate, a nabob uncle, and an unfortunate affair which sent\r\nhim a-roving. All that was known, however, was this. He had gone out to\r\nSydney as assistant-surgeon of an emigrant ship. On his arrival there,\r\nhe went back into the country, and after a few months’ wanderings,\r\nreturned to Sydney penniless, and entered as doctor aboard of the\r\nJulia.\r\n\r\nHis personal appearance was remarkable. He was over six feet high—a\r\ntower of bones, with a complexion absolutely colourless, fair hair, and\r\na light unscrupulous gray eye, twinkling occasionally at the very devil\r\nof mischief. Among the crew, he went by the name of the Long Doctor, or\r\nmore frequently still, Doctor Long Ghost. And from whatever high estate\r\nDoctor Long Ghost might have fallen, he had certainly at some time or\r\nother spent money, drunk Burgundy, and associated with gentlemen.\r\n\r\nAs for his learning, he quoted Virgil, and talked of Hobbs of\r\nMalmsbury, beside repeating poetry by the canto, especially Hudibras.\r\nHe was, moreover, a man who had seen the world. In the easiest way\r\nimaginable, he could refer to an amour he had in Palermo, his\r\nlion-hunting before breakfast among the Caffres, and the quality of the\r\ncoffee to be drunk in Muscat; and about these places, and a hundred\r\nothers, he had more anecdotes than I can tell of. Then such mellow old\r\nsongs as he sang, in a voice so round and racy, the real juice of\r\nsound. How such notes came forth from his lank body was a constant\r\nmarvel.\r\n\r\nUpon the whole, Long Ghost was as entertaining a companion as one could\r\nwish; and to me in the Julia, an absolute godsend.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJG6SBV49G2YWKB4GCDW2","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKRZ0GYB6NAPVZE2WA8DT","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.321Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:22.580Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}