{"id":"01KG8AKV4V4GJ1NW28XS0T7K2Q","cid":"bafkreib5ggdskwvkr5tqtsf6ivfxk6sq4uh6rg7ydegw4q72wk5nffc7ze","type":"section","properties":{"description":"# Troglodytes or “_holders_”\n## Overview\nThis is a section from the novel *White-Jacket* by Herman Melville, extracted from the file [white_jacket.txt](arke:01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY). It describes a group of sailors called \"Troglodytes\" or \"_holders_,\" who live and work deep within the ship. The section appears in Chapter III, \"[CHAPTER III. A GLANCE AT THE PRINCIPAL DIVISIONS, INTO WHICH A MAN-OF-WAR’S CREW IS DIVIDED.](arke:01KG8AJPBDD8KW998HV70PRFQT)\"\n\n## Context\nThis section is part of a larger chapter that provides an overview of the various divisions within a man-of-war's crew. *White-Jacket* is included in the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. This section follows \"[The Waisters](arke:01KG8AKV4V2VJTDCAN7S8HMRNP)\" and precedes \"[The Endless Subdivision of Duties and the New Sailor's Experience](arke:01KG8AKV4ZR6S9P1K8FJS72N6E)\" within the chapter.\n\n## Contents\nThe section describes the \"Troglodytes\" or \"_holders_\" as men who live deep within the ship, three decks down, among the water-tanks, casks, and cables. They are compared to Cornwall miners, pale as ghosts from lack of sunlight. The text emphasizes their isolation and lack of interaction with the outside world, comparing their experience to Jonah in the whale's belly. They are depicted as a lazy and torpid group, strangers to others on the ship, and only emerging during times of crisis, like the \"mysterious old men of Paris, during the massacre of the Three Days of September.\"\n","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:49.463Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"Troglodytes or “_holders_”","end_line":453,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:16.646Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Troglodytes or “_holders_”","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":437,"text":"Three decks down—spar-deck, gun-deck, and berth-deck—and we come to a\r\nparcel of Troglodytes or “_holders_,” who burrow, like rabbits in\r\nwarrens, among the water-tanks, casks, and cables. Like Cornwall\r\nminers, wash off the soot from their skins, and they are all pale as\r\nghosts. Unless upon rare occasions, they seldom come on deck to sun\r\nthemselves. They may circumnavigate the world fifty times, and they see\r\nabout as much of it as Jonah did in the whale’s belly. They are a lazy,\r\nlumpish, torpid set; and when going ashore after a long cruise, come\r\nout into the day like terrapins from their caves, or bears in the\r\nspring, from tree-trunks. No one ever knows the names of these fellows;\r\nafter a three years’ voyage, they still remain strangers to you. In\r\ntime of tempests, when all hands are called to save ship, they issue\r\nforth into the gale, like the mysterious old men of Paris, during the\r\nmassacre of the Three Days of September: every one marvels who they\r\nare, and whence they come; they disappear as mysteriously; and are seen\r\nno more, until another general commotion.\r\n\r","title":"Troglodytes or “_holders_”"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJPBDD8KW998HV70PRFQT","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKV4V2VJTDCAN7S8HMRNP","peer_type":"section","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKV4ZR6S9P1K8FJS72N6E","peer_type":"section","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:17.563Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:49.693Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}