{"id":"01KG8AKV4ZTYYZ2T51MDJ7FAJ4","cid":"bafkreihqopbheqfi5xptm2eup72esbf42pzvlnudcc3eikunvbrsc4wno4","type":"section","properties":{"description":"# The After-guard\n\n## Overview\nThis section, titled \"The After-guard,\" is part of a larger work, likely a book or manuscript, focusing on the divisions of a man-of-war's crew. It describes the duties and characteristics of the sailors assigned to the after-guard.\n\n## Context\nThis section is contained within [CHAPTER III. A GLANCE AT THE PRINCIPAL DIVISIONS, INTO WHICH A MAN-OF-WAR’S CREW IS DIVIDED.](arke:01KG8AJPBDD8KW998HV70PRFQT), which is itself part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection, extracted from the file [white_jacket.txt](arke:01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY). It follows the section on \"Sheet-Anchor-men\" and precedes the section on \"The Waisters.\"\n\n## Contents\nThe \"After-guard\" is described as a group stationed on the Quarterdeck, responsible for tasks related to the main-sail and spanker, and assisting with ropes at the stern of the vessel. The text notes that their duties are considered light, requiring little seamanship, and thus they are often composed of landsmen. These individuals are characterized as slender, genteel young men, selected partly for their appearance. They are depicted as spending their time reading, discussing personal affairs, and are sometimes referred to as \"sea-dandies\" or \"silk-sock-gentry\" due to their tidy appearance and aversion to manual labor like tarring.","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:46.773Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"The After-guard","end_line":421,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:16.646Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"The After-guard","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":397,"text":"Then, there is the _After-guard_, stationed on the Quarterdeck; who,\r\nunder the Quarter-Masters and Quarter-Gunners, attend to the main-sail\r\nand spanker, and help haul the main-brace, and other ropes in the stern\r\nof the vessel.\r\n\r\nThe duties assigned to the After-Guard’s-Men being comparatively light\r\nand easy, and but little seamanship being expected from them, they are\r\ncomposed chiefly of landsmen; the least robust, least hardy, and least\r\nsailor-like of the crew; and being stationed on the Quarter-deck, they\r\nare generally selected with some eye to their personal appearance.\r\nHence, they are mostly slender young fellows, of a genteel figure and\r\ngentlemanly address; not weighing much on a rope, but weighing\r\nconsiderably in the estimation of all foreign ladies who may chance to\r\nvisit the ship. They lounge away the most part of their time, in\r\nreading novels and romances; talking over their lover affairs ashore;\r\nand comparing notes concerning the melancholy and sentimental career\r\nwhich drove them—poor young gentlemen—into the hard-hearted navy.\r\nIndeed, many of them show tokens of having moved in very respectable\r\nsociety. They always maintain a tidy exterior; and express an\r\nabhorrence of the tar-bucket, into which they are seldom or never\r\ncalled to dip their digits. And pluming themselves upon the cut of\r\ntheir trowsers, and the glossiness of their tarpaulins, from the rest\r\nof the ship’s company, they acquire the name of “_sea-dandies_” and\r\n“_silk-sock-gentry_.”\r\n\r","title":"The After-guard"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJPBDD8KW998HV70PRFQT","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKV4ZBAVRVX50FC4ECVYM","peer_type":"section","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKV4V2VJTDCAN7S8HMRNP","peer_type":"section","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:17.567Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:47.026Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}