{"id":"01KG8AKVR1EE1A0GG541CY37T2","cid":"bafkreiekyth7dwxe2ohddk37qkglxvysx6v6hdw4hknzijcorwlfwqivoe","type":"section","properties":{"description":"# But perhaps the best way to drive the hours before you four-in-hand, is to select a soft plank on the gun-deck, and go to sleep.\n\n## Overview - What this is (type, form, dates, scope)\nThis is a section of text extracted from a larger work. It is a portion of a chapter from a novel, likely written in the 19th century, as indicated by the language and subject matter. The text is a descriptive passage discussing ways to pass time while in harbor.\n\n## Context - Background and provenance from related entities\nThis section is part of [Chapter XLII. KILLING TIME IN A MAN-OF-WAR IN HARBOUR.](arke:01KG8AJS2XNNYG8VJ0DMZ113C3) within the novel *White-Jacket*, which is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. The text was extracted from the file [white_jacket.txt](arke:01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY). The section follows [Still another way of killing time in harbour, is to lean over the bulwarks, and speculate](arke:01KG8AKVR3NV87YRM9YHT3B43P) and precedes [The truth of this was curiously corroborated by a rather equivocal acquaintance of mine, who, among the men, went by the name of “_Shakings_.”](arke:01KG8AKVR3MNFD15JGRMFDQ3H8).\n\n## Contents - What it contains, key subjects and details\nThe section begins with a suggestion for passing time: \"But perhaps the best way to drive the hours before you four-in-hand, is to select a soft plank on the gun-deck, and go to sleep.\" It then describes the common experience of shipmates in harbor, highlighting feelings of camaraderie. The author reflects on his initial aloofness from the crew but acknowledges the shared experience and the development of a sense of sympathy.\n","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:50.845Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"But perhaps the best way to drive the hours before you four-in-hand, is to select a soft plank on the gun-deck, and go to sleep.","end_line":6696,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:16.646Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"But perhaps the best way to drive the hours before you four-in-hand, is to select a soft plank on the gun-deck, and go to sleep.","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":6673,"text":"But perhaps the best way to drive the hours before you four-in-hand, is\r\nto select a soft plank on the gun-deck, and go to sleep. A fine\r\nspecific, which seldom fails, unless, to be sure, you have been\r\nsleeping all the twenty-four hours beforehand.\r\n\r\nWhenever employed in killing time in harbour, I have lifted myself up\r\non my elbow and looked around me, and seen so many of my shipmates all\r\nemployed at the same common business; all under lock and key; all\r\nhopeless prisoners like myself; all under martial law; all dieting on\r\nsalt beef and biscuit; all in one uniform; all yawning, gaping, and\r\nstretching in concert, it was then that I used to feel a certain love\r\nand affection for them, grounded, doubtless, on a fellow-feeling.\r\n\r\nAnd though, in a previous part of this narrative, I have mentioned that\r\nI used to hold myself somewhat aloof from the mass of seamen on board\r\nthe Neversink; and though this was true, and my real acquaintances were\r\ncomparatively few, and my intimates still fewer, yet, to tell the\r\ntruth, it is quite impossible to live so long with five hundred of your\r\nfellow-beings, even if not of the best families in the land, and with\r\nmorals that would not be spoiled by further cultivation; it is quite\r\nimpossible, I say, to live with five hundred of your fellow-beings, be\r\nthey who they may, without feeling a common sympathy with them at the\r\ntime, and ever after cherishing some sort of interest in their welfare.\r\n\r","title":"But perhaps the best way to drive the hours before you four-in-hand, is to select a soft plank on the gun-deck, and go to sleep."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJS2XNNYG8VJ0DMZ113C3","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKVR3NV87YRM9YHT3B43P","peer_type":"section","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKVR3MNFD15JGRMFDQ3H8","peer_type":"section","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.177Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:51.114Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}