{"id":"01KG8AKWJQJEMRQ4S1WW4K3JFW","cid":"bafkreig7hr35tvy7ehmojzufegetgjyxi7tdgqf5idppns62q2cujsrpuu","type":"subsection","properties":{"description":"# Night Gambling\n## Overview - What this is (type, form, dates, scope)\nThis is a subsection of text extracted from the novel *White-Jacket* and is labeled \"Night Gambling\". It describes the clandestine gambling activities that take place on a man-of-war ship. The text was extracted on January 30, 2026, and is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection.\n\n## Context - Background and provenance from related entities\nThis subsection is part of [Chapter LXXIII. Night and Day Gambling in a Man-of-War.](arke:01KG8AJVA0MGBK23WN4PS84AQ6) within the novel *White-Jacket* ([white_jacket.txt](arke:01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY)). The chapter discusses the prevalence of gambling among sailors and the measures taken to prevent it. The preceding section, [Introduction](arke:01KG8AKWJT3AA6X5AK9C2D6J1K), sets the stage by mentioning the permitted game of draughts and the strict prohibition of gambling. This subsection is followed by another subsection, [Day Gambling](arke:01KG8AKWJT799BWSQPGFFD7ZXW), which likely describes gambling that occurs during the day.\n\n## Contents - What it contains, key subjects and details\nThe text describes the environment and methods used by sailors for gambling at night. It highlights the darkness of the berth-deck, the use of hammocks to create hidden spaces, and the role of the master-at-arms and ship's corporals in attempting to catch the gamblers. It mentions the practice of bribing a shipmate to act as a spy and the consequences for those caught, including being \"dragged into the brig there to await a dozen lashes in the morning.\" The author also recounts being startled awake by the sudden breaking up of a gambling game.\n","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:59.156Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"Night Gambling","end_line":11753,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:16.646Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Night Gambling","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":11700,"text":"Sable night, which, since the beginning of the world, has winked and\r\nlooked on at so many deeds of iniquity—night is the time usually\r\nselected for their operations by man-of-war gamblers. The place pitched\r\nupon is generally the berth-deck, where the hammocks are swung, and\r\nwhich is lighted so stintedly as not to disturb the sleeping seamen\r\nwith any obtruding glare. In so spacious an area the two lanterns\r\nswinging from the stanchions diffuse a subdued illumination, like a\r\nnight-taper in the apartment of some invalid. Owing to their position,\r\nalso, these lanterns are far from shedding an impartial light, however\r\ndim, but fling long angular rays here and there, like burglar’s\r\ndark-lanterns in the fifty-acre vaults of the West India Docks on the\r\nThames.\r\n\r\nIt may well be imagined, therefore, how well adapted is this mysterious\r\nand subterranean Hall of Eblis to the clandestine proceedings of\r\ngamblers, especially as the hammocks not only hang thickly, but many of\r\nthem swing very low, within two feet of the floor, thus forming\r\ninnumerable little canvas glens, grottoes, nooks, corners, and\r\ncrannies, where a good deal of wickedness may be practiced by the wary\r\nwith considerable impunity.\r\n\r\nNow the master-at-arms, assisted by his mates, the ship’s corporals,\r\nreigns supreme in these bowels of the ship. Throughout the night these\r\npolicemen relieve each other at standing guard over the premises; and,\r\nexcept when the watches are called, they sit in the midst of a profound\r\nsilence, only invaded by trumpeters’ snores, or the ramblings of some\r\nold sheet-anchor-man in his sleep.\r\n\r\nThe two ship’s corporals went among the sailors by the names of Leggs\r\nand Pounce; Pounce had been a policeman, it was said, in Liverpool;\r\nLeggs, a turnkey attached to “The Tombs” in New York. Hence their\r\neducation eminently fitted them for their stations; and Bland, the\r\nmaster-at-arms, ravished with their dexterity in prying out offenders,\r\nused to call them his two right hands.\r\n\r\nWhen man-of-war’s-men desire to gamble, they appoint the hour, and\r\nselect some certain corner, in some certain shadow, behind some certain\r\nhammock. They then contribute a small sum toward a joint fund, to be\r\ninvested in a bribe for some argus-eyed shipmate, who shall play the\r\npart of a spy upon the master-at-arms and corporals while the gaming is\r\nin progress. In nine cases out of ten these arrangements are so cunning\r\nand comprehensive, that the gamblers, eluding all vigilance, conclude\r\ntheir game unmolested. But now and then, seduced into unwariness, or\r\nperhaps, from parsimony, being unwilling to employ the services of a\r\nspy, they are suddenly lighted upon by the constables, remorselessly\r\ncollared, and dragged into the brig there to await a dozen lashes in\r\nthe morning.\r\n\r\nSeveral times at midnight I have been startled out of a sound sleep by\r\na sudden, violent rush under my hammock, caused by the abrupt breaking\r\nup of some nest of gamblers, who have scattered in all directions,\r\nbrushing under the tiers of swinging pallets, and setting them all in a\r\nrocking commotion.\r\n\r","title":"Night Gambling"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJVA0MGBK23WN4PS84AQ6","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKWJT3AA6X5AK9C2D6J1K","peer_type":"intro","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKWJT799BWSQPGFFD7ZXW","peer_type":"subsection","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:19.031Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:59.351Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}