{"id":"01KG8AKXY33MKWQPNRF7JGKX2T","cid":"bafkreigih7rmnphqjbuymclhqpchbrfmavaeviwfuwi7pzjhb7amuqraka","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4554,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.838Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":4484,"text":"vitality to the vessel; so that the difference in being aloft in a ship\r\nat sea, and a ship in harbor, is pretty much the same, as riding a real\r\nlive horse and a wooden one. And even if the live charger should pitch\r\nyou over his head, _that_ would be much more satisfactory, than an\r\ninglorious fall from the other.\r\n\r\nI took great delight in furling the top-gallant sails and royals in a\r\nhard blow; which duty required two hands on the yard.\r\n\r\nThere was a wild delirium about it; a fine rushing of the blood about\r\nthe heart; and a glad, thrilling, and throbbing of the whole system, to\r\nfind yourself tossed up at every pitch into the clouds of a stormy sky,\r\nand hovering like a judgment angel between heaven and earth; both hands\r\nfree, with one foot in the rigging, and one somewhere behind you in the\r\nair. The sail would fill out like a balloon, with a report like a small\r\ncannon, and then collapse and sink away into a handful. And the feeling\r\nof mastering the rebellious canvas, and tying it down like a slave to\r\nthe spar, and binding it over and over with the _gasket,_ had a touch\r\nof pride and power in it, such as young King Richard must have felt,\r\nwhen he trampled down the insurgents of Wat Tyler.\r\n\r\nAs for steering, they never would let me go to the helm, except during\r\na calm, when I and the figure-head on the bow were about equally\r\nemployed.\r\n\r\nBy the way, that figure-head was a passenger I forgot to make mention\r\nof before.\r\n\r\nHe was a gallant six-footer of a Highlander _“in full fig,”_ with\r\nbright tartans, bare knees, barred leggings, and blue bonnet and the\r\nmost vermilion of cheeks. He was game to his wooden marrow, and stood\r\nup to it through thick and thin; one foot a little advanced, and his\r\nright arm stretched forward, daring on the waves. In a gale of wind it\r\nwas glorious to watch him standing at his post like a hero, and\r\nplunging up and down the watery Highlands and Lowlands, as the ship\r\nwent roaming on her way. He was a veteran with many wounds of many\r\nsea-fights; and when he got to Liverpool a figure-head-builder there,\r\namputated his left leg, and gave him another wooden one, which I am\r\nsorry to say, did not fit him very well, for ever after he looked as if\r\nhe limped. Then this figure-head-surgeon gave him another nose, and\r\ntouched up one eye, and repaired a rent in his tartans. After that the\r\npainter came and made his toilet all over again; giving him a new suit\r\nthroughout, with a plaid of a beautiful pattern.\r\n\r\nI do not know what has become of Donald now, but I hope he is safe and\r\nsnug with a handsome pension in the “Sailors’-Snug-Harbor” on Staten\r\nIsland.\r\n\r\nThe reason why they gave me such a slender chance of learning to steer\r\nwas this. I was quite young and raw, and steering a ship is a great\r\nart, upon which much depends; especially the making a short passage;\r\nfor if the helmsman be a clumsy, careless fellow, or ignorant of his\r\nduty, he keeps the ship going about in a melancholy state of indecision\r\nas to its precise destination; so that on a voyage to Liverpool, it may\r\nbe pointing one while for Gibraltar, then for Rotterdam, and now for\r\nJohn o’ Groat’s; all of which is worse than wasted time. Whereas, a\r\ntrue steersman keeps her to her work night and day; and tries to make a\r\nbee-line from port to port.\r\n\r\nThen, in a sudden squall, inattention, or want of quickness at the\r\nhelm, might make the ship _“lurch to”—or “bring her by the lee.”_ And\r\nwhat those things are, the cabin passengers would never find out, when\r\nthey found themselves going down, down, down, and bidding good-by\r\nforever to the moon and stars.\r\n\r\nAnd they little think, many of them, fine gentlemen and ladies that\r\nthey are, what an important personage, and how much to be had in\r\nreverence, is the rough fellow in the pea-jacket, whom they see\r\nstanding at the wheel, now cocking his eye aloft, and then peeping at\r\nthe compass, or looking out to windward.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQS2NQ7HM5PPY20XMP4F","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKXYCZ6ZRKXSZS8YG4BBB","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKXY3EXCVGBRQDZ24F0X0","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:20.419Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:28.616Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}