{"id":"01KG8AKXY3BSJTZ3FSJXWVE13K","cid":"bafkreicy27aqmppx44ixtbq6if6fysj2nswyrouvnuegj3h33znfi4w4ky","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4716,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.838Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":4651,"text":"CHAPTER XXVI.\r\nA SAILOR A JACK OF ALL TRADES\r\n\r\n\r\nAs I began to learn my sailor duties, and show activity in running\r\naloft, the men, I observed, treated me with a little more\r\nconsideration, though not at all relaxing in a certain air of\r\nprofessional superiority. For the mere knowing of the names of the\r\nropes, and familiarizing yourself with their places, so that you can\r\nlay hold of them in the darkest night; and the loosing and furling of\r\nthe canvas, and reefing topsails, and hauling braces; all this, though\r\nof course forming an indispensable part of a seaman’s vocation, and the\r\nbusiness in which he is principally engaged; yet these are things which\r\na beginner of ordinary capacity soon masters, and which are far\r\ninferior to many other matters familiar to an _“able seaman.”_\r\n\r\nWhat did I know, for instance, about _striking a top-gallant-mast,_ and\r\nsending it down on deck in a gale of wind? Could I have _turned in a\r\ndead-eye,_ or in the approved nautical style have _clapt a seizing on\r\nthe main-stay?_ What did I know of _“passing a gammoning,” “reiving a\r\nBurton,” “strapping a shoe-block,” “clearing a foul hawse,”_ and\r\ninnumerable other intricacies?\r\n\r\nThe business of a thorough-bred sailor is a special calling, as much of\r\na regular trade as a carpenter’s or locksmith’s. Indeed, it requires\r\nconsiderably more adroitness, and far more versatility of talent.\r\n\r\nIn the English merchant service boys serve a long apprenticeship to the\r\nsea, of seven years. Most of them first enter the Newcastle colliers,\r\nwhere they see a great deal of severe coasting service. In an old copy\r\nof the Letters of Junius, belonging to my father, I remember reading,\r\nthat coal to supply the city of London could be dug at Blackheath, and\r\nsold for one half the price that the people of London then paid for it;\r\nbut the Government would not suffer the mines to be opened, as it would\r\ndestroy the great nursery for British seamen.\r\n\r\nA thorough sailor must understand much of other avocations. He must be\r\na bit of an embroiderer, to work fanciful collars of hempen lace about\r\nthe shrouds; he must be something of a weaver, to weave mats of\r\nrope-yarns for lashings to the boats; he must have a touch of\r\nmillinery, so as to tie graceful bows and knots, such as _Matthew\r\nWalker’s roses,_ and _Turk’s heads;_ he must be a bit of a musician, in\r\norder to sing out at the halyards; he must be a sort of jeweler, to set\r\ndead-eyes in the standing rigging; he must be a carpenter, to enable\r\nhim to make a jurymast out of a yard in case of emergency; he must be a\r\nsempstress, to darn and mend the sails; a ropemaker, to twist _marline_\r\nand _Spanish foxes;_ a blacksmith, to make hooks and thimbles for the\r\nblocks: in short, he must be a sort of Jack of all trades, in order to\r\nmaster his own. And this, perhaps, in a greater or less degree, is\r\npretty much the case with all things else; for you know nothing till\r\nyou know all; which is the reason we never know anything.\r\n\r\nA sailor, also, in working at the rigging, uses special tools peculiar\r\nto his calling—_fids, serving-mallets, toggles, prickers,\r\nmarlingspikes, palms, heavers,_ and many more. The smaller sort he\r\ngenerally carries with him from ship to ship in a sort of canvas\r\nreticule.\r\n\r\nThe estimation in which a ship’s crew hold the knowledge of such\r\naccomplishments as these, is expressed in the phrase they apply to one\r\nwho is a clever practitioner. To distinguish such a mariner from those\r\nwho merely _“hand, reef, and steer,”_ that is, run aloft, furl sails,\r\nhaul ropes, and stand at the wheel, they say he is _“a sailor-man”_\r\nwhich means that he not only knows how to reef a topsail, but is an\r\nartist in the rigging.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQSB2F5PTH7H10VJYZZ7","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKXY85TGBQKQKG4K01D9E","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:20.419Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:28.636Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}