{"id":"01KG8AKXY85TGBQKQKG4K01D9E","cid":"bafkreibuv7tlpedgcdhdxr4ocbjumjfxhimaixb4tvj7lkji5bzzmezbai","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4774,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.838Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":4709,"text":"The 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\nNow, alas! I had no chance given me to become initiated in this art and\r\nmystery; no further, at least, than by looking on, and watching how\r\nthat these things might be done as well as others, the reason was, that\r\nI had only shipped for this one voyage in the Highlander, a short\r\nvoyage too; and it was not worth while to teach _me_ any thing, the\r\nfruit of which instructions could be only reaped by the next ship I\r\nmight belong to. All they wanted of me was the good-will of my muscles,\r\nand the use of my backbone—comparatively small though it was at that\r\ntime—by way of a lever, for the above-mentioned artists to employ when\r\nwanted. Accordingly, when any embroidery was going on in the rigging, I\r\nwas set to the most inglorious avocations; as in the merchant service\r\nit is a religious maxim to keep the hands always employed at something\r\nor other, never mind what, during their watch on deck.\r\n\r\nOften furnished with a club-hammer, they swung me over the bows in a\r\nbowline, to pound the rust off the anchor: a most monotonous, and to me\r\na most uncongenial and irksome business. There was a remarkable\r\nfatality attending the various hammers I carried over with me. Somehow\r\nthey _would_ drop out of my hands into the sea. But the supply of\r\nreserved hammers seemed unlimited: also the blessings and benedictions\r\nI received from the chief mate for my clumsiness.\r\n\r\nAt other times, they set me to picking oakum, like a convict, which\r\nhempen business disagreeably obtruded thoughts of halters and the\r\ngallows; or whittling belaying-pins, like a Down-Easter.\r\n\r\nHowever, I endeavored to bear it all like a young philosopher, and\r\nwhiled away the tedious hours by gazing through a port-hole while my\r\nhands were plying, and repeating Lord Byron’s Address to the Ocean,\r\nwhich I had often spouted on the stage at the High School at home.\r\n\r\nYes, I got used to all these matters, and took most things coolly, in\r\nthe spirit of Seneca and the stoics.\r\n\r\nAll but the _“turning out”_ or rising from your berth when the watch\r\nwas called at night—_that_ I never fancied. It was a sort of\r\nacquaintance, which the more I cultivated, the more I shrunk from; a\r\nthankless, miserable business, truly.\r\n\r\nConsider that after walking the deck for four full hours, you go below\r\nto sleep: and while thus innocently employed in reposing your wearied\r\nlimbs, you are started up—it seems but the next instant after closing\r\nyour lids—and hurried on deck again, into the same disagreeably dark\r\nand, perhaps, stormy night, from which you descended into the\r\nforecastle.\r\n\r\nThe previous interval of slumber was almost wholly lost to me; at least\r\nthe golden opportunity could not be appreciated: for though it is\r\nusually deemed a comfortable thing to be asleep, yet at the time no one\r\nis conscious that he is so enjoying himself. Therefore I made a little\r\nprivate arrangement with the Lancashire lad, who was in the other\r\nwatch, just to step below occasionally, and shake me, and whisper in my\r\near—_“Watch below, Buttons; watch below”—_which pleasantly reminded me\r\nof the delightful fact. Then I would turn over on my side, and take\r\nanother nap; and in this manner I enjoyed several complete watches in\r\nmy bunk to the other sailor’s one. I recommend the plan to all landsmen\r\ncontemplating a voyage to sea.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQSB2F5PTH7H10VJYZZ7","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKXY3BSJTZ3FSJXWVE13K","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKXXT3W6X8RCDXN28PT9X","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:20.424Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:28.696Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}