{"id":"01KG8AKZ9RENXCC5CQ7YQHCTYG","cid":"bafkreifkpufrv3zl2drkli5hlprj2jstmwssuqd6gds4uvgui7ik3nndzm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11437,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.843Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":11378,"text":"they would slay us, if we did not desist.\r\n\r\n“Haul it down!” roared the mate.\r\n\r\nBut the sailors fell back, murmuring something about merchant seamen\r\nhaving no pensions in case of being maimed, and they had not shipped to\r\nfight fifty to one. Further efforts were made by the mate, who at last\r\nhad recourse to entreaty; but it would not do; and we were obliged to\r\ndepart, without achieving our object.\r\n\r\nAbout four o’clock that morning, the first four died. They were all\r\nmen; and the scenes which ensued were frantic in the extreme.\r\nCertainly, the bottomless profound of the sea, over which we were\r\nsailing, concealed nothing more frightful.\r\n\r\nOrders were at once passed to bury the dead. But this was unnecessary.\r\nBy their own countrymen, they were torn from the clasp of their wives,\r\nrolled in their own bedding, with ballast-stones, and with hurried\r\nrites, were dropped into the ocean.\r\n\r\nAt this time, ten more men had caught the disease; and with a degree of\r\ndevotion worthy all praise, the mate attended them with his medicines;\r\nbut the captain did not again go down to them.\r\n\r\nIt was all-important now that the steerage should be purified; and had\r\nit not been for the rains and squalls, which would have made it madness\r\nto turn such a number of women and children upon the wet and\r\nunsheltered decks, the steerage passengers would have been ordered\r\nabove, and their den have been given a thorough cleansing. But, for the\r\npresent, this was out of the question. The sailors peremptorily refused\r\nto go among the defilements to remove them; and so besotted were the\r\ngreater part of the emigrants themselves, that though the necessity of\r\nthe case was forcibly painted to them, they would not lift a hand to\r\nassist in what seemed their own salvation.\r\n\r\nThe panic in the cabin was now very great; and for fear of contagion to\r\nthemselves, the cabin passengers would fain have made a prisoner of the\r\ncaptain, to prevent him from going forward beyond the mainmast. Their\r\nclamors at last induced him to tell the two mates, that for the present\r\nthey must sleep and take their meals elsewhere than in their old\r\nquarters, which communicated with the cabin.\r\n\r\nOn land, a pestilence is fearful enough; but there, many can flee from\r\nan infected city; whereas, in a ship, you are locked and bolted in the\r\nvery hospital itself. Nor is there any possibility of escape from it;\r\nand in so small and crowded a place, no precaution can effectually\r\nguard against contagion.\r\n\r\nHorrible as the sights of the steerage now were, the cabin, perhaps,\r\npresented a scene equally despairing. Many, who had seldom prayed\r\nbefore, now implored the merciful heavens, night and day, for fair\r\nwinds and fine weather. Trunks were opened for Bibles; and at last,\r\neven prayer-meetings were held over the very table across which the\r\nloud jest had been so often heard.\r\n\r\nStrange, though almost universal, that the seemingly nearer prospect of\r\nthat death which any body at any time may die, should produce these\r\nspasmodic devotions, when an everlasting Asiatic Cholera is forever\r\nthinning our ranks; and die by death we all must at last.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJT5SAHKG6V354KE5GRJR","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKZ9R99MAQ6WZ6CNQWDWR","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKZ9HHQ1Z8YDPKZCRKM2R","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:21.816Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:34.992Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}