{"id":"01KG8AM41DCMRBCDZX2PS6J15S","cid":"bafkreiazcl4seb7n5oaaiswzxyelfxq5d2e6gth6fistazrkcg6zex4yuu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1394,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":1332,"text":"CHAPTER FOUR\r\n\r\nSTATE OF AFFAIRS ABOARD THE SHIP--CONTENTS OF HER LARDER--LENGTH OF\r\nSOUTH SEAMEN’S VOYAGES--ACCOUNT OF A FLYING WHALE-MAN--DETERMINATION\r\nTO LEAVE THE VESSEL--THE BAY OF NUKUHEVA--THE TYPEES--INVASION OF THEIR\r\nVALLEY BY PORTER--REFLECTIONS--GLEN OF TIOR--INTERVIEW BETWEEN THE OLD\r\nKING AND THE FRENCH ADMIRAL\r\n\r\n\r\nOur ship had not been many days in the harbour of Nukuheva before I came\r\nto the determination of leaving her. That my reasons for resolving to\r\ntake this step were numerous and weighty, may be inferred from the fact\r\nthat I chose rather to risk my fortunes among the savages of the island\r\nthan to endure another voyage on board the Dolly. To use the concise,\r\npointblank phrase of the sailors. I had made up my mind to ‘run away’.\r\nNow as a meaning is generally attached to these two words no way\r\nflattering to the individual to whom they are applied, it behoves\r\nme, for the sake of my own character, to offer some explanation of my\r\nconduct.\r\n\r\nWhen I entered on board the Dolly, I signed as a matter of course the\r\nship’s articles, thereby voluntarily engaging and legally binding\r\nmyself to serve in a certain capacity for the period of the voyage;\r\nand, special considerations apart, I was of course bound to fulfill the\r\nagreement. But in all contracts, if one party fail to perform his share\r\nof the compact, is not the other virtually absolved from his liability?\r\nWho is there who will not answer in the affirmative?\r\n\r\nHaving settled the principle, then, let me apply it to the particular\r\ncase in question. In numberless instances had not only the implied but\r\nthe specified conditions of the articles been violated on the part of\r\nthe ship in which I served. The usage on board of her was tyrannical;\r\nthe sick had been inhumanly neglected; the provisions had been doled out\r\nin scanty allowance; and her cruises were unreasonably protracted. The\r\ncaptain was the author of the abuses; it was in vain to think that he\r\nwould either remedy them, or alter his conduct, which was arbitrary\r\nand violent in the extreme. His prompt reply to all complaints and\r\nremonstrances was--the butt-end of a handspike, so convincingly\r\nadministered as effectually to silence the aggrieved party.\r\n\r\nTo whom could we apply for redress? We had left both law and equity\r\non the other side of the Cape; and unfortunately, with a very few\r\nexceptions, our crew was composed of a parcel of dastardly and\r\nmeanspirited wretches, divided among themselves, and only united in\r\nenduring without resistance the unmitigated tyranny of the captain.\r\nIt would have been mere madness for any two or three of the number,\r\nunassisted by the rest, to attempt making a stand against his ill\r\nusage. They would only have called down upon themselves the particular\r\nvengeance of this ‘Lord of the Plank’, and subjected their shipmates to\r\nadditional hardships.\r\n\r\nBut, after all, these things could have been endured awhile, had we\r\nentertained the hope of being speedily delivered from them by the due\r\ncompletion of the term of our servitude. But what a dismal prospect\r\nawaited us in this quarter! The longevity of Cape Horn whaling voyages\r\nis proverbial, frequently extending over a period of four or five years.\r\n\r\nSome long-haired, bare-necked youths, who, forced by the united\r\ninfluences of Captain Marryatt and hard times, embark at Nantucket for\r\na pleasure excursion to the Pacific, and whose anxious mothers provide\r\nthem, with bottled milk for the occasion, oftentimes return very\r\nrespectable middle-aged gentlemen.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJPEC9ESE5GQQSYRWJRGQ","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM41DDTM9RAQMFNAE6R2V","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.669Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:33.675Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}