{"id":"01KG8AMDK93VZ6Q8XACF9GX6V8","cid":"bafkreigcdrsfrxxsfuopymlsp2bmdhm2t4rb2ro7pvthynkz5x5nzbtjbi","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":12404,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.278Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":12337,"text":"CHAPTER LXXVI.\r\nTHE CHAINS.\r\n\r\n\r\nWhen wearied with the tumult and occasional contention of the gun-deck\r\nof our frigate, I have often retreated to a port-hole, and calmed\r\nmyself down by gazing broad off upon a placid sea. After the battle-din\r\nof the last two chapters, let us now do the like, and, in the\r\nsequestered fore-chains of the Neversink, tranquillise ourselves, if we\r\nmay.\r\n\r\nNotwithstanding the domestic communism to which the seamen in a\r\nman-of-war are condemned, and the publicity in which actions the most\r\ndiffident and retiring in their nature must be performed, there is yet\r\nan odd corner or two where you may sometimes steal away, and, for a few\r\nmoments, almost be private.\r\n\r\nChief among these places is the _chains_, to which I would sometimes\r\nhie during our pleasant homeward-bound glide over those pensive\r\ntropical latitudes. After hearing my fill of the wild yarns of our top,\r\nhere would I recline—if not disturbed—serenely concocting information\r\ninto wisdom.\r\n\r\nThe chains designates the small platform outside of the hull, at the\r\nbase of the large shrouds leading down from the three mast-heads to the\r\nbulwarks. At present they seem to be getting out of vogue among\r\nmerchant-vessels, along with the fine, old-fashioned quarter-galleries,\r\nlittle turret-like ap-purtenances, which, in the days of the old\r\nAdmirals, set off the angles of an armed ship’s stern. Here a naval\r\nofficer might lounge away an hour after action, smoking a cigar, to\r\ndrive out of his whiskers the villainous smoke of the gun-powder. The\r\npicturesque, delightful stern-gallery, also, a broad balcony\r\noverhanging the sea, and entered from the Captain’s cabin, much as you\r\nmight enter a bower from a lady’s chamber; this charming balcony,\r\nwhere, sailing over summer seas in the days of the old Peruvian\r\nviceroys, the Spanish cavalier Mendanna, of Lima, made love to the Lady\r\nIsabella, as they voyaged in quest of the Solomon Islands, the fabulous\r\nOphir, the Grand Cyclades; and the Lady Isabella, at sunset, blushed\r\nlike the Orient, and gazed down to the gold-fish and silver-hued\r\nflying-fish, that wove the woof and warp of their wakes in bright,\r\nscaly tartans and plaids underneath where the Lady reclined; this\r\ncharming balcony—exquisite retreat—has been cut away by Vandalic\r\ninnovations. Ay, that claw-footed old gallery is no longer in fashion;\r\nin Commodore’s eyes, is no longer genteel.\r\n\r\nOut on all furniture fashions but those that are past! Give me my\r\ngrandfather’s old arm-chair, planted upon four carved frogs, as the\r\nHindoos fabled the world to be supported upon four tortoises; give me\r\nhis cane, with the gold-loaded top—a cane that, like the musket of\r\nGeneral Washington’s father and the broadsword of William Wallace,\r\nwould break down the back of the switch-carrying dandies of these\r\nspindle-shank days; give me his broad-breasted vest, coming bravely\r\ndown over the hips, and furnished with two strong-boxes of pockets to\r\nkeep guineas in; toss this toppling cylinder of a beaver overboard, and\r\ngive me my grandfather’s gallant, gable-ended, cocked hat.\r\n\r\nBut though the quarter-galleries and the stern-gallery of a man-of-war\r\nare departed, yet the _chains_ still linger; nor can there be imagined\r\na more agreeable retreat. The huge blocks and lanyards forming the\r\npedestals of the shrouds divide the chains into numerous little\r\nchapels, alcoves, niches, and altars, where you lazily lounge—outside\r\nof the ship, though on board. But there are plenty to divide a good\r\nthing with you in this man-of-war world. Often, when snugly seated in\r\none of these little alcoves, gazing off to the horizon, and thinking of\r\nCathay, I have been startled from my repose by some old quarter-gunner,\r\nwho, having newly painted a parcel of match-tubs, wanted to set them to\r\ndry.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AKWJQE0XQ0YAFC61CCEGJ","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMDK91H7G777M7GFHXHE9","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.457Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:53.227Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}