{"id":"01KG8AMDKSHY9KX40EMY1C12PF","cid":"bafkreibdisr57qcyb24xsiy2zhowx5hvrpwsbo53thpdkgxrq2j6lxs5fm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6302,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.274Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":6234,"text":"Lieutenant ashore. If was now Captain Claret’s turn to be honoured. The\r\ncutter lay still, and the Lieutenant off hat; while the Captain only\r\nnodded, and we kept on our way.\r\n\r\nThis naval etiquette is very much like the etiquette at the Grand Porte\r\nof Constantinople, where, after washing the Sublime Sultan’s feet, the\r\nGrand Vizier avenges himself on an Emir, who does the same office for\r\nhim.\r\n\r\nWhen we arrived aboard the English seventy-four, the Captain was\r\nreceived with the usual honours, and the gig’s crew were conducted\r\nbelow, and hospitably regaled with some spirits, served out by order of\r\nthe officer of the deck.\r\n\r\nSoon after, the English crew went to quarters; and as they stood up at\r\ntheir guns, all along the main-deck, a row of beef-fed Britons,\r\nstalwart-looking fellows, I was struck with the contrast they afforded\r\nto similar sights on board of the Neversink.\r\n\r\nFor on board of us our “_quarters_” showed an array of rather slender,\r\nlean-checked chaps. But then I made no doubt, that, in a sea-tussle,\r\nthese lantern-jawed varlets would have approved themselves as slender\r\nDamascus blades, nimble and flexible; whereas these Britons would have\r\nbeen, perhaps, as sturdy broadswords. Yet every one remembers that\r\nstory of Saladin and Richard trying their respective blades; how\r\ngallant Richard clove an anvil in twain, or something quite as\r\nponderous, and Saladin elegantly severed a cushion; so that the two\r\nmonarchs were even—each excelling in his way—though, unfortunately for\r\nmy simile, in a patriotic point of view, Richard whipped Saladin’s\r\narmies in the end.\r\n\r\nThere happened to be a lord on board of this ship—the younger son of an\r\nearl, they told me. He was a fine-looking fellow. I chanced to stand by\r\nwhen he put a question to an Irish captain of a gum; upon the seaman’s\r\ninadvertently saying sir to him, his lordship looked daggers at the\r\nslight; and the sailor touching his hat a thousand times, said,\r\n“Pardon, your honour; I meant to say _my lord_, sir!”\r\n\r\nI was much pleased with an old white-headed musician, who stood at the\r\nmain hatchway, with his enormous bass drum full before him, and\r\nthumping it sturdily to the tune of “God Save the King!” though small\r\nmercy did he have on his drum-heads. Two little boys were clashing\r\ncymbals, and another was blowing a fife, with his cheeks puffed out\r\nlike the plumpest of his country’s plum-puddings.\r\n\r\nWhen we returned from this trip, there again took place that\r\nceremonious reception of our captain on board the vessel he commanded,\r\nwhich always had struck me as exceedingly diverting.\r\n\r\nIn the first place, while in port, one of the quarter-masters is always\r\nstationed on the poop with a spy-glass, to look out for all boats\r\napproaching, and report the same to the officer of the deck; also, who\r\nit is that may be coming in them; so that preparations may be made\r\naccordingly. As soon, then, as the gig touched the side, a mighty\r\nshrill piping was heard, as if some boys were celebrating the Fourth of\r\nJuly with penny whistles. This proceeded from a boatswain’s mate, who,\r\nstanding at the gangway, was thus honouring the Captain’s return after\r\nhis long and perilous absence.\r\n\r\nThe Captain then slowly mounted the ladder, and gravely marching\r\nthrough a lane of “_side-boys_,” so called—all in their best bibs and\r\ntuckers, and who stood making sly faces behind his back—was received by\r\nall the Lieutenants in a body, their hats in their hands, and making a\r\nprodigious scraping and bowing, as if they had just graduated at a\r\nFrench dancing-school. Meanwhile, preserving an erect, inflexible, and\r\nram-rod carriage, and slightly touching his chapeau, the Captain made\r\nhis ceremonious way to the cabin, disappearing behind the scenes, like\r\nthe pasteboard ghost in Hamlet.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRBSW74J1CDMY5QE20AV","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMDKSJ6CKYGEG0M1V7Q79","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMDKXZ8YGGSZR6RQR0WEP","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.473Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:47.914Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}