{"id":"01KG8AMDKSJ6CKYGEG0M1V7Q79","cid":"bafkreifmndevpq7adgdi3x5rbi5adcc6nsudgjjaby5cnbcb52xnyako64","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6242,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.274Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":6176,"text":"are mostly thrown upon your own resources to while away the time. Whole\r\ndays frequently pass without your being individually called upon to\r\nlift a finger; for though, in the merchant-service, they make a point\r\nof keeping the men always busy about something or other, yet, to employ\r\nfive hundred sailors when there is nothing definite to be done wholly\r\nsurpasses the ingenuity of any First Lieutenant in the Navy.\r\n\r\nAs mention has just been made of the numerous boats employed in\r\nharbour, something more may as well be put down concerning them. Our\r\nfrigate carried a very large boat—as big as a small sloop—called a\r\n_launch_, which was generally used for getting off wood, water, and\r\nother bulky articles. Besides this, she carried four boats of an\r\narithmetical progression in point of size—the largest being known as\r\nthe first cutter, the next largest the second cutter, then the third\r\nand fourth cutters. She also carried a Commodore’s Barge, a Captain’s\r\nGig, and a “dingy,” a small yawl, with a crew of apprentice boys. All\r\nthese boats, except the “dingy,” had their regular crews, who were\r\nsubordinate to their cockswains—_petty officers_, receiving pay in\r\naddition to their seaman’s wages.\r\n\r\nThe _launch_ was manned by the old Tritons of the forecastle, who were\r\nno ways particular about their dress, while the other\r\nboats—commissioned for genteeler duties—were rowed by young follows,\r\nmostly, who had a dandy eye to their personal appearance. Above all,\r\nthe officers see to it that the Commodore’s Barge and the Captain’s Gig\r\nare manned by gentlemanly youths, who may do credit to their country,\r\nand form agreeable objects for the eyes of the Commodore or Captain to\r\nrepose upon as he tranquilly sits in the stern, when pulled ashore by\r\nhis barge-men or gig-men, as the case may be. Some sailors are very\r\nfond of belonging to the boats, and deem it a great honour to be a\r\n_Commodore’s barge-man_; but others, perceiving no particular\r\ndistinction in that office, do not court it so much.\r\n\r\nOn the second day after arriving at Rio, one of the gig-men fell sick,\r\nand, to my no small concern, I found myself temporarily appointed to\r\nhis place.\r\n\r\n“Come, White-Jacket, rig yourself in white—that’s the gig’s uniform\r\nto-day; you are a gig-man, my boy—give ye joy!” This was the first\r\nannouncement of the fact that I heard; but soon after it was officially\r\nratified.\r\n\r\nI was about to seek the First Lieutenant, and plead the scantiness of\r\nmy wardrobe, which wholly disqualified me to fill so distinguished a\r\nstation, when I heard the bugler call away the “gig;” and, without more\r\nado, I slipped into a clean frock, which a messmate doffed for my\r\nbenefit, and soon after found myself pulling off his High Mightiness,\r\nthe Captain, to an English seventy-four.\r\n\r\nAs we were bounding along, the cockswain suddenly cried “Oars!” At the\r\nword every oar was suspended in the air, while our Commodore’s barge\r\nfloated by, bearing that dignitary himself. At the sight, Captain\r\nClaret removed his chapeau, and saluted profoundly, our boat lying\r\nmotionless on the water. But the barge never stopped; and the Commodore\r\nmade but a slight return to the obsequious salute he had received.\r\n\r\nWe then resumed rowing, and presently I heard “Oars!” again; but from\r\nanother boat, the second cutter, which turned out to be carrying a\r\nLieutenant 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","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRBSW74J1CDMY5QE20AV","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMJWKWZDY5WGF2A2QZT5P","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMDKSHY9KX40EMY1C12PF","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.473Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:47.798Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}