{"id":"01KG8AMDKXZ8YGGSZR6RQR0WEP","cid":"bafkreibd6hgejihiv5k3uuryq24nv67lpwqevp7cb5apjsimsuyxzhvvye","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6366,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.274Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":6295,"text":"tuckers, 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\nBut these ceremonies are nothing to those in homage of the Commodore’s\r\narrival, even should he depart and arrive twenty times a day. Upon such\r\noccasions, the whole marine guard, except the sentries on duty, are\r\nmarshalled on the quarter-deck, presenting arms as the Commodore passes\r\nthem; while their commanding officer gives the military salute with his\r\nsword, as if making masonic signs. Meanwhile, the boatswain himself—not\r\na _boatswain’s mate_—is keeping up a persevering whistling with his\r\nsilver pipe; for the Commodore is never greeted with the rude whistle\r\nof a boatswain’s subaltern; _that_ would be positively insulting. All\r\nthe Lieutenants and Midshipmen, besides the Captain himself, are drawn\r\nup in a phalanx, and off hat together; and the _side-boys_, whose\r\nnumber is now increased to ten or twelve, make an imposing display at\r\nthe gangway; while the whole brass band, elevated upon the poop, strike\r\nup “See! the Conquering Hero Comes!” At least, this was the tune that\r\nour Captain always hinted, by a gesture, to the captain of the band,\r\nwhenever the Commodore arrived from shore.\r\n\r\nIt conveyed a complimentary appreciation, on the Captain’s part, of the\r\nCommodore’s heroism during the late war.\r\n\r\nTo return to the gig. As I did not relish the idea of being a sort of\r\nbody-servant to Captain Claret—since his gig-men were often called upon\r\nto scrub his cabin floor, and perform other duties for him—I made it my\r\nparticular business to get rid of my appointment in his boat as soon as\r\npossible, and the next day after receiving it, succeeded in procuring a\r\nsubstitute, who was glad of the chance to fill the position I so much\r\nundervalued.\r\n\r\nAnd thus, with our counterlikes and dislikes, most of us\r\nmen-of-war’s-men harmoniously dove-tail into each other, and, by our\r\nvery points of opposition, unite in a clever whole, like the parts of a\r\nChinese puzzle. But as, in a Chinese puzzle, many pieces are hard to\r\nplace, so there are some unfortunate fellows who can never slip into\r\ntheir proper angles, and thus the whole puzzle becomes a puzzle indeed,\r\nwhich is the precise condition of the greatest puzzle in the world—this\r\nman-of-war world itself.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER XL.\r\nSOME OF THE CEREMONIES IN A MAN-OF-WAR UNNECESSARY AND INJURIOUS.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe ceremonials of a man-of-war, some of which have been described in\r\nthe preceding chapter, may merit a reflection or two.\r\n\r\nThe general usages of the American Navy are founded upon the usages\r\nthat prevailed in the navy of monarchical England more than a century\r\nago; nor have they been materially altered since. And while both\r\nEngland and America have become greatly liberalised in the interval;\r\nwhile shore pomp in high places has come to be regarded by the more\r\nintelligent masses of men as belonging to the absurd, ridiculous, and\r\nmock-heroic; while that most truly august of all the majesties of\r\nearth, the President of the United States, may be seen entering his\r\nresidence with his umbrella under his arm, and no brass band or\r\nmilitary guard at his heels, and unostentatiously taking his seat by\r\nthe side of the meanest citizen in a public conveyance; while this is\r\nthe case, there still lingers in American men-of-war all the stilted\r\netiquette and childish parade of the old-fashioned Spanish court of\r\nMadrid. Indeed, so far as the things that meet the eye are concerned,\r\nan American Commodore is by far a greater man than the President of\r\ntwenty millions of freemen.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRBSW74J1CDMY5QE20AV","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMDKSHY9KX40EMY1C12PF","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMDKXRKCF5CXEAQPAJCJZ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.477Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:47.857Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}