{"id":"01KG8AME7KGQPGH42G56FFWHQK","cid":"bafkreigvlzfzhhgbjepfqashfzrpbxwncmhj5uysknozmw3dih64gxdgcy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":13424,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.278Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":13365,"text":"CHAPTER LXXXIV.\r\nMAN-OF-WAR BARBERS.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe allusion to one of the ship’s barbers in a previous chapter,\r\ntogether with the recollection of how conspicuous a part they enacted\r\nin a tragical drama soon to be related, leads me now to introduce them\r\nto the reader.\r\n\r\nAmong the numerous artists and professors of polite trades in the Navy,\r\nnone are held in higher estimation or drive a more profitable business\r\nthan these barbers. And it may well be imagined that the five hundred\r\nheads of hair and five hundred beards of a frigate should furnish no\r\nsmall employment for those to whose faithful care they may be\r\nintrusted. As everything connected with the domestic affairs of a\r\nman-of-war comes under the supervision of the martial executive, so\r\ncertain barbers are formally licensed by the First Lieutenant. The\r\nbetter to attend to the profitable duties of their calling, they are\r\nexempted from all ship’s duty except that of standing night-watches at\r\nsea, mustering at quarters, and coming on deck when all hands are\r\ncalled. They are rated as _able seamen_ or _ordinary seamen_, and\r\nreceive their wages as such; but in addition to this, they are\r\nliberally recompensed for their professional services. Herein their\r\nrate of pay is fixed for every sailor manipulated—so much per quarter,\r\nwhich is charged to the sailor, and credited to his barber on the books\r\nof the Purser.\r\n\r\nIt has been seen that while a man-of-war barber is shaving his\r\ncustomers at so much per chin, his wages as a seaman are still running\r\non, which makes him a sort of _sleeping partner_ of a sailor; nor are\r\nthe sailor wages he receives altogether to be reckoned as earnings.\r\nConsidering the circumstances, however, not much objection can be made\r\nto the barbers on this score. But there were instances of men in the\r\nNeversink receiving government money in part pay for work done for\r\nprivate individuals. Among these were several accomplished tailors, who\r\nnearly the whole cruise sat cross-legged on the half deck, making\r\ncoats, pantaloons, and vests for the quarter-deck officers. Some of\r\nthese men, though knowing little or nothing about sailor duties, and\r\nseldom or never performing them, stood upon the ship’s books as\r\nordinary seamen, entitled to ten dollars a month. Why was this?\r\nPrevious to shipping they had divulged the fact of their being tailors.\r\nTrue, the officers who employed them upon their wardrobes paid them for\r\ntheir work, but some of them in such a way as to elicit much grumbling\r\nfrom the tailors. At any rate, these makers and menders of clothes did\r\nnot receive from some of these officers an amount equal to what they\r\ncould have fairly earned ashore by doing the same work. It was a\r\nconsiderable saving to the officers to have their clothes made on\r\nboard.\r\n\r\nThe men belonging to the carpenter’s gang furnished another case in\r\npoint. There were some six or eight allotted to this department. All\r\nthe cruise they were hard at work. At what? Mostly making chests of\r\ndrawers, canes, little ships and schooners, swifts, and other\r\nelaborated trifles, chiefly for the Captain. What did the Captain pay\r\nthem for their trouble? Nothing. But the United States government paid\r\nthem; two of them (the mates) at nineteen dollars a month, and the rest\r\nreceiving the pay of able seamen, twelve dollars.\r\n\r\nTo return.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJVX0Y5ACYRJ3VWH0EVJM","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMET990P6664V268K9WC9","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:37.107Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:54.449Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}