{"id":"01KG8AMEAH476BRDR0489K8BYX","cid":"bafkreib6pbsm2wq2bhnwtqfdlqprofpszgnfmr3y7mt6mpjlg6abc2s66y","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1473,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.270Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":1414,"text":"CHAPTER IX.\r\nOF THE POCKETS THAT WERE IN THE JACKET.\r\n\r\n\r\nI MUST make some further mention of that white jacket of mine.\r\n\r\nAnd here be it known—by way of introduction to what is to follow—that\r\nto a common sailor, the living on board a man-of-war is like living in\r\na market; where you dress on the door-steps, and sleep in the cellar.\r\nNo privacy can you have; hardly one moment’s seclusion. It is almost a\r\nphysical impossibility, that you can ever be alone. You dine at a vast\r\n_table d’hote_; sleep in commons, and make your toilet where and when\r\nyou can. There is no calling for a mutton chop and a pint of claret by\r\nyourself; no selecting of chambers for the night; no hanging of\r\npantaloons over the back of a chair; no ringing your bell of a rainy\r\nmorning, to take your coffee in bed. It is something like life in a\r\nlarge manufactory. The bell strikes to dinner, and hungry or not, you\r\nmust dine.\r\n\r\nYour clothes are stowed in a large canvas bag, generally painted black,\r\nwhich you can get out of the “rack” only once in the twenty-four hours;\r\nand then, during a time of the utmost confusion; among five hundred\r\nother bags, with five hundred other sailors diving into each, in the\r\nmidst of the twilight of the berth-deck. In some measure to obviate\r\nthis inconvenience, many sailors divide their wardrobes between their\r\nhammocks and their bags; stowing a few frocks and trowsers in the\r\nformer; so that they can shift at night, if they wish, when the\r\nhammocks are piped down. But they gain very little by this.\r\n\r\nYou have no place whatever but your bag or hammock, in which to put\r\nanything in a man-of-war. If you lay anything down, and turn your back\r\nfor a moment, ten to one it is gone.\r\n\r\nNow, in sketching the preliminary plan, and laying out the foundation\r\nof that memorable white jacket of mine, I had had an earnest eye to all\r\nthese inconveniences, and re-solved to avoid them. I proposed, that not\r\nonly should my jacket keep me warm, but that it should also be so\r\nconstructed as to contain a shirt or two, a pair of trowsers, and\r\ndivers knick-knacks—sewing utensils, books, biscuits, and the like.\r\nWith this object, I had accordingly provided it with a great variety of\r\npockets, pantries, clothes-presses, and cupboards.\r\n\r\nThe principal apartments, two in number, were placed in the skirts,\r\nwith a wide, hospitable entrance from the inside; two more, of smaller\r\ncapacity, were planted in each breast, with folding-doors\r\ncommunicating, so that in case of emergency, to accommodate any bulky\r\narticles, the two pockets in each breast could be thrown into one.\r\nThere were, also, several unseen recesses behind the arras; insomuch,\r\nthat my jacket, like an old castle, was full of winding stairs, and\r\nmysterious closets, crypts, and cabinets; and like a confidential\r\nwriting-desk, abounded in snug little out-of-the-way lairs and\r\nhiding-places, for the storage of valuables.\r\n\r\nSuperadded to these, were four capacious pockets on the outside; one\r\npair to slip books into when suddenly startled from my studies to the\r\nmain-royal-yard; and the other pair, for permanent mittens, to thrust\r\nmy hands into of a cold night-watch. This last contrivance was regarded\r\nas needless by one of my top-mates, who showed me a pattern for\r\nsea-mittens, which he said was much better than mine.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJPBJ6WR7ZB9FQD50J7CN","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMEAH8MKEYBY48HVV0PKA","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:37.201Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:43.206Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}