{"id":"01KG8AMEAH9R52VAS3GRBAQ0TH","cid":"bafkreiend3q3fdium4k3wazlwwgpn56ntqmxadhzjgw7hex3arxu4cwqzu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1253,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.270Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":1210,"text":"a Captain once ventured to dine at five, when the Commodore’s hour was\r\nfour. Next day, as the story goes, that Captain received a private\r\nnote, and in consequence of that note, dined for the future at\r\nhalf-past three.\r\n\r\nThough in respect of the dinner hour on board a man-of-war, _the\r\npeople_ have no reason to complain; yet they have just cause, almost\r\nfor mutiny, in the outrageous hours assigned for their breakfast and\r\nsupper.\r\n\r\nEight o’clock for breakfast; twelve for dinner; four for supper; and no\r\nmeals but these; no lunches and no cold snacks. Owing to this\r\narrangement (and partly to one watch going to their meals before the\r\nother, at sea), all the meals of the twenty-four hours are crowded into\r\na space of less than eight! Sixteen mortal hours elapse between supper\r\nand breakfast; including, to one watch, eight hours on deck! This is\r\nbarbarous; any physician will tell you so. Think of it! Before the\r\nCommodore has dined, you have supped. And in high latitudes, in\r\nsummer-time, you have taken your last meal for the day, and five hours,\r\nor more, daylight to spare!\r\n\r\nMr. Secretary of the Navy, in the name of _the people_, you should\r\ninterpose in this matter. Many a time have I, a maintop-man, found\r\nmyself actually faint of a tempestuous morning watch, when all my\r\nenergies were demanded—owing to this miserable, unphilosophical mode of\r\nallotting the government meals at sea. We beg you, Mr. Secretary, not\r\nto be swayed in this matter by the Honourable Board of Commodores, who\r\nwill no doubt tell you that eight, twelve, and four are the proper\r\nhours for _the people_ to take their Meals; inasmuch, as at these hours\r\nthe watches are relieved. For, though this arrangement makes a neater\r\nand cleaner thing of it for the officers, and looks very nice and\r\nsuperfine on paper; yet it is plainly detrimental to health; and in\r\ntime of war is attended with still more serious consequences to the\r\nwhole nation at large. If the necessary researches were made, it would\r\nperhaps be found that in those instances where men-of-war adopting the\r\nabove-mentioned hours for meals have encountered an enemy at night,\r\nthey have pretty generally been beaten; that is, in those cases where\r\nthe enemies’ meal times were reasonable; which is only to be accounted\r\nfor by the fact that _the people_ of the beaten vessels were fighting\r\non an empty stomach instead of a full one.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJPBJG3KRS5HQ4VYKZ12X","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMEAHSE8X27QVTS9ZW38G","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:37.201Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:43.210Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}