{"id":"01KG8AMESEBQCKTBS6HQTGRB8G","cid":"bafkreifyt4tlwlwh3ea66pnf5looqtviw5o4ibxrqlhdvuyjp4bmzvffwi","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1932,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.270Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":1865,"text":"liberal-hearted, lofty-minded, gayer, more jocund, elastic,\r\nadventurous, given to fun and frolic, than the top-men of the fore,\r\nmain, and mizzen masts? The reason of their liberal-heartedness was,\r\nthat they were daily called upon to expatiate themselves all over the\r\nrigging. The reason of their lofty-mindedness was, that they were high\r\nlifted above the petty tumults, carping cares, and paltrinesses of the\r\ndecks below.\r\n\r\nAnd I feel persuaded in my inmost soul, that it is to the fact of my\r\nhaving been a main-top-man; and especially my particular post being on\r\nthe loftiest yard of the frigate, the main-royal-yard; that I am now\r\nenabled to give such a free, broad, off-hand, bird’s-eye, and, more\r\nthan all, impartial account of our man-of-war world; withholding\r\nnothing; inventing nothing; nor flattering, nor scandalising any; but\r\nmeting out to all—commodore and messenger-boy alike—their precise\r\ndescriptions and deserts.\r\n\r\nThe reason of the mirthfulness of these top-men was, that they always\r\nlooked out upon the blue, boundless, dimpled, laughing, sunny sea. Nor\r\ndo I hold, that it militates against this theory, that of a stormy day,\r\nwhen the face of the ocean was black, and overcast, that some of them\r\nwould grow moody, and chose to sit apart. On the contrary, it only\r\nproves the thing which I maintain. For even on shore, there are many\r\npeople naturally gay and light-hearted, who, whenever the autumnal wind\r\nbegins to bluster round the corners, and roar along the chimney-stacks,\r\nstraight becomes cross, petulant, and irritable. What is more mellow\r\nthan fine old ale? Yet thunder will sour the best nut-brown ever\r\nbrewed.\r\n\r\nThe _Holders_ of our frigate, the Troglodytes, who lived down in the\r\ntarry cellars and caves below the berth-deck, were, nearly all of them,\r\nmen of gloomy dispositions, taking sour views of things; one of them\r\nwas a blue-light Calvinist. Whereas, the old-sheet-anchor-men, who\r\nspent their time in the bracing sea-air and broad-cast sunshine of the\r\nforecastle, were free, generous-hearted, charitable, and full of\r\ngood-will to all hands; though some of them, to tell the truth, proved\r\nsad exceptions; but exceptions only prove the rule.\r\n\r\nThe “steady-cooks” on the berth-deck, the “steady-sweepers,” and\r\n“steady-spit-box-musterers,” in all divisions of the frigate, fore and\r\naft, were a narrow-minded set; with contracted souls; imputable, no\r\ndoubt, to their groveling duties. More especially was this evinced in\r\nthe case of those odious ditchers and night scavengers, the ignoble\r\n“Waisters.”\r\n\r\nThe members of the band, some ten or twelve in number, who had nothing\r\nto do but keep their instruments polished, and play a lively air now\r\nand then, to stir the stagnant current in our poor old Commodore’s\r\ntorpid veins, were the most gleeful set of fellows you ever saw. They\r\nwere Portuguese, who had been shipped at the Cape De Verd islands, on\r\nthe passage out. They messed by themselves; forming a dinner-party, not\r\nto be exceeded ire mirthfulness, by a club of young bridegrooms, three\r\nmonths after marriage, completely satisfied with their bargains, after\r\ntesting them.\r\n\r\nBut what made them, now, so full of fun? What indeed but their merry,\r\nmartial, mellow calling. Who could he a churl, and play a flageolet?\r\nwho mean and spiritless, braying forth the souls of thousand heroes\r\nfrom his brazen trump? But still more efficacious, perhaps, in\r\nministering to the light spirits of the band, was the consoling\r\nthought, that should the ship ever go into action, they would be\r\nexempted from the perils of battle. In ships of war, the members of the\r\n“music,” as the band is called, are generally non-combatants; and\r\nmostly ship, with the express understanding, that as soon as the vessel\r\ncomes within long gun-shot of an enemy, they shall have the privilege\r\nof burrowing down in the cable-tiers, or sea coal-hole. Which shows\r\nthat they are inglorious, but uncommonly sensible fellows.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ3M4AHHCAW4MDTNFNN5","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMESE38R0JX4GDHSX303C","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMESEW2ZTEV8EE1HY9WK7","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:37.678Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:43.902Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}