{"id":"01KG8AMESJRA3D73KG8DGZ7JJA","cid":"bafkreigd2muczh3gxl2gu6mmxa4fk5xhboivwp7a6q7d3zsxbccoxlqewu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2327,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.270Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":2264,"text":"ship’s duty. Your only music, at such times, is the shrill pipe of the\r\nboatswain’s mate, which is almost worse than no music at all. And if\r\nthe boatswain’s mate is not by, you must pull the ropes, like convicts,\r\nin profound silence; or else endeavour to impart unity to the exertions\r\nof all hands, by singing out mechanically, _one_, _two_, _three_, and\r\nthen pulling all together.\r\n\r\nNow, when Sunshine, Rose-water, and May-day have so polished the ship’s\r\ncoppers, that a white kid glove might be drawn along the inside and\r\nshow no stain, they leap out of their holes, and the water is poured in\r\nfor the coffee. And the coffee being boiled, and decanted off in\r\nbucketfuls, the cooks of the messes march up with their salt beef for\r\ndinner, strung upon strings and tallied with labels; all of which are\r\nplunged together into the self-same coppers, and there boiled. When,\r\nupon the beef being fished out with a huge pitch-fork, the water for\r\nthe evening’s tea is poured in; which, consequently possesses a flavour\r\nnot unlike that of shank-soup.\r\n\r\nFrom this it will be seen, that, so far as cooking is concerned, a\r\n“_cook of the mess_” has very little to do; merely carrying his\r\nprovisions to and from the grand democratic cookery. Still, in some\r\nthings, his office involves many annoyances. Twice a week butter and\r\ncheese are served out—so much to each man—and the mess-cook has the\r\nsole charge of these delicacies. The great difficulty consists in so\r\ncatering for the mess, touching these luxuries, as to satisfy all. Some\r\nguzzlers are for devouring the butter at a meal, and finishing off with\r\nthe cheese the same day; others contend for saving it up against\r\n_Banyan Day_, when there is nothing but beef and bread; and others,\r\nagain, are for taking a very small bit of butter and cheese, by way of\r\ndessert, to each and every meal through the week. All this gives rise\r\nto endless disputes, debates, and altercations.\r\n\r\nSometimes, with his mess-cloth—a square of painted canvas—set out on\r\ndeck between the guns, garnished with pots, and pans, and _kids_, you\r\nsee the mess-cook seated on a matchtub at its head, his trowser legs\r\nrolled up and arms bared, presiding over the convivial party.\r\n\r\n“Now, men, you can’t have any butter to-day. I’m saving it up for\r\nto-morrow. You don’t know the value of butter, men. You, Jim, take your\r\nhoof off the cloth! Devil take me, if some of you chaps haven’t no more\r\nmanners than so many swines! Quick, men, quick; bear a hand, and\r\n‘_scoff_’ (eat) away.—I’ve got my to-morrow’s _duff_ to make yet, and\r\nsome of you fellows keep _scoffing_ as if I had nothing to do but sit\r\nstill here on this here tub here, and look on. There, there, men,\r\nyou’ve all had enough: so sail away out of this, and let me clear up\r\nthe wreck.”\r\n\r\nIn this strain would one of the periodical cooks of mess No. 15 talk to\r\nus. He was a tall, resolute fellow, who had once been a brakeman on a\r\nrailroad, and he kept us all pretty straight; from his fiat there was\r\nno appeal.\r\n\r\nBut it was not thus when the turn came to others among us. Then it was\r\n_look out for squalls_. The business of dining became a bore, and\r\ndigestion was seriously impaired by the unamiable discourse we had over\r\nour _salt horse_.\r\n\r\nI sometimes thought that the junks of lean pork—which were boiled in\r\ntheir own bristles, and looked gaunt and grim, like pickled chins of\r\nhalf-famished, unwashed Cossacks—had something to do with creating the\r\nbristling bitterness at times prevailing in our mess. The men tore off\r\nthe tough hide from their pork, as if they were Indians scalping\r\nChristians.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ3JZG0J0ZTJQ5TQ2KVE","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMESJ6WGRMW2C2QKNMHF6","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMESSEY2DB37KH998520J","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:37.682Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:43.960Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}