{"id":"01KG8AMETERQMA2Q7ZNFWJCC05","cid":"bafkreiaqh7wdlaogdo2qu66efaa2kraigxw5xv2xcehrn3hsdp2xlahzoa","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":13687,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.278Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":13618,"text":"cogitations. At any rate, that very evening the ship’s company were\r\nastounded by an extraordinary announcement made at the main-hatch-way\r\nof the gun-deck, by the Boat-swain’s mate there stationed. He was\r\nafterwards discovered to have been tipsy at the time.\r\n\r\n“D’ye hear there, fore and aft? All you that have hair on your heads,\r\nshave them off; and all you that have beards, trim ’em small!”\r\n\r\nShave off our Christian heads! And then, placing them between our\r\nknees, trim small our worshipped beards! The Captain was mad.\r\n\r\nBut directly the Boatswain came rushing to the hatchway, and, after\r\nsoundly rating his tipsy mate, thundered forth a true version of the\r\norder that had issued from the quarter-deck. As amended, it ran thus:\r\n\r\n“D’ye hear there, fore and aft? All you that have long hair, cut it\r\nshort; and all you that have large whiskers, trim them down, according\r\nto the Navy regulations.”\r\n\r\nThis was an amendment, to be sure; but what barbarity, after all! What!\r\nnot thirty days’ run from home, and lose our magnificent\r\nhomeward-bounders! The homeward-bounders we had been cultivating so\r\nlong! Lose them at one fell swoop? Were the vile barbers of the\r\ngun-deck to reap our long, nodding harvests, and expose our innocent\r\nchins to the chill air of the Yankee coast! And our viny locks! were\r\nthey also to be shorn? Was a grand sheep-shearing, such as they\r\nannually have at Nantucket, to take place; and our ignoble barbers to\r\ncarry off the fleece?\r\n\r\nCaptain Claret! in cutting our beards and our hair, you cut us the\r\nunkindest cut of all! Were we going into action, Captain Claret—going\r\nto fight the foe with our hearts of flame and our arms of steel, then\r\nwould we gladly offer up our beards to the terrific God of War, and\r\n_that_ we would account but a wise precaution against having them\r\ntweaked by the foe. _Then_, Captain Claret, you would but be imitating\r\nthe example of Alexander, who had his Macedonians all shaven, that in\r\nthe hour of battle their beards might not be handles to the Persians.\r\nBut _now_, Captain Claret! when after our long, long cruise, we are\r\nreturning to our homes, tenderly stroking the fine tassels on our\r\nchins; and thinking of father or mother, or sister or brother, or\r\ndaughter or son; to cut off our beards now—the very beards that were\r\nfrosted white off the pitch of Patagonia—_this_ is too bitterly bad,\r\nCaptain Claret! and, by Heaven, we will not submit. Train your guns\r\ninboard, let the marines fix their bayonets, let the officers draw\r\ntheir swords; we _will not_ let our beards be reaped—the last insult\r\ninflicted upon a vanquished foe in the East!\r\n\r\nWhere are you, sheet-anchor-men! Captains of the tops! gunner’s mates!\r\nmariners, all! Muster round the capstan your venerable beards, and\r\nwhile you braid them together in token of brotherhood, cross hands and\r\nswear that we will enact over again the mutiny of the Nore, and sooner\r\nperish than yield up a hair!\r\n\r\nThe excitement was intense throughout that whole evening. Groups of\r\ntens and twenties were scattered about all the decks, discussing the\r\nmandate, and inveighing against its barbarous author. The long area of\r\nthe gun-deck was something like a populous street of brokers, when some\r\nterrible commercial tidings have newly arrived. One and all, they\r\nresolved not to succumb, and every man swore to stand by his beard and\r\nhis neighbour.\r\n\r\nTwenty-four hours after—at the next evening quarters—the Captain’s eye\r\nwas observed to wander along the men at their guns—not a beard was\r\nshaven!\r\n\r\nWhen the drum beat the retreat, the Boatswain—now attended by all four\r\nof his mates, to give additional solemnity to the announcement—repeated\r\nthe previous day’s order, and concluded by saying, that twenty-four\r\nhours would be given for all to acquiesce.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJVX0DG3QG3ASDM4V0FBS","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMETE430ANR42QG94P0Z2","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMET99RMP9V3Z7V983RBR","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:37.710Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:54.931Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}