{"id":"01KG8AMFC6GKJJY5ZCNGM9XQJX","cid":"bafkreigv2ci6odi4ywuryftstjh2i7sg2xr7thhpik2te7q7flabknyyxq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2497,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.270Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 5","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":2437,"text":"suggested that a point-blank intimation of that nature should be\r\nconveyed in a private interview; or, still better, by note. I\r\nimmediately rose, tucked my jacket about me, bowed, and departed.\r\n\r\nAnd now, to do myself justice, I must add that, the next day, I was\r\nreceived with open arms by a glorious set of fellows—Mess No.\r\n1!—numbering, among the rest, my noble Captain Jack Chase.\r\n\r\nThis mess was principally composed of the headmost men of the gun-deck;\r\nand, out of a pardonable self-conceit, they called themselves the\r\n“_Forty-two-pounder Club;_” meaning that they were, one and all,\r\nfellows of large intellectual and corporeal calibre. Their mess-cloth\r\nwas well located. On their starboard hand was Mess No. 2, embracing\r\nsundry rare jokers and high livers, who waxed gay and epicurean over\r\ntheir salt fare, and were known as the “_Society for the Destruction of\r\nBeef and Pork_.” On the larboard hand was Mess No. 31, made up entirely\r\nof fore-top-men, a dashing, blaze-away set of men-of-war’s-men, who\r\ncalled themselves the “_Cape Horn Snorters and Neversink Invincibles_.”\r\nOpposite, was one of the marine messes, mustering the aristocracy of\r\nthe marine corps—the two corporals, the drummer and fifer, and some six\r\nor eight rather gentlemanly privates, native-born Americans, who had\r\nserved in the Seminole campaigns of Florida; and they now enlivened\r\ntheir salt fare with stories of wild ambushes in the Everglades; and\r\none of them related a surprising tale of his hand-to-hand encounter\r\nwith Osceola, the Indian chief, whom he fought one morning from\r\ndaybreak till breakfast time. This slashing private also boasted that\r\nhe could take a chip from between your teeth at twenty paces; he\r\noffered to bet any amount on it; and as he could get no one to hold the\r\nchip, his boast remained for ever good.\r\n\r\nBesides many other attractions which the _Forty-two-pounder Club_\r\nfurnished, it had this one special advantage, that, owing to there\r\nbeing so many _petty officers_ in it, all the members of the mess were\r\nexempt from doing duty as cooks and stewards. A fellow called _a\r\nsteady-cook_, attended to that business during the entire cruise. He\r\nwas a long, lank, pallid varlet, going by the name of Shanks. In very\r\nwarm weather this Shanks would sit at the foot of the mess-cloth,\r\nfanning himself with the front flap of his frock or shirt, which he\r\ninelegantly wore over his trousers. Jack Chase, the President of the\r\nClub, frequently remonstrated against this breach of good manners; but\r\nthe _steady-cook_ had somehow contracted the habit, and it proved\r\nincurable.\r\n\r\nFor a time, Jack Chase, out of a polite nervousness touching myself, as\r\na newly-elected member of the club, would frequently endeavour to\r\nexcuse to me the vulgarity of Shanks. One day he wound up his remarks\r\nby the philosophic reflection—“But, White-Jacket, my dear fellow, what\r\ncan you expect of him? Our real misfortune is, that our noble club\r\nshould be obliged to dine with its cook.”\r\n\r\nThere were several of these _steady-cooks_ on board; men of no mark or\r\nconsideration whatever in the ship; lost to all noble promptings;\r\nsighing for no worlds to conquer, and perfectly contented with mixing\r\ntheir _duff’s_, and spreading their mess-cloths, and mustering their\r\npots and pans together three times every day for a three years’ cruise.\r\nThey were very seldom to be seen on the spar-deck, but kept below out\r\nof sight.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 5"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ3JZG0J0ZTJQ5TQ2KVE","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMFC6TGKCYAPRQ0GJP6PN","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:38.278Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:44.444Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}