{"id":"01KG8AMFD0B1NS7YBHNSXK9NF1","cid":"bafkreiblinopvsotqaplijoyadlbmycukkh5zcwxyidurf4eyy7pdnh6si","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":14345,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.278Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":14275,"text":"CHAPTER LXXXIX.\r\nTHE SOCIAL STATE IN A MAN-OF-WAR.\r\n\r\n\r\nBur the floggings at the gangway and the floggings through the fleet,\r\nthe stealings, highway robberies, swearings, gamblings, blasphemings,\r\nthimble-riggings, smugglings, and tipplings of a man-of-war, which\r\nthroughout this narrative have been here and there sketched from the\r\nlife, by no means comprise the whole catalogue of evil. One single\r\nfeature is full of significance.\r\n\r\nAll large ships of war carry soldiers, called marines. In the Neversink\r\nthere was something less than fifty, two thirds of whom were Irishmen.\r\nThey were officered by a Lieutenant, an Orderly Sergeant, two\r\nSergeants, and two Corporals, with a drummer and fifer. The custom,\r\ngenerally, is to have a marine to each gun; which rule usually\r\nfurnishes the scale for distributing the soldiers in vessels of\r\ndifferent force.\r\n\r\nOur marines had no other than martial duty to perform; excepting that,\r\nat sea, they stood watches like the sailors, and now and then lazily\r\nassisted in pulling the ropes. But they never put foot in rigging or\r\nhand in tar-bucket.\r\n\r\nOn the quarter-bills, these men were stationed at none of the great\r\nguns; on the station-bills, they had no posts at the ropes. What, then,\r\nwere they for? To serve their country in time of battle? Let us see.\r\nWhen a ship is running into action, her marines generally lie flat on\r\ntheir faces behind the bulwarks (the sailors are sometimes ordered to\r\ndo the same), and when the vessel is fairly engaged, they are usually\r\ndrawn up in the ship’s waist—like a company reviewing in the Park. At\r\nclose quarters, their muskets may pick off a seaman or two in the\r\nrigging, but at long-gun distance they must passively stand in their\r\nranks and be decimated at the enemy’s leisure. Only in one case in\r\nten—that is, when their vessel is attempted to be boarded by a large\r\nparty, are these marines of any essential service as fighting men; with\r\ntheir bayonets they are then called upon to “repel!”\r\n\r\nIf comparatively so useless as soldiers, why have marines at all in the\r\nNavy? Know, then, that what standing armies are to nations, what\r\nturnkeys are to jails, these marines are to the seamen in all large\r\nmen-of-war. Their muskets are their keys. With those muskets they stand\r\nguard over the fresh water; over the grog, when doled; over the\r\nprovisions, when being served out by the Master’s mate; over the “brig”\r\nor jail; at the Commodore’s and Captain’s cabin doors; and, in port, at\r\nboth gangways and forecastle.\r\n\r\nSurely, the crowd of sailors, who besides having so many sea-officers\r\nover them, are thus additionally guarded by soldiers, even when they\r\nquench their thirst—surely these man-of-war’s-men must be desperadoes\r\nindeed; or else the naval service must be so tyrannical that the worst\r\nis feared from their possible insubordination. Either reason holds\r\ngood, or both, according to the character of the officers and crew.\r\n\r\nIt must be evident that the man-of-war’s-man casts but an evil eye on a\r\nmarine. To call a man a “horse-marine,” is, among seamen, one of the\r\ngreatest terms of contempt.\r\n\r\nBut the mutual contempt, and even hatred, subsisting between these two\r\nbodies of men—both clinging to one keel, both lodged in one\r\nhousehold—is held by most Navy officers as the height of the perfection\r\nof Navy discipline. It is regarded as the button that caps the\r\nuttermost point on their main-mast.\r\n\r\nThus they reason: Secure of this antagonism between the marine and the\r\nsailor, we can always rely upon it, that if the sailor mutinies, it\r\nneeds no great incitement for the marine to thrust his bayonet through\r\nhis heart; if the marine revolts, the pike of the sailor is impatient\r\nto charge. Checks and balances, blood against blood, _that_ is the cry\r\nand the argument.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJVX0SKHXXG3JA3D02FNW","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMFD0QJAY5KZ7VTEEEYP5","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:38.304Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:55.714Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}