{"id":"01KG8AMFD6GXV15EJA54ETEQ94","cid":"bafkreicrtjxuyuckj6uceh563c2rh2ffcjici5nd7jmyahh7v4ohdeaklq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":14475,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.278Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":14432,"text":"were picked up, half dead from exhaustion, and nearly throttled by a\r\nbundle of their clothes tied fast to their shoulders. In this manner\r\nthey had attempted their escape from their vessel. When the French\r\nofficers came in pursuit, these sailors, rallying from their\r\nexhaustion, fought like tigers to resist being captured. Though this\r\nstory concerns a French armed ship, it is not the less applicable, in\r\ndegree, to those of other nations.\r\n\r\nMix with the men in an American armed ship, mark how many foreigners\r\nthere are, though it is against the law to enlist them. Nearly one\r\nthird of the petty officers of the Neversink were born east of the\r\nAtlantic. Why is this? Because the same principle that operates in\r\nhindering Americans from hiring themselves out as menial domestics also\r\nrestrains them, in a great measure, from voluntarily assuming a far\r\nworse servitude in the Navy. “_Sailors wanted for the Navy_” is a\r\ncommon announcement along the wharves of our sea-ports. They are always\r\n“_wanted_.” It may have been, in part, owing to this scarcity\r\nman-of-war’s men, that not many years ago, black slaves were frequently\r\nto be found regularly enlisted with the crew of an American frigate,\r\ntheir masters receiving their pay. This was in the teeth of a law of\r\nCongress expressly prohibiting slaves in the Navy. This law,\r\nindirectly, means black slaves, nothing being said concerning white\r\nones. But in view of what John Randolph of Roanoke said about the\r\nfrigate that carried him to Russia, and in view of what most armed\r\nvessels actually are at present, the American Navy is not altogether an\r\ninappropriate place for hereditary bondmen. Still, the circumstance of\r\ntheir being found in it is of such a nature, that to some it may hardly\r\nappear credible. The incredulity of such persons, nevertheless, must\r\nyield to the fact, that on board of the United States ship Neversink,\r\nduring the present cruise, there was a Virginian slave regularly\r\nshipped as a seaman, his owner receiving his wages. Guinea—such was his\r\nname among the crew—belonged to the Purser, who was a Southern\r\ngentleman; he was employed as his body servant. Never did I feel my\r\ncondition as a man-of-war’s-man so keenly as when seeing this Guinea\r\nfreely circulating about the decks in citizen’s clothes, and through\r\nthe influence of his master, almost entirely exempted from the\r\ndisciplinary degradation of the Caucasian crew. Faring sumptuously in\r\nthe ward-room; sleek and round, his ebon face fairly polished with\r\ncontent: ever gay and hilarious; ever ready to laugh and joke, that\r\nAfrican slave was actually envied by many of the seamen. There were\r\ntimes when I almost envied him myself. Lemsford once envied him\r\noutright, “Ah, Guinea!” he sighed, “you have peaceful times; you never\r\nopened the book I read in.”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJVX0EHKR6PT0YQ81325T","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMFD6E466JBFWT855125Y","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMFD6J238BS56HTH3G2A0","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:38.310Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:56.071Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}