{"id":"01KG8AMFY3WZPCEKKRF0BX90QK","cid":"bafkreic6nmca4etelrn7itbwarzslb5ew4c5yicsskg7fdq5f6keufkbqq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3162,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.270Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":3094,"text":"CHAPTER XX.\r\nHOW THEY SLEEP IN A MAN-OF-WAR.\r\n\r\n\r\nNo more of my luckless jacket for a while; let me speak of my hammock,\r\nand the tribulations I endured therefrom.\r\n\r\nGive me plenty of room to swing it in; let me swing it between two\r\ndate-trees on an Arabian plain; or extend it diagonally from Moorish\r\npillar to pillar, in the open marble Court of the Lions in Granada’s\r\nAlhambra: let me swing it on a high bluff of the Mississippi—one swing\r\nin the pure ether for every swing over the green grass; or let me\r\noscillate in it beneath the cool dome of St. Peter’s; or drop me in it,\r\nas in a balloon, from the zenith, with the whole firmament to rock and\r\nexpatiate in; and I would not exchange my coarse canvas hammock for the\r\ngrand state-bed, like a stately coach-and-four, in which they tuck in a\r\nking when he passes a night at Blenheim Castle.\r\n\r\nWhen you have the requisite room, you always have “spreaders” in your\r\nhammock; that is, two horizontal sticks, one at each end, which serve\r\nto keep the sides apart, and create a wide vacancy between, wherein you\r\ncan turn over and over—lay on this side or that; on your back, if you\r\nplease; stretch out your legs; in short, take your ease in your\r\nhammock; for of all inns, your bed is the best.\r\n\r\nBut when, with five hundred other hammocks, yours is crowded and jammed\r\non all sides, on a frigate berth-deck; the third from above, when\r\n“_spreaders_” are prohibited by an express edict from the Captain’s\r\ncabin; and every man about you is jealously watchful of the rights and\r\nprivileges of his own proper hammock, as settled by law and usage;\r\n_then_ your hammock is your Bastile and canvas jug; into which, or out\r\nof which, it is very hard to get; and where sleep is but a mockery and\r\na name.\r\n\r\nEighteen inches a man is all they allow you; eighteen inches in width;\r\nin _that_ you must swing. Dreadful! they give you more swing than that\r\nat the gallows.\r\n\r\nDuring warm nights in the Tropics, your hammock is as a stew-pan; where\r\nyou stew and stew, till you can almost hear yourself hiss. Vain are all\r\nstratagems to widen your accommodations. Let them catch you insinuating\r\nyour boots or other articles in the head of your hammock, by way of a\r\n“spreader.” Near and far, the whole rank and file of the row to which\r\nyou belong feel the encroachment in an instant, and are clamorous till\r\nthe guilty one is found out, and his pallet brought back to its\r\nbearings.\r\n\r\nIn platoons and squadrons, they all lie on a level; their hammock\r\n_clews_ crossing and recrossing in all directions, so as to present one\r\nvast field-bed, midway between the ceiling and the floor; which are\r\nabout five feet asunder.\r\n\r\nOne extremely warm night, during a calm, when it was so hot that only a\r\nskeleton could keep cool (from the free current of air through its\r\nbones), after being drenched in my own perspiration, I managed to wedge\r\nmyself out of my hammock; and with what little strength I had left,\r\nlowered myself gently to the deck. Let me see now, thought I, whether\r\nmy ingenuity cannot devise some method whereby I can have room to\r\nbreathe and sleep at the same time. I have it. I will lower my hammock\r\nunderneath all these others; and then—upon that separate and\r\nindependent level, at least—I shall have the whole berth-deck to\r\nmyself. Accordingly, I lowered away my pallet to the desired\r\npoint—about three inches from the floor—and crawled into it again.\r\n\r\nBut, alas! this arrangement made such a sweeping semi-circle of my\r\nhammock, that, while my head and feet were at par, the small of my back\r\nwas settling down indefinitely; I felt as if some gigantic archer had\r\nhold of me for a bow.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQSBXZB97M7AAVAG7A5J","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMFYD4YPKQC0CTZ7PWF5D","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:38.851Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:44.760Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}