{"id":"01KG8AMFY617C8PGEDK9E5WVDV","cid":"bafkreihuwhmpuemidi3hxwurvmaqak3qmvquwuhqx2k3aynuans5lajqye","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3256,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.270Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":3194,"text":"CHAPTER XXI.\r\nONE REASON WHY MEN-OF-WAR’S MEN ARE, GENERALLY, SHORT-LIVED.\r\n\r\n\r\nI cannot quit this matter of the hammocks without making mention of a\r\ngrievance among the sailors that ought to be redressed.\r\n\r\nIn a man-of-war at sea, the sailors have _watch and watch;_ that is,\r\nthrough every twenty-four hours, they are on and off duty every four\r\nhours. Now, the hammocks are piped down from the nettings (the open\r\nspace for stowing them, running round the top of the bulwarks) a little\r\nafter sunset, and piped up again when the forenoon watch is called, at\r\neight o’clock in the morning; so that during the daytime they are\r\ninaccessible as pallets. This would be all well enough, did the sailors\r\nhave a complete night’s rest; but every other night at sea, one watch\r\nhave only four hours in their hammocks. Indeed, deducting the time\r\nallowed for the other watch to turn out; for yourself to arrange your\r\nhammock, get into it, and fairly get asleep; it maybe said that, every\r\nother night, you have but three hours’ sleep in your hammock. Having\r\nthen been on deck for twice four hours, at eight o’clock in the morning\r\nyour _watch-below_ comes round, and you are not liable to duty until\r\nnoon. Under like circumstances, a merchant seaman goes to his _bunk_,\r\nand has the benefit of a good long sleep. But in a man-of-war you can\r\ndo no such thing; your hammock is very neatly stowed in the nettings,\r\nand there it must remain till nightfall.\r\n\r\nBut perhaps there is a corner for you somewhere along the batteries on\r\nthe gun-deck, where you may enjoy a snug nap. But as no one is allowed\r\nto recline on the larboard side of the gun-deck (which is reserved as a\r\ncorridor for the officers when they go forward to their smoking-room at\r\nthe _bridle-port_), the starboard side only is left to the seaman. But\r\nmost of this side, also, is occupied by the carpenters, sail-makers,\r\nbarbers, and coopers. In short, so few are the corners where you can\r\nsnatch a nap during daytime in a frigate, that not one in ten of the\r\nwatch, who have been on deck eight hours, can get a wink of sleep till\r\nthe following night. Repeatedly, after by good fortune securing a\r\ncorner, I have been roused from it by some functionary commissioned to\r\nkeep it clear.\r\n\r\nOff Cape Horn, what before had been very uncomfortable became a serious\r\nhardship. Drenched through and through by the spray of the sea at\r\nnight. I have sometimes slept standing on the spar-deck—and shuddered\r\nas I slept—for the want of sufficient sleep in my hammock.\r\n\r\nDuring three days of the stormiest weather, we were given the privilege\r\nof the _berth-deck_ (at other times strictly interdicted), where we\r\nwere permitted to spread our jackets, and take a nap in the morning\r\nafter the eight hours’ night exposure. But this privilege was but a\r\nbeggarly one, indeed. Not to speak of our jackets—used for\r\nblankets—being soaking wet, the spray, coming down the hatchways, kept\r\nthe planks of the berth-deck itself constantly wet; whereas, had we\r\nbeen permitted our hammocks, we might have swung dry over all this\r\ndeluge. But we endeavoured to make ourselves as warm and comfortable as\r\npossible, chiefly by close stowing, so as to generate a little steam,\r\nin the absence of any fire-side warmth. You have seen, perhaps, the way\r\nin which they box up subjects intended to illustrate the winter\r\nlectures of a professor of surgery. Just so we laid; heel and point,\r\nface to back, dove-tailed into each other at every ham and knee. The\r\nwet of our jackets, thus densely packed, would soon begin to distill.\r\nBut it was like pouring hot water on you to keep you from freezing. It\r\nwas like being “packed” between the soaked sheets in a Water-cure\r\nEstablishment.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQSBAT4ET35KDZG5WFSR","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMFYGJWFZ0FHG12X2F0QG","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:38.854Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:45.137Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}