{"id":"01KG8AMFYGJWFZ0FHG12X2F0QG","cid":"bafkreiefa7abhoni3hveghjateq5nhzszq5cseoab5ymzazgtwh3z254sy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3304,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.270Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":3249,"text":"in 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\nSuch a posture could not be preserved for any considerable period\r\nwithout shifting side for side. Three or four times during the four\r\nhours I would be startled from a wet doze by the hoarse cry of a fellow\r\nwho did the duty of a corporal at the after-end of my file. “_Sleepers\r\nahoy! stand by to slew round!_” and, with a double shuffle, we all\r\nrolled in concert, and found ourselves facing the taffrail instead of\r\nthe bowsprit. But, however you turned, your nose was sure to stick to\r\none or other of the steaming backs on your two flanks. There was some\r\nlittle relief in the change of odour consequent upon this.\r\n\r\nBut what is the reason that, after battling out eight stormy hours on\r\ndeck at, night, men-of-war’s-men are not allowed the poor boon of a dry\r\nfour hours’ nap during the day following? What is the reason? The\r\nCommodore, Captain, and first Lieutenant, Chaplain, Purser, and scores\r\nof others, have _all night in_, just as if they were staying at a hotel\r\non shore. And the junior Lieutenants not only have their cots to go to\r\nat any time: but as only one of them is required to head the watch, and\r\nthere are so many of them among whom to divide that duty, they are only\r\non deck four hours to twelve hours below. In some eases the proportion\r\nis still greater. Whereas, with _the people_ it is four hours in and\r\nfour hours off continually.\r\n\r\nWhat is the reason, then, that the common seamen should fare so hard in\r\nthis matter? It would seem but a simple thing to let them get down\r\ntheir hammocks during the day for a nap. But no; such a proceeding\r\nwould mar the uniformity of daily events in a man-of-war. It seems\r\nindispensable to the picturesque effect of the spar-deck, that the\r\nhammocks should invariably remain stowed in the nettings between\r\nsunrise and sundown. But the chief reason is this—a reason which has\r\nsanctioned many an abuse in this world—_precedents are against it;_\r\nsuch a thing as sailors sleeping in their hammocks in the daytime,\r\nafter being eight hours exposed to a night-storm, was hardly ever heard\r\nof in the navy. Though, to the immortal honour of some captains be it\r\nsaid, the fact is upon navy record, that off Cape Horn, they _have_\r\nvouchsafed the morning hammocks to their crew. Heaven bless such\r\ntender-hearted officers; and may they and their descendants—ashore or\r\nafloat—have sweet and pleasant slumbers while they live, and an\r\nundreaming siesta when they die.\r\n\r\nIt is concerning such things as the subject of this chapter that\r\nspecial enactments of Congress are demanded. Health and comfort—so far\r\nas duly attainable under the circumstances—should be legally guaranteed\r\nto the man-of-war’s-men; and not left to the discretion or caprice of\r\ntheir commanders.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQSBAT4ET35KDZG5WFSR","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMFY617C8PGEDK9E5WVDV","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:38.864Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:45.129Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}