{"id":"01KG8AMFZ3WHZD5DPZMTQQD93R","cid":"bafkreibd37662ukrkpmnidgiyie3ucqhph7gts4x43ujlwziryvyz2xq7i","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":14795,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.278Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":14730,"text":"man they, in many cases, instinctively dislike. The reason is, they\r\nfeel such a man to be a continual reproach to them, as being mentally\r\nsuperior to their power. He has no business in a man-of-war; they do\r\nnot want such men. To them there is an insolence in his manly freedom,\r\ncontempt in his very carriage. He is unendurable, as an erect,\r\nlofty-minded African would be to some slave-driving planter.\r\n\r\nLet it not be supposed, however, that the remarks in this and the\r\npreceding chapter apply to _all_ men-of-war. There are some vessels\r\nblessed with patriarchal, intellectual Captains, gentlemanly and\r\nbrotherly officers, and docile and Christianised crews. The peculiar\r\nusages of such vessels insensibly softens the tyrannical rigour of the\r\nArticles of War; in them, scourging is unknown. To sail in such ships\r\nis hardly to realise that you live under the martial law, or that the\r\nevils above mentioned can anywhere exist.\r\n\r\nAnd Jack Chase, old Ushant, and several more fine tars that might be\r\nadded, sufficiently attest, that in the Neversink at least, there was\r\nmore than one noble man-of-war’s-man who almost redeemed all the rest.\r\n\r\nWherever, throughout this narrative, the American Navy, in any of its\r\nbearings, has formed the theme of a general discussion, hardly one\r\nsyllable of admiration for what is accounted illustrious in its\r\nachievements has been permitted to escape me. The reason is this: I\r\nconsider, that so far as what is called military renown is concerned,\r\nthe American Navy needs no eulogist but History. It were superfluous\r\nfor White-Jacket to tell the world what it knows already. The office\r\nimposed upon me is of another cast; and, though I foresee and feel that\r\nit may subject me to the pillory in the hard thoughts of some men, yet,\r\nsupported by what God has given me, I tranquilly abide the event,\r\nwhatever it may prove.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER XCI.\r\nSMOKING-CLUB IN A MAN-OF-WAR, WITH SCENES ON THE GUN-DECK DRAWING NEAR\r\nHOME.\r\n\r\n\r\nThere is a fable about a painter moved by Jove to the painting of the\r\nhead of Medusa. Though the picture was true to the life, yet the poor\r\nartist sickened at the sight of what his forced pencil had drawn. Thus,\r\nborne through my task toward the end, my own soul now sinks at what I\r\nmyself have portrayed. But let us forget past chapters, if we may,\r\nwhile we paint less repugnant things.\r\n\r\nMetropolitan gentlemen have their club; provincial gossipers their\r\nnews-room; village quidnuncs their barber’s shop; the Chinese their\r\nopium-houses; American Indians their council-fire; and even cannibals\r\ntheir _Noojona_, or Talk-Stone, where they assemble at times to discuss\r\nthe affairs of the day. Nor is there any government, however despotic,\r\nthat ventures to deny to the least of its subjects the privilege of a\r\nsociable chat. Not the Thirty Tyrants even—the clubbed post-captains of\r\nold Athens—could stop the wagging tongues at the street-corners. For\r\nchat man must; and by our immortal Bill of Rights, that guarantees to\r\nus liberty of speech, chat we Yankees will, whether on board a frigate,\r\nor on board our own terra-firma plantations.\r\n\r\nIn men-of-war, the Galley, or Cookery, on the gun-deck, is the grand\r\ncentre of gossip and news among the sailors. Here crowds assemble to\r\nchat away the half-hour elapsing after every meal. The reason why this\r\nplace and these hours are selected rather than others is this: in the\r\nneighbourhood of the galley alone, and only after meals, is the\r\nman-of-war’s-man permitted to regale himself with a smoke.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJWG1Q56K09ESP8DXKERA","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMFZD1B2CQW3NEJEMKTRK","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMFZ3SEC107HGQ7ET38K7","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:38.883Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:56.565Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}