{"id":"01KG8AMFZ62E23TX8Z4A9413EB","cid":"bafkreiduacp4b6ntguzd6mwvqgiqwcio52mbn7ykf4amdy6fm2r7t7nzj4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8749,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.274Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":8686,"text":"Had they all been as punctual as Jack Chase’s party, the whole\r\nquarter-watch of liberty-men had been safe on board the frigate at the\r\nexpiration of the twenty-four hours. But this was not the case; and\r\nduring the entire day succeeding, the midshipmen and others were\r\nengaged in ferreting them out of their hiding-places on shore, and\r\nbringing them off in scattered detachments to the ship.\r\n\r\nThey came in all imaginable stages of intoxication; some with blackened\r\neyes and broken heads; some still more severely injured, having been\r\nstabbed in frays with the Portuguese soldiers. Others, unharmed, were\r\nimmediately dropped on the gun-deck, between the guns, where they lay\r\nsnoring for the rest of the day. As a considerable degree of license is\r\ninvariably permitted to man-of-war’s-men just “off liberty,” and as\r\nman-of-war’s-men well know this to be the case, they occasionally avail\r\nthemselves of the privilege to talk very frankly to the officers when\r\nthey first cross the gangway, taking care, meanwhile, to reel about\r\nvery industriously, so that there shall be no doubt about their being\r\nseriously intoxicated, and altogether _non compos_ for the time. And\r\nthough but few of them have cause to feign intoxication, yet some\r\nindividuals may be suspected of enacting a studied part upon these\r\noccasions. Indeed—judging by certain symptoms—even when really\r\ninebriated, some of the sailors must have previously determined upon\r\ntheir conduct; just as some persons who, before taking the exhilarating\r\ngas, secretly make up their minds to perform certain mad feats while\r\nunder its influence, which feats consequently come to pass precisely as\r\nif the actors were not accountable for them.\r\n\r\nFor several days, while the other quarter-watches were given liberty,\r\nthe Neversink presented a sad scene. She was more like a madhouse than\r\na frigate; the gun-deck resounded with frantic fights, shouts, and\r\nsongs. All visitors from shore were kept at a cable’s length.\r\n\r\nThese scenes, however, are nothing to those which have repeatedly been\r\nenacted in American men-of-war upon other stations. But the custom of\r\nintroducing women on board, in harbour, is now pretty much\r\ndiscontinued, both in the English and American Navy, unless a ship,\r\ncommanded by some dissolute Captain, happens to lie in some far away,\r\noutlandish port, in the Pacific or Indian Ocean.\r\n\r\nThe British line-of-battle ship, Royal George, which in 1782 sunk at\r\nher anchors at Spithead, carried down three hundred English women among\r\nthe one thousand souls that were drowned on that memorable morning.\r\n\r\nWhen, at last, after all the mad tumult and contention of “Liberty,”\r\nthe reaction came, our frigate presented a very different scene. The\r\nmen looked jaded and wan, lethargic and lazy; and many an old mariner,\r\nwith hand upon abdomen, called upon the Flag-staff to witness that\r\nthere were more _hot coppers_ in the Neversink than those in the ship’s\r\ngalley.\r\n\r\nSuch are the lamentable effects of suddenly and completely releasing\r\n“_the people_” of a man-of-war from arbitrary discipline. It shows\r\nthat, to such, “liberty,” at first, must be administered in small and\r\nmoderate quantities, increasing with the patient’s capacity to make\r\ngood use of it.\r\n\r\nOf course while we lay in Rio, our officers frequently went ashore for\r\npleasure, and, as a general thing, conducted themselves with propriety.\r\nBut it is a sad thing to say, that, as for Lieutenant Mad Jack, he\r\nenjoyed himself so delightfully for three consecutive days in the town,\r\nthat, upon returning to the ship, he sent his card to the Surgeon, with\r\nhis compliments, begging him to drop into his state-room the first time\r\nhe happened to pass that way in the ward-room.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJSTQZ16SAPC8V3NCS8M8","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMFEY4D075VMS77TBGZ2D","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMFZ083447DK00KYQ57DM","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:38.886Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:49.961Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}