{"id":"01KG8AMGE19W9KGNENTKKG4YD8","cid":"bafkreihcabowv67e5qcvj6zx2zpg2bls2tvwgvifumnpdk6oxz4we5czha","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3747,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.270Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 5","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":3686,"text":"broken by uncontrollable bursts of applause. At length, when that\r\nheart-thrilling scene came on, where Percy Royal-Mast rescues fifteen\r\noppressed sailors from the watch-house, in the teeth of a posse of\r\nconstables, the audience leaped to their feet, overturned the capstan\r\nbars, and to a man hurled their hats on the stage in a delirium of\r\ndelight. Ah Jack, that was a ten-stroke indeed!\r\n\r\nThe commotion was now terrific; all discipline seemed gone for ever;\r\nthe Lieutenants ran in among the men, the Captain darted from his\r\ncabin, and the Commodore nervously questioned the armed sentry at his\r\ndoor as to what the deuce _the people_ were about. In the midst of all\r\nthis, the trumpet of the officer-of-the-deck, commanding the\r\ntop-gallant sails to be taken in, was almost completely drowned. A\r\nblack squall was coming down on the weather-bow, and the boat-swain’s\r\nmates bellowed themselves hoarse at the main-hatchway. There is no\r\nknowing what would have ensued, had not the bass drum suddenly been\r\nheard, calling all hands to quarters, a summons not to be withstood.\r\nThe sailors pricked their ears at it, as horses at the sound of a\r\ncracking whip, and confusedly stumbled up the ladders to their\r\nstations. The next moment all was silent but the wind, howling like a\r\nthousand devils in the cordage.\r\n\r\n“Stand by to reef all three top-sails!—settle away the halyards!—haul\r\nout—so: make fast!—aloft, top-men! and reef away!”\r\n\r\nThus, in storm and tempest terminated that day’s theatricals. But the\r\nsailors never recovered from the disappointment of not having the\r\n“_True Yankee Sailor_” sung by the Irish Captain of the Head.\r\n\r\nAnd here White-jacket must moralize a bit. The unwonted spectacle of\r\nthe row of gun-room officers mingling with “the people” in applauding a\r\nmere seaman like Jack Chase, filled me at the time with the most\r\npleasurable emotions. It is a sweet thing, thought I, to see these\r\nofficers confess a human brotherhood with us, after all; a sweet thing\r\nto mark their cordial appreciation of the manly merits of my matchless\r\nJack. Ah! they are noble fellows all round, and I do not know but I\r\nhave wronged them sometimes in my thoughts.\r\n\r\nNor was it without similar pleasurable feelings that I witnessed the\r\ntemporary rupture of the ship’s stern discipline, consequent upon the\r\ntumult of the theatricals. I thought to myself, this now is as it\r\nshould be. It is good to shake off, now and then, this iron yoke round\r\nour necks. And after having once permitted us sailors to be a little\r\nnoisy, in a harmless way—somewhat merrily turbulent—the officers\r\ncannot, with any good grace, be so excessively stern and unyielding as\r\nbefore. I began to think a man-of-war a man-of-peace-and-good-will,\r\nafter all. But, alas! disappointment came.\r\n\r\nNext morning the same old scene was enacted at the gang-way. And\r\nbeholding the row of uncompromising-looking-officers there assembled\r\nwith the Captain, to witness punishment—the same officers who had been\r\nso cheerfully disposed over night—an old sailor touched my shoulder and\r\nsaid, “See, White-Jacket, all round they have _shipped their\r\nquarter-deck faces again_. But this is the way.”\r\n\r\nI afterward learned that this was an old man-of-war’s-man’s phrase,\r\nexpressive of the facility with which a sea-officer falls back upon all\r\nthe severity of his dignity, after a temporary suspension of it.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 5"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQSBWVB672XQ56H8G5AZ","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMGEBNDRNA8DV1QEY5VMN","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:39.361Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:45.488Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}