{"id":"01KG8AMHTS36R368R65N5JSQYS","cid":"bafkreieh3wwbvg5zziwvazpdaatj5jnjpwkhi275xgtlwpub5cs4efe7w4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":10932,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.274Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":10863,"text":"CHAPTER LXVIII.\r\nA MAN-OF-WAR FOUNTAIN, AND OTHER THINGS.\r\n\r\n\r\nLet us forget the scourge and the gangway a while, and jot down in our\r\nmemories a few little things pertaining to our man-of-war world. I let\r\nnothing slip, however small; and feel myself actuated by the same\r\nmotive which has prompted many worthy old chroniclers, to set down the\r\nmerest trifles concerning things that are destined to pass away\r\nentirely from the earth, and which, if not preserved in the nick of\r\ntime, must infallibly perish from the memories of man. Who knows that\r\nthis humble narrative may not hereafter prove the history of an\r\nobsolete barbarism? Who knows that, when men-of-war shall be no more,\r\n“White-Jacket” may not be quoted to show to the people in the\r\nMillennium what a man-of-war was? God hasten the time! Lo! ye years,\r\nescort it hither, and bless our eyes ere we die.\r\n\r\nThere is no part of a frigate where you will see more going and coming\r\nof strangers, and overhear more greetings and gossipings of\r\nacquaintances, than in the immediate vicinity of the scuttle-butt, just\r\nforward of the main-hatchway, on the gun-deck.\r\n\r\nThe scuttle-butt is a goodly, round, painted cask, standing on end, and\r\nwith its upper head removed, showing a narrow, circular shelf within,\r\nwhere rest a number of tin cups for the accommodation of drinkers.\r\nCentral, within the scuttle-butt itself, stands an iron pump, which,\r\nconnecting with the immense water-tanks in the hold, furnishes an\r\nunfailing supply of the much-admired Pale Ale, first brewed in the\r\nbrooks of the garden of Eden, and stamped with the _brand_ of our old\r\nfather Adam, who never knew what wine was. We are indebted to the old\r\nvintner Noah for that. The scuttle-butt is the only fountain in the\r\nship; and here alone can you drink, unless at your meals. Night and day\r\nan armed sentry paces before it, bayonet in hand, to see that no water\r\nis taken away, except according to law. I wonder that they station no\r\nsentries at the port-holes, to see that no air is breathed, except\r\naccording to Navy regulations.\r\n\r\nAs five hundred men come to drink at this scuttle-butt; as it is often\r\nsurrounded by officers’ servants drawing water for their masters to\r\nwash; by the cooks of the range, who hither come to fill their\r\ncoffee-pots; and by the cooks of the ship’s messes to procure water for\r\ntheir _duffs_; the scuttle-butt may be denominated the town-pump of the\r\nship. And would that my fine countryman, Hawthorne of Salem, had but\r\nserved on board a man-of-war in his time, that he might give us the\r\nreading of a “_rill_” from the scuttle-butt.\r\n\r\n\r\nAs in all extensive establishments—abbeys, arsenals, colleges,\r\ntreasuries, metropolitan post-offices, and monasteries—there are many\r\nsnug little niches, wherein are ensconced certain superannuated old\r\npensioner officials; and, more especially, as in most ecclesiastical\r\nestablishments, a few choice prebendary stalls are to be found,\r\nfurnished with well-filled mangers and racks; so, in a man-of-war,\r\nthere are a variety of similar snuggeries for the benefit of decrepit\r\nor rheumatic old tars. Chief among these is the office of _mast-man_.\r\n\r\nThere is a stout rail on deck, at the base of each mast, where a number\r\nof _braces, lifts_, and _buntlines_ are belayed to the pins. It is the\r\nsole duty of the mast-man to see that these ropes are always kept\r\nclear, to preserve his premises in a state of the greatest attainable\r\nneatness, and every Sunday morning to dispose his ropes in neat\r\n_Flemish coils_.\r\n\r\nThe _main-mast-man_ of the Neversink was a very aged seaman, who well\r\ndeserved his comfortable berth. He had seen more than half a century of\r\nthe most active service, and, through all, had proved himself a good\r\nand faithful man. He furnished one of the very rare examples of a\r\nsailor in a green old age; for, with most sailors, old age comes in\r\nyouth, and Hardship and Vice carry them on an early bier to the grave.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJTJYW8SP05V127JMN8BA","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMHTSWV7QA5JG8QSTB4YV","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:40.793Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:51.918Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}