{"id":"01KG8AMJG8X04C7WX9XA3KK6K1","cid":"bafkreibsk4cymj6powp2ti4hbzwbrynxyjzijzjcv6jksqq5kzsuaey6xy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11359,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.274Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":11299,"text":"the cut-throat martial law. And when my own brother, who happens to be\r\ndwelling ashore, and does not serve his country as I am now doing—when\r\n_he_ is at liberty to call personally upon the President of the United\r\nStates, and express his disapprobation of the whole national\r\nadministration, here am I, liable at any time to be run up at the\r\nyard-arm, with a necklace, made by no jeweler, round my neck!\r\n\r\nA hard case, truly, White-Jacket; but it cannot be helped. Yes; you\r\nlive under this same martial law. Does not everything around you din\r\nthe fact in your ears? Twice every day do you not jump to your quarters\r\nat the sound of a drum? Every morning, in port, are you not roused from\r\nyour hammock by the _reveille_, and sent to it again at nightfall by\r\nthe _tattoo?_ Every Sunday are you not commanded in the mere matter of\r\nthe very dress you shall wear through that blessed day? Can your\r\nshipmates so much as drink their “tot of grog?” nay, can they even\r\ndrink but a cup of water at the scuttle-butt, without an armed sentry\r\nstanding over them? Does not every officer wear a sword instead of a\r\ncane? You live and move among twenty-four-pounders. White-Jacket; the\r\nvery cannon-balls are deemed an ornament around you, serving to\r\nembellish the hatchways; and should you come to die at sea,\r\nWhite-Jacket, still two cannon-balls would bear you company when you\r\nwould be committed to the deep. Yea, by all methods, and devices, and\r\ninventions, you are momentarily admonished of the fact that you live\r\nunder the Articles of War. And by virtue of them it is, White-Jacket,\r\nthat, without a hearing and without a trial, you may, at a wink from\r\nthe Captain, be condemned to the scourge.\r\n\r\nSpeak you true? Then let me fly!\r\n\r\nNay, White-Jacket, the landless horizon hoops you in.\r\n\r\nSome tempest, then, surge all the sea against us! hidden reefs and\r\nrocks, arise and dash the ships to chips! I was not born a serf, and\r\nwill not live a slave! Quick! cork-screw whirlpools, suck us down!\r\nworld’s end whelm us!\r\n\r\nNay, White-Jacket, though this frigate laid her broken bones upon the\r\nAntarctic shores of Palmer’s Land; though not two planks adhered;\r\nthough all her guns were spiked by sword-fish blades, and at her\r\nyawning hatchways mouth-yawning sharks swam in and out; yet, should you\r\nescape the wreck and scramble to the beach, this Martial Law would meet\r\nyou still, and snatch you by the throat. Hark!\r\n\r\nArt. XLII. Part of Sec. 3.-“In all cases where the crews of the ships\r\nor vessels of the United States shall be separated from their vessels\r\nby the latter being wrecked, lost, or destroyed, all the command,\r\npower, and authority given to the officers of such ships or vessels\r\nshall remain, and be in full force, as effectually as if such ship or\r\nvessel were not so wrecked, lost or destroyed.”\r\n\r\nHear you that, White-Jacket! I tell you there is no escape. Afloat or\r\nwrecked the Martial Law relaxes not its gripe. And though, by that\r\nself-same warrant, for some offence therein set down, you were indeed\r\nto “suffer death,” even then the Martial Law might hunt you straight\r\nthrough the other world, and out again at its other end, following you\r\nthrough all eternity, like an endless thread on the inevitable track of\r\nits own point, passing unnumbered needles through.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJTJYG42KGH7X4DHPS9V9","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMJG8JF9M5C9NXPJW406V","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:41.480Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.316Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}