{"id":"01KG8AMK3SQXTRFA1RWKYG0R58","cid":"bafkreiaibo332r2s6ohad5o3czgtvrl6velearzb42mzytvguw4aqeyk4i","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":12142,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.274Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 5","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":12084,"text":"power—gave the word to strike the flag, one of his officers, a man\r\nhated by the seamen for his tyranny, howled out the most terrific\r\nremonstrances, swearing that, for his part, he would not give up, but\r\nwas for sinking the Macedonian alongside the enemy. Had he been\r\nCaptain, doubtless he would have done so; thereby gaining the name of a\r\nhero in this world;—but what would they have called him in the next?\r\n\r\nBut as the whole matter of war is a thing that smites common-sense and\r\nChristianity in the face; so everything connected with it is utterly\r\nfoolish, unchristian, barbarous, brutal, and savouring of the Feejee\r\nIslands, cannibalism, saltpetre, and the devil.\r\n\r\nIt is generally the case in a man-of-war when she strikes her flag that\r\nall discipline is at an end, and the men for a time are ungovernable.\r\nThis was so on board of the English frigate. The spirit-room was broken\r\nopen, and buckets of grog were passed along the decks, where many of\r\nthe wounded were lying between the guns. These mariners seized the\r\nbuckets, and, spite of all remonstrances, gulped down the burning\r\nspirits, till, as Tawney said, the blood suddenly spirted out of their\r\nwounds, and they fell dead to the deck.\r\n\r\nThe negro had many more stories to tell of this fight; and frequently\r\nhe would escort me along our main-deck batteries—still mounting the\r\nsame guns used in the battle—pointing out their ineffaceable\r\nindentations and scars. Coated over with the accumulated paint of more\r\nthan thirty years, they were almost invisible to a casual eye; but\r\nTawney knew them all by heart; for he had returned home in the\r\nNeversink, and had beheld these scars shortly after the engagement.\r\n\r\nOne afternoon, I was walking with him along the gun-deck, when he\r\npaused abreast of the main-mast. “This part of the ship,” said he, “we\r\ncalled the _slaughter-house_ on board the Macedonian. Here the men\r\nfell, five and six at a time. An enemy always directs its shot here, in\r\norder to hurl over the mast, if possible. The beams and carlines\r\noverhead in the Macedonian _slaughter-house_ were spattered with blood\r\nand brains. About the hatchways it looked like a butcher’s stall; bits\r\nof human flesh sticking in the ring-bolts. A pig that ran about the\r\ndecks escaped unharmed, but his hide was so clotted with blood, from\r\nrooting among the pools of gore, that when the ship struck the sailors\r\nhove the animal overboard, swearing that it would be rank cannibalism\r\nto eat him.”\r\n\r\nAnother quadruped, a goat, lost its fore legs in this fight.\r\n\r\nThe sailors who were killed—according to the usual custom—were ordered\r\nto be thrown overboard as soon as they fell; no doubt, as the negro\r\nsaid, that the sight of so many corpses lying around might not appall\r\nthe survivors at the guns. Among other instances, he related the\r\nfollowing. A shot entering one of the port-holes, dashed dead two\r\nthirds of a gun’s crew. The captain of the next gun, dropping his\r\nlock-string, which he had just pulled, turned over the heap of bodies\r\nto see who they were; when, perceiving an old messmate, who had sailed\r\nwith him in many cruises, he burst into tears, and, taking the corpse\r\nup in his arms, and going with it to the side, held it over the water a\r\nmoment, and eying it, cried, “Oh God! Tom!”—“D——n your prayers over\r\nthat thing! overboard with it, and down to your gun!” roared a wounded\r\nLieutenant. The order was obeyed, and the heart-stricken sailor\r\nreturned to his post.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 5"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJV9WHZ6H7HPK30XSCB8R","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMK3SSXCV4S90SYNR2K8N","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMK3SSRA34WRKA8RBQ54A","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:42.105Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:53.069Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}