diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/10712-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/10712-0.txt | 15710 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 15710 deletions
diff --git a/old/10712-0.txt b/old/10712-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d0b0e51..0000000 --- a/old/10712-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,15710 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of White-Jacket, by Herman Melville - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: White-Jacket - or, the World on a Man-of-War - -Author: Herman Melville - -Release Date: January 13, 2004 [eBook #10712] -[Most recently updated: May 28, 2022] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Geoff Palmer - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHITE-JACKET *** - - - - -White-Jacket -OR -THE WORLD IN A MAN-OF-WAR - -by Herman Melville - -AUTHOR OF “TYPEE,” “OMOO,” AND “MOBY-DICK” - -NEW YORK - -UNITED STATES BOOK COMPANY - -5 AND 7 EAST SIXTEENTH STREET - - * * * * * - -CHICAGO: 266 & 268 WABASH AVE. - -Copyright, 1892 -BY ELIZABETH S. MELVILLE - - - “Conceive him now in a man-of-war; - with his letters of mart, well armed, - victualed, and appointed, - and see how he acquits himself.” - —FULLER’S “Good Sea-Captain.” - -NOTE. In the year 1843 I shipped as “ordinary seaman” on board of a -United States frigate then lying in a harbor of the Pacific Ocean. -After remaining in this frigate for more than a year, I was discharged -from the service upon the vessel’s arrival home. My man-of-war -experiences and observations have been incorporated in the present -volume. - -New York, March, 1850. - - -Contents - -CHAPTER - -I. THE JACKET. -II. HOMEWARD BOUND. -III. A GLANCE AT THE PRINCIPAL DIVISIONS, INTO WHICH A - MAN-OF-WAR’S CREW IS DIVIDED. -IV. JACK CHASE. -V. JACK CHASE ON A SPANISH QUARTER-DECK. -VI. THE QUARTER-DECK OFFICERS, WARRANT OFFICERS, AND BERTH-DECK - UNDERLINGS OF A MAN-OF-WAR; WHERE THEY LIVE IN THE SHIP; HOW - THEY LIVE; THEIR SOCIAL STANDING ON SHIP-BOARD; AND WHAT SORT - OF GENTLEMEN THEY ARE. -VII. BREAKFAST, DINNER, AND SUPPER. -VIII. SELVAGEE CONTRASTED WITH MAD-JACK. -IX. OF THE POCKETS THAT WERE IN THE JACKET. -X. FROM POCKETS TO PICKPOCKETS. -XI. THE PURSUIT OF POETRY UNDER DIFFICULTIES. -XII. THE GOOD OR BAD TEMPER OF MEN-OF-WAR’S MEN, IN A GREAT - DEGREE, ATTRIBUTABLE TO THEIR PARTICULAR STATIONS AND DUTIES - ABOARD SHIP. -XIII. A MAN-OF-WAR HERMIT IN A MOB. -XIV. A DRAUGHT IN A MAN-OF-WAR. -XV. A SALT-JUNK CLUB IN A MAN-OF-WAR, WITH A NOTICE TO QUIT. -XVI. GENERAL TRAINING IN A MAN-OF-WAR. -XVII. AWAY! SECOND, THIRD, AND FOURTH CUTTERS, AWAY! -XVIII. A MAN-OF-WAR FULL AS A NUT. -XIX. THE JACKET ALOFT. -XX. HOW THEY SLEEP IN A MAN-OF-WAR. -XXI. ONE REASON WHY MEN-OF-WAR’S MEN ARE, GENERALLY, SHORT-LIVED. -XXII. WASH-DAY AND HOUSE-CLEANING IN A MAN-OF-WAR. -XXIII. THEATRICALS IN A MAN-OF-WAR. -XXIV. INTRODUCTORY TO CAPE HORN. -XXV. THE DOG-DAYS OFF CAPE HORN. -XXVI. THE PITCH OF THE CAPE. -XXVII. SOME THOUGHTS GROWING OUT OF MAD JACK’S COUNTERMANDING HIS - SUPERIOR’S ORDER. -XXVIII. EDGING AWAY. -XXIX. THE NIGHT-WATCHES. -XXX. A PEEP THROUGH A PORT-HOLE AT THE SUBTERRANEAN PARTS OF A - MAN-OF-WAR. -XXXI. THE GUNNER UNDER HATCHES. -XXXII. A DISH OF DUNDERFUNK. -XXXIII. A FLOGGING. -XXXIV. SOME OF THE EVIL EFFECTS OF FLOGGING. -XXXV. FLOGGING NOT LAWFUL. -XXXVI. FLOGGING NOT NECESSARY. -XXXVII. SOME SUPERIOR OLD “LONDON DOCK” FROM THE WINE-COOLERS OF - NEPTUNE. -XXXVIII. THE CHAPLAIN AND CHAPEL IN A MAN-OF-WAR. -XXXIX. THE FRIGATE IN HARBOUR.—THE BOATS.—GRAND STATE RECEPTION OF - THE COMMODORE. -XL. SOME OF THE CEREMONIES IN A MAN-OF-WAR UNNECESSARY AND - INJURIOUS. -XLI. A MAN-OF-WAR LIBRARY. -XLII. KILLING TIME IN A MAN-OF-WAR IN HARBOUR. -XLIII. SMUGGLING IN A MAN-OF-WAR. -XLIV. A KNAVE IN OFFICE IN A MAN-OF-WAR. -XLV. PUBLISHING POETRY IN A MAN-OF-WAR. -XLVI. THE COMMODORE ON THE POOP, AND ONE OF “THE PEOPLE” UNDER THE - HANDS OF THE SURGEON. -XLVII. AN AUCTION IN A MAN-OF-WAR. -XLVIII. PURSER, PURSER’S STEWARD, AND POSTMASTER IN A MAN-OF-WAR. -XLIX. RUMOURS OF A WAR, AND HOW THEY WERE RECEIVED BY THE - POPULATION OF THE NEVERSINK. -L. THE BAY OF ALL BEAUTIES. -LI. ONE OF “THE PEOPLE” HAS AN AUDIENCE WITH THE COMMODORE AND - THE CAPTAIN ON THE QUARTER-DECK. -LII. SOMETHING CONCERNING MIDSHIPMEN. -LIII. SEAFARING PERSONS PECULIARLY SUBJECT TO BEING UNDER THE - WEATHER.—THE EFFECTS OF THIS UPON A MAN-OF-WAR CAPTAIN. -LIV. “THE PEOPLE” ARE GIVEN “LIBERTY.” -LV. MIDSHIPMEN ENTERING THE NAVY EARLY. -LVI. A SHORE EMPEROR ON BOARD A MAN-OF-WAR. -LVII. THE EMPEROR REVIEWS THE PEOPLE AT QUARTERS. -LVIII. A QUARTER-DECK OFFICER BEFORE THE MAST. -LIX. A MAN-OF-WAR BUTTON DIVIDES TWO BROTHERS. -LX. A MAN-OF-WAR’S-MAN SHOT AT. -LXI. THE SURGEON OF THE FLEET. -LXII. A CONSULTATION OF MAN-OF-WAR SURGEONS. -LXIII. THE OPERATION. -LXIV. MAN-OF-WAR TROPHIES. -LXV. A MAN-OF-WAR RACE. -LXVI. FUN IN A MAN-OF-WAR. -LXVII. WHITE-JACKET ARRAIGNED AT THE MAST. -LXVIII. A MAN-OF-WAR FOUNTAIN, AND OTHER THINGS. -LXIX. PRAYERS AT THE GUNS. -LXX. MONTHLY MUSTER ROUND THE CAPSTAN. -LXXI. THE GENEALOGY OF THE ARTICLES OF WAR. -LXXII. “HEREIN ARE THE GOOD ORDINANCES OF THE SEA, WHICH WISE MEN, - WHO VOYAGED ROUND THE WORLD, GAVE TO OUR ANCESTORS, AND WHICH - CONSTITUTE THE BOOKS OF THE SCIENCE OF GOOD CUSTOMS.” -LXXIII. NIGHT AND DAY GAMBLING IN A MAN-OF-WAR. -LXXIV. THE MAIN-TOP AT NIGHT. -LXXV. “SINK, BURN, AND DESTROY.” -LXXVI. THE CHAINS. -LXXVII. THE HOSPITAL IN A MAN-OF-WAR. -LXXVIII. DISMAL TIMES IN THE MESS. -LXXIX. HOW MAN-OF-WAR’S-MEN DIE AT SEA. -LXXX. THE LAST STITCH. -LXXXI. HOW THEY BURY A MAN-OF-WAR’S-MAN AT SEA. -LXXXII. WHAT REMAINS OF A MAN-OF-WAR’S-MAN AFTER HIS BURIAL AT SEA. -LXXXIII. A MAN-OF-WAR COLLEGE. -LXXXIV. MAN-OF-WAR BARBERS. -LXXXV. THE GREAT MASSACRE OF THE BEARDS. -LXXXVI. THE REBELS BROUGHT TO THE MAST. -LXXXVII. OLD USHANT AT THE GANGWAY. -LXXXVIII. FLOGGING THROUGH THE FLEET. -LXXXIX. THE SOCIAL STATE IN A MAN-OF-WAR. -XC. THE MANNING OF NAVIES. -XCI. SMOKING-CLUB IN A MAN-OF-WAR, WITH SCENES ON THE GUN-DECK - DRAWING NEAR HOME. -XCII. THE LAST OF THE JACKET. -XCIII. CABLE AND ANCHOR ALL CLEAR. - - - - -WHITE-JACKET. - - - - -CHAPTER I. -THE JACKET. - - -It was not a _very_ white jacket, but white enough, in all conscience, -as the sequel will show. - -The way I came by it was this. - -When our frigate lay in Callao, on the coast of Peru—her last harbour -in the Pacific—I found myself without a _grego_, or sailor’s surtout; -and as, toward the end of a three years’ cruise, no pea-jackets could -be had from the purser’s steward: and being bound for Cape Horn, some -sort of a substitute was indispensable; I employed myself, for several -days, in manufacturing an outlandish garment of my own devising, to -shelter me from the boisterous weather we were so soon to encounter. - -It was nothing more than a white duck frock, or rather shirt: which, -laying on deck, I folded double at the bosom, and by then making a -continuation of the slit there, opened it lengthwise—much as you would -cut a leaf in the last new novel. The gash being made, a metamorphosis -took place, transcending any related by Ovid. For, presto! the shirt -was a coat!—a strange-looking coat, to be sure; of a Quakerish -amplitude about the skirts; with an infirm, tumble-down collar; and a -clumsy fullness about the wristbands; and white, yea, white as a -shroud. And my shroud it afterward came very near proving, as he who -reads further will find. - -But, bless me, my friend, what sort of a summer jacket is this, in -which to weather Cape Horn? A very tasty, and beautiful white linen -garment it may have seemed; but then, people almost universally sport -their linen next to their skin. - -Very true; and that thought very early occurred to me; for no idea had -I of scudding round Cape Horn in my shirt; for _that_ would have been -almost scudding under bare poles, indeed. - -So, with many odds and ends of patches—old socks, old trowser-legs, and -the like—I bedarned and bequilted the inside of my jacket, till it -became, all over, stiff and padded, as King James’s cotton-stuffed and -dagger-proof doublet; and no buckram or steel hauberk stood up more -stoutly. - -So far, very good; but pray, tell me, White-Jacket, how do you propose -keeping out the rain and the wet in this quilted _grego_ of yours? You -don’t call this wad of old patches a Mackintosh, do you?——you don’t -pretend to say that worsted is water-proof? - -No, my dear friend; and that was the deuce of it. Waterproof it was -not, no more than a sponge. Indeed, with such recklessness had I -bequilted my jacket, that in a rain-storm I became a universal -absorber; swabbing bone-dry the very bulwarks I leaned against. Of a -damp day, my heartless shipmates even used to stand up against me, so -powerful was the capillary attraction between this luckless jacket of -mine and all drops of moisture. I dripped like a turkey a roasting; and -long after the rain storms were over, and the sun showed his face, I -still stalked a Scotch mist; and when it was fair weather with others, -alas! it was foul weather with me. - -_Me?_ Ah me! Soaked and heavy, what a burden was that jacket to carry -about, especially when I was sent up aloft; dragging myself up step by -step, as if I were weighing the anchor. Small time then, to strip, and -wring it out in a rain, when no hanging back or delay was permitted. -No, no; up you go: fat or lean: Lambert or Edson: never mind how much -avoirdupois you might weigh. And thus, in my own proper person, did -many showers of rain reascend toward the skies, in accordance with the -natural laws. - -But here be it known, that I had been terribly disappointed in carrying -out my original plan concerning this jacket. It had been my intention -to make it thoroughly impervious, by giving it a coating of paint, But -bitter fate ever overtakes us unfortunates. So much paint had been -stolen by the sailors, in daubing their overhaul trowsers and -tarpaulins, that by the time I—an honest man—had completed my -quiltings, the paint-pots were banned, and put under strict lock and -key. - -Said old Brush, the captain of the _paint-room_—“Look ye, -White-Jacket,” said he, “ye can’t have any paint.” - -Such, then, was my jacket: a well-patched, padded, and porous one; and -in a dark night, gleaming white as the White Lady of Avenel! - - - - -CHAPTER II. -HOMEWARD BOUND. - - -“All hands up anchor! Man the capstan!” - -“High die! my lads, we’re homeward bound!” - -Homeward bound!—harmonious sound! Were you _ever_ homeward -bound?—No?—Quick! take the wings of the morning, or the sails of a -ship, and fly to the uttermost parts of the earth. There, tarry a year -or two; and then let the gruffest of boatswains, his lungs all -goose-skin, shout forth those magical words, and you’ll swear “the harp -of Orpheus were not more enchanting.” - -All was ready; boats hoisted in, stun’ sail gear rove, messenger -passed, capstan-bars in their places, accommodation-ladder below; and -in glorious spirits, we sat down to dinner. In the ward-room, the -lieutenants were passing round their oldest port, and pledging their -friends; in the steerage, the _middies_ were busy raising loans to -liquidate the demands of their laundress, or else—in the navy -phrase—preparing to pay their creditors _with a flying fore-topsail_. -On the poop, the captain was looking to windward; and in his grand, -inaccessible cabin, the high and mighty commodore sat silent and -stately, as the statue of Jupiter in Dodona. - -We were all arrayed in our best, and our bravest; like strips of blue -sky, lay the pure blue collars of our frocks upon our shoulders; and -our pumps were so springy and playful, that we danced up and down as we -dined. - -It was on the gun-deck that our dinners were spread; all along between -the guns; and there, as we cross-legged sat, you would have thought a -hundred farm-yards and meadows were nigh. Such a cackling of ducks, -chickens, and ganders; such a lowing of oxen, and bleating of lambkins, -penned up here and there along the deck, to provide sea repasts for the -officers. More rural than naval were the sounds; continually reminding -each mother’s son of the old paternal homestead in the green old clime; -the old arching elms; the hill where we gambolled; and down by the -barley banks of the stream where we bathed. - -“All hands up anchor!” - -When that order was given, how we sprang to the bars, and heaved round -that capstan; every man a Goliath, every tendon a hawser!—round and -round—round, round it spun like a sphere, keeping time with our feet to -the time of the fifer, till the cable was straight up and down, and the -ship with her nose in the water. - -“Heave and pall! unship your bars, and make sail!” - -It was done: barmen, nipper-men, tierers, veerers, idlers and all, -scrambled up the ladder to the braces and halyards; while like monkeys -in Palm-trees, the sail-loosers ran out on those broad boughs, our -yards; and down fell the sails like white clouds from the -ether—topsails, top-gallants, and royals; and away we ran with the -halyards, till every sheet was distended. - -“Once more to the bars!” - -“Heave, my hearties, heave hard!” - -With a jerk and a yerk, we broke ground; and up to our bows came -several thousand pounds of old iron, in the shape of our ponderous -anchor. - -Where was White-Jacket then? - -White-Jacket was where he belonged. It was White-Jacket that loosed -that main-royal, so far up aloft there, it looks like a white -albatross’ wing. It was White-Jacket that was taken for an albatross -himself, as he flew out on the giddy yard-arm! - - - - -CHAPTER III. -A GLANCE AT THE PRINCIPAL DIVISIONS, -INTO WHICH A MAN-OF-WAR’S CREW IS DIVIDED. - - -Having just designated the place where White-Jacket belonged, it must -needs be related how White-Jacket came to belong there. - -Every one knows that in merchantmen the seamen are divided into -watches—starboard and larboard—taking their turn at the ship’s duty by -night. This plan is followed in all men-of-war. But in all men-of-war, -besides this division, there are others, rendered indispensable from -the great number of men, and the necessity of precision and discipline. -Not only are particular bands assigned to the three _tops_, but in -getting under weigh, or any other proceeding requiring all hands, -particular men of these bands are assigned to each yard of the tops. -Thus, when the order is given to loose the main-royal, White-Jacket -flies to obey it; and no one but him. - -And not only are particular bands stationed on the three decks of the -ship at such times, but particular men of those bands are also assigned -to particular duties. Also, in tacking ship, reefing top-sails, or -“coming to,” every man of a frigate’s five-hundred-strong, knows his -own special place, and is infallibly found there. He sees nothing else, -attends to nothing else, and will stay there till grim death or an -epaulette orders him away. Yet there are times when, through the -negligence of the officers, some exceptions are found to this rule. A -rather serious circumstance growing out of such a case will be related -in some future chapter. - -Were it not for these regulations a man-of-war’s crew would be nothing -but a mob, more ungovernable stripping the canvas in a gale than Lord -George Gordon’s tearing down the lofty house of Lord Mansfield. - -But this is not all. Besides White-Jacket’s office as looser of the -main-royal, when all hands were called to make sail; and besides his -special offices, in tacking ship, coming to anchor, etc.; he -permanently belonged to the Starboard Watch, one of the two primary, -grand divisions of the ship’s company. And in this watch he was a -maintop-man; that is, was stationed in the main-top, with a number of -other seamen, always in readiness to execute any orders pertaining to -the main-mast, from above the main-yard. For, including the main-yard, -and below it to the deck, the main-mast belongs to another detachment. - -Now the fore, main, and mizen-top-men of each watch—Starboard and -Larboard—are at sea respectively subdivided into Quarter Watches; which -regularly relieve each other in the tops to which they may belong; -while, collectively, they relieve the whole Larboard Watch of top-men. - -Besides these topmen, who are always made up of active sailors, there -are Sheet-Anchor-men—old veterans all—whose place is on the forecastle; -the fore-yard, anchors, and all the sails on the bowsprit being under -their care. - -They are an old weather-beaten set, culled from the most experienced -seamen on board. These are the fellows that sing you “_The Bay of -Biscay Oh!_” and “_Here a sheer hulk lies poor Torn Bowling!_” “_Cease, -rude Boreas, blustering railer!_” who, when ashore, at an eating-house, -call for a bowl of tar and a biscuit. These are the fellows who spin -interminable yarns about Decatur, Hull, and Bainbridge; and carry about -their persons bits of “Old Ironsides,” as Catholics do the wood of the -true cross. These are the fellows that some officers never pretend to -damn, however much they may anathematize others. These are the fellows -that it does your soul good to look at;—hearty old members of the Old -Guard; grim sea grenadiers, who, in tempest time, have lost many a -tarpaulin overboard. These are the fellows whose society some of the -youngster midshipmen much affect; from whom they learn their best -seamanship; and to whom they look up as veterans; if so be, that they -have any reverence in their souls, which is not the case with all -midshipmen. - -Then, there is the _After-guard_, stationed on the Quarterdeck; who, -under the Quarter-Masters and Quarter-Gunners, attend to the main-sail -and spanker, and help haul the main-brace, and other ropes in the stern -of the vessel. - -The duties assigned to the After-Guard’s-Men being comparatively light -and easy, and but little seamanship being expected from them, they are -composed chiefly of landsmen; the least robust, least hardy, and least -sailor-like of the crew; and being stationed on the Quarter-deck, they -are generally selected with some eye to their personal appearance. -Hence, they are mostly slender young fellows, of a genteel figure and -gentlemanly address; not weighing much on a rope, but weighing -considerably in the estimation of all foreign ladies who may chance to -visit the ship. They lounge away the most part of their time, in -reading novels and romances; talking over their lover affairs ashore; -and comparing notes concerning the melancholy and sentimental career -which drove them—poor young gentlemen—into the hard-hearted navy. -Indeed, many of them show tokens of having moved in very respectable -society. They always maintain a tidy exterior; and express an -abhorrence of the tar-bucket, into which they are seldom or never -called to dip their digits. And pluming themselves upon the cut of -their trowsers, and the glossiness of their tarpaulins, from the rest -of the ship’s company, they acquire the name of “_sea-dandies_” and -“_silk-sock-gentry_.” - -Then, there are the _Waisters_, always stationed on the gun-deck. These -haul aft the fore and main-sheets, besides being subject to ignoble -duties; attending to the drainage and sewerage below hatches. These -fellows are all Jimmy Duxes—sorry chaps, who never put foot in ratlin, -or venture above the bulwarks. Inveterate “_sons of farmers_,” with the -hayseed yet in their hair, they are consigned to the congenial -superintendence of the chicken-coops, pig-pens, and potato-lockers. -These are generally placed amidships, on the gun-deck of a frigate, -between the fore and main hatches; and comprise so extensive an area, -that it much resembles the market place of a small town. The melodious -sounds thence issuing, continually draw tears from the eyes of the -Waisters; reminding them of their old paternal pig-pens and -potato-patches. They are the tag-rag and bob-tail of the crew; and he -who is good for nothing else is good enough for a _Waister_. - -Three decks down—spar-deck, gun-deck, and berth-deck—and we come to a -parcel of Troglodytes or “_holders_,” who burrow, like rabbits in -warrens, among the water-tanks, casks, and cables. Like Cornwall -miners, wash off the soot from their skins, and they are all pale as -ghosts. Unless upon rare occasions, they seldom come on deck to sun -themselves. They may circumnavigate the world fifty times, and they see -about as much of it as Jonah did in the whale’s belly. They are a lazy, -lumpish, torpid set; and when going ashore after a long cruise, come -out into the day like terrapins from their caves, or bears in the -spring, from tree-trunks. No one ever knows the names of these fellows; -after a three years’ voyage, they still remain strangers to you. In -time of tempests, when all hands are called to save ship, they issue -forth into the gale, like the mysterious old men of Paris, during the -massacre of the Three Days of September: every one marvels who they -are, and whence they come; they disappear as mysteriously; and are seen -no more, until another general commotion. - -Such are the principal divisions into which a man-of-war’s crew is -divided; but the inferior allotments of duties are endless, and would -require a German commentator to chronicle. - -We say nothing here of Boatswain’s mates, Gunner’s mates, Carpenter’s -mates, Sail-maker’s mates, Armorer’s mates, Master-at-Arms, Ship’s -corporals, Cockswains, Quarter-masters, Quarter-gunners, Captains of -the Forecastle, Captains of the Fore-top, Captains of the Main-top, -Captains of the Mizen-top, Captains of the After-Guard, Captains of the -Main-Hold, Captains of the Fore-Hold, Captains of the Head, Coopers, -Painters, Tinkers, Commodore’s Steward, Captain’s Steward, Ward-Room -Steward, Steerage Steward, Commodore’s cook, Captain’s cook, Officers’ -cook, Cooks of the range, Mess-cooks, hammock-boys, messenger boys, -cot-boys, loblolly-boys and numberless others, whose functions are -fixed and peculiar. - -It is from this endless subdivision of duties in a man-of-war, that, -upon first entering one, a sailor has need of a good memory, and the -more of an arithmetician he is, the better. - -White-Jacket, for one, was a long time rapt in calculations, concerning -the various “numbers” allotted him by the _First Luff_, otherwise known -as the First Lieutenant. In the first place, White-Jacket was given the -_number of his mess_; then, his _ship’s number_, or the number to which -he must answer when the watch-roll is called; then, the number of his -hammock; then, the number of the gun to which he was assigned; besides -a variety of other numbers; all of which would have taken Jedediah -Buxton himself some time to arrange in battalions, previous to adding -up. All these numbers, moreover, must be well remembered, or woe betide -you. - -Consider, now, a sailor altogether unused to the tumult of a -man-of-war, for the first time stepping on board, and given all these -numbers to recollect. Already, before hearing them, his head is half -stunned with the unaccustomed sounds ringing in his ears; which ears -seem to him like belfries full of tocsins. On the gun-deck, a thousand -scythed chariots seem passing; he hears the tread of armed marines; the -clash of cutlasses and curses. The Boatswain’s mates whistle round him, -like hawks screaming in a gale, and the strange noises under decks are -like volcanic rumblings in a mountain. He dodges sudden sounds, as a -raw recruit falling bombs. - -Well-nigh useless to him, now, all previous circumnavigations of this -terraqueous globe; of no account his arctic, antarctic, or equinoctial -experiences; his gales off Beachy Head, or his dismastings off -Hatteras. He must begin anew; he knows nothing; Greek and Hebrew could -not help him, for the language he must learn has neither grammar nor -lexicon. - -Mark him, as he advances along the files of old ocean-warriors; mark -his debased attitude, his deprecating gestures, his Sawney stare, like -a Scotchman in London; his—“_cry your merry, noble seignors!_” He is -wholly nonplussed, and confounded. And when, to crown all, the First -Lieutenant, whose business it is to welcome all new-corners, and assign -them their quarters: when this officer—none of the most bland or -amiable either—gives him number after number to -recollect—246—139—478—351—the poor fellow feels like decamping. - -Study, then, your mathematics, and cultivate all your memories, oh ye! -who think of cruising in men-of-war. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. -JACK CHASE. - - -The first night out of port was a clear, moonlight one; the frigate -gliding though the water, with all her batteries. - -It was my Quarter Watch in the top; and there I reclined on the best -possible terms with my top-mates. Whatever the other seamen might have -been, these were a noble set of tars, and well worthy an introduction -to the reader. - -First and foremost was Jack Chase, our noble First Captain of the Top. -He was a Briton, and a true-blue; tall and well-knit, with a clear open -eye, a fine broad brow, and an abounding nut-brown beard. No man ever -had a better heart or a bolder. He was loved by the seamen and admired -by the officers; and even when the Captain spoke to him, it was with a -slight air of respect. Jack was a frank and charming man. - -No one could be better company in forecastle or saloon; no man told -such stories, sang such songs, or with greater alacrity sprang to his -duty. Indeed, there was only one thing wanting about him; and that was -a finger of his left hand, which finger he had lost at the great battle -of Navarino. - -He had a high conceit of his profession as a seaman; and being deeply -versed in all things pertaining to a man-of-war, was universally -regarded as an oracle. The main-top, over which he presided, was a sort -of oracle of Delphi; to which many pilgrims ascended, to have their -perplexities or differences settled. - -There was such an abounding air of good sense and good feeling about -the man, that he who could not love him, would thereby pronounce -himself a knave. I thanked my sweet stars, that kind fortune had placed -me near him, though under him, in the frigate; and from the outset Jack -and I were fast friends. - -Wherever you may be now rolling over the blue billows, dear Jack! take -my best love along with you; and God bless you, wherever you go! - -Jack was a gentleman. What though his hand was hard, so was not his -heart, too often the case with soft palms. His manners were easy and -free; none of the boisterousness, so common to tars; and he had a -polite, courteous way of saluting you, if it were only to borrow your -knife. Jack had read all the verses of Byron, and all the romances of -Scott. He talked of Rob Roy, Don Juan, and Pelham; Macbeth and Ulysses; -but, above all things, was an ardent admirer of Camoens. Parts of the -Lusiad, he could recite in the original. Where he had obtained his -wonderful accomplishments, it is not for me, his humble subordinate, to -say. Enough, that those accomplishments were so various; the languages -he could converse in, so numerous; that he more than furnished an -example of that saying of Charles the Fifth—_ he who speaks five -languages is as good as five men_. But Jack, he was better than a -hundred common mortals; Jack was a whole phalanx, an entire army; Jack -was a thousand strong; Jack would have done honour to the Queen of -England’s drawing-room; Jack must have been a by-blow of some British -Admiral of the Blue. A finer specimen of the island race of Englishmen -could not have been picked out of Westminster Abbey of a coronation -day. - -His whole demeanor was in strong contrast to that of one of the -Captains of the fore-top. This man, though a good seaman, furnished an -example of those insufferable Britons, who, while preferring other -countries to their own as places of residence; still, overflow with all -the pompousness of national and individual vanity combined. “When I was -on board the Audacious”—for a long time, was almost the invariable -exordium to the fore-top Captain’s most cursory remarks. It is often -the custom of men-of-war’s-men, when they deem anything to be going on -wrong aboard ship to refer to _last cruise_ when of course everything -was done _ship-shape and Bristol fashion_. And by referring to the -_Audacious_—an expressive name by the way—the fore-top Captain meant a -ship in the English navy, in which he had had the honour of serving. So -continual were his allusions to this craft with the amiable name, that -at last, the _Audacious_ was voted a bore by his shipmates. And one hot -afternoon, during a calm, when the fore-top Captain like many others, -was standing still and yawning on the spar-deck; Jack Chase, his own -countryman, came up to him, and pointing at his open mouth, politely -inquired, whether that was the way they caught _flies_ in Her Britannic -Majesty’s ship, the _Audacious?_ After that, we heard no more of the -craft. - -Now, the tops of a frigate are quite spacious and cosy. They are railed -in behind so as to form a kind of balcony, very pleasant of a tropical -night. From twenty to thirty loungers may agreeably recline there, -cushioning themselves on old sails and jackets. We had rare times in -that top. We accounted ourselves the best seamen in the ship; and from -our airy perch, literally looked down upon the landlopers below, -sneaking about the deck, among the guns. In a large degree, we -nourished that feeling of “_esprit de corps_,” always pervading, more -or less, the various sections of a man-of-war’s crew. We main-top-men -were brothers, one and all, and we loaned ourselves to each other with -all the freedom in the world. - -Nevertheless, I had not long been a member of this fraternity of fine -fellows, ere I discovered that Jack Chase, our captain was—like all -prime favorites and oracles among men—a little bit of a dictator; not -peremptorily, or annoyingly so, but amusingly intent on egotistically -mending our manners and improving our taste, so that we might reflect -credit upon our tutor. - -He made us all wear our hats at a particular angle—instructed us in the -tie of our neck-handkerchiefs; and protested against our wearing vulgar -_dungeree_ trowsers; besides giving us lessons in seamanship; and -solemnly conjuring us, forever to eschew the company of any sailor we -suspected of having served in a whaler. Against all whalers, indeed, he -cherished the unmitigated detestation of a true man-of-war’s man. Poor -Tubbs can testify to that. - -Tubbs was in the After-Guard; a long, lank Vineyarder, eternally -talking of line-tubs, Nantucket, sperm oil, stove boats, and Japan. -Nothing could silence him; and his comparisons were ever invidious. - -Now, with all his soul, Jack abominated this Tubbs. He said he was -vulgar, an upstart—Devil take him, he’s been in a whaler. But like many -men, who have been where _you_ haven’t been; or seen what _you_ haven’t -seen; Tubbs, on account of his whaling experiences, absolutely affected -to look down upon Jack, even as Jack did upon him; and this it was that -so enraged our noble captain. - -One night, with a peculiar meaning in his eye, he sent me down on deck -to invite Tubbs up aloft for a chat. Flattered by so marked an -honor—for we were somewhat fastidious, and did not extend such -invitations to every body—Tubb’s quickly mounted the rigging, looking -rather abashed at finding himself in the august presence of the -assembled Quarter-Watch of main-top-men. Jack’s courteous manner, -however, very soon relieved his embarrassment; but it is no use to be -courteous to _some_ men in this world. Tubbs belonged to that category. -No sooner did the bumpkin feel himself at ease, than he launched out, -as usual, into tremendous laudations of whalemen; declaring that -whalemen alone deserved the name of sailors. Jack stood it some time; -but when Tubbs came down upon men-of-war, and particularly upon -main-top-men, his sense of propriety was so outraged, that he launched -into Tubbs like a forty-two pounder. - -“Why, you limb of Nantucket! you train-oil man! you sea-tallow -strainer! you bobber after carrion! do _you_ pretend to vilify a -man-of-war? Why, you lean rogue, you, a man-of-war is to whalemen, as a -metropolis to shire-towns, and sequestered hamlets. _Here’s_ the place -for life and commotion; _here’s_ the place to be gentlemanly and jolly. -And what did you know, you bumpkin! before you came on board this -_Andrew Miller?_ What knew you of gun-deck, or orlop, mustering round -the capstan, beating to quarters, and piping to dinner? Did you ever -roll to _grog_ on board your greasy ballyhoo of blazes? Did you ever -winter at Mahon? Did you ever ‘_lash and carry?_’ Why, what are even a -merchant-seaman’s sorry yarns of voyages to China after tea-caddies, -and voyages to the West Indies after sugar puncheons, and voyages to -the Shetlands after seal-skins—what are even these yarns, you Tubbs -you! to high life in a man-of-war? Why, you dead-eye! I have sailed -with lords and marquises for captains; and the King of the Two Sicilies -has passed me, as I here stood up at my gun. Bah! you are full of the -fore-peak and the forecastle; you are only familiar with Burtons and -Billy-tackles; your ambition never mounted above pig-killing! which, in -my poor opinion, is the proper phrase for whaling! Topmates! has not -this Tubbs here been but a misuser of good oak planks, and a vile -desecrator of the thrice holy sea? turning his ship, my hearties! into -a fat-kettle, and the ocean into a whale-pen? Begone! you graceless, -godless knave! pitch him over the top there, White-Jacket!” - -But there was no necessity for my exertions. Poor Tubbs, astounded at -these fulminations, was already rapidly descending by the rigging. - -This outburst on the part of my noble friend Jack made me shake all -over, spite of my padded surtout; and caused me to offer up devout -thanksgivings, that in no evil hour had I divulged the fact of having -myself served in a whaler; for having previously marked the prevailing -prejudice of men-of-war’s men to that much-maligned class of mariners, -I had wisely held my peace concerning stove boats on the coast of -Japan. - - - - -CHAPTER V. -JACK CHASE ON A SPANISH QUARTER-DECK. - - -Here, I must frankly tell a story about Jack, which as touching his -honour and integrity, I am sure, will not work against him, in any -charitable man’s estimation. On this present cruise of the frigate -Neversink, Jack had deserted; and after a certain interval, had been -captured. - -But with what purpose had he deserted? To avoid naval discipline? To -riot in some abandoned sea-port? for love of some worthless signorita? -Not at all. He abandoned the frigate from far higher and nobler, nay, -glorious motives. Though bowing to naval discipline afloat; yet ashore, -he was a stickler for the Rights of Man, and the liberties of the -world. He went to draw a partisan blade in the civil commotions of -Peru; and befriend, heart and soul, what he deemed the cause of the -Right. - -At the time, his disappearance excited the utmost astonishment among -the officers, who had little suspected him of any such conduct of -deserting. - -“What? Jack, my great man of the main-top, gone!” cried the captain; -“I’ll not believe it.” - -“Jack Chase cut and run!” cried a sentimental middy. “It must have been -all for love, then; the signoritas have turned his head.” - -“Jack Chase not to be found?” cried a growling old sheet-anchor-man, -one of your malicious prophets of past events: “I though so; I know’d -it; I could have sworn it—just the chap to make sail on the sly. I -always s’pected him.” - -Months passed away, and nothing was heard of Jack; till at last, the -frigate came to anchor on the coast, alongside of a Peruvian sloop of -war. - -Bravely clad in the Peruvian uniform, and with a fine, mixed martial -and naval step, a tall, striking figure of a long-bearded officer was -descried, promenading the Quarter-deck of the stranger; and -superintending the salutes, which are exchanged between national -vessels on these occasions. - -This fine officer touched his laced hat most courteously to our -Captain, who, after returning the compliment, stared at him, rather -impolitely, through his spy-glass. - -“By Heaven!” he cried at last—“it is he—he can’t disguise his -walk—that’s the beard; I’d know him in Cochin China.—Man the first -cutter there! Lieutenant Blink, go on board that sloop of war, and -fetch me yon officer.” - -All hands were aghast—What? when a piping-hot peace was between the -United States and Peru, to send an armed body on board a Peruvian sloop -of war, and seize one of its officers, in broad daylight?—Monstrous -infraction of the Law of Nations! What would Vattel say? - -But Captain Claret must be obeyed. So off went the cutter, every man -armed to the teeth, the lieutenant-commanding having secret -instructions, and the midshipmen attending looking ominously wise, -though, in truth, they could not tell what was coming. - -Gaining the sloop of war, the lieutenant was received with the -customary honours; but by this time the tall, bearded officer had -disappeared from the Quarter-deck. The Lieutenant now inquired for the -Peruvian Captain; and being shown into the cabin, made known to him, -that on board his vessel was a person belonging to the United States -Ship Neversink; and his orders were, to have that person delivered up -instanter. - -The foreign captain curled his mustache in astonishment and -indignation; he hinted something about beating to quarters, and -chastising this piece of Yankee insolence. - -But resting one gloved hand upon the table, and playing with his -sword-knot, the Lieutenant, with a bland firmness, repeated his demand. -At last, the whole case being so plainly made out, and the person in -question being so accurately described, even to a mole on his cheek, -there remained nothing but immediate compliance. - -So the fine-looking, bearded officer, who had so courteously doffed his -chapeau to our Captain, but disappeared upon the arrival of the -Lieutenant, was summoned into the cabin, before his superior, who -addressed him thus:— - -“Don John, this gentleman declares, that of right you belong to the -frigate Neversink. Is it so?” - -“It is even so, Don Sereno,” said Jack Chase, proudly folding his -gold-laced coat-sleeves across his chest—“and as there is no resisting -the frigate, I comply.—Lieutenant Blink, I am ready. Adieu! Don Sereno, -and Madre de Dios protect you? You have been a most gentlemanly friend -and captain to me. I hope you will yet thrash your beggarly foes.” - -With that he turned; and entering the cutter, was pulled back to the -frigate, and stepped up to Captain Claret, where that gentleman stood -on the quarter-deck. - -“Your servant, my fine Don,” said the Captain, ironically lifting his -chapeau, but regarding Jack at the same time with a look of intense -displeasure. - -“Your most devoted and penitent Captain of the Main-top, sir; and one -who, in his very humility of contrition is yet proud to call Captain -Claret his commander,” said Jack, making a glorious bow, and then -tragically flinging overboard his Peruvian sword. - -“Reinstate him at once,” shouted Captain Claret—“and now, sir, to your -duty; and discharge that well to the end of the cruise, and you will -hear no more of your having run away.” - -So Jack went forward among crowds of admiring tars, who swore by his -nut-brown beard, which had amazingly lengthened and spread during his -absence. They divided his laced hat and coat among them; and on their -shoulders, carried him in triumph along the gun-deck. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. -THE QUARTER-DECK OFFICERS, WARRANT OFFICERS, AND BERTH-DECK UNDERLINGS -OF A MAN-OF-WAR; WHERE THEY LIVE IN THE SHIP; HOW THEY LIVE; THEIR -SOCIAL STANDING ON SHIP-BOARD; AND WHAT SORT OF GENTLEMEN THEY ARE. - - -Some account has been given of the various divisions into which our -crew was divided; so it may be well to say something of the officers; -who they are, and what are their functions. - -Our ship, be it know, was the flag-ship; that is, we sported a -_broad-pennant_, or _bougee_, at the main, in token that we carried a -Commodore—the highest rank of officers recognised in the American navy. -The bougee is not to be confounded with the _long pennant_ or -_coach-whip_, a tapering serpentine streamer worn by all men-of-war. - -Owing to certain vague, republican scruples, about creating great -officers of the navy, America has thus far had no admirals; though, as -her ships of war increase, they may become indispensable. This will -assuredly be the case, should she ever have occasion to employ large -fleets; when she must adopt something like the English plan, and -introduce three or four grades of flag-officers, above a -Commodore—Admirals, Vice-Admirals, and Rear-Admirals of Squadrons; -distinguished by the color of their flags,—red, white, and blue, -corresponding to the centre, van, and rear. These rank respectively -with Generals, Lieutenant-Generals, and Major-Generals in the army; -just as Commodore takes rank with a Brigadier-General. So that the same -prejudice which prevents the American Government from creating Admirals -should have precluded the creation of all army officers above a -Brigadier. - -An American Commodore, like an English Commodore, or the French _Chef -d’Escadre_, is but a senior Captain, temporarily commanding a small -number of ships, detached for any special purpose. He has no permanent -rank, recognised by Government, above his captaincy; though once -employed as a Commodore, usage and courtesy unite in continuing the -title. - -Our Commodore was a gallant old man, who had seen service in his time. -When a lieutenant, he served in the late war with England; and in the -gun-boat actions on the Lakes near New Orleans, just previous to the -grand land engagements, received a musket-ball in his shoulder; which, -with the two balls in his eyes, he carries about with him to this day. - -Often, when I looked at the venerable old warrior, doubled up from the -effect of his wound, I thought what a curious, as well as painful -sensation, it must be, to have one’s shoulder a lead-mine; though, -sooth to say, so many of us civilised mortals convert our mouths into -Golcondas. - -On account of this wound in his shoulder, our Commodore had a -body-servant’s pay allowed him, in addition to his regular salary. I -cannot say a great deal, personally, of the Commodore; he never sought -my company at all, never extended any gentlemanly courtesies. - -But though I cannot say much of him personally, I can mention something -of him in his general character, as a flag-officer. In the first place, -then, I have serious doubts, whether for the most part, he was not -dumb; for in my hearing, he seldom or never uttered a word. And not -only did he seem dumb himself, but his presence possessed the strange -power of making other people dumb for the time. His appearance on the -Quarter-deck seemed to give every officer the lock-jaw. - -Another phenomenon about him was the strange manner in which everyone -shunned him. At the first sign of those epaulets of his on the weather -side of the poop, the officers there congregated invariably shrunk over -to leeward, and left him alone. Perhaps he had an evil eye; may be he -was the Wandering Jew afloat. The real reason probably was, that like -all high functionaries, he deemed it indispensable religiously to -sustain his dignity; one of the most troublesome things in the world, -and one calling for the greatest self-denial. And the constant watch, -and many-sided guardedness, which this sustaining of a Commodore’s -dignity requires, plainly enough shows that, apart from the common -dignity of manhood, Commodores, in general possess no real dignity at -all. True, it is expedient for crowned heads, generalissimos, -Lord-high-admirals, and Commodores, to carry themselves straight, and -beware of the spinal complaint; but it is not the less veritable, that -it is a piece of assumption, exceedingly uncomfortable to themselves, -and ridiculous to an enlightened generation. - -Now, how many rare good fellows there were among us main-top-men, who, -invited into his cabin over a social bottle or two, would have rejoiced -our old Commodore’s heart, and caused that ancient wound of his to heal -up at once. - -Come, come, Commodore don’t look so sour, old boy; step up aloft here -into the _top_, and we’ll spin you a sociable yarn. - -Truly, I thought myself much happier in that white jacket of mine, than -our old Commodore in his dignified epaulets. - -One thing, perhaps, that more than anything else helped to make our -Commodore so melancholy and forlorn, was the fact of his having so -little to do. For as the frigate had a captain; of course, so far as -_she_ was concerned, our Commodore was a supernumerary. What abundance -of leisure he must have had, during a three years’ cruise; how -indefinitely he might have been improving his mind! - -But as everyone knows that idleness is the hardest work in the world, -so our Commodore was specially provided with a gentleman to assist him. -This gentleman was called the _Commodore’s secretary_. He was a -remarkably urbane and polished man; with a very graceful exterior, and -looked much like an Ambassador Extraordinary from Versailles. He messed -with the Lieutenants in the Ward-room, where he had a state-room, -elegantly furnished as the private cabinet of Pelham. His cot-boy used -to entertain the sailors with all manner of stories about the -silver-keyed flutes and flageolets, fine oil paintings, morocco bound -volumes, Chinese chess-men, gold shirt-buttons, enamelled pencil cases, -extraordinary fine French boots with soles no thicker than a sheet of -scented note-paper, embroidered vests, incense-burning sealing-wax, -alabaster statuettes of Venus and Adonis, tortoise-shell snuff-boxes, -inlaid toilet-cases, ivory-handled hair-brushes and mother-of-pearl -combs, and a hundred other luxurious appendages scattered about this -magnificent secretary’s state-room. - -I was a long time in finding out what this secretary’s duties -comprised. But it seemed, he wrote the Commodore’s dispatches for -Washington, and also was his general amanuensis. Nor was this a very -light duty, at times; for some commodores, though they do not _say_ a -great deal on board ship, yet they have a vast deal to write. Very -often, the regimental orderly, stationed at our Commodore’s cabin-door, -would touch his hat to the First Lieutenant, and with a mysterious air -hand him a note. I always thought these notes must contain most -important matters of state; until one day, seeing a slip of wet, torn -paper in a scupper-hole, I read the following: - -“Sir, you will give the people pickles to-day with their fresh meat. - - “To Lieutenant Bridewell. - “By command of the Commodore; - “Adolphus Dashman, Priv. Sec.” - - -This was a new revelation; for, from his almost immutable reserve, I -had supposed that the Commodore never meddled immediately with the -concerns of the ship, but left all that to the captain. But the longer -we live, the more we learn of commodores. - -Turn we now to the second officer in rank, almost supreme, however, in -the internal affairs of his ship. Captain Claret was a large, portly -man, a Harry the Eighth afloat, bluff and hearty; and as kingly in his -cabin as Harry on his throne. For a ship is a bit of terra firma cut -off from the main; it is a state in itself; and the captain is its -king. - -It is no limited monarchy, where the sturdy Commons have a right to -petition, and snarl if they please; but almost a despotism like the -Grand Turk’s. The captain’s word is law; he never speaks but in the -imperative mood. When he stands on his Quarter-deck at sea, he -absolutely commands as far as eye can reach. Only the moon and stars -are beyond his jurisdiction. He is lord and master of the sun. - -It is not twelve o’clock till he says so. For when the sailing-master, -whose duty it is to take the regular observation at noon, touches his -hat, and reports twelve o’clock to the officer of the deck; that -functionary orders a midshipman to repair to the captain’s cabin, and -humbly inform him of the respectful suggestion of the sailing-master. - -“Twelve o’clock reported, sir,” says the middy. - -“_Make_ it so,” replies the captain. - -And the bell is struck eight by the messenger-boy, and twelve o’clock -it is. - -As in the case of the Commodore, when the captain visits the deck, his -subordinate officers generally beat a retreat to the other side and, as -a general rule, would no more think of addressing him, except -concerning the ship, than a lackey would think of hailing the Czar of -Russia on his throne, and inviting him to tea. Perhaps no mortal man -has more reason to feel such an intense sense of his own personal -consequence, as the captain of a man-of-war at sea. - -Next in rank comes the First or Senior Lieutenant, the chief executive -officer. I have no reason to love the particular gentleman who filled -that post aboard our frigate, for it was he who refused my petition for -as much black paint as would render water-proof that white-jacket of -mine. All my soakings and drenchings lie at his state-room door. I -hardly think I shall ever forgive him; every twinge of the rheumatism, -which I still occasionally feel, is directly referable to him. The -Immortals have a reputation for clemency; and _they_ may pardon him; -but he must not dun me to be merciful. But my personal feelings toward -the man shall not prevent me from here doing him justice. In most -things he was an excellent seaman; prompt, loud, and to the point; and -as such was well fitted for his station. The First Lieutenancy of a -frigate demands a good disciplinarian, and, every way, an energetic -man. By the captain he is held responsible for everything; by that -magnate, indeed, he is supposed to be omnipresent; down in the hold, -and up aloft, at one and the same time. - -He presides at the head of the Ward-room officers’ table, who are so -called from their messing together in a part of the ship thus -designated. In a frigate it comprises the after part of the berth-deck. -Sometimes it goes by the name of the Gun-room, but oftener is called -the Ward-room. Within, this Ward-room much resembles a long, wide -corridor in a large hotel; numerous doors opening on both hands to the -private apartments of the officers. I never had a good interior look at -it but once; and then the Chaplain was seated at the table in the -centre, playing chess with the Lieutenant of Marines. It was mid-day, -but the place was lighted by lamps. - -Besides the First Lieutenant, the Ward-room officers include the junior -lieutenants, in a frigate six or seven in number, the Sailing-master, -Purser, Chaplain, Surgeon, Marine officers, and Midshipmen’s -Schoolmaster, or “the Professor.” They generally form a very agreeable -club of good fellows; from their diversity of character, admirably -calculated to form an agreeable social whole. The Lieutenants discuss -sea-fights, and tell anecdotes of Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton; the -Marine officers talk of storming fortresses, and the siege of -Gibraltar; the Purser steadies this wild conversation by occasional -allusions to the rule of three; the Professor is always charged with a -scholarly reflection, or an apt line from the classics, generally Ovid; -the Surgeon’s stories of the amputation-table judiciously serve to -suggest the mortality of the whole party as men; while the good -chaplain stands ready at all times to give them pious counsel and -consolation. - -Of course these gentlemen all associate on a footing of perfect social -equality. - -Next in order come the Warrant or Forward officers, consisting of the -Boatswain, Gunner, Carpenter, and Sailmaker. Though these worthies -sport long coats and wear the anchor-button; yet, in the estimation of -the Ward-room officers, they are not, technically speaking, rated -gentlemen. The First Lieutenant, Chaplain, or Surgeon, for example, -would never dream of inviting them to dinner, In sea parlance, “they -come in at the hawse holes;” they have hard hands; and the carpenter -and sail-maker practically understand the duties which they are called -upon to superintend. They mess by themselves. Invariably four in -number, they never have need to play whist with a dummy. - -In this part of the category now come the “reefers,” otherwise -“middies” or midshipmen. These boys are sent to sea, for the purpose of -making commodores; and in order to become commodores, many of them deem -it indispensable forthwith to commence chewing tobacco, drinking brandy -and water, and swearing at the sailors. As they are only placed on -board a sea-going ship to go to school and learn the duty of a -Lieutenant; and until qualified to act as such, have few or no special -functions to attend to; they are little more, while midshipmen, than -supernumeraries on board. Hence, in a crowded frigate, they are so -everlastingly crossing the path of both men and officers, that in the -navy it has become a proverb, that a useless fellow is “_as much in the -way as a reefer_.” - -In a gale of wind, when all hands are called and the deck swarms with -men, the little “middies” running about distracted and having nothing -particular to do, make it up in vociferous swearing; exploding all -about under foot like torpedoes. Some of them are terrible little boys, -cocking their cups at alarming angles, and looking fierce as young -roosters. They are generally great consumers of Macassar oil and the -Balm of Columbia; they thirst and rage after whiskers; and sometimes, -applying their ointments, lay themselves out in the sun, to promote the -fertility of their chins. - -As the only way to learn to command, is to learn to obey, the usage of -a ship of war is such that the midshipmen are constantly being ordered -about by the Lieutenants; though, without having assigned them their -particular destinations, they are always going somewhere, and never -arriving. In some things, they almost have a harder time of it than the -seamen themselves. They are messengers and errand-boys to their -superiors. - -“Mr. Pert,” cries an officer of the deck, hailing a young gentleman -forward. Mr. Pert advances, touches his hat, and remains in an attitude -of deferential suspense. “Go and tell the boatswain I want him.” And -with this perilous errand, the middy hurries away, looking proud as a -king. - -The middies live by themselves in the steerage, where, nowadays, they -dine off a table, spread with a cloth. They have a castor at dinner; -they have some other little boys (selected from the ship’s company) to -wait upon them; they sometimes drink coffee out of china. But for all -these, their modern refinements, in some instances the affairs of their -club go sadly to rack and ruin. The china is broken; the japanned -coffee-pot dented like a pewter mug in an ale-house; the pronged forks -resemble tooth-picks (for which they are sometimes used); the -table-knives are hacked into hand-saws; and the cloth goes to the -sail-maker to be patched. Indeed, they are something like collegiate -freshmen and sophomores, living in the college buildings, especially so -far as the noise they make in their quarters is concerned. The steerage -buzzes, hums, and swarms like a hive; or like an infant-school of a hot -day, when the school-mistress falls asleep with a fly on her nose. - -In frigates, the ward-room—the retreat of the Lieutenants—immediately -adjoining the steerage, is on the same deck with it. Frequently, when -the middies, waking early of a morning, as most youngsters do, would be -kicking up their heels in their hammocks, or running about with -double-reefed night-gowns, playing tag among the “clews;” the Senior -lieutenant would burst among them with a—“Young gentlemen, I am -astonished. You must stop this sky-larking. Mr. Pert, what are you -doing at the table there, without your pantaloons? To your hammock, -sir. Let me see no more of this. If you disturb the ward-room again, -young gentleman, you shall hear of it.” And so saying, this -hoary-headed Senior Lieutenant would retire to his cot in his -state-room, like the father of a numerous family after getting up in -his dressing-gown and slippers, to quiet a daybreak tumult in his -populous nursery. - -Having now descended from Commodore to Middy, we come lastly to a set -of nondescripts, forming also a “mess” by themselves, apart from the -seamen. Into this mess, the usage of a man-of-war thrusts various -subordinates—including the master-at-arms, purser’s steward, ship’s -corporals, marine sergeants, and ship’s yeomen, forming the first -aristocracy above the sailors. - -The master-at-arms is a sort of high constable and school-master, -wearing citizen’s clothes, and known by his official rattan. He it is -whom all sailors hate. His is the universal duty of a universal -informer and hunter-up of delinquents. On the berth-deck he reigns -supreme; spying out all grease-spots made by the various cooks of the -seamen’s messes, and driving the laggards up the hatches, when all -hands are called. It is indispensable that he should be a very Vidocq -in vigilance. But as it is a heartless, so is it a thankless office. Of -dark nights, most masters-of-arms keep themselves in readiness to dodge -forty-two pound balls, dropped down the hatchways near them. - -The ship’s corporals are this worthy’s deputies and ushers. - -The marine sergeants are generally tall fellows with unyielding spines -and stiff upper lips, and very exclusive in their tastes and -predilections. - -The ship’s yeoman is a gentleman who has a sort of counting-room in a -tar-cellar down in the fore-hold. More will be said of him anon. - -Except the officers above enumerated, there are none who mess apart -from the seamen. The “_petty officers_,” so called; that is, the -Boatswain’s, Gunner’s, Carpenter’s, and Sail-maker’s mates, the -Captains of the Tops, of the Forecastle, and of the After-Guard, and of -the Fore and Main holds, and the Quarter-Masters, all mess in common -with the crew, and in the American navy are only distinguished from the -common seamen by their slightly additional pay. But in the English navy -they wear crowns and anchors worked on the sleeves of their jackets, by -way of badges of office. In the French navy they are known by strips of -worsted worn in the same place, like those designating the Sergeants -and Corporals in the army. - -Thus it will be seen, that the dinner-table is the criterion of rank in -our man-of-war world. The Commodore dines alone, because he is the only -man of his rank in the ship. So too with the Captain; and the Ward-room -officers, warrant officers, midshipmen, the master-at-arms’ mess, and -the common seamen;—all of them, respectively, dine together, because -they are, respectively, on a footing of equality. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. -BREAKFAST, DINNER, AND SUPPER. - - -Not only is the dinner-table a criterion of rank on board a man-of-war, -but also the dinner hour. He who dines latest is the greatest man; and -he who dines earliest is accounted the least. In a flag-ship, the -Commodore generally dines about four or five o’clock; the Captain about -three; the Lieutenants about two; while _the people_ (by which phrase -the common seamen are specially designated in the nomenclature of the -quarter-deck) sit down to their salt beef exactly at noon. - -Thus it will be seen, that while the two estates of sea-kings and -sea-lords dine at rather patrician hours—and thereby, in the long run, -impair their digestive functions—the sea-commoners, or _the people_, -keep up their constitutions, by keeping up the good old-fashioned, -Elizabethan, Franklin-warranted dinner hour of twelve. - -Twelve o’clock! It is the natural centre, key-stone, and very heart of -the day. At that hour, the sun has arrived at the top of his hill; and -as he seems to hang poised there a while, before coming down on the -other side, it is but reasonable to suppose that he is then stopping to -dine; setting an eminent example to all mankind. The rest of the day is -called _afternoon_; the very sound of which fine old Saxon word conveys -a feeling of the lee bulwarks and a nap; a summer sea—soft breezes -creeping over it; dreamy dolphins gliding in the distance. _Afternoon!_ -the word implies, that it is an after-piece, coming after the grand -drama of the day; something to be taken leisurely and lazily. But how -can this be, if you dine at five? For, after all, though Paradise Lost -be a noble poem, and we men-of-war’s men, no doubt, largely partake in -the immortality of the immortals yet, let us candidly confess it, -shipmates, that, upon the whole, our dinners are the most momentous -attains of these lives we lead beneath the moon. What were a day -without a dinner? a dinnerless day! such a day had better be a night. - -Again: twelve o’clock is the natural hour for us men-of-war’s men to -dine, because at that hour the very time-pieces we have invented arrive -at their terminus; they can get no further than twelve; when -straightway they continue their old rounds again. Doubtless, Adam and -Eve dined at twelve; and the Patriarch Abraham in the midst of his -cattle; and old Job with his noon mowers and reapers, in that grand -plantation of Uz; and old Noah himself, in the Ark, must have gone to -dinner at precisely _eight bells_ (noon), with all his floating -families and farm-yards. - -But though this antediluvian dinner hour is rejected by modern -Commodores and Captains, it still lingers among “_the people_” under -their command. Many sensible things banished from high life find an -asylum among the mob. - -Some Commodores are very particular in seeing to it, that no man on -board the ship dare to dine after his (the Commodore’s,) own dessert is -cleared away.—Not even the Captain. It is said, on good authority, that -a Captain once ventured to dine at five, when the Commodore’s hour was -four. Next day, as the story goes, that Captain received a private -note, and in consequence of that note, dined for the future at -half-past three. - -Though in respect of the dinner hour on board a man-of-war, _the -people_ have no reason to complain; yet they have just cause, almost -for mutiny, in the outrageous hours assigned for their breakfast and -supper. - -Eight o’clock for breakfast; twelve for dinner; four for supper; and no -meals but these; no lunches and no cold snacks. Owing to this -arrangement (and partly to one watch going to their meals before the -other, at sea), all the meals of the twenty-four hours are crowded into -a space of less than eight! Sixteen mortal hours elapse between supper -and breakfast; including, to one watch, eight hours on deck! This is -barbarous; any physician will tell you so. Think of it! Before the -Commodore has dined, you have supped. And in high latitudes, in -summer-time, you have taken your last meal for the day, and five hours, -or more, daylight to spare! - -Mr. Secretary of the Navy, in the name of _the people_, you should -interpose in this matter. Many a time have I, a maintop-man, found -myself actually faint of a tempestuous morning watch, when all my -energies were demanded—owing to this miserable, unphilosophical mode of -allotting the government meals at sea. We beg you, Mr. Secretary, not -to be swayed in this matter by the Honourable Board of Commodores, who -will no doubt tell you that eight, twelve, and four are the proper -hours for _the people_ to take their Meals; inasmuch, as at these hours -the watches are relieved. For, though this arrangement makes a neater -and cleaner thing of it for the officers, and looks very nice and -superfine on paper; yet it is plainly detrimental to health; and in -time of war is attended with still more serious consequences to the -whole nation at large. If the necessary researches were made, it would -perhaps be found that in those instances where men-of-war adopting the -above-mentioned hours for meals have encountered an enemy at night, -they have pretty generally been beaten; that is, in those cases where -the enemies’ meal times were reasonable; which is only to be accounted -for by the fact that _the people_ of the beaten vessels were fighting -on an empty stomach instead of a full one. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. -SELVAGEE CONTRASTED WITH MAD-JACK. - - -Having glanced at the grand divisions of a man-of-war, let us now -descend to specialities: and, particularly, to two of the junior -lieutenants; lords and noblemen; members of that House of Peers, the -gun-room. There were several young lieutenants on board; but from these -two—representing the extremes of character to be found in their -department—the nature of the other officers of their grade in the -Neversink must be derived. - -One of these two quarter-deck lords went among the sailors by a name of -their own devising—Selvagee. Of course, it was intended to be -characteristic; and even so it was. - -In frigates, and all large ships of war, when getting under weigh, a -large rope, called a _messenger_ used to carry the strain of the cable -to the capstan; so that the anchor may be weighed, without the muddy, -ponderous cable, itself going round the capstan. As the cable enters -the hawse-hole, therefore, something must be constantly used, to keep -this travelling chain attached to this travelling _messenger_; -something that may be rapidly wound round both, so as to bind them -together. The article used is called a _selvagee_. And what could be -better adapted to the purpose? It is a slender, tapering, unstranded -piece of rope prepared with much solicitude; peculiarly flexible; and -wreathes and serpentines round the cable and messenger like an -elegantly-modeled garter-snake round the twisted stalks of a vine. -Indeed, _Selvagee_ is the exact type and symbol of a tall, genteel, -limber, spiralising exquisite. So much for the derivation of the name -which the sailors applied to the Lieutenant. - -From what sea-alcove, from what mermaid’s milliner’s shop, hast thou -emerged, Selvagee! with that dainty waist and languid cheek? What -heartless step-dame drove thee forth, to waste thy fragrance on the -salt sea-air? - -Was it _you_, Selvagee! that, outward-bound, off Cape Horn, looked at -Hermit Island through an opera-glass? Was it _you_, who thought of -proposing to the Captain that, when the sails were furled in a gale, a -few drops of lavender should be dropped in their “bunts,” so that when -the canvas was set again, your nostrils might not be offended by its -musty smell? I do not _say_ it was you, Selvagee; I but deferentially -inquire. - -In plain prose, Selvagee was one of those officers whom the sight of a -trim-fitting naval coat had captivated in the days of his youth. He -fancied, that if a _sea-officer_ dressed well, and conversed genteelly, -he would abundantly uphold the honour of his flag, and immortalise the -tailor that made him. On that rock many young gentlemen split. For upon -a frigate’s quarter-deck, it is not enough to sport a coat fashioned by -a Stultz; it is not enough to be well braced with straps and -suspenders; it is not enough to have sweet reminiscences of Lauras and -Matildas. It is a right down life of hard wear and tear, and the man -who is not, in a good degree, fitted to become a common sailor will -never make an officer. Take that to heart, all ye naval aspirants. -Thrust your arms up to the elbow in pitch and see how you like it, ere -you solicit a warrant. Prepare for white squalls, living gales and -typhoons; read accounts of shipwrecks and horrible disasters; peruse -the Narratives of Byron and Bligh; familiarise yourselves with the -story of the English frigate Alceste and the French frigate Medusa. -Though you may go ashore, now and then, at Cadiz and Palermo; for every -day so spent among oranges and ladies, you will have whole months of -rains and gales. - -And even thus did Selvagee prove it. But with all the intrepid -effeminacy of your true dandy, he still continued his Cologne-water -baths, and sported his lace-bordered handkerchiefs in the very teeth of -a tempest. Alas, Selvagee! there was no getting the lavender out of -you. - -But Selvagee was no fool. Theoretically he understood his profession; -but the mere theory of seamanship forms but the thousandth part of what -makes a seaman. You cannot save a ship by working out a problem in the -cabin; the deck is the field of action. - -Well aware of his deficiency in some things, Selvagee never took the -trumpet—which is the badge of the deck officer for the time—without a -tremulous movement of the lip, and an earnest inquiring eye to the -windward. He encouraged those old Tritons, the Quarter-masters, to -discourse with him concerning the likelihood of a squall; and often -followed their advice as to taking in, or making sail. The smallest -favours in that way were thankfully received. Sometimes, when all the -North looked unusually lowering, by many conversational blandishments, -he would endeavour to prolong his predecessor’s stay on deck, after -that officer’s watch had expired. But in fine, steady weather, when the -Captain would emerge from his cabin, Selvagee might be seen, pacing the -poop with long, bold, indefatigable strides, and casting his eye up -aloft with the most ostentatious fidelity. - -But vain these pretences; he could not deceive. Selvagee! you know very -well, that if it comes on to blow pretty hard, the First Lieutenant -will be sure to interfere with his paternal authority. Every man and -every boy in the frigate knows, Selvagee, that you are no Neptune. - -How unenviable his situation! His brother officers do not insult him, -to be sure; but sometimes their looks are as daggers. The sailors do -not laugh at him outright; but of dark nights they jeer, when they -hearken to that mantuamaker’s voice ordering _a strong pull at the main -brace_, or _hands by the halyards!_ Sometimes, by way of being -terrific, and making the men jump, Selvagee raps out an oath; but the -soft bomb stuffed with confectioner’s kisses seems to burst like a -crushed rose-bud diffusing its odours. Selvagee! Selvagee! take a -main-top-man’s advice; and this cruise over, never more tempt the sea. - -With this gentleman of cravats and curling irons, how strongly -contrasts the man who was born in a gale! For in some time of -tempest—off Cape Horn or Hatteras—_Mad Jack_ must have entered the -world—such things have been—not with a silver spoon, but with a -speaking-trumpet in his mouth; wrapped up in a caul, as in a -main-sail—for a charmed life against shipwrecks he bears—and crying, -_Luff! luff, you may!—steady!—port! World ho!—here I am!_ - -Mad Jack is in his saddle on the sea. _That_ is his home; he would not -care much, if another Flood came and overflowed the dry land; for what -would it do but float his good ship higher and higher and carry his -proud nation’s flag round the globe, over the very capitals of all -hostile states! Then would masts surmount spires; and all mankind, like -the Chinese boatmen in Canton River, live in flotillas and fleets, and -find their food in the sea. - -Mad Jack was expressly created and labelled for a tar. Five feet nine -is his mark, in his socks; and not weighing over eleven stone before -dinner. Like so many ship’s shrouds, his muscles and tendons are all -set true, trim, and taut; he is braced up fore and aft, like a ship on -the wind. His broad chest is a bulkhead, that dams off the gale; and -his nose is an aquiline, that divides it in two, like a keel. His loud, -lusty lungs are two belfries, full of all manner of chimes; but you -only hear his deepest bray, in the height of some tempest—like the -great bell of St. Paul’s, which only sounds when the King or the Devil -is dead. - -Look at him there, where he stands on the poop—one foot on the rail, -and one hand on a shroud—his head thrown back, and his trumpet like an -elephant’s trunk thrown up in the air. Is he going to shoot dead with -sounds, those fellows on the main-topsail-yard? - -Mad Jack was a bit of a tyrant—they _say_ all good officers are—but the -sailors loved him all round; and would much rather stand fifty watches -with him, than one with a rose-water sailor. - -But Mad Jack, alas! has one fearful failing. He drinks. And so do we -all. But Mad Jack, _He_ only drinks brandy. The vice was inveterate; -surely, like Ferdinand, Count Fathom, he must have been suckled at a -puncheon. Very often, this bad habit got him into very serious scrapes. -Twice was he put off duty by the Commodore; and once he came near being -broken for his frolics. So far as his efficiency as a sea-officer was -concerned, on shore at least, Jack might _bouse away_ as much as he -pleased; but afloat it will not do at all. - -Now, if he only followed the wise example set by those ships of the -desert, the camels; and while in port, drank for the thirst past, the -thirst present, and the thirst to come—so that he might cross the ocean -sober; Mad Jack would get along pretty well. Still better, if he would -but eschew brandy altogether; and only drink of the limpid white-wine -of the rills and the brooks. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. -OF THE POCKETS THAT WERE IN THE JACKET. - - -I MUST make some further mention of that white jacket of mine. - -And here be it known—by way of introduction to what is to follow—that -to a common sailor, the living on board a man-of-war is like living in -a market; where you dress on the door-steps, and sleep in the cellar. -No privacy can you have; hardly one moment’s seclusion. It is almost a -physical impossibility, that you can ever be alone. You dine at a vast -_table d’hote_; sleep in commons, and make your toilet where and when -you can. There is no calling for a mutton chop and a pint of claret by -yourself; no selecting of chambers for the night; no hanging of -pantaloons over the back of a chair; no ringing your bell of a rainy -morning, to take your coffee in bed. It is something like life in a -large manufactory. The bell strikes to dinner, and hungry or not, you -must dine. - -Your clothes are stowed in a large canvas bag, generally painted black, -which you can get out of the “rack” only once in the twenty-four hours; -and then, during a time of the utmost confusion; among five hundred -other bags, with five hundred other sailors diving into each, in the -midst of the twilight of the berth-deck. In some measure to obviate -this inconvenience, many sailors divide their wardrobes between their -hammocks and their bags; stowing a few frocks and trowsers in the -former; so that they can shift at night, if they wish, when the -hammocks are piped down. But they gain very little by this. - -You have no place whatever but your bag or hammock, in which to put -anything in a man-of-war. If you lay anything down, and turn your back -for a moment, ten to one it is gone. - -Now, in sketching the preliminary plan, and laying out the foundation -of that memorable white jacket of mine, I had had an earnest eye to all -these inconveniences, and re-solved to avoid them. I proposed, that not -only should my jacket keep me warm, but that it should also be so -constructed as to contain a shirt or two, a pair of trowsers, and -divers knick-knacks—sewing utensils, books, biscuits, and the like. -With this object, I had accordingly provided it with a great variety of -pockets, pantries, clothes-presses, and cupboards. - -The principal apartments, two in number, were placed in the skirts, -with a wide, hospitable entrance from the inside; two more, of smaller -capacity, were planted in each breast, with folding-doors -communicating, so that in case of emergency, to accommodate any bulky -articles, the two pockets in each breast could be thrown into one. -There were, also, several unseen recesses behind the arras; insomuch, -that my jacket, like an old castle, was full of winding stairs, and -mysterious closets, crypts, and cabinets; and like a confidential -writing-desk, abounded in snug little out-of-the-way lairs and -hiding-places, for the storage of valuables. - -Superadded to these, were four capacious pockets on the outside; one -pair to slip books into when suddenly startled from my studies to the -main-royal-yard; and the other pair, for permanent mittens, to thrust -my hands into of a cold night-watch. This last contrivance was regarded -as needless by one of my top-mates, who showed me a pattern for -sea-mittens, which he said was much better than mine. - -It must be known, that sailors, even in the bleakest weather, only -cover their hands when unemployed; they never wear mittens aloft, since -aloft they literally carry their lives in their hands, and want nothing -between their grasp of the hemp, and the hemp itself.—Therefore, it is -desirable, that whatever things they cover their hands with, should be -capable of being slipped on and off in a moment. Nay, it is desirable, -that they should be of such a nature, that in a dark night, when you -are in a great hurry—say, going to the helm—they may be jumped into, -indiscriminately; and not be like a pair of right-and-left kids; -neither of which will admit any hand, but the particular one meant for -it. - -My top-mate’s contrivance was this—he ought to have got out a patent -for it—each of his mittens was provided with two thumbs, one on each -side; the convenience of which needs no comment. But though for clumsy -seamen, whose fingers are all thumbs, this description of mitten might -do very well, White-Jacket did not so much fancy it. For when your hand -was once in the bag of the mitten, the empty thumb-hole sometimes -dangled at your palm, confounding your ideas of where your real thumb -might be; or else, being carefully grasped in the hand, was continually -suggesting the insane notion, that you were all the while having hold -of some one else’s thumb. - -No; I told my good top-mate to go away with his four thumbs, I would -have nothing to do with them; two thumbs were enough for any man. - -For some time after completing my jacket, and getting the furniture and -household stores in it; I thought that nothing could exceed it for -convenience. Seldom now did I have occasion to go to my bag, and be -jostled by the crowd who were making their wardrobe in a heap. If I -wanted anything in the way of clothing, thread, needles, or literature, -the chances were that my invaluable jacket contained it. Yes: I fairly -hugged myself, and revelled in my jacket; till, alas! a long rain put -me out of conceit of it. I, and all my pockets and their contents, were -soaked through and through, and my pocket-edition of Shakespeare was -reduced to an omelet. - -However, availing myself of a fine sunny day that followed, I emptied -myself out in the main-top, and spread all my goods and chattels to -dry. But spite of the bright sun, that day proved a black one. The -scoundrels on deck detected me in the act of discharging my saturated -cargo; they now knew that the white jacket was used for a storehouse. -The consequence was that, my goods being well dried and again stored -away in my pockets, the very next night, when it was my quarter-watch -on deck, and not in the top (where they were all honest men), I noticed -a parcel of fellows skulking about after me, wherever I went. To a man, -they were pickpockets, and bent upon pillaging me. In vain I kept -clapping my pocket like a nervous old gentlemen in a crowd; that same -night I found myself minus several valuable articles. So, in the end, I -masoned up my lockers and pantries; and save the two used for mittens, -the white jacket ever after was pocketless. - - - - -CHAPTER X. -FROM POCKETS TO PICKPOCKETS. - - -As the latter part of the preceding chapter may seem strange to those -landsmen, who have been habituated to indulge in high-raised, romantic -notions of the man-of-war’s man’s character; it may not be amiss, to -set down here certain facts on this head, which may serve to place the -thing in its true light. - -From the wild life they lead, and various other causes (needless to -mention), sailors, as a class, entertain the most liberal notions -concerning morality and the Decalogue; or rather, they take their own -views of such matters, caring little for the theological or ethical -definitions of others concerning what may be criminal, or wrong. - -Their ideas are much swayed by circumstances. They will covertly -abstract a thing from one, whom they dislike; and insist upon it, that, -in such a case, stealing is not robbing. Or, where the theft involves -something funny, as in the case of the white jacket, they only steal -for the sake of the joke; but this much is to be observed nevertheless, -i. e., that they never spoil the joke by returning the stolen article. - -It is a good joke; for instance, and one often perpetrated on board -ship, to stand talking to a man in a dark night watch, and all the -while be cutting the buttons from his coat. But once off, those buttons -never grow on again. There is no spontaneous vegetation in buttons. - -Perhaps it is a thing unavoidable, but the truth is that, among the -crew of a man-of-war, scores of desperadoes are too often found, who -stop not at the largest enormities. A species of highway robbery is not -unknown to them. A _gang_ will be informed that such a fellow has three -or four gold pieces in the money-bag, so-called, or purse, which many -tars wear round their necks, tucked out of sight. Upon this, they -deliberately lay their plans; and in due time, proceed to carry them -into execution. The man they have marked is perhaps strolling along the -benighted berth-deck to his mess-chest; when of a sudden, the foot-pads -dash out from their hiding-place, throw him down, and while two or -three gag him, and hold him fast, another cuts the bag from his neck, -and makes away with it, followed by his comrades. This was more than -once done in the Neversink. - -At other times, hearing that a sailor has something valuable secreted -in his hammock, they will rip it open from underneath while he sleeps, -and reduce the conjecture to a certainty. - -To enumerate all the minor pilferings on board a man-of-war would be -endless. With some highly commendable exceptions, they rob from one -another, and rob back again, till, in the matter of small things, a -community of goods seems almost established; and at last, as a whole, -they become relatively honest, by nearly every man becoming the -reverse. It is in vain that the officers, by threats of condign -punishment, endeavour to instil more virtuous principles into their -crew; so thick is the mob, that not one thief in a thousand is -detected. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. -THE PURSUIT OF POETRY UNDER DIFFICULTIES. - - -The feeling of insecurity concerning one’s possessions in the -Neversink, which the things just narrated begat in the minds of honest -men, was curiously exemplified in the case of my poor friend Lemsford, -a gentlemanly young member of the After-Guard. I had very early made -the acquaintance of Lemsford. It is curious, how unerringly a man -pitches upon a spirit, any way akin to his own, even in the most -miscellaneous mob. - -Lemsford was a poet; so thoroughly inspired with the divine afflatus, -that not even all the tar and tumult of a man-of-war could drive it out -of him. - -As may readily be imagined, the business of writing verse is a very -different thing on the gun-deck of a frigate, from what the gentle and -sequestered Wordsworth found it at placid Rydal Mount in Westmoreland. -In a frigate, you cannot sit down and meander off your sonnets, when -the full heart prompts; but only, when more important duties permit: -such as bracing round the yards, or reefing top-sails fore and aft. -Nevertheless, every fragment of time at his command was religiously -devoted by Lemsford to the Nine. At the most unseasonable hours, you -would behold him, seated apart, in some corner among the guns—a -shot-box before him, pen in hand, and eyes “_in a fine frenzy -rolling_.” - -“What’s that ’ere born nat’ral about?”—“He’s got a fit, hain’t he?” -were exclamations often made by the less learned of his shipmates. Some -deemed him a conjurer; others a lunatic; and the knowing ones said, -that he must be a crazy Methodist. But well knowing by experience the -truth of the saying, that _poetry is its own exceeding great reward_, -Lemsford wrote on; dashing off whole epics, sonnets, ballads, and -acrostics, with a facility which, under the circumstances, amazed me. -Often he read over his effusions to me; and well worth the hearing they -were. He had wit, imagination, feeling, and humour in abundance; and -out of the very ridicule with which some persons regarded him, he made -rare metrical sport, which we two together enjoyed by ourselves; or -shared with certain select friends. - -Still, the taunts and jeers so often levelled at my friend the poet, -would now and then rouse him into rage; and at such times the haughty -scorn he would hurl on his foes, was proof positive of his possession -of that one attribute, irritability, almost universally ascribed to the -votaries of Parnassus and the Nine. - -My noble captain, Jack Chase, rather patronised Lemsford, and he would -stoutly take his part against scores of adversaries. Frequently, -inviting him up aloft into his top, he would beg him to recite some of -his verses; to which he would pay the most heedful attention, like -Maecenas listening to Virgil, with a book of Aeneid in his hand. Taking -the liberty of a well-wisher, he would sometimes gently criticise the -piece, suggesting a few immaterial alterations. And upon my word, noble -Jack, with his native-born good sense, taste, and humanity, was not ill -qualified to play the true part of a _Quarterly Review_;—which is, to -give quarter at last, however severe the critique. - -Now Lemsford’s great care, anxiety, and endless source of tribulation -was the preservation of his manuscripts. He had a little box, about the -size of a small dressing-case, and secured with a lock, in which he -kept his papers and stationery. This box, of course, he could not keep -in his bag or hammock, for, in either case, he would only be able to -get at it once in the twenty-four hours. It was necessary to have it -accessible at all times. So when not using it, he was obliged to hide -it out of sight, where he could. And of all places in the world, a ship -of war, above her _hold_, least abounds in secret nooks. Almost every -inch is occupied; almost every inch is in plain sight; and almost every -inch is continually being visited and explored. Added to all this, was -the deadly hostility of the whole tribe of -ship-underlings—master-at-arms, ship’s corporals, and boatswain’s -mates,—both to the poet and his casket. They hated his box, as if it -had been Pandora’s, crammed to the very lid with hurricanes and gales. -They hunted out his hiding-places like pointers, and gave him no peace -night or day. - -Still, the long twenty-four-pounders on the main-deck offered some -promise of a hiding-place to the box; and, accordingly, it was often -tucked away behind the carriages, among the side tackles; its black -colour blending with the ebon hue of the guns. - -But Quoin, one of the quarter-gunners, had eyes like a ferret. Quoin -was a little old man-of-war’s man, hardly five feet high, with a -complexion like a gun-shot wound after it is healed. He was -indefatigable in attending to his duties; which consisted in taking -care of one division of the guns, embracing ten of the aforesaid -twenty-four-pounders. Ranged up against the ship’s side at regular -intervals, they resembled not a little a stud of sable chargers in -their stall. Among this iron stud little Quoin was continually running -in and out, currying them down, now and then, with an old rag, or -keeping the flies off with a brush. To Quoin, the honour and dignity of -the United States of America seemed indissolubly linked with the -keeping his guns unspotted and glossy. He himself was black as a -chimney-sweep with continually tending them, and rubbing them down with -black paint. He would sometimes get outside of the port-holes and peer -into their muzzles, as a monkey into a bottle. Or, like a dentist, he -seemed intent upon examining their teeth. Quite as often, he would be -brushing out their touch-holes with a little wisp of oakum, like a -Chinese barber in Canton, cleaning a patient’s ear. - -Such was his solicitude, that it was a thousand pities he was not able -to dwarf himself still more, so as to creep in at the touch-hole, and -examining the whole interior of the tube, emerge at last from the -muzzle. Quoin swore by his guns, and slept by their side. Woe betide -the man whom he found leaning against them, or in any way soiling them. -He seemed seized with the crazy fancy, that his darling -twenty-four-pounders were fragile, and might break, like glass retorts. - -Now, from this Quoin’s vigilance, how could my poor friend the poet -hope to escape with his box? Twenty times a week it was pounced upon, -with a “here’s that d——d pillbox again!” and a loud threat, to pitch it -overboard the next time, without a moment’s warning, or benefit of -clergy. Like many poets, Lemsford was nervous, and upon these occasions -he trembled like a leaf. Once, with an inconsolable countenance, he -came to me, saying that his casket was nowhere to be found; he had -sought for it in his hiding-place, and it was not there. - -I asked him where he had hidden it? - -“Among the guns,” he replied. - -“Then depend upon it, Lemsford, that Quoin has been the death of it.” - -Straight to Quoin went the poet. But Quoin knew nothing about it. For -ten mortal days the poet was not to be comforted; dividing his leisure -time between cursing Quoin and lamenting his loss. The world is undone, -he must have thought: no such calamity has befallen it since the -Deluge;—my verses are perished. - -But though Quoin, as it afterward turned out, had indeed found the box, -it so happened that he had not destroyed it; which no doubt led -Lemsford to infer that a superintending Providence had interposed to -preserve to posterity his invaluable casket. It was found at last, -lying exposed near the galley. - -Lemsford was not the only literary man on board the Neversink. There -were three or four persons who kept journals of the cruise. One of -these journalists embellished his work—which was written in a large -blank account-book—with various coloured illustrations of the harbours -and bays at which the frigate had touched; and also, with small crayon -sketches of comical incidents on board the frigate itself. He would -frequently read passages of his book to an admiring circle of the more -refined sailors, between the guns. They pronounced the whole -performance a miracle of art. As the author declared to them that it -was all to be printed and published so soon as the vessel reached home, -they vied with each other in procuring interesting items, to be -incorporated into additional chapters. But it having been rumoured -abroad that this journal was to be ominously entitled “_The Cruise of -the Neversink, or a Paixhan shot into Naval Abuses;_” and it having -also reached the ears of the Ward-room that the work contained -reflections somewhat derogatory to the dignity of the officers, the -volume was seized by the master-at-arms, armed with a warrant from the -Captain. A few days after, a large nail was driven straight through the -two covers, and clinched on the other side, and, thus everlastingly -sealed, the book was committed to the deep. The ground taken by the -authorities on this occasion was, perhaps, that the book was obnoxious -to a certain clause in the Articles of War, forbidding any person in -the Navy to bring any other person in the Navy into contempt, which the -suppressed volume undoubtedly did. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. -THE GOOD OR BAD TEMPER OF MEN-OF-WAR’S MEN, IN A GREAT DEGREE, -ATTRIBUTABLE TO THEIR PARTICULAR STATIONS AND DUTIES ABOARD SHIP. - - -Quoin, the quarter-gunner, was the representative of a class on board -the Neversink, altogether too remarkable to be left astern, without -further notice, in the rapid wake of these chapters. - -As has been seen, Quoin was full of unaccountable whimsies; he was, -withal, a very cross, bitter, ill-natured, inflammable old man. So, -too, were all the members of the gunner’s gang; including the two -gunner’s mates, and all the quarter-gunners. Every one of them had the -same dark brown complexion; all their faces looked like smoked hams. -They were continually grumbling and growling about the batteries; -running in and out among the guns; driving the sailors away from them; -and cursing and swearing as if all their conscience had been -powder-singed, and made callous, by their calling. Indeed they were a -most unpleasant set of men; especially Priming, the nasal-voiced -gunner’s mate, with the hare-lip; and Cylinder, his stuttering -coadjutor, with the clubbed foot. But you will always observe, that the -gunner’s gang of every man-of-war are invariably ill-tempered, ugly -featured, and quarrelsome. Once when I visited an English -line-of-battle ship, the gunner’s gang were fore and aft, polishing up -the batteries, which, according to the Admiral’s fancy, had been -painted white as snow. Fidgeting round the great thirty-two-pounders, -and making stinging remarks at the sailors and each other, they -reminded one of a swarm of black wasps, buzzing about rows of white -headstones in a church-yard. - -Now, there can be little doubt, that their being so much among the guns -is the very thing that makes a gunner’s gang so cross and quarrelsome. -Indeed, this was once proved to the satisfaction of our whole company -of main-top-men. A fine top-mate of ours, a most merry and -companionable fellow, chanced to be promoted to a quarter-gunner’s -berth. A few days afterward, some of us main-top-men, his old comrades, -went to pay him a visit, while he was going his regular rounds through -the division of guns allotted to his care. But instead of greeting us -with his usual heartiness, and cracking his pleasant jokes, to our -amazement, he did little else but scowl; and at last, when we rallied -him upon his ill-temper, he seized a long black rammer from overhead, -and drove us on deck; threatening to report us, if we ever dared to be -familiar with him again. - -My top-mates thought that this remarkable metamorphose was the effect -produced upon a weak, vain character suddenly elevated from the level -of a mere seaman to the dignified position of a _petty officer_. But -though, in similar cases, I had seen such effects produced upon some of -the crew; yet, in the present instance, I knew better than that;—it was -solely brought about by his consorting with with those villainous, -irritable, ill-tempered cannon; more especially from his being subject -to the orders of those deformed blunderbusses, Priming and Cylinder. - -The truth seems to be, indeed, that all people should be very careful -in selecting their callings and vocations; very careful in seeing to -it, that they surround themselves by good-humoured, pleasant-looking -objects; and agreeable, temper-soothing sounds. Many an angelic -disposition has had its even edge turned, and hacked like a saw; and -many a sweet draught of piety has soured on the heart from people’s -choosing ill-natured employments, and omitting to gather round them -good-natured landscapes. Gardeners are almost always pleasant, affable -people to converse with; but beware of quarter-gunners, keepers of -arsenals, and lonely light-house men. - -It would be advisable for any man, who from an unlucky choice of a -profession, which it is too late to change for another, should find his -temper souring, to endeavour to counteract that misfortune, by filling -his private chamber with amiable, pleasurable sights and sounds. In -summer time, an Aeolian harp can be placed in your window at a very -trifling expense; a conch-shell might stand on your mantel, to be taken -up and held to the ear, that you may be soothed by its continual -lulling sound, when you feel the blue fit stealing over you. For -sights, a gay-painted punch-bowl, or Dutch tankard—never mind about -filling it—might be recommended. It should be placed on a bracket in -the pier. Nor is an old-fashioned silver ladle, nor a chased -dinner-castor, nor a fine portly demijohn, nor anything, indeed, that -savors of eating and drinking, bad to drive off the spleen. But perhaps -the best of all is a shelf of merrily-bound books, containing comedies, -farces, songs, and humorous novels. You need never open them; only have -the titles in plain sight. For this purpose, Peregrine Pickle is a good -book; so is Gil Blas; so is Goldsmith. - -But of all chamber furniture in the world, best calculated to cure a -had temper, and breed a pleasant one, is the sight of a lovely wife. If -you have children, however, that are teething, the nursery should be a -good way up stairs; at sea, it ought to be in the mizzen-top. Indeed, -teething children play the very deuce with a husband’s temper. I have -known three promising young husbands completely spoil on their wives’ -hands, by reason of a teething child, whose worrisomeness happened to -be aggravated at the time by the summer-complaint. With a breaking -heart, and my handkerchief to my eyes, I followed those three hapless -young husbands, one after the other, to their premature graves. - -Gossiping scenes breed gossips. Who so chatty as hotel-clerks, market -women, auctioneers, bar-keepers, apothecaries, newspaper-reporters, -monthly-nurses, and all those who live in bustling crowds, or are -present at scenes of chatty interest. - -Solitude breeds taciturnity; _that_ every body knows; who so taciturn -as authors, taken as a race? - -A forced, interior quietude, in the midst of great out-ward commotion, -breeds moody people. Who so moody as railroad-brakemen, -steam-boat-engineers, helmsmen, and tenders of power-looms in cotton -factories? For all these must hold their peace while employed, and let -the machinery do the chatting; they cannot even edge in a single -syllable. - -Now, this theory about the wondrous influence of habitual sights and -sounds upon the human temper, was suggested by my experiences on board -our frigate. And al-though I regard the example furnished by our -quarter-gunners—especially him who had once been our top-mate—as by far -the strongest argument in favour of the general theory; yet, the entire -ship abounded with illustrations of its truth. Who were more -liberal-hearted, lofty-minded, gayer, more jocund, elastic, -adventurous, given to fun and frolic, than the top-men of the fore, -main, and mizzen masts? The reason of their liberal-heartedness was, -that they were daily called upon to expatiate themselves all over the -rigging. The reason of their lofty-mindedness was, that they were high -lifted above the petty tumults, carping cares, and paltrinesses of the -decks below. - -And I feel persuaded in my inmost soul, that it is to the fact of my -having been a main-top-man; and especially my particular post being on -the loftiest yard of the frigate, the main-royal-yard; that I am now -enabled to give such a free, broad, off-hand, bird’s-eye, and, more -than all, impartial account of our man-of-war world; withholding -nothing; inventing nothing; nor flattering, nor scandalising any; but -meting out to all—commodore and messenger-boy alike—their precise -descriptions and deserts. - -The reason of the mirthfulness of these top-men was, that they always -looked out upon the blue, boundless, dimpled, laughing, sunny sea. Nor -do I hold, that it militates against this theory, that of a stormy day, -when the face of the ocean was black, and overcast, that some of them -would grow moody, and chose to sit apart. On the contrary, it only -proves the thing which I maintain. For even on shore, there are many -people naturally gay and light-hearted, who, whenever the autumnal wind -begins to bluster round the corners, and roar along the chimney-stacks, -straight becomes cross, petulant, and irritable. What is more mellow -than fine old ale? Yet thunder will sour the best nut-brown ever -brewed. - -The _Holders_ of our frigate, the Troglodytes, who lived down in the -tarry cellars and caves below the berth-deck, were, nearly all of them, -men of gloomy dispositions, taking sour views of things; one of them -was a blue-light Calvinist. Whereas, the old-sheet-anchor-men, who -spent their time in the bracing sea-air and broad-cast sunshine of the -forecastle, were free, generous-hearted, charitable, and full of -good-will to all hands; though some of them, to tell the truth, proved -sad exceptions; but exceptions only prove the rule. - -The “steady-cooks” on the berth-deck, the “steady-sweepers,” and -“steady-spit-box-musterers,” in all divisions of the frigate, fore and -aft, were a narrow-minded set; with contracted souls; imputable, no -doubt, to their groveling duties. More especially was this evinced in -the case of those odious ditchers and night scavengers, the ignoble -“Waisters.” - -The members of the band, some ten or twelve in number, who had nothing -to do but keep their instruments polished, and play a lively air now -and then, to stir the stagnant current in our poor old Commodore’s -torpid veins, were the most gleeful set of fellows you ever saw. They -were Portuguese, who had been shipped at the Cape De Verd islands, on -the passage out. They messed by themselves; forming a dinner-party, not -to be exceeded ire mirthfulness, by a club of young bridegrooms, three -months after marriage, completely satisfied with their bargains, after -testing them. - -But what made them, now, so full of fun? What indeed but their merry, -martial, mellow calling. Who could he a churl, and play a flageolet? -who mean and spiritless, braying forth the souls of thousand heroes -from his brazen trump? But still more efficacious, perhaps, in -ministering to the light spirits of the band, was the consoling -thought, that should the ship ever go into action, they would be -exempted from the perils of battle. In ships of war, the members of the -“music,” as the band is called, are generally non-combatants; and -mostly ship, with the express understanding, that as soon as the vessel -comes within long gun-shot of an enemy, they shall have the privilege -of burrowing down in the cable-tiers, or sea coal-hole. Which shows -that they are inglorious, but uncommonly sensible fellows. - -Look at the barons of the gun-room—Lieutenants, Purser, Marine -officers, Sailing-master—all of them gentlemen with stiff upper lips, -and aristocratic cut noses. Why was this? Will any one deny, that from -their living so long in high military life, served by a crowd of menial -stewards and cot-boys, and always accustomed to command right and left; -will any one deny, I say, that by reason of this, their very noses had -become thin, peaked, aquiline, and aristocratically cartilaginous? Even -old Cuticle, the Surgeon, had a Roman nose. - -But I never could account how it came to be, that our grey headed First -Lieutenant was a little lop-sided; that is, one of his shoulders -disproportionately dropped. And when I observed, that nearly all the -First Lieutenants I saw in other men-of-war, besides many Second and -Third Lieutenants, were similarly lop-sided, I knew that there must be -some general law which induced the phenomenon; and I put myself to -studying it out, as an interesting problem. At last, I came to the -conclusion—to which I still adhere—that their so long wearing only one -epaulet (for to only one does their rank entitle them) was the -infallible clew to this mystery. And when any one reflects upon so -well-known a fact, that many sea Lieutenants grow decrepit from age, -without attaining a Captaincy and wearing _two_ epaulets, which would -strike the balance between their shoulders, the above reason assigned -will not appear unwarrantable. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. -A MAN-OF-WAR HERMIT IN A MOB. - - -The allusion to the poet Lemsford in a previous chapter, leads me to -speak of our mutual friends, Nord and Williams, who, with Lemsford -himself, Jack Chase, and my comrades of the main-top, comprised almost -the only persons with whom I unreservedly consorted while on board the -frigate. For I had not been long on board ere I found that it would not -do to be intimate with everybody. An indiscriminate intimacy with all -hands leads to sundry annoyances and scrapes, too often ending with a -dozen at the gang-way. Though I was above a year in the frigate, there -were scores of men who to the last remained perfect strangers to me, -whose very names I did not know, and whom I would hardly be able to -recognise now should I happen to meet them in the streets. - -In the dog-watches at sea, during the early part of the evening, the -main-deck is generally filled with crowds of pedestrians, promenading -up and down past the guns, like people taking the air in Broadway. At -such times, it is curious to see the men nodding to each other’s -recognitions (they might not have seen each other for a week); -exchanging a pleasant word with a friend; making a hurried appointment -to meet him somewhere aloft on the morrow, or passing group after group -without deigning the slightest salutation. Indeed, I was not at all -singular in having but comparatively few acquaintances on board, though -certainly carrying my fastidiousness to an unusual extent. - -My friend Nord was a somewhat remarkable character; and if mystery -includes romance, he certainly was a very romantic one. Before seeking -an introduction to him through Lemsford, I had often marked his tall, -spare, upright figure stalking like Don Quixote among the pigmies of -the Afterguard, to which he belonged. At first I found him exceedingly -reserved and taciturn; his saturnine brow wore a scowl; he was almost -repelling in his demeanour. In a word, he seemed desirous of hinting, -that his list of man-of war friends was already made up, complete, and -full; and there was no room for more. But observing that the only man -he ever consorted with was Lemsford, I had too much magnanimity, by -going off in a pique at his coldness, to let him lose forever the -chance of making so capital an acquaintance as myself. Besides, I saw -it in his eye, that the man had been a reader of good books; I would -have staked my life on it, that he seized the right meaning of -Montaigne. I saw that he was an earnest thinker; I more than suspected -that he had been bolted in the mill of adversity. For all these things, -my heart yearned toward him; I determined to know him. - -At last I succeeded; it was during a profoundly quiet midnight watch, -when I perceived him walking alone in the waist, while most of the men -were dozing on the carronade-slides. - -That night we scoured all the prairies of reading; dived into the -bosoms of authors, and tore out their hearts; and that night -White-Jacket learned more than he has ever done in any single night -since. - -The man was a marvel. He amazed me, as much as Coleridge did the -troopers among whom he enlisted. What could have induced such a man to -enter a man-of-war, all my sapience cannot fathom. And how he managed -to preserve his dignity, as he did, among such a rabble rout was -equally a mystery. For he was no sailor; as ignorant of a ship, indeed, -as a man from the sources of the Niger. Yet the officers respected him; -and the men were afraid of him. This much was observable, however, that -he faithfully discharged whatever special duties devolved upon him; and -was so fortunate as never to render himself liable to a reprimand. -Doubtless, he took the same view of the thing that another of the crew -did; and had early resolved, so to conduct himself as never to run the -risk of the scourge. And this it must have been—added to whatever -incommunicable grief which might have been his—that made this Nord such -a wandering recluse, even among our man-of-war mob. Nor could he have -long swung his hammock on board, ere he must have found that, to insure -his exemption from that thing which alone affrighted him, he must be -content for the most part to turn a man-hater, and socially expatriate -himself from many things, which might have rendered his situation more -tolerable. Still more, several events that took place must have -horrified him, at times, with the thought that, however he might -isolate and entomb himself, yet for all this, the improbability of his -being overtaken by what he most dreaded never advanced to the -infallibility of the impossible. - -In my intercourse with Nord, he never made allusion to his past -career—a subject upon which most high-bred castaways in a man-of-war -are very diffuse; relating their adventures at the gaming-table; the -recklessness with which they have run through the amplest fortunes in a -single season; their alms-givings, and gratuities to porters and poor -relations; and above all, their youthful indiscretions, and the -broken-hearted ladies they have left behind. No such tales had Nord to -tell. Concerning the past, he was barred and locked up like the specie -vaults of the Bank of England. For anything that dropped from him, none -of us could be sure that he had ever existed till now. Altogether, he -was a remarkable man. - -My other friend, Williams, was a thorough-going Yankee from Maine, who -had been both a peddler and a pedagogue in his day. He had all manner -of stories to tell about nice little country frolics, and would run -over an endless list of his sweethearts. He was honest, acute, witty, -full of mirth and good humour—a laughing philosopher. He was invaluable -as a pill against the spleen; and, with the view of extending the -advantages of his society to the saturnine Nord, I introduced them to -each other; but Nord cut him dead the very same evening, when we -sallied out from between the guns for a walk on the main-deck. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. -A DRAUGHT IN A MAN-OF-WAR. - - -We were not many days out of port, when a rumour was set afloat that -dreadfully alarmed many tars. It was this: that, owing to some -unprecedented oversight in the Purser, or some equally unprecedented -remissness in the Naval-storekeeper at Callao, the frigate’s supply of -that delectable beverage, called “grog,” was well-nigh expended. - -In the American Navy, the law allows one gill of spirits per day to -every seaman. In two portions, it is served out just previous to -breakfast and dinner. At the roll of the drum, the sailors assemble -round a large tub, or cask, filled with liquid; and, as their names are -called off by a midshipman, they step up and regale themselves from a -little tin measure called a “tot.” No high-liver helping himself to -Tokay off a well-polished sideboard, smacks his lips with more mighty -satisfaction than the sailor does over this _tot_. To many of them, -indeed, the thought of their daily _tots_ forms a perpetual perspective -of ravishing landscapes, indefinitely receding in the distance. It is -their great “prospect in life.” Take away their grog, and life -possesses no further charms for them. It is hardly to be doubted, that -the controlling inducement which keeps many men in the Navy, is the -unbounded confidence they have in the ability of the United States -government to supply them, regularly and unfailingly, with their daily -allowance of this beverage. I have known several forlorn individuals, -shipping as landsmen, who have confessed to me, that having contracted -a love for ardent spirits, which they could not renounce, and having by -their foolish courses been brought into the most abject -poverty—insomuch that they could no longer gratify their thirst -ashore—they incontinently entered the Navy; regarding it as the asylum -for all drunkards, who might there prolong their lives by regular hours -and exercise, and twice every day quench their thirst by moderate and -undeviating doses. - -When I once remonstrated with an old toper of a top-man about this -daily dram-drinking; when I told him it was ruining him, and advised -him to _stop his grog_ and receive the money for it, in addition to his -wages as provided by law, he turned about on me, with an irresistibly -waggish look, and said, “Give up my grog? And why? Because it is -ruining me? No, no; I am a good Christian, White-Jacket, and love my -enemy too much to drop his acquaintance.” - -It may be readily imagined, therefore, what consternation and dismay -pervaded the gun-deck at the first announcement of the tidings that the -grog was expended. - -“The grog gone!” roared an old Sheet-anchor-man. - -“Oh! Lord! what a pain in my stomach!” cried a Main-top-man. - -“It’s worse than the cholera!” cried a man of the After-guard. - -“I’d sooner the water-casks would give out!” said a Captain of the -Hold. - -“Are we ganders and geese, that we can live without grog?” asked a -Corporal of Marines. - -“Ay, we must now drink with the ducks!” cried a Quarter-master. - -“Not a tot left?” groaned a Waister. - -“Not a toothful!” sighed a Holder, from the bottom of his boots. - -Yes, the fatal intelligence proved true. The drum was no longer heard -rolling the men to the tub, and deep gloom and dejection fell like a -cloud. The ship was like a great city, when some terrible calamity has -overtaken it. The men stood apart, in groups, discussing their woes, -and mutually condoling. No longer, of still moonlight nights, was the -song heard from the giddy tops; and few and far between were the -stories that were told. It was during this interval, so dismal to many, -that to the amazement of all hands, ten men were reported by the -master-at-arms to be intoxicated. They were brought up to the mast, and -at their appearance the doubts of the most skeptical were dissipated; -but whence they had obtained their liquor no one could tell. It was -observed, however at the time, that the tarry knaves all smelled of -lavender, like so many dandies. - -After their examination they were ordered into the “brig,” a jail-house -between two guns on the main-deck, where prisoners are kept. Here they -laid for some time, stretched out stark and stiff, with their arms -folded over their breasts, like so many effigies of the Black Prince on -his monument in Canterbury Cathedral. - -Their first slumbers over, the marine sentry who stood guard over them -had as much as he could do to keep off the crowd, who were all -eagerness to find out how, in such a time of want, the prisoners had -managed to drink themselves into oblivion. In due time they were -liberated, and the secret simultaneously leaked out. - -It seemed that an enterprising man of their number, who had suffered -severely from the common deprivation, had all at once been struck by a -brilliant idea. It had come to his knowledge that the purser’s steward -was supplied with a large quantity of _Eau-de-Cologne_, clandestinely -brought out in the ship, for the purpose of selling it on his own -account, to the people of the coast; but the supply proving larger than -the demand, and having no customers on board the frigate but Lieutenant -Selvagee, he was now carrying home more than a third of his original -stock. To make a short story of it, this functionary, being called upon -in secret, was readily prevailed upon to part with a dozen bottles, -with whose contents the intoxicated party had regaled themselves. - -The news spread far and wide among the men, being only kept secret from -the officers and underlings, and that night the long, crane-necked -Cologne bottles jingled in out-of-the-way corners and by-places, and, -being emptied, were sent flying out of the ports. With brown sugar, -taken from the mess-chests, and hot water begged from the galley-cooks, -the men made all manner of punches, toddies, and cocktails, letting -fall therein a small drop of tar, like a bit of brown toast, by way of -imparting a flavour. Of course, the thing was managed with the utmost -secrecy; and as a whole dark night elapsed after their orgies, the -revellers were, in a good measure, secure from detection; and those who -indulged too freely had twelve long hours to get sober before daylight -obtruded. - -Next day, fore and aft, the whole frigate smelled like a lady’s toilet; -the very tar-buckets were fragrant; and from the mouth of many a grim, -grizzled old quarter-gunner came the most fragrant of breaths. The -amazed Lieutenants went about snuffing up the gale; and, for once. -Selvagee had no further need to flourish his perfumed hand-kerchief. It -was as if we were sailing by some odoriferous shore, in the vernal -season of violets. Sabaean odours! - - “For many a league, - Cheered with grateful smell, old Ocean smiled.” - - -But, alas! all this perfume could not be wasted for nothing; and the -masters-at-arms and ship’s corporals, putting this and that together, -very soon burrowed into the secret. The purser’s steward was called to -account, and no more lavender punches and Cologne toddies were drank on -board the Neversink. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. -A SALT-JUNK CLUB IN A MAN-OF-WAR, WITH A NOTICE TO QUIT. - - -It was about the period of the Cologne-water excitement that my -self-conceit was not a little wounded, and my sense of delicacy -altogether shocked, by a polite hint received from the cook of the mess -to which I happened to belong. To understand the matter, it is needful -to enter into preliminaries. - -The common seamen in a large frigate are divided into some thirty or -forty messes, put down on the purser’s books as _Mess_ No. 1, _Mess_ -No. 2, _Mess_ No. 3, etc. The members of each mess club, their rations -of provisions, and breakfast, dine, and sup together in allotted -intervals between the guns on the main-deck. In undeviating rotation, -the members of each mess (excepting the petty-officers) take their turn -in performing the functions of cook and steward. And for the time -being, all the affairs of the club are subject to their inspection and -control. - -It is the cook’s business, also, to have an eye to the general -interests of his mess; to see that, when the aggregated allowances of -beef, bread, etc., are served out by one of the master’s mates, the -mess over which he presides receives its full share, without stint or -subtraction. Upon the berth-deck he has a chest, in which to keep his -pots, pans, spoons, and small stores of sugar, molasses, tea, and -flour. - -But though entitled a cook, strictly speaking, the head of the mess is -no cook at all; for the cooking for the crew is all done by a high and -mighty functionary, officially called the “_ship’s cook_,” assisted by -several deputies. In our frigate, this personage was a dignified -coloured gentleman, whom the men dubbed “_Old Coffee;_” and his -assistants, negroes also, went by the poetical appellations of -“_Sunshine_,” “_Rose-water_,” and “_May-day_.” - -Now the _ship’s cooking_ required very little science, though old -Coffee often assured us that he had graduated at the New York Astor -House, under the immediate eye of the celebrated Coleman and Stetson. -All he had to do was, in the first place, to keep bright and clean the -three huge coppers, or caldrons, in which many hundred pounds of beef -were daily boiled. To this end, Rose-water, Sunshine, and May-day every -morning sprang into their respective apartments, stripped to the waist, -and well provided with bits of soap-stone and sand. By exercising these -in a very vigorous manner, they threw themselves into a violent -perspiration, and put a fine polish upon the interior of the coppers. - -Sunshine was the bard of the trio; and while all three would be busily -employed clattering their soap-stones against the metal, he would -exhilarate them with some remarkable St. Domingo melodies; one of which -was the following: - - “Oh! I los’ my shoe in an old canoe, - Johnio! come Winum so! - Oh! I los’ my boot in a pilot-boat, - Johnio! come Winum so! - Den rub-a-dub de copper, oh! - Oh! copper rub-a-dub-a-oh!” - - -When I listened to these jolly Africans, thus making gleeful their toil -by their cheering songs, I could not help murmuring against that -immemorial rule of men-of-war, which forbids the sailors to sing out, -as in merchant-vessels, when pulling ropes, or occupied at any other -ship’s duty. Your only music, at such times, is the shrill pipe of the -boatswain’s mate, which is almost worse than no music at all. And if -the boatswain’s mate is not by, you must pull the ropes, like convicts, -in profound silence; or else endeavour to impart unity to the exertions -of all hands, by singing out mechanically, _one_, _two_, _three_, and -then pulling all together. - -Now, when Sunshine, Rose-water, and May-day have so polished the ship’s -coppers, that a white kid glove might be drawn along the inside and -show no stain, they leap out of their holes, and the water is poured in -for the coffee. And the coffee being boiled, and decanted off in -bucketfuls, the cooks of the messes march up with their salt beef for -dinner, strung upon strings and tallied with labels; all of which are -plunged together into the self-same coppers, and there boiled. When, -upon the beef being fished out with a huge pitch-fork, the water for -the evening’s tea is poured in; which, consequently possesses a flavour -not unlike that of shank-soup. - -From this it will be seen, that, so far as cooking is concerned, a -“_cook of the mess_” has very little to do; merely carrying his -provisions to and from the grand democratic cookery. Still, in some -things, his office involves many annoyances. Twice a week butter and -cheese are served out—so much to each man—and the mess-cook has the -sole charge of these delicacies. The great difficulty consists in so -catering for the mess, touching these luxuries, as to satisfy all. Some -guzzlers are for devouring the butter at a meal, and finishing off with -the cheese the same day; others contend for saving it up against -_Banyan Day_, when there is nothing but beef and bread; and others, -again, are for taking a very small bit of butter and cheese, by way of -dessert, to each and every meal through the week. All this gives rise -to endless disputes, debates, and altercations. - -Sometimes, with his mess-cloth—a square of painted canvas—set out on -deck between the guns, garnished with pots, and pans, and _kids_, you -see the mess-cook seated on a matchtub at its head, his trowser legs -rolled up and arms bared, presiding over the convivial party. - -“Now, men, you can’t have any butter to-day. I’m saving it up for -to-morrow. You don’t know the value of butter, men. You, Jim, take your -hoof off the cloth! Devil take me, if some of you chaps haven’t no more -manners than so many swines! Quick, men, quick; bear a hand, and -‘_scoff_’ (eat) away.—I’ve got my to-morrow’s _duff_ to make yet, and -some of you fellows keep _scoffing_ as if I had nothing to do but sit -still here on this here tub here, and look on. There, there, men, -you’ve all had enough: so sail away out of this, and let me clear up -the wreck.” - -In this strain would one of the periodical cooks of mess No. 15 talk to -us. He was a tall, resolute fellow, who had once been a brakeman on a -railroad, and he kept us all pretty straight; from his fiat there was -no appeal. - -But it was not thus when the turn came to others among us. Then it was -_look out for squalls_. The business of dining became a bore, and -digestion was seriously impaired by the unamiable discourse we had over -our _salt horse_. - -I sometimes thought that the junks of lean pork—which were boiled in -their own bristles, and looked gaunt and grim, like pickled chins of -half-famished, unwashed Cossacks—had something to do with creating the -bristling bitterness at times prevailing in our mess. The men tore off -the tough hide from their pork, as if they were Indians scalping -Christians. - -Some cursed the cook for a rogue, who kept from us our butter and -cheese, in order to make away with it himself in an underhand manner; -selling it at a premium to other messes, and thus accumulating a -princely fortune at our expense. Others anthematised him for his -slovenliness, casting hypercritical glances into their pots and pans, -and scraping them with their knives. Then he would be railed at for his -miserable “duffs,” and other shortcoming preparations. - -Marking all this from the beginning, I, White-Jacket, was sorely -troubled with the idea, that, in the course of time, my own turn would -come round to undergo the same objurgations. How to escape, I knew not. -However, when the dreaded period arrived, I received the keys of office -(the keys of the mess-chest) with a resigned temper, and offered up a -devout ejaculation for fortitude under the trial. I resolved, please -Heaven, to approve myself an unexceptionable caterer, and the most -impartial of stewards. - -The first day there was “_duff_” to make—a business which devolved upon -the mess-cooks, though the boiling of it pertained to Old Coffee and -his deputies. I made up my mind to lay myself out on that _duff_; to -centre all my energies upon it; to put the very soul of art into it, -and achieve an unrivalled _duff_—a _duff_ that should put out of -conceit all other _duffs_, and for ever make my administration -memorable. - -From the proper functionary the flour was obtained, and the raisins; -the beef-fat, or “_slush_,” from Old Coffee; and the requisite supply -of water from the scuttle-butt. I then went among the various cooks, to -compare their receipts for making “duffs:” and having well weighed them -all, and gathered from each a choice item to make an original receipt -of my own, with due deliberation and solemnity I proceeded to business. -Placing the component parts in a tin pan, I kneaded them together for -an hour, entirely reckless as to pulmonary considerations, touching the -ruinous expenditure of breath; and having decanted the semi-liquid -dough into a canvas-bag, secured the muzzle, tied on the tally, and -delivered it to Rose-water, who dropped the precious bag into the -coppers, along with a score or two of others. - -Eight bells had struck. The boatswain and his mates had piped the hands -to dinner; my mess-cloth was set out, and my messmates were assembled, -knife in hand, all ready to precipitate themselves upon the devoted -_duff_: Waiting at the grand cookery till my turn came, I received the -bag of pudding, and gallanting it into the mess, proceeded to loosen -the string. - -It was an anxious, I may say, a fearful moment. My hands trembled; -every eye was upon me; my reputation and credit were at stake. Slowly I -undressed the _duff_, dandling it upon my knee, much as a nurse does a -baby about bed-time. The excitement increased, as I curled down the bag -from the pudding; it became intense, when at last I plumped it into the -pan, held up to receive it by an eager hand. Bim! it fell like a man -shot down in a riot. Distraction! It was harder than a sinner’s heart; -yea, tough as the cock that crowed on the morn that Peter told a lie. - -“Gentlemen of the mess, for heaven’s sake! permit me one word. I have -done my duty by that duff—I have——” - -But they beat down my excuses with a storm of criminations. One present -proposed that the fatal pudding should be tied round my neck, like a -mill-stone, and myself pushed overboard. No use, no use; I had failed; -ever after, that duff lay heavy at my stomach and my heart. - -After this, I grew desperate; despised popularity; returned scorn for -scorn; till at length my week expired, and in the duff-bag I -transferred the keys of office to the next man on the roll. - -Somehow, there had never been a very cordial feeling between this mess -and me; all along they had nourished a prejudice against my white -jacket. They must have harbored the silly fancy that in it I gave -myself airs, and wore it in order to look consequential; perhaps, as a -cloak to cover pilferings of tit-bits from the mess. But to out with -the plain truth, they themselves were not a very irreproachable set. -Considering the sequel I am coming to, this avowal may be deemed sheer -malice; but for all that, I cannot avoid speaking my mind. - -After my week of office, the mess gradually changed their behaviour to -me; they cut me to the heart; they became cold and reserved; seldom or -never addressed me at meal-times without invidious allusions to my -_duff_, and also to my jacket, and its dripping in wet weather upon the -mess-cloth. However, I had no idea that anything serious, on their -part, was brewing; but alas! so it turned out. - -We were assembled at supper one evening when I noticed certain winks -and silent hints tipped to the cook, who presided. He was a little, -oily fellow, who had once kept an oyster-cellar ashore; he bore me a -grudge. Looking down on the mess-cloth, he observed that some fellows -never knew when their room was better than their company. This being a -maxim of indiscriminate application, of course I silently assented to -it, as any other reasonable man would have done. But this remark was -followed up by another, to the effect that, not only did some fellows -never know when their room was better than their company, but they -persisted in staying when their company wasn’t wanted; and by so doing -disturbed the serenity of society at large. But this, also, was a -general observation that could not be gainsaid. A long and ominous -pause ensued; during which I perceived every eye upon me, and my white -jacket; while the cook went on to enlarge upon the disagreeableness of -a perpetually damp garment in the mess, especially when that garment -was white. This was coming nearer home. - -Yes, they were going to black-ball me; but I resolved to sit it out a -little longer; never dreaming that my moralist would proceed to -extremities, while all hands were present. But bethinking him that by -going this roundabout way he would never get at his object, he went off -on another tack; apprising me, in substance, that he was instructed by -the whole mess, then and there assembled, to give me warning to seek -out another club, as they did not longer fancy the society either of -myself or my jacket. - -I was shocked. Such a want of tact and delicacy! Common propriety -suggested that a point-blank intimation of that nature should be -conveyed in a private interview; or, still better, by note. I -immediately rose, tucked my jacket about me, bowed, and departed. - -And now, to do myself justice, I must add that, the next day, I was -received with open arms by a glorious set of fellows—Mess No. -1!—numbering, among the rest, my noble Captain Jack Chase. - -This mess was principally composed of the headmost men of the gun-deck; -and, out of a pardonable self-conceit, they called themselves the -“_Forty-two-pounder Club;_” meaning that they were, one and all, -fellows of large intellectual and corporeal calibre. Their mess-cloth -was well located. On their starboard hand was Mess No. 2, embracing -sundry rare jokers and high livers, who waxed gay and epicurean over -their salt fare, and were known as the “_Society for the Destruction of -Beef and Pork_.” On the larboard hand was Mess No. 31, made up entirely -of fore-top-men, a dashing, blaze-away set of men-of-war’s-men, who -called themselves the “_Cape Horn Snorters and Neversink Invincibles_.” -Opposite, was one of the marine messes, mustering the aristocracy of -the marine corps—the two corporals, the drummer and fifer, and some six -or eight rather gentlemanly privates, native-born Americans, who had -served in the Seminole campaigns of Florida; and they now enlivened -their salt fare with stories of wild ambushes in the Everglades; and -one of them related a surprising tale of his hand-to-hand encounter -with Osceola, the Indian chief, whom he fought one morning from -daybreak till breakfast time. This slashing private also boasted that -he could take a chip from between your teeth at twenty paces; he -offered to bet any amount on it; and as he could get no one to hold the -chip, his boast remained for ever good. - -Besides many other attractions which the _Forty-two-pounder Club_ -furnished, it had this one special advantage, that, owing to there -being so many _petty officers_ in it, all the members of the mess were -exempt from doing duty as cooks and stewards. A fellow called _a -steady-cook_, attended to that business during the entire cruise. He -was a long, lank, pallid varlet, going by the name of Shanks. In very -warm weather this Shanks would sit at the foot of the mess-cloth, -fanning himself with the front flap of his frock or shirt, which he -inelegantly wore over his trousers. Jack Chase, the President of the -Club, frequently remonstrated against this breach of good manners; but -the _steady-cook_ had somehow contracted the habit, and it proved -incurable. - -For a time, Jack Chase, out of a polite nervousness touching myself, as -a newly-elected member of the club, would frequently endeavour to -excuse to me the vulgarity of Shanks. One day he wound up his remarks -by the philosophic reflection—“But, White-Jacket, my dear fellow, what -can you expect of him? Our real misfortune is, that our noble club -should be obliged to dine with its cook.” - -There were several of these _steady-cooks_ on board; men of no mark or -consideration whatever in the ship; lost to all noble promptings; -sighing for no worlds to conquer, and perfectly contented with mixing -their _duff’s_, and spreading their mess-cloths, and mustering their -pots and pans together three times every day for a three years’ cruise. -They were very seldom to be seen on the spar-deck, but kept below out -of sight. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. -GENERAL TRAINING IN A MAN-OF-WAR. - - -To a quiet, contemplative character, averse to uproar, undue exercise -of his bodily members, and all kind of useless confusion, nothing can -be more distressing than a proceeding in all men-of-war called -“_general quarters_.” And well may it be so called, since it amounts to -a general drawing and quartering of all the parties concerned. - -As the specific object for which a man-of-war is built and put into -commission is to fight and fire off cannon, it is, of course, deemed -indispensable that the crew should be duly instructed in the art and -mystery involved. Hence these “general quarters,” which is a mustering -of all hands to their stations at the guns on the several decks, and a -sort of sham-fight with an imaginary foe. - -The summons is given by the ship’s drummer, who strikes a peculiar -beat—short, broken, rolling, shuffling—like the sound made by the march -into battle of iron-heeled grenadiers. It is a regular tune, with a -fine song composed to it; the words of the chorus, being most -artistically arranged, may give some idea of the air: - - “Hearts of oak are our ships, jolly tars are our men, - We always are ready, steady, boys, steady, - To fight and to conquer, again and again.” - - -In warm weather this pastime at the guns is exceedingly unpleasant, to -say the least, and throws a quiet man into a violent passion and -perspiration. For one, I ever abominated it. - -I have a heart like Julius Caesar, and upon occasions would fight like -Caius Marcius Coriolanus. If my beloved and for ever glorious country -should be ever in jeopardy from invaders, let Congress put me on a -war-horse, in the van-guard, and _then_ see how I will acquit myself. -But to toil and sweat in a fictitious encounter; to squander the -precious breath of my precious body in a ridiculous fight of shams and -pretensions; to hurry about the decks, pretending to carry the killed -and wounded below; to be told that I must consider the ship blowing up, -in order to exercise myself in presence of mind, and prepare for a real -explosion; all this I despise, as beneath a true tar and man of valour. - -These were my sentiments at the time, and these remain my sentiments -still; but as, while on board the frigate, my liberty of thought did -not extend to liberty of expression, I was obliged to keep these -sentiments to myself; though, indeed, I had some thoughts of addressing -a letter, marked _Private and Confidential_, to his Honour the -Commodore, on the subject. - -My station at the batteries was at one of the thirty-two-pound -carronades, on the starboard side of the quarter-deck.[1] - - [1] For the benefit of a Quaker reader here and there, a word or two - in explanation of a carronade may not be amiss. The carronade is a gun - comparatively short and light for its calibre. A carronade throwing a - thirty-two-pound shot weighs considerably less than a long-gun only - throwing a twenty-four-pound shot. It further differs from a long-gun, - in working with a joint and bolt underneath, instead of the short arms - or _trunnions_ at the sides. Its _carriage_, likewise, is quite - different from that of a long-gun, having a sort of sliding apparatus, - something like an extension dining-table; the goose on it, however, is - a tough one, and villainously stuffed with most indigestible - dumplings. Point-blank, the range of a carronade does not exceed one - hundred and fifty yards, much less than the range of a long-gun. When - of large calibre, however, it throws within that limit, Paixhan shot, - all manner of shells and combustibles, with great effect, being a very - destructive engine at close quarters. This piece is now very generally - found mounted in the batteries of the English and American navies. The - quarter-deck armaments of most modern frigates wholly consist of - carronades. The name is derived from the village of Carron, in - Scotland, at whose celebrated founderies this iron Attila was first - cast. - - -I did not fancy this station at all; for it is well known on shipboard -that, in time of action, the quarter-deck is one of the most dangerous -posts of a man-of-war. The reason is, that the officers of the highest -rank are there stationed; and the enemy have an ungentlemanly way of -target-shooting at their buttons. If we should chance to engage a ship, -then, who could tell but some bungling small-arm marks-man in the -enemy’s tops might put a bullet through _me_ instead of the Commodore? -If they hit _him_, no doubt he would not feel it much, for he was used -to that sort of thing, and, indeed, had a bullet in him already. -Whereas, _I_ was altogether unaccustomed to having blue pills playing -round my head in such an indiscriminate way. Besides, ours was a -flag-ship; and every one knows what a peculiarly dangerous predicament -the quarter-deck of Nelson’s flag-ship was in at the battle of -Trafalgar; how the lofty tops of the enemy were full of soldiers, -peppering away at the English Admiral and his officers. Many a poor -sailor, at the guns of that quarter-deck, must have received a bullet -intended for some wearer of an epaulet. - -By candidly confessing my feelings on this subject, I do by no means -invalidate my claims to being held a man of prodigious valour. I merely -state my invincible repugnance to being shot for somebody else. If I am -shot, be it with the express understanding in the shooter that I am the -identical person intended so to be served. That Thracian who, with his -compliments, sent an arrow into the King of Macedon, superscribed “_for -Philip’s right eye_,” set a fine example to all warriors. The hurried, -hasty, indiscriminate, reckless, abandoned manner in which both sailors -and soldiers nowadays fight is really painful to any serious-minded, -methodical old gentleman, especially if he chance to have systematized -his mind as an accountant. There is little or no skill and bravery -about it. Two parties, armed with lead and old iron, envelop themselves -in a cloud of smoke, and pitch their lead and old iron about in all -directions. If you happen to be in the way, you are hit; possibly, -killed; if not, you escape. In sea-actions, if by good or bad luck, as -the case may be, a round shot, fired at random through the smoke, -happens to send overboard your fore-mast, another to unship your -rudder, there you lie crippled, pretty much at the mercy of your foe: -who, accordingly, pronounces himself victor, though that honour -properly belongs to the Law of Gravitation operating on the enemy’s -balls in the smoke. Instead of tossing this old lead and iron into the -air, therefore, it would be much better amicably to toss up a copper -and let heads win. - -The carronade at which I was stationed was known as “Gun No. 5,” on the -First Lieutenant’s quarter-bill. Among our gun’s crew, however, it was -known as _Black Bet_. This name was bestowed by the captain of the -gun—a fine negro—in honour of his sweetheart, a coloured lady of -Philadelphia. Of Black Bet I was rammer-and-sponger; and ram and sponge -I did, like a good fellow. I have no doubt that, had I and my gun been -at the battle of the Nile, we would mutually have immortalised -ourselves; the ramming-pole would have been hung up in Westminster -Abbey; and I, ennobled by the king, besides receiving the illustrious -honour of an autograph letter from his majesty through the perfumed -right hand of his private secretary. - -But it was terrible work to help run in and out of the porthole that -amazing mass of metal, especially as the thing must be clone in a -trice. Then, at the summons of a horrid, rasping rattle, swayed by the -Captain in person, we were made to rush from our guns, seize pikes and -pistols, and repel an imaginary army of boarders, who, by a fiction of -the officers, were supposed to be assailing all sides of the ship at -once. After cutting and slashing at them a while, we jumped back to our -guns, and again went to jerking our elbows. - -Meantime, a loud cry is heard of “Fire! fire! fire!” in the fore-top; -and a regular engine, worked by a set of Bowery-boy tars, is forthwith -set to playing streams of water aloft. And now it is “Fire! fire! -fire!” on the main-deck; and the entire ship is in as great a commotion -as if a whole city ward were in a blaze. - -Are our officers of the Navy utterly unacquainted with the laws of good -health? Do they not know that this violent exercise, taking place just -after a hearty dinner, as it generally does, is eminently calculated to -breed the dyspepsia? There was no satisfaction in dining; the flavour -of every mouthful was destroyed by the thought that the next moment the -cannonading drum might be beating to quarters. - -Such a sea-martinet was our Captain, that sometimes we were roused from -our hammocks at night; when a scene would ensue that it is not in the -power of pen and ink to describe. Five hundred men spring to their -feet, dress themselves, take up their bedding, and run to the nettings -and stow it; then he to their stations—each man jostling his -neighbour—some alow, some aloft; some this way, some that; and in less -than five minutes the frigate is ready for action, and still as the -grave; almost every man precisely where he would be were an enemy -actually about to be engaged. The Gunner, like a Cornwall miner in a -cave, is burrowing down in the magazine under the Ward-room, which is -lighted by battle-lanterns, placed behind glazed glass bull’s-eyes -inserted in the bulkhead. The Powder-monkeys, or boys, who fetch and -carry cartridges, are scampering to and fro among the guns; and the -_first and second loaders_ stand ready to receive their supplies. - -These _Powder-monkeys_, as they are called, enact a curious part in -time of action. The entrance to the magazine on the berth-deck, where -they procure their food for the guns, is guarded by a woollen screen; -and a gunner’s mate, standing behind it, thrusts out the cartridges -through a small arm-hole in this screen. The enemy’s shot (perhaps red -hot) are flying in all directions; and to protect their cartridges, the -powder-monkeys hurriedly wrap them up in their jackets; and with all -haste scramble up the ladders to their respective guns, like -eating-house waiters hurrying along with hot cakes for breakfast. - -At _general quarters_ the shot-boxes are uncovered; showing the -grape-shot—aptly so called, for they precisely resemble bunches of the -fruit; though, to receive a bunch of iron grapes in the abdomen would -be but a sorry dessert; and also showing the canister-shot—old iron of -various sorts, packed in a tin case, like a tea-caddy. - -Imagine some midnight craft sailing down on her enemy thus; twenty-four -pounders levelled, matches lighted, and each captain of his gun at his -post! - -But if verily going into action, then would the Neversink have made -still further preparations; for however alike in some things, there is -always a vast difference—if you sound them—between a reality and a -sham. Not to speak of the pale sternness of the men at their guns at -such a juncture, and the choked thoughts at their hearts, the ship -itself would here and there present a far different appearance. -Something like that of an extensive mansion preparing for a grand -entertainment, when folding-doors are withdrawn, chambers converted -into drawing-rooms, and every inch of available space thrown into one -continuous whole. For previous to an action, every bulk-head in a -man-of-war is knocked down; great guns are run out of the Commodore’s -parlour windows; nothing separates the ward-room officers’ quarters -from those of the men, but an ensign used for a curtain. The sailors’ -mess-chests are tumbled down into the hold; and the hospital cots—of -which all men-of-war carry a large supply—are dragged forth from the -sail-room, and piled near at hand to receive the wounded; -amputation-tables are ranged in the _cock-pit_ or in the _tiers_, -whereon to carve the bodies of the maimed. The yards are slung in -chains; fire-screens distributed here and there: hillocks of -cannon-balls piled between the guns; shot-plugs suspended within easy -reach from the beams; and solid masses of wads, big as Dutch cheeses, -braced to the cheeks of the gun-carriages. - -No small difference, also, would be visible in the wardrobe of both -officers and men. The officers generally fight as dandies dance, -namely, in silk stockings; inasmuch as, in case of being wounded in the -leg, the silk-hose can be more easily drawn off by the Surgeon; cotton -sticks, and works into the wound. An economical captain, while taking -care to case his legs in silk, might yet see fit to save his best suit, -and fight in his old clothes. For, besides that an old garment might -much better be cut to pieces than a new one, it must be a mighty -disagreeable thing to die in a stiff, tight-breasted coat, not yet -worked easy under the arm-pits. At such times, a man should feel free, -unencumbered, and perfectly at his ease in point of straps and -suspenders. No ill-will concerning his tailor should intrude upon his -thoughts of eternity. Seneca understood this, when he chose to die -naked in a bath. And men-of-war’s men understand it, also; for most of -them, in battle, strip to the waist-bands; wearing nothing but a pair -of duck trowsers, and a handkerchief round their head. - -A captain combining a heedful patriotism with economy would probably -“bend” his old topsails before going into battle, instead of exposing -his best canvas to be riddled to pieces; for it is generally the case -that the enemy’s shot flies high. Unless allowance is made for it in -pointing the tube, at long-gun distance, the slightest roll of the -ship, at the time of firing, would send a shot, meant for the hull, -high over the top-gallant yards. - -But besides these differences between a sham-fight at _general -quarters_ and a real cannonading, the aspect of the ship, at the -beating of the retreat, would, in the latter case, be very dissimilar -to the neatness and uniformity in the former. - -_Then_ our bulwarks might look like the walls of the houses in West -Broadway in New York, after being broken into and burned out by the -Negro Mob. Our stout masts and yards might be lying about decks, like -tree boughs after a tornado in a piece of woodland; our dangling ropes, -cut and sundered in all directions, would be bleeding tar at every -yard; and strew with jagged splinters from our wounded planks, the -gun-deck might resemble a carpenter’s shop. _Then_, when all was over, -and all hands would be piped to take down the hammocks from the exposed -nettings (where they play the part of the cotton bales at New Orleans), -we might find bits of broken shot, iron bolts and bullets in our -blankets. And, while smeared with blood like butchers, the surgeon and -his mates would be amputating arms and legs on the berth-deck, an -underling of the carpenter’s gang would be new-legging and arming the -broken chairs and tables in the Commodore’s cabin; while the rest of -his _squad_ would be _splicing_ and _fishing_ the shattered masts and -yards. The scupper-holes having discharged the last rivulet of blood, -the decks would be washed down; and the galley-cooks would be going -fore and aft, sprinkling them with hot vinegar, to take out the -shambles’ smell from the planks; which, unless some such means are -employed, often create a highly offensive effluvia for weeks after a -fight. - -_Then_, upon mustering the men, and calling the quarter-bills by the -light of a battle-lantern, many a wounded seaman with his arm in a -sling, would answer for some poor shipmate who could never more make -answer for himself: - -“Tom Brown?” - -“Killed, sir.” - -“Jack Jewel?” - -“Killed, sir.” - -“Joe Hardy?” - -“Killed, sir.” - -And opposite all these poor fellows’ names, down would go on the -quarter-bills the bloody marks of red ink—a murderer’s fluid, fitly -used on these occasions. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. -AWAY! SECOND, THIRD, AND FOURTH CUTTERS, AWAY! - - -It was the morning succeeding one of these _general quarters_ that we -picked up a life-buoy, descried floating by. - -It was a circular mass of cork, about eight inches thick and four feet -in diameter, covered with tarred canvas. All round its circumference -there trailed a number of knotted ropes’-ends, terminating in fanciful -Turks’ heads. These were the life-lines, for the drowning to clutch. -Inserted into the middle of the cork was an upright, carved pole, -somewhat shorter than a pike-staff. The whole buoy was embossed with -barnacles, and its sides festooned with sea-weeds. Dolphins were -sporting and flashing around it, and one white bird was hovering over -the top of the pole. Long ago, this thing must have been thrown -over-board to save some poor wretch, who must have been drowned; while -even the life-buoy itself had drifted away out of sight. - -The forecastle-men fished it up from the bows, and the seamen thronged -round it. - -“Bad luck! bad luck!” cried the Captain of the Head; “we’ll number one -less before long.” - -The ship’s cooper strolled by; he, to whose department it belongs to -see that the ship’s life-buoys are kept in good order. - -In men-of-war, night and day, week in and week out, two life-buoys are -kept depending from the stern; and two men, with hatchets in their -hands, pace up and down, ready at the first cry to cut the cord and -drop the buoys overboard. Every two hours they are regularly relieved, -like sentinels on guard. No similar precautions are adopted in the -merchant or whaling service. - -Thus deeply solicitous to preserve human life are the regulations of -men-of-war; and seldom has there been a better illustration of this -solicitude than at the battle of Trafalgar, when, after “several -thousand” French seamen had been destroyed, according to Lord -Collingwood, and, by the official returns, sixteen hundred and ninety -Englishmen were killed or wounded, the Captains of the surviving ships -ordered the life-buoy sentries from their death-dealing guns to their -vigilant posts, as officers of the Humane Society. - -“There, Bungs!” cried Scrimmage, a sheet-anchor-man,[2] “there’s a good -pattern for you; make us a brace of life-buoys like that; something -that will save a man, and not fill and sink under him, as those leaky -quarter-casks of yours will the first time there’s occasion to drop -’ern. I came near pitching off the bowsprit the other day; and, when I -scrambled inboard again, I went aft to get a squint at ’em. Why, Bungs, -they are all open between the staves. Shame on you! Suppose you -yourself should fall over-board, and find yourself going down with -buoys under you of your own making—what then?” - - [2] In addition to the _Bower-anchors_ carried on her bows, a frigate - carries large anchors in her fore-chains, called _Sheet-anchors_. - Hence, the old seamen stationed in that part of a man-of-war are - called _sheet-anchor-man_. - - -“I never go aloft, and don’t intend to fall overboard,” replied Bungs. - -“Don’t believe it!” cried the sheet-anchor-man; “you lopers that live -about the decks here are nearer the bottom of the sea than the light -hand that looses the main-royal. Mind your eye, Bungs—mind your eye!” - -“I will,” retorted Bungs; “and you mind yours!” - -Next day, just at dawn, I was startled from my hammock by the cry of -“_All hands about ship and shorten sail_!” Springing up the ladders, I -found that an unknown man had fallen overboard from the chains; and -darting a glance toward the poop, perceived, from their gestures, that -the life-sentries there had cut away the buoys. - -It was blowing a fresh breeze; the frigate was going fast through the -water. But the one thousand arms of five hundred men soon tossed her -about on the other tack, and checked her further headway. - -“Do you see him?” shouted the officer of the watch through his trumpet, -hailing the main-mast-head. “Man or _buoy_, do you see either?” - -“See nothing, sir,” was the reply. - -“Clear away the cutters!” was the next order. “Bugler! call away the -second, third, and fourth cutters’ crews. Hands by the tackles!” - -In less than three minutes the three boats were down; More hands were -wanted in one of them, and, among others, I jumped in to make up the -deficiency. - -“Now, men, give way! and each man look out along his oar, and look -sharp!” cried the officer of our boat. For a time, in perfect silence, -we slid up and down the great seething swells of the sea, but saw -nothing. - -“There, it’s no use,” cried the officer; “he’s gone, whoever he is. -Pull away, men—pull away! they’ll be recalling us soon.” - -“Let him drown!” cried the strokesman; “he’s spoiled my watch below for -me.” - -“Who the devil is he?” cried another. - -“He’s one who’ll never have a coffin!” replied a third. - -“No, no! they’ll never sing out, ‘_All hands bury the dead!_’ for him, -my hearties!” cried a fourth. - -“Silence,” said the officer, “and look along your oars.” But the -sixteen oarsmen still continued their talk; and, after pulling about -for two or three hours, we spied the recall-signal at the frigate’s -fore-t’-gallant-mast-head, and returned on board, having seen no sign -even of the life-buoys. - -The boats were hoisted up, the yards braced forward, and away we -bowled—one man less. - -“Muster all hands!” was now the order; when, upon calling the roll, the -cooper was the only man missing. - -“I told you so, men,” cried the Captain of the Head; “I said we would -lose a man before long.” - -“Bungs, is it?” cried Scrimmage, the sheet-anchor-man; “I told him his -buoys wouldn’t save a drowning man; and now he has proved it!” - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. -A MAN-OF-WAR FULL AS A NUT. - - -It was necessary to supply the lost cooper’s place; accordingly, word -was passed for all who belonged to that calling to muster at the -main-mast, in order that one of them might be selected. Thirteen men -obeyed the summons—a circumstance illustrative of the fact that many -good handicrafts-men are lost to their trades and the world by serving -in men-of-war. Indeed, from a frigate’s crew might he culled out men of -all callings and vocations, from a backslidden parson to a broken-down -comedian. The Navy is the asylum for the perverse, the home of the -unfortunate. Here the sons of adversity meet the children of calamity, -and here the children of calamity meet the offspring of sin. Bankrupt -brokers, boot-blacks, blacklegs, and blacksmiths here assemble -together; and cast-away tinkers, watch-makers, quill-drivers, cobblers, -doctors, farmers, and lawyers compare past experiences and talk of old -times. Wrecked on a desert shore, a man-of-war’s crew could quickly -found an Alexandria by themselves, and fill it with all the things -which go to make up a capital. - -Frequently, at one and the same time, you see every trade in operation -on the gun-deck—coopering, carpentering, tailoring, tinkering, -blacksmithing, rope-making, preaching, gambling, and fortune-telling. - -In truth, a man-of-war is a city afloat, with long avenues set out with -guns instead of trees, and numerous shady lanes, courts, and by-ways. -The quarter-deck is a grand square, park, or parade ground, with a -great Pittsfield elm, in the shape of the main-mast, at one end, and -fronted at the other by the palace of the Commodore’s cabin. - -Or, rather, a man-of-war is a lofty, walled, and garrisoned town, like -Quebec, where the thoroughfares and mostly ramparts, and peaceable -citizens meet armed sentries at every corner. - -Or it is like the lodging-houses in Paris, turned upside down; the -first floor, or deck, being rented by a lord; the second, by a select -club of gentlemen; the third, by crowds of artisans; and the fourth, by -a whole rabble of common people. - -For even thus is it in a frigate, where the commander has a whole cabin -to himself and the spar-deck, the lieutenants their ward-room -underneath, and the mass of sailors swing their hammocks under all. - -And with its long rows of port-hole casements, each revealing the -muzzle of a cannon, a man-of-war resembles a three-story house in a -suspicions part of the town, with a basement of indefinite depth, and -ugly-looking fellows gazing out at the windows. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. -THE JACKET ALOFT. - - -Again must I call attention to my white jacket, which, about this time -came near being the death of me. - -I am of a meditative humour, and at sea used often to mount aloft at -night, and seating myself on one of the upper yards, tuck my jacket -about me and give loose to reflection. In some ships in which. I have -done this, the sailors used to fancy that I must be studying -astronomy—which, indeed, to some extent, was the case—and that my -object in mounting aloft was to get a nearer view of the stars, -supposing me, of course, to be short-sighted. A very silly conceit of -theirs, some may say, but not so silly after all; for surely the -advantage of getting nearer an object by two hundred feet is not to be -underrated. Then, to study the stars upon the wide, boundless sea, is -divine as it was to the Chaldean Magi, who observed their revolutions -from the plains. - -And it is a very fine feeling, and one that fuses us into the universe -of things, and mates us a part of the All, to think that, wherever we -ocean-wanderers rove, we have still the same glorious old stars to keep -us company; that they still shine onward and on, forever beautiful and -bright, and luring us, by every ray, to die and be glorified with them. - -Ay, ay! we sailors sail not in vain, We expatriate ourselves to -nationalise with the universe; and in all our voyages round the world, -we are still accompanied by those old circumnavigators, the stars, who -are shipmates and fellow-sailors of ours—sailing in heaven’s blue, as -we on the azure main. Let genteel generations scoff at our hardened -hands, and finger-nails tipped with tar—did they ever clasp truer palms -than ours? Let them feel of our sturdy hearts beating like -sledge-hammers in those hot smithies, our bosoms; with their -amber-headed canes, let them feel of our generous pulses, and swear -that they go off like thirty-two-pounders. - -Oh, give me again the rover’s life—the joy, the thrill, the whirl! Let -me feel thee again, old sea! let me leap into thy saddle once more. I -am sick of these terra firma toils and cares; sick of the dust and reek -of towns. Let me hear the clatter of hailstones on icebergs, and not -the dull tramp of these plodders, plodding their dull way from their -cradles to their graves. Let me snuff thee up, sea-breeze! and whinny -in thy spray. Forbid it, sea-gods! intercede for me with Neptune, O -sweet Amphitrite, that no dull clod may fall on my coffin! Be mine the -tomb that swallowed up Pharaoh and all his hosts; let me lie down with -Drake, where he sleeps in the sea. - -But when White-Jacket speaks of the rover’s life, he means not life in -a man-of-war, which, with its martial formalities and thousand vices, -stabs to the heart the soul of all free-and-easy honourable rovers. - -I have said that I was wont to mount up aloft and muse; and thus was it -with me the night following the loss of the cooper. Ere my watch in the -top had expired, high up on the main-royal-yard I reclined, the white -jacket folded around me like Sir John Moore in his frosted cloak. - -Eight bells had struck, and my watchmates had hied to their hammocks, -and the other watch had gone to their stations, and the _top_ below me -was full of strangers, and still one hundred feet above even _them_ I -lay entranced; now dozing, now dreaming; now thinking of things past, -and anon of the life to come. Well-timed was the latter thought, for -the life to come was much nearer overtaking me than I then could -imagine. Perhaps I was half conscious at last of a tremulous voice -hailing the main-royal-yard from the _top_. But if so, the -consciousness glided away from me, and left me in Lethe. But when, like -lightning, the yard dropped under me, and instinctively I clung with -both hands to the “_tie_,” then I came to myself with a rush, and felt -something like a choking hand at my throat. For an instant I thought -the Gulf Stream in my head was whirling me away to eternity; but the -next moment I found myself standing; the yard had descended to the -_cup_; and shaking myself in my jacket, I felt that I was unharmed and -alive. - -Who had done this? who had made this attempt on my life? thought I, as -I ran down the rigging. - -“Here it comes!—Lord! Lord! here it comes! See, see! it is white as a -hammock.” - -“Who’s coming?” I shouted, springing down into the top; “who’s white as -a hammock?” - -“Bless my soul, Bill it’s only White-Jacket—that infernal White-Jacket -again!” - -It seems they had spied a moving white spot there aloft, and, -sailor-like, had taken me for the ghost of the cooper; and after -hailing me, and bidding me descend, to test my corporeality, and -getting no answer, they had lowered the halyards in affright. - -In a rage I tore off the jacket, and threw it on the deck. - -“Jacket,” cried I, “you must change your complexion! you must hie to -the dyers and be dyed, that I may live. I have but one poor life, -White-Jacket, and that life I cannot spare. I cannot consent to die for -_you_, but be dyed you must for me. You can dye many times without -injury; but I cannot die without irreparable loss, and running the -eternal risk.” - -So in the morning, jacket in hand, I repaired to the First Lieutenant, -and related the narrow escape I had had during the night. I enlarged -upon the general perils I ran in being taken for a ghost, and earnestly -besought him to relax his commands for once, and give me an order on -Brush, the captain of the paint-room, for some black paint, that my -jacket might be painted of that colour. - -“Just look at it, sir,” I added, holding it lip; “did you ever see -anything whiter? Consider how it shines of a night, like a bit of the -Milky Way. A little paint, sir, you cannot refuse.” - -“The ship has no paint to spare,” he said; “you must get along without -it.” - -“Sir, every rain gives me a soaking; Cape Horn is at hand—six -brushes-full would make it waterproof; and no longer would I be in -peril of my life!” - -“Can’t help it, sir; depart!” - -I fear it will not be well with me in the end; for if my own sins are -to be forgiven only as I forgive that hard-hearted and unimpressible -First Lieutenant, then pardon there is none for me. - -What! when but one dab of paint would make a man of a ghost, and it -Mackintosh of a herring-net—to refuse it I am full. I can say no more. - - - - -CHAPTER XX. -HOW THEY SLEEP IN A MAN-OF-WAR. - - -No more of my luckless jacket for a while; let me speak of my hammock, -and the tribulations I endured therefrom. - -Give me plenty of room to swing it in; let me swing it between two -date-trees on an Arabian plain; or extend it diagonally from Moorish -pillar to pillar, in the open marble Court of the Lions in Granada’s -Alhambra: let me swing it on a high bluff of the Mississippi—one swing -in the pure ether for every swing over the green grass; or let me -oscillate in it beneath the cool dome of St. Peter’s; or drop me in it, -as in a balloon, from the zenith, with the whole firmament to rock and -expatiate in; and I would not exchange my coarse canvas hammock for the -grand state-bed, like a stately coach-and-four, in which they tuck in a -king when he passes a night at Blenheim Castle. - -When you have the requisite room, you always have “spreaders” in your -hammock; that is, two horizontal sticks, one at each end, which serve -to keep the sides apart, and create a wide vacancy between, wherein you -can turn over and over—lay on this side or that; on your back, if you -please; stretch out your legs; in short, take your ease in your -hammock; for of all inns, your bed is the best. - -But when, with five hundred other hammocks, yours is crowded and jammed -on all sides, on a frigate berth-deck; the third from above, when -“_spreaders_” are prohibited by an express edict from the Captain’s -cabin; and every man about you is jealously watchful of the rights and -privileges of his own proper hammock, as settled by law and usage; -_then_ your hammock is your Bastile and canvas jug; into which, or out -of which, it is very hard to get; and where sleep is but a mockery and -a name. - -Eighteen inches a man is all they allow you; eighteen inches in width; -in _that_ you must swing. Dreadful! they give you more swing than that -at the gallows. - -During warm nights in the Tropics, your hammock is as a stew-pan; where -you stew and stew, till you can almost hear yourself hiss. Vain are all -stratagems to widen your accommodations. Let them catch you insinuating -your boots or other articles in the head of your hammock, by way of a -“spreader.” Near and far, the whole rank and file of the row to which -you belong feel the encroachment in an instant, and are clamorous till -the guilty one is found out, and his pallet brought back to its -bearings. - -In platoons and squadrons, they all lie on a level; their hammock -_clews_ crossing and recrossing in all directions, so as to present one -vast field-bed, midway between the ceiling and the floor; which are -about five feet asunder. - -One extremely warm night, during a calm, when it was so hot that only a -skeleton could keep cool (from the free current of air through its -bones), after being drenched in my own perspiration, I managed to wedge -myself out of my hammock; and with what little strength I had left, -lowered myself gently to the deck. Let me see now, thought I, whether -my ingenuity cannot devise some method whereby I can have room to -breathe and sleep at the same time. I have it. I will lower my hammock -underneath all these others; and then—upon that separate and -independent level, at least—I shall have the whole berth-deck to -myself. Accordingly, I lowered away my pallet to the desired -point—about three inches from the floor—and crawled into it again. - -But, alas! this arrangement made such a sweeping semi-circle of my -hammock, that, while my head and feet were at par, the small of my back -was settling down indefinitely; I felt as if some gigantic archer had -hold of me for a bow. - -But there was another plan left. I triced up my hammock with all my -strength, so as to bring it wholly _above_ the tiers of pallets around -me. This done, by a last effort, I hoisted myself into it; but, alas! -it was much worse than before. My luckless hammock was stiff and -straight as a board; and there I was—laid out in it, with my nose -against the ceiling, like a dead man’s against the lid of his coffin. - -So at last I was fain to return to my old level, and moralise upon the -folly, in all arbitrary governments, of striving to get either _below_ -or _above_ those whom legislation has placed upon an equality with -yourself. - -Speaking of hammocks, recalls a circumstance that happened one night in -the Neversink. It was three or four times repeated, with various but -not fatal results. - -The watch below was fast asleep on the berth-deck, where perfect -silence was reigning, when a sudden shock and a groan roused up all -hands; and the hem of a pair of white trowsers vanished up one of the -ladders at the fore-hatchway. - -We ran toward the groan, and found a man lying on the deck; one end of -his hammock having given way, pitching his head close to three -twenty-four pound cannon shot, which must have been purposely placed in -that position. When it was discovered that this man had long been -suspected of being an _informer_ among the crew, little surprise and -less pleasure were evinced at his narrow escape. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI. -ONE REASON WHY MEN-OF-WAR’S MEN ARE, GENERALLY, SHORT-LIVED. - - -I cannot quit this matter of the hammocks without making mention of a -grievance among the sailors that ought to be redressed. - -In a man-of-war at sea, the sailors have _watch and watch;_ that is, -through every twenty-four hours, they are on and off duty every four -hours. Now, the hammocks are piped down from the nettings (the open -space for stowing them, running round the top of the bulwarks) a little -after sunset, and piped up again when the forenoon watch is called, at -eight o’clock in the morning; so that during the daytime they are -inaccessible as pallets. This would be all well enough, did the sailors -have a complete night’s rest; but every other night at sea, one watch -have only four hours in their hammocks. Indeed, deducting the time -allowed for the other watch to turn out; for yourself to arrange your -hammock, get into it, and fairly get asleep; it maybe said that, every -other night, you have but three hours’ sleep in your hammock. Having -then been on deck for twice four hours, at eight o’clock in the morning -your _watch-below_ comes round, and you are not liable to duty until -noon. Under like circumstances, a merchant seaman goes to his _bunk_, -and has the benefit of a good long sleep. But in a man-of-war you can -do no such thing; your hammock is very neatly stowed in the nettings, -and there it must remain till nightfall. - -But perhaps there is a corner for you somewhere along the batteries on -the gun-deck, where you may enjoy a snug nap. But as no one is allowed -to recline on the larboard side of the gun-deck (which is reserved as a -corridor for the officers when they go forward to their smoking-room at -the _bridle-port_), the starboard side only is left to the seaman. But -most of this side, also, is occupied by the carpenters, sail-makers, -barbers, and coopers. In short, so few are the corners where you can -snatch a nap during daytime in a frigate, that not one in ten of the -watch, who have been on deck eight hours, can get a wink of sleep till -the following night. Repeatedly, after by good fortune securing a -corner, I have been roused from it by some functionary commissioned to -keep it clear. - -Off Cape Horn, what before had been very uncomfortable became a serious -hardship. Drenched through and through by the spray of the sea at -night. I have sometimes slept standing on the spar-deck—and shuddered -as I slept—for the want of sufficient sleep in my hammock. - -During three days of the stormiest weather, we were given the privilege -of the _berth-deck_ (at other times strictly interdicted), where we -were permitted to spread our jackets, and take a nap in the morning -after the eight hours’ night exposure. But this privilege was but a -beggarly one, indeed. Not to speak of our jackets—used for -blankets—being soaking wet, the spray, coming down the hatchways, kept -the planks of the berth-deck itself constantly wet; whereas, had we -been permitted our hammocks, we might have swung dry over all this -deluge. But we endeavoured to make ourselves as warm and comfortable as -possible, chiefly by close stowing, so as to generate a little steam, -in the absence of any fire-side warmth. You have seen, perhaps, the way -in which they box up subjects intended to illustrate the winter -lectures of a professor of surgery. Just so we laid; heel and point, -face to back, dove-tailed into each other at every ham and knee. The -wet of our jackets, thus densely packed, would soon begin to distill. -But it was like pouring hot water on you to keep you from freezing. It -was like being “packed” between the soaked sheets in a Water-cure -Establishment. - -Such a posture could not be preserved for any considerable period -without shifting side for side. Three or four times during the four -hours I would be startled from a wet doze by the hoarse cry of a fellow -who did the duty of a corporal at the after-end of my file. “_Sleepers -ahoy! stand by to slew round!_” and, with a double shuffle, we all -rolled in concert, and found ourselves facing the taffrail instead of -the bowsprit. But, however you turned, your nose was sure to stick to -one or other of the steaming backs on your two flanks. There was some -little relief in the change of odour consequent upon this. - -But what is the reason that, after battling out eight stormy hours on -deck at, night, men-of-war’s-men are not allowed the poor boon of a dry -four hours’ nap during the day following? What is the reason? The -Commodore, Captain, and first Lieutenant, Chaplain, Purser, and scores -of others, have _all night in_, just as if they were staying at a hotel -on shore. And the junior Lieutenants not only have their cots to go to -at any time: but as only one of them is required to head the watch, and -there are so many of them among whom to divide that duty, they are only -on deck four hours to twelve hours below. In some eases the proportion -is still greater. Whereas, with _the people_ it is four hours in and -four hours off continually. - -What is the reason, then, that the common seamen should fare so hard in -this matter? It would seem but a simple thing to let them get down -their hammocks during the day for a nap. But no; such a proceeding -would mar the uniformity of daily events in a man-of-war. It seems -indispensable to the picturesque effect of the spar-deck, that the -hammocks should invariably remain stowed in the nettings between -sunrise and sundown. But the chief reason is this—a reason which has -sanctioned many an abuse in this world—_precedents are against it;_ -such a thing as sailors sleeping in their hammocks in the daytime, -after being eight hours exposed to a night-storm, was hardly ever heard -of in the navy. Though, to the immortal honour of some captains be it -said, the fact is upon navy record, that off Cape Horn, they _have_ -vouchsafed the morning hammocks to their crew. Heaven bless such -tender-hearted officers; and may they and their descendants—ashore or -afloat—have sweet and pleasant slumbers while they live, and an -undreaming siesta when they die. - -It is concerning such things as the subject of this chapter that -special enactments of Congress are demanded. Health and comfort—so far -as duly attainable under the circumstances—should be legally guaranteed -to the man-of-war’s-men; and not left to the discretion or caprice of -their commanders. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII. -WASH-DAY AND HOUSE-CLEANING IN A MAN-OF-WAR. - - -Besides the other tribulations connected with your hammock, you must -keep it snow-white and clean; who has not observed the long rows of -spotless hammocks exposed in a frigate’s nettings, where, through the -day, their outsides, at least, are kept airing? - -Hence it comes that there are regular mornings appointed for the -scrubbing of hammocks; and such mornings are called -_scrub-hammock-mornings;_ and desperate is the scrubbing that ensues. - -Before daylight the operation begins. All hands are called, and at it -they go. Every deck is spread with hammocks, fore and aft; and lucky -are you if you can get sufficient superfices to spread your own hammock -in. Down on their knees are five hundred men, scrubbing away with -brushes and brooms; jostling, and crowding, and quarrelling about using -each other’s suds; when all their Purser’s soap goes to create one -indiscriminate yeast. - -Sometimes you discover that, in the dark, you have been all the while -scrubbing your next neighbour’s hammock instead of your own. But it is -too late to begin over again; for now the word is passed for every man -to advance with his hammock, that it may be tied to a net-like -frame-work of clothes-lines, and hoisted aloft to dry. - -That done, without delay you get together your frocks and trowsers, and -on the already flooded deck embark in the laundry business. You have no -special bucket or basin to yourself—the ship being one vast wash-tub, -where all hands wash and rinse out, and rinse out and wash, till at -last the word is passed again, to make fast your clothes, that they, -also, may be elevated to dry. - -Then on all three decks the operation of holy-stoning begins, so called -from the queer name bestowed upon the principal instruments employed. -These are ponderous flat stones with long ropes at each end, by which -the stones are slidden about, to and fro, over the wet and sanded -decks; a most wearisome, dog-like, galley-slave employment. For the -byways and corners about the masts and guns, smaller stones are used, -called _prayer-books;_ inasmuch as the devout operator has to down with -them on his knees. - -Finally, a grand flooding takes place, and the decks are remorselessly -thrashed with dry swabs. After which an extraordinary implement—a sort -of leathern hoe called a “_squilgee_”—is used to scrape and squeeze the -last dribblings of water from the planks. Concerning this “squilgee,” I -think something of drawing up a memoir, and reading it before the -Academy of Arts and Sciences. It is a most curious affair. - -By the time all these operations are concluded it is _eight bell’s_, -and all hands are piped to breakfast upon the damp and every-way -disagreeable decks. - -Now, against this invariable daily flooding of the three decks of a -frigate, as a man-of-war’s-man, White-Jacket most earnestly protests. -In sunless weather it keeps the sailors’ quarters perpetually damp; so -much so, that you can scarce sit down without running the risk of -getting the lumbago. One rheumatic old sheet-anchor-man among us was -driven to the extremity of sewing a piece of tarred canvas on the seat -of his trowsers. - -Let those neat and tidy officers who so love to see a ship kept spick -and span clean; who institute vigorous search after the man who chances -to drop the crumb of a biscuit on deck, when the ship is rolling in a -sea-way; let all such swing their hammocks with the sailors; and they -would soon get sick of this daily damping of the decks. - -Is a ship a wooden platter, that is to be scrubbed out every morning -before breakfast, even if the thermometer be at zero, and every sailor -goes barefooted through the flood with the chilblains? And all the -while the ship carries a doctor, well aware of Boerhaave’s great maxim -“_keep the feet dry_.” He has plenty of pills to give you when you are -down with a fever, the consequence of these things; but enters no -protest at the outset—as it is his duty to do—against the cause that -induces the fever. - -During the pleasant night watches, the promenading officers, mounted on -their high-heeled boots, pass dry-shod, like the Israelites, over the -decks; but by daybreak the roaring tide sets back, and the poor sailors -are almost overwhelmed in it, like the Egyptians in the Red Sea. - -Oh! the chills, colds, and agues that are caught. No snug stove, grate, -or fireplace to go to; no, your only way to keep warm is to keep in a -blazing passion, and anathematise the custom that every morning makes a -wash-house of a man-of-war. - -Look at it. Say you go on board a line-of-battle-ship: you see -everything scrupulously neat; you see all the decks clear and -unobstructed as the sidewalks of Wall Street of a Sunday morning; you -see no trace of a sailor’s dormitory; you marvel by what magic all this -is brought about. And well you may. For consider, that in this -unobstructed fabric nearly one thousand mortal men have to sleep, eat, -wash, dress, cook, and perform all the ordinary functions of humanity. -The same number of men ashore would expand themselves into a township. -Is it credible, then, that this extraordinary neatness, and especially -this _unobstructedness_ of a man-of-war, can be brought about, except -by the most rigorous edicts, and a very serious sacrifice, with respect -to the sailors, of the domestic comforts of life? To be sure, sailors -themselves do not often complain of these things; they are used to -them; but man can become used even to the hardest usage. And it is -because he is used to it, that sometimes he does not complain of it. - -Of all men-of-war, the American ships are the most excessively neat, -and have the greatest reputation for it. And of all men-of-war the -general discipline of the American ships is the most arbitrary. - -In the English navy, the men liberally mess on tables, which, between -meals, are triced up out of the way. The American sailors mess on deck, -and pick up their broken biscuit, or _midshipman’s nuts_, like fowls in -a barn-yard. - -But if this unobstructedness in an American fighting-ship be, at all -hazards, so desirable, why not imitate the Turks? In the Turkish navy -they have no mess-chests; the sailors roll their mess things up in a -rug, and thrust them under a gun. Nor do they have any hammocks; they -sleep anywhere about the decks in their _gregoes_. Indeed, come to look -at it, what more does a man-of-war’s-man absolutely require to live in -than his own skin? That’s room enough; and room enough to turn in, if -he but knew how to shift his spine, end for end, like a ramrod, without -disturbing his next neighbour. - -Among all men-of-war’s-men, it is a maxim that over-neat vessels are -Tartars to the crew: and perhaps it may be safely laid down that, when -you see such a ship, some sort of tyranny is not very far off. - -In the Neversink, as in other national ships, the business of -_holy-stoning_ the decks was often prolonged, by way of punishment to -the men, particularly of a raw, cold morning. This is one of the -punishments which a lieutenant of the watch may easily inflict upon the -crew, without infringing the statute which places the power of -punishment solely in the hands of the Captain. - -The abhorrence which men-of-war’s-men have for this protracted -_holy-stoning_ in cold, comfortless weather—with their bare feet -exposed to the splashing inundations—is shown in a strange story, rife -among them, curiously tinctured with their proverbial superstitions. - -The First Lieutenant of an English sloop of war, a severe -disciplinarian, was uncommonly particular concerning the whiteness of -the quarter-deck. One bitter winter morning at sea, when the crew had -washed that part of the vessel, as usual, and put away their -holy-stones, this officer came on deck, and after inspecting it, -ordered the _holy-stones_ and _prayer-books_ up again. Once more -slipping off the shoes from their frosted feet, and rolling up their -trowsers, the crew kneeled down to their task; and in that suppliant -posture, silently invoked a curse upon their tyrant; praying, as he -went below, that he might never more come out of the ward-room alive. -The prayer seemed answered: for shortly after being visited with a -paralytic stroke at his breakfast-table, the First Lieutenant next -morning was carried out of the ward-room feet foremost, dead. As they -dropped him over the side—so goes the story—the marine sentry at the -gangway turned his back upon the corpse. - -To the credit of the humane and sensible portion of the roll of -American navy-captains, be it added, that _they_ are not so particular -in keeping the decks spotless at all times, and in all weathers; nor do -they torment the men with scraping bright-wood and polishing -ring-bolts; but give all such gingerbread-work a hearty coat of black -paint, which looks more warlike, is a better preservative, and exempts -the sailors from a perpetual annoyance. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII. -THEATRICALS IN A MAN-OF-WAR. - - -The Neversink had summered out her last Christmas on the Equator; she -was now destined to winter out the Fourth of July not very far from the -frigid latitudes of Cape Horn. - -It is sometimes the custom in the American Navy to celebrate this -national holiday by doubling the allowance of spirits to the men; that -is, if the ship happen to be lying in harbour. The effects of this -patriotic plan may be easily imagined: the whole ship is converted into -a dram-shop; and the intoxicated sailors reel about, on all three -decks, singing, howling, and fighting. This is the time that, owing to -the relaxed discipline of the ship, old and almost forgotten quarrels -are revived, under the stimulus of drink; and, fencing themselves up -between the guns—so as to be sure of a clear space with at least three -walls—the combatants, two and two, fight out their hate, cribbed and -cabined like soldiers duelling in a sentry-box. In a word, scenes ensue -which would not for a single instant be tolerated by the officers upon -any other occasion. This is the time that the most venerable of -quarter-gunners and quarter-masters, together with the smallest -apprentice boys, and men never known to have been previously -intoxicated during the cruise—this is the time that they all roll -together in the same muddy trough of drunkenness. - -In emulation of the potentates of the Middle Ages, some Captains -augment the din by authorising a grand jail-delivery of all the -prisoners who, on that auspicious Fourth of the month, may happen to be -confined in the ship’s prison—“_the brig_.” - -But from scenes like these the Neversink was happily delivered. Besides -that she was now approaching a most perilous part of the ocean—which -would have made it madness to intoxicate the sailors—her complete -destitution of _grog_, even for ordinary consumption, was an obstacle -altogether insuperable, even had the Captain felt disposed to indulge -his man-of-war’s-men by the most copious libations. - -For several days previous to the advent of the holiday, frequent -conferences were held on the gun-deck touching the melancholy prospects -before the ship. - -“Too bad—too bad!” cried a top-man, “Think of it, shipmates—a Fourth of -July without grog!” - -“I’ll hoist the Commodore’s pennant at half-mast that day,” sighed the -signal-quarter-master. - -“And I’ll turn my best uniform jacket wrong side out, to keep company -with the pennant, old Ensign,” sympathetically responded an -after-guard’s-man. - -“Ay, do!” cried a forecastle-man. “I could almost pipe my eye to think -on’t.” - -“No grog on de day dat tried men’s souls!” blubbered Sunshine, the -galley-cook. - -“Who would be a _Jankee_ now?” roared a Hollander of the fore-top, more -Dutch than sour-crout. - -“Is this the _riglar_ fruits of liberty?” touchingly inquired an Irish -waister of an old Spanish sheet-anchor-man. - -You will generally observe that, of all Americans, your foreign-born -citizens are the most patriotic—especially toward the Fourth of July. - -But how could Captain Claret, the father of his crew, behold the grief -of his ocean children with indifference? He could not. Three days -before the anniversary—it still continuing very pleasant weather for -these latitudes—it was publicly announced that free permission was -given to the sailors to get up any sort of theatricals they desired, -wherewith to honour the Fourth. - -Now, some weeks prior to the Neversink’s sailing from home—nearly three -years before the time here spoken of—some of the seamen had clubbed -together, and made up a considerable purse, for the purpose of -purchasing a theatrical outfit having in view to diversify the monotony -of lying in foreign harbours for weeks together, by an occasional -display on the boards—though if ever there w-as a continual theatre in -the world, playing by night and by day, and without intervals between -the acts, a man-of-war is that theatre, and her planks are the _boards_ -indeed. - -The sailors who originated this scheme had served in other American -frigates, where the privilege of having theatricals was allowed to the -crew. What was their chagrin, then, when, upon making an application to -the Captain, in a Peruvian harbour, for permission to present the -much-admired drama of “_The Ruffian Boy_,” under the Captain’s personal -patronage, that dignitary assured them that there were already enough -_ruffian boys_ on board, without conjuring up any more from the -green-room. - -The theatrical outfit, therefore, was stowed down in the bottom of the -sailors’ bags, who little anticipated _then_ that it would ever be -dragged out while Captain Claret had the sway. - -But immediately upon the announcement that the embargo was removed, -vigorous preparations were at once commenced to celebrate the Fourth -with unwonted spirit. The half-deck was set apart for the theatre, and -the signal-quarter-master was commanded to loan his flags to decorate -it in the most patriotic style. - -As the stage-struck portion of the crew had frequently during the -cruise rehearsed portions of various plays, to while away the tedium of -the night-watches, they needed no long time now to perfect themselves -in their parts. - -Accordingly, on the very next morning after the indulgence had been -granted by the Captain, the following written placard, presenting a -broadside of staring capitals, was found tacked against the main-mast -on the gun-deck. It was as if a Drury-Lane bill had been posted upon -the London Monument. - - CAPE HORN THEATRE. * * * * * * * * - _Grand Celebration of the Fourth of July_. DAY - PERFORMANCE. UNCOMMON ATTRACTION. THE OLD WAGON PAID - OFF! JACK CHASE. . . . PERCY ROYAL-MAST. STARS OF - THE FIRST MAGNITUDE. _For this time only_. THE TRUE - YANKEE SAILOR. The managers of the Cape Horn Theatre - beg leave to inform the inhabitants of the Pacific - and Southern Oceans that, on the afternoon of the - Fourth of July, 184—, they will have the honour to - present the admired drama of - THE OLD WAGON PAID OFF! Commodore Bougee . . . . - _Tom Brown, of the Fore-top_. Captain Spy-glass . . - . . _Ned Brace, of the After-Guard_. Commodore’s - Cockswain. . . _Joe Bunk, of the Launch_. Old Luff . - . . . . . . _Quarter-master Coffin._ Mayor . . - . . . . . . _Seafull, of the Forecastle_. PERCY - ROYAL-MAST . . . . JACK CHASE. Mrs. Lovelorn . - . . . . _Long-locks, of the After-Guard_. Toddy - Moll . . . . . . _Frank Jones_. Gin and Sugar - Sall. . . . _Dick Dash_. - Sailors, Mariners, Bar-keepers, Crimps, Aldermen, Police-officer’s, - Soldiers, Landsmen generally. * * * * * * * * Long - live the Commodore! :: Admission Free. * * * * * * - * * To conclude with the much-admired song by Dibdin, altered to - suit all American Tars, entitled - THE TRUE YANKEE SAILOR. True Yankee Sailor (in - costume), Patrick Flinegan, Captain of the Head. - Performance to commence with “Hail Columbia,” by the Brass Band. - Ensign rises at three bells, P.M. No sailor permitted to enter in - his shirt-sleeves. Good order is expected to be maintained. The - Master-at-arms and Ship’s Corporals to be in attendance to keep the - peace. - -At the earnest entreaties of the seamen, Lemsford, the gun-deck poet, -had been prevailed upon to draw up this bill. And upon this one -occasion his literary abilities were far from being underrated, even by -the least intellectual person on board. Nor must it be omitted that, -before the bill was placarded, Captain Claret, enacting the part of -censor and grand chamberlain ran over a manuscript copy of “_The Old -Wagon Paid Off_,” to see whether it contained anything calculated to -breed disaffection against lawful authority among the crew. He objected -to some parts, but in the end let them all pass. - -The morning of The Fourth—most anxiously awaited—dawned clear and fair. -The breeze was steady; the air bracing cold; and one and all the -sailors anticipated a gleeful afternoon. And thus was falsified the -prophecies of certain old growlers averse to theatricals, who had -predicted a gale of wind that would squash all the arrangements of the -green-room. - -As the men whose regular turns, at the time of the performance, would -come round to be stationed in the tops, and at the various halyards and -running ropes about the spar-deck, could not be permitted to partake in -the celebration, there accordingly ensued, during the morning, many -amusing scenes of tars who were anxious to procure substitutes at their -posts. Through the day, many anxious glances were cast to windward; but -the weather still promised fair. - -At last _the people_ were piped to dinner; two bells struck; and soon -after, all who could be spared from their stations hurried to the -half-deck. The capstan bars were placed on shot-boxes, as at prayers on -Sundays, furnishing seats for the audience, while a low stage, rigged -by the carpenter’s gang, was built at one end of the open space. The -curtain was composed of a large ensign, and the bulwarks round about -were draperied with the flags of all nations. The ten or twelve members -of the brass band were ranged in a row at the foot of the stage, their -polished instruments in their hands, while the consequential Captain of -the Band himself was elevated upon a gun carriage. - -At three bells precisely a group of ward-room officers emerged from the -after-hatchway, and seated themselves upon camp-stools, in a central -position, with the stars and stripes for a canopy. _That_ was the royal -box. The sailors looked round for the Commodore but neither Commodore -nor Captain honored _the people_ with their presence. - -At the call of a bugle the band struck up _Hail Columbia_, the whole -audience keeping time, as at Drury Lane, when _God Save The King_ is -played after a great national victory. - -At the discharge of a marine’s musket the curtain rose, and four -sailors, in the picturesque garb of Maltese mariners, staggered on the -stage in a feigned state of intoxication. The truthfulness of the -representation was much heightened by the roll of the ship. - -“The Commodore,” “Old Luff,” “The Mayor,” and “Gin and Sugar Sall,” -were played to admiration, and received great applause. But at the -first appearance of that universal favourite, Jack Chase, in the -chivalric character of _Percy Royal-Mast_, the whole audience -simultaneously rose to their feet, and greeted hire with three hearty -cheers, that almost took the main-top-sail aback. - -Matchless Jack, _in full fig_, bowed again and again, with true -quarter-deck grace and self possession; and when five or six untwisted -strands of rope and bunches of oakum were thrown to him, as substitutes -for bouquets, he took them one by one, and gallantly hung them from the -buttons of his jacket. - -“Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!—go on! go on!—stop hollering—hurrah!—go -on!—stop hollering—hurrah!” was now heard on all sides, till at last, -seeing no end to the enthusiasm of his ardent admirers, Matchless Jack -stepped forward, and, with his lips moving in pantomime, plunged into -the thick of the part. Silence soon followed, but was fifty times -broken by uncontrollable bursts of applause. At length, when that -heart-thrilling scene came on, where Percy Royal-Mast rescues fifteen -oppressed sailors from the watch-house, in the teeth of a posse of -constables, the audience leaped to their feet, overturned the capstan -bars, and to a man hurled their hats on the stage in a delirium of -delight. Ah Jack, that was a ten-stroke indeed! - -The commotion was now terrific; all discipline seemed gone for ever; -the Lieutenants ran in among the men, the Captain darted from his -cabin, and the Commodore nervously questioned the armed sentry at his -door as to what the deuce _the people_ were about. In the midst of all -this, the trumpet of the officer-of-the-deck, commanding the -top-gallant sails to be taken in, was almost completely drowned. A -black squall was coming down on the weather-bow, and the boat-swain’s -mates bellowed themselves hoarse at the main-hatchway. There is no -knowing what would have ensued, had not the bass drum suddenly been -heard, calling all hands to quarters, a summons not to be withstood. -The sailors pricked their ears at it, as horses at the sound of a -cracking whip, and confusedly stumbled up the ladders to their -stations. The next moment all was silent but the wind, howling like a -thousand devils in the cordage. - -“Stand by to reef all three top-sails!—settle away the halyards!—haul -out—so: make fast!—aloft, top-men! and reef away!” - -Thus, in storm and tempest terminated that day’s theatricals. But the -sailors never recovered from the disappointment of not having the -“_True Yankee Sailor_” sung by the Irish Captain of the Head. - -And here White-jacket must moralize a bit. The unwonted spectacle of -the row of gun-room officers mingling with “the people” in applauding a -mere seaman like Jack Chase, filled me at the time with the most -pleasurable emotions. It is a sweet thing, thought I, to see these -officers confess a human brotherhood with us, after all; a sweet thing -to mark their cordial appreciation of the manly merits of my matchless -Jack. Ah! they are noble fellows all round, and I do not know but I -have wronged them sometimes in my thoughts. - -Nor was it without similar pleasurable feelings that I witnessed the -temporary rupture of the ship’s stern discipline, consequent upon the -tumult of the theatricals. I thought to myself, this now is as it -should be. It is good to shake off, now and then, this iron yoke round -our necks. And after having once permitted us sailors to be a little -noisy, in a harmless way—somewhat merrily turbulent—the officers -cannot, with any good grace, be so excessively stern and unyielding as -before. I began to think a man-of-war a man-of-peace-and-good-will, -after all. But, alas! disappointment came. - -Next morning the same old scene was enacted at the gang-way. And -beholding the row of uncompromising-looking-officers there assembled -with the Captain, to witness punishment—the same officers who had been -so cheerfully disposed over night—an old sailor touched my shoulder and -said, “See, White-Jacket, all round they have _shipped their -quarter-deck faces again_. But this is the way.” - -I afterward learned that this was an old man-of-war’s-man’s phrase, -expressive of the facility with which a sea-officer falls back upon all -the severity of his dignity, after a temporary suspension of it. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV. -INTRODUCTORY TO CAPE HORN. - - -And now, through drizzling fogs and vapours, and under damp, -double-reefed top-sails, our wet-decked frigate drew nearer and nearer -to the squally Cape. - -Who has not heard of it? Cape Horn, Cape Horn—a _horn_ indeed, that has -tossed many a good ship. Was the descent of Orpheus, Ulysses, or Dante -into Hell, one whit more hardy and sublime than the first navigator’s -weathering of that terrible Cape? - -Turned on her heel by a fierce West Wind, many an outward-bound ship -has been driven across the Southern Ocean to the Cape of Good -Hope—_that_ way to seek a passage to the Pacific. And that stormy Cape, -I doubt not, has sent many a fine craft to the bottom, and told no -tales. At those ends of the earth are no chronicles. What signify the -broken spars and shrouds that, day after day, are driven before the -prows of more fortunate vessels? or the tall masts, imbedded in -icebergs, that are found floating by? They but hint the old story—of -ships that have sailed from their ports, and never more have been heard -of. - -Impracticable Cape! You may approach it from this direction or that—in -any way you please—from the East or from the West; with the wind -astern, or abeam, or on the quarter; and still Cape Horn is Cape Horn. -Cape Horn it is that takes the conceit out of fresh-water sailors, and -steeps in a still salter brine the saltest. Woe betide the tyro; the -fool-hardy, Heaven preserve! - -Your Mediterranean captain, who with a cargo of oranges has hitherto -made merry runs across the Atlantic, without so much as furling a -t’-gallant-sail, oftentimes, off Cape Horn, receives a lesson which he -carries to the grave; though the grave—as is too often the case—follows -so hard on the lesson that no benefit comes from the experience. - -Other strangers who draw nigh to this Patagonia termination of our -Continent, with their souls full of its shipwrecks and -disasters—top-sails cautiously reefed, and everything guardedly -snug—these strangers at first unexpectedly encountering a tolerably -smooth sea, rashly conclude that the Cape, after all, is but a bugbear; -they have been imposed upon by fables, and founderings and sinkings -hereabouts are all cock-and-bull stories. - -“Out reefs, my hearties; fore and aft set t’-gallant-sails! stand by to -give her the fore-top-mast stun’-sail!” - -But, Captain Rash, those sails of yours were much safer in the -sail-maker’s loft. For now, while the heedless craft is bounding over -the billows, a black cloud rises out of the sea; the sun drops down -from the sky; a horrible mist far and wide spreads over the water. - -“Hands by the halyards! Let go! Clew up!” - -Too late. - -For ere the ropes’ ends can be the east off from the pins, the tornado -is blowing down to the bottom of their throats. The masts are willows, -the sails ribbons, the cordage wool; the whole ship is brewed into the -yeast of the gale. - -An now, if, when the first green sea breaks over him, Captain Rash is -not swept overboard, he has his hands full be sure. In all probability -his three masts have gone by the board, and, ravelled into list, his -sails are floating in the air. Or, perhaps, the ship _broaches to_, or -is _brought by the lee_. In either ease, Heaven help the sailors, their -wives and their little ones; and heaven help the underwriters. - -Familiarity with danger makes a brave man braver, but less daring. Thus -with seamen: he who goes the oftenest round Cape Horn goes the most -circumspectly. A veteran mariner is never deceived by the treacherous -breezes which sometimes waft him pleasantly toward the latitude of the -Cape. No sooner does he come within a certain distance of it—previously -fixed in his own mind—than all hands are turned to setting the ship in -storm-trim; and never mind how light the breeze, down come his -t’-gallant-yards. He “bends” his strongest storm-sails, and lashes -every-thing on deck securely. The ship is then ready for the worst; and -if, in reeling round the headland, she receives a broadside, it -generally goes well with her. If ill, all hands go to the bottom with -quiet consciences. - -Among sea-captains, there are some who seem to regard the genius of the -Cape as a wilful, capricious jade, that must be courted and coaxed into -complaisance. First, they come along under easy sails; do not steer -boldly for the headland, but tack this way and that—sidling up to it, -Now they woo the Jezebel with a t’-gallant-studding-sail; anon, they -deprecate her wrath with double-reefed-topsails. When, at length, her -unappeasable fury is fairly aroused, and all round the dismantled ship -the storm howls and howls for days together, they still persevere in -their efforts. First, they try unconditional submission; furling every -rag and _heaving to_: laying like a log, for the tempest to toss -wheresoever it pleases. - -This failing, they set a _spencer_ or _try-sail_, and shift on the -other tack. Equally vain! The gale sings as hoarsely as before. At -last, the wind comes round fair; they drop the fore-sail; square the -yards, and scud before it; their implacable foe chasing them with -tornadoes, as if to show her insensibility to the last. - -Other ships, without encountering these terrible gales, spend week -after week endeavouring to turn this boisterous world-corner against a -continual head-wind. Tacking hither and thither, in the language of -sailors they _polish_ the Cape by beating about its edges so long. - -Le Mair and Schouten, two Dutchmen, were the first navigators who -weathered Cape Horn. Previous to this, passages had been made to the -Pacific by the Straits of Magellan; nor, indeed, at that period, was it -known to a certainty that there was any other route, or that the land -now called Terra del Fuego was an island. A few leagues southward from -Terra del Fuego is a cluster of small islands, the Diegoes; between -which and the former island are the Straits of Le Mair, so called in -honour of their discoverer, who first sailed through them into the -Pacific. Le Mair and Schouten, in their small, clumsy vessels, -encountered a series of tremendous gales, the prelude to the long train -of similar hardships which most of their followers have experienced. It -is a significant fact, that Schouten’s vessel, the _Horne_, which gave -its name to the Cape, was almost lost in weathering it. - -The next navigator round the Cape was Sir Francis Drake, who, on -Raleigh’s Expedition, beholding for the first time, from the Isthmus of -Darien, the “goodlie South Sea,” like a true-born Englishman, vowed, -please God, to sail an English ship thereon; which the gallant sailor -did, to the sore discomfiture of the Spaniards on the coasts of Chili -and Peru. - -But perhaps the greatest hardships on record, in making this celebrated -passage, were those experienced by Lord Anson’s squadron in 1736. Three -remarkable and most interesting narratives record their disasters and -sufferings. The first, jointly written by the carpenter and gunner of -the Wager; the second by young Byron, a midshipman in the same ship; -the third, by the chaplain of the Centurion. White-Jacket has them all; -and they are fine reading of a boisterous March night, with the -casement rattling in your ear, and the chimney-stacks blowing down upon -the pavement, bubbling with rain-drops. - -But if you want the best idea of Cape Horn, get my friend Dana’s -unmatchable “Two Years Before the Mast.” But you can read, and so you -must have read it. His chapters describing Cape Horn must have been -written with an icicle. - -At the present day the horrors of the Cape have somewhat abated. This -is owing to a growing familiarity with it; but, more than all, to the -improved condition of ships in all respects, and the means now -generally in use of preserving the health of the crews in times of -severe and prolonged exposure. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV. -THE DOG-DAYS OFF CAPE HORN. - - -Colder and colder; we are drawing nigh to the Cape. Now gregoes, pea -jackets, monkey jackets reefing jackets, storm jackets, oil jackets, -paint jackets, round jackets short jackets, long jackets, and all -manner of jackets, are the order of the day, not excepting the immortal -white jacket, which begins to be sturdily buttoned up to the throat, -and pulled down vigorously at the skirts, to bring them well over the -loins. - -But, alas! those skirts were lamentably scanty; and though, with its -quiltings, the jacket was stuffed out about the breasts like a -Christmas turkey, and of a dry cold day kept the wearer warm enough in -that vicinity, yet about the loins it was shorter than ballet-dancer’s -skirts; so that while my chest was in the temperate zone close -adjoining the torrid, my hapless thighs were in Nova Zembla, hardly an -icicle’s toss from the Pole. - -Then, again, the repeated soakings and dryings it had undergone, had by -this time made it shrink woefully all over, especially in the arms, so -that the wristbands had gradually crawled up near to the elbows; and it -required an energetic thrust to push the arm through, in drawing the -jacket on. - -I endeavoured to amend these misfortunes by sewing a sort of canvas -ruffle round the skirts, by way of a continuation or supplement to the -original work, and by doing the same with the wristbands. - -This is the time for oil-skin suits, dread-naughts, tarred trowsers and -overalls, sea-boots, comforters, mittens, woollen socks, Guernsey -frocks, Havre shirts, buffalo-robe shirts, and moose-skin drawers. -Every man’s jacket is his wigwam, and every man’s hat his caboose. - -Perfect license is now permitted to the men respecting their clothing. -Whatever they can rake and scrape together they put on—swaddling -themselves in old sails, and drawing old socks over their heads for -night-caps. This is the time for smiting your chest with your hand, and -talking loud to keep up the circulation. - -Colder, and colder, and colder, till at last we spoke a fleet of -icebergs bound North. After that, it was one incessant “_cold snap_,” -that almost snapped off our fingers and toes. Cold! It was cold as -_Blue Flujin_, where sailors say fire freezes. - -And now coming up with the latitude of the Cape, we stood southward to -give it a wide berth, and while so doing were becalmed; ay, becalmed -off Cape Horn, which is worse, far worse, than being becalmed on the -Line. - -Here we lay forty-eight hours, during which the cold was intense. I -wondered at the liquid sea, which refused to freeze in such a -temperature. The clear, cold sky overhead looked like a steel-blue -cymbal, that might ring, could you smite it. Our breath came and went -like puffs’ of smoke from pipe-bowls. At first there was a long gauky -swell, that obliged us to furl most of the sails, and even send down -t’-gallant-yards, for fear of pitching them overboard. - -Out of sight of land, at this extremity of both the inhabitable and -uninhabitable world, our peopled frigate, echoing with the voices of -men, the bleating of lambs, the cackling of fowls, the gruntings of -pigs, seemed like Noah’s old ark itself, becalmed at the climax of the -Deluge. - -There was nothing to be done but patiently to await the pleasure of the -elements, and “whistle for a wind,” the usual practice of seamen in a -calm. No fire was allowed, except for the indispensable purpose of -cooking, and heating bottles of water to toast Selvagee’s feet. He who -possessed the largest stock of vitality, stood the best chance to -escape freezing. It was horrifying. In such weather any man could have -undergone amputation with great ease, and helped take up the arteries -himself. - -Indeed, this state of affairs had not lasted quite twenty-four hours, -when the extreme frigidity of the air, united to our increased tendency -to inactivity, would very soon have rendered some of us subjects for -the surgeon and his mates, had not a humane proceeding of the Captain -suddenly impelled us to vigorous exercise. - -And here be it said, that the appearance of the Boat-swain, with his -silver whistle to his mouth, at the main hatchway of the gun-deck, is -always regarded by the crew with the utmost curiosity, for this -betokens that some general order is about to be promulgated through the -ship. What now? is the question that runs on from man to man. A short -preliminary whistle is then given by “Old Yarn,” as they call him, -which whistle serves to collect round him, from their various stations, -his four mates. Then Yarn, or Pipes, as leader of the orchestra, begins -a peculiar call, in which his assistants join. This over, the order, -whatever it may be, is loudly sung out and prolonged, till the remotest -corner echoes again. The Boatswain and his mates are the town-criers of -a man-of-war. - -The calm had commenced in the afternoon: and the following morning the -ship’s company were electrified by a general order, thus set forth and -declared: “_D’ye hear there, for and aft! all hands skylark!_” - -This mandate, nowadays never used except upon very rare occasions, -produced the same effect upon the men that Exhilarating Gas would have -done, or an extra allowance of “grog.” For a time, the wonted -discipline of the ship was broken through, and perfect license allowed. -It was a Babel here, a Bedlam there, and a Pandemonium everywhere. The -Theatricals were nothing compared with it. Then the faint-hearted and -timorous crawled to their hiding-places, and the lusty and bold shouted -forth their glee. - -Gangs of men, in all sorts of outlandish habiliments, wild as those -worn at some crazy carnival, rushed to and fro, seizing upon whomsoever -they pleased—warrant-officers and dangerous pugilists excepted—pulling -and hauling the luckless tars about, till fairly baited into a genial -warmth. Some were made fast to and hoisted aloft with a will: others, -mounted upon oars, were ridden fore and aft on a rail, to the -boisterous mirth of the spectators, any one of whom might be the next -victim. Swings were rigged from the tops, or the masts; and the most -reluctant wights being purposely selected, spite of all struggles, were -swung from East to West, in vast arcs of circles, till almost -breathless. Hornpipes, fandangoes, Donnybrook-jigs, reels, and -quadrilles, were danced under the very nose of the most mighty captain, -and upon the very quarter-deck and poop. Sparring and wrestling, too, -were all the vogue; _Kentucky bites_ were given, and the _Indian hug_ -exchanged. The din frightened the sea-fowl, that flew by with -accelerated wing. - -It is worth mentioning that several casualties occurred, of which, -however, I will relate but one. While the “sky-larking” was at its -height, one of the fore-top-men—an ugly-tempered devil of a Portuguese, -looking on—swore that he would be the death of any man who laid violent -hands upon his inviolable person. This threat being overheard, a band -of desperadoes, coming up from behind, tripped him up in an instant, -and in the twinkling of an eye the Portuguese was straddling an oar, -borne aloft by an uproarious multitude, who rushed him along the deck -at a railroad gallop. The living mass of arms all round and beneath him -was so dense, that every time he inclined one side he was instantly -pushed upright, but only to fall over again, to receive another push -from the contrary direction. Presently, disengaging his hands from -those who held them, the enraged seaman drew from his bosom an iron -belaying-pin, and recklessly laid about him to right and left. Most of -his persecutors fled; but some eight or ten still stood their ground, -and, while bearing him aloft, endeavoured to wrest the weapon from his -hands. In this attempt, one man was struck on the head, and dropped -insensible. He was taken up for dead, and carried below to Cuticle, the -surgeon, while the Portuguese was put under guard. But the wound did -not prove very serious; and in a few days the man was walking about the -deck, with his head well bandaged. - -This occurrence put an end to the “skylarking,” further head-breaking -being strictly prohibited. In due time the Portuguese paid the penalty -of his rashness at the gangway; while once again the officers _shipped -their quarter-deck faces_. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI. -THE PITCH OF THE CAPE. - - -Ere the calm had yet left us, a sail had been discerned from the -fore-top-mast-head, at a great distance, probably three leagues or -more. At first it was a mere speck, altogether out of sight from the -deck. By the force of attraction, or something else equally -inscrutable, two ships in a calm, and equally affected by the currents, -will always approximate, more or less. Though there was not a breath of -wind, it was not a great while before the strange sail was descried -from our bulwarks; gradually, it drew still nearer. - -What was she, and whence? There is no object which so excites interest -and conjecture, and, at the same time, baffles both, as a sail, seen as -a mere speck on these remote seas off Cape Horn. A breeze! a breeze! -for lo! the stranger is now perceptibly nearing the frigate; the -officer’s spy-glass pronounces her a full-rigged ship, with all sail -set, and coming right down to us, though in our own vicinity the calm -still reigns. - -She is bringing the wind with her. Hurrah! Ay, there it is! Behold how -mincingly it creeps over the sea, just ruffling and crisping it. - -Our top-men were at once sent aloft to loose the sails, and presently -they faintly began to distend. As yet we hardly had steerage-way. -Toward sunset the stranger bore down before the wind, a complete -pyramid of canvas. Never before, I venture to say, was Cape Horn so -audaciously insulted. Stun’-sails alow and aloft; royals, moon-sails, -and everything else. She glided under our stern, within hailing -distance, and the signal-quarter-master ran up our ensign to the gaff. - -“Ship ahoy!” cried the Lieutenant of the Watch, through his trumpet. - -“Halloa!” bawled an old fellow in a green jacket, clap-ping one hand to -his mouth, while he held on with the other to the mizzen-shrouds. - -“What ship’s that?” - -“The Sultan, Indiaman, from New York, and bound to Callao and Canton, -sixty days out, all well. What frigate’s that?” - -“The United States ship Neversink, homeward bound.” “Hurrah! hurrah! -hurrah!” yelled our enthusiastic countryman, transported with -patriotism. - -By this time the Sultan had swept past, but the Lieutenant of the Watch -could not withhold a parting admonition. - -“D’ye hear? You’d better take in some of your flying-kites there. Look -out for Cape Horn!” - -But the friendly advice was lost in the now increasing wind. With a -suddenness by no means unusual in these latitudes, the light breeze -soon became a succession of sharp squalls, and our sail-proud -braggadacio of an India-man was observed to let everything go by the -run, his t’-gallant stun’-sails and flying-jib taking quick leave of -the spars; the flying-jib was swept into the air, rolled together for a -few minutes, and tossed about in the squalls like a foot-ball. But the -wind played no such pranks with the more prudently managed canvas of -the Neversink, though before many hours it was stirring times with us. - -About midnight, when the starboard watch, to which, I belonged, was -below, the boatswain’s whistle was heard, followed by the shrill cry of -“_All hands take in sail_! jump, men, and save ship!” - -Springing from our hammocks, we found the frigate leaning over to it so -steeply, that it was with difficulty we could climb the ladders leading -to the upper deck. - -Here the scene was awful. The vessel seemed to be sailing on her side. -The main-deck guns had several days previous been run in and housed, -and the port-holes closed, but the lee carronades on the quarter-deck -and forecastle were plunging through the sea, which undulated over them -in milk-white billows of foam. With every lurch to leeward the -yard-arm-ends seemed to dip in the sea, while forward the spray dashed -over the bows in cataracts, and drenched the men who were on the -fore-yard. By this time the deck was alive with the whole strength of -the ship’s company, five hundred men, officers and all, mostly clinging -to the weather bulwarks. The occasional phosphorescence of the yeasting -sea cast a glare upon their uplifted faces, as a night fire in a -populous city lights up the panic-stricken crowd. - -In a sudden gale, or when a large quantity of sail is suddenly to be -furled, it is the custom for the First Lieutenant to take the trumpet -from whoever happens then to be officer of the deck. But Mad Jack had -the trumpet that watch; nor did the First Lieutenant now seek to wrest -it from his hands. Every eye was upon him, as if we had chosen him from -among us all, to decide this battle with the elements, by single combat -with the spirit of the Cape; for Mad Jack was the saving genius of the -ship, and so proved himself that night. I owe this right hand, that is -this moment flying over my sheet, and all my present being to Mad Jack. -The ship’s bows were now butting, battering, ramming, and thundering -over and upon the head seas, and with a horrible wallowing sound our -whole hull was rolling in the trough of the foam. The gale came athwart -the deck, and every sail seemed bursting with its wild breath. - -All the quarter-masters, and several of the forecastle-men, were -swarming round the double-wheel on the quarter-deck. Some jumping up -and down, with their hands upon the spokes; for the whole helm and -galvanised keel were fiercely feverish, with the life imparted to them -by the tempest. - -“Hard _up_ the helm!” shouted Captain Claret, bursting from his cabin -like a ghost in his night-dress. - -“Damn you!” raged Mad Jack to the quarter-masters; “hard down—hard -_down_, I say, and be damned to you!” - -Contrary orders! but Mad Jack’s were obeyed. His object was to throw -the ship into the wind, so as the better to admit of close-reefing the -top-sails. But though the halyards were let go, it was impossible to -clew down the yards, owing to the enormous horizontal strain on the -canvas. It now blew a hurricane. The spray flew over the ship in -floods. The gigantic masts seemed about to snap under the world-wide -strain of the three entire top-sails. - -“Clew down! clew down!” shouted Mad Jack, husky with excitement, and in -a frenzy, beating his trumpet against one of the shrouds. But, owing to -the slant of the ship, the thing could not be done. It was obvious that -before many minutes something must go—either sails, rigging, or sticks; -perhaps the hull itself, and all hands. - -Presently a voice from the top exclaimed that there was a rent in the -main-top-sail. And instantly we heard a report like two or three -muskets discharged together; the vast sail was rent up and down like -the Vail of the Temple. This saved the main-mast; for the yard was now -clewed down with comparative ease, and the top-men laid out to stow the -shattered canvas. Soon, the two remaining top-sails were also clewed -down and close reefed. - -Above all the roar of the tempest and the shouts of the crew, was heard -the dismal tolling of the ship’s bell—almost as large as that of a -village church—which the violent rolling of the ship was occasioning. -Imagination cannot conceive the horror of such a sound in a -night-tempest at sea. - -“Stop that ghost!” roared Mad Jack; “away, one of you, and wrench off -the clapper!” - -But no sooner was this ghost gagged, than a still more appalling sound -was heard, the rolling to and fro of the heavy shot, which, on the -gun-deck, had broken loose from the gun-racks, and converted that part -of the ship into an immense bowling-alley. Some hands were sent down to -secure them; but it was as much as their lives were worth. Several were -maimed; and the midshipmen who were ordered to see the duty performed -reported it impossible, until the storm abated. - -The most terrific job of all was to furl the main-sail, which, at the -commencement of the squalls, had been clewed up, coaxed and quieted as -much as possible with the bunt-lines and slab-lines. Mad Jack waited -some time for a lull, ere he gave an order so perilous to be executed. -For to furl this enormous sail, in such a gale, required at least fifty -men on the yard; whose weight, superadded to that of the ponderous -stick itself, still further jeopardised their lives. But there was no -prospect of a cessation of the gale, and the order was at last given. - -At this time a hurricane of slanting sleet and hail was descending upon -us; the rigging was coated with a thin glare of ice, formed within the -hour. - -“Aloft, main-yard-men! and all you main-top-men! and furl the -main-sail!” cried Mad Jack. - -I dashed down my hat, slipped out of my quilted jacket in an instant, -kicked the shoes from my feet, and, with a crowd of others, sprang for -the rigging. Above the bulwarks (which in a frigate are so high as to -afford much protection to those on deck) the gale was horrible. The -sheer force of the wind flattened us to the rigging as we ascended, and -every hand seemed congealing to the icy shrouds by which we held. - -“Up—up, my brave hearties!” shouted Mad Jack; and up we got, some way -or other, all of us, and groped our way out on the yard-arms. - -“Hold on, every mother’s son!” cried an old quarter-gunner at my side. -He was bawling at the top of his compass; but in the gale, he seemed to -be whispering; and I only heard him from his being right to windward of -me. - -But his hint was unnecessary; I dug my nails into the _jack-stays_, and -swore that nothing but death should part me and them until I was able -to turn round and look to windward. As yet, this was impossible; I -could scarcely hear the man to leeward at my elbow; the wind seemed to -snatch the words from his mouth and fly away with them to the South -Pole. - -All this while the sail itself was flying about, sometimes catching -over our heads, and threatening to tear us from the yard in spite of -all our hugging. For about three quarters of an hour we thus hung -suspended right over the rampant billows, which curled their very -crests under the feet of some four or five of us clinging to the -lee-yard-arm, as if to float us from our place. - -Presently, the word passed along the yard from wind-ward, that we were -ordered to come down and leave the sail to blow, since it could not be -furled. A midshipman, it seemed, had been sent up by the officer of the -deck to give the order, as no trumpet could be heard where we were. - -Those on the weather yard-arm managed to crawl upon the spar and -scramble down the rigging; but with us, upon the extreme leeward side, -this feat was out of the question; it was, literary, like climbing a -precipice to get to wind-ward in order to reach the shrouds: besides, -the entire yard was now encased in ice, and our hands and feet were so -numb that we dared not trust our lives to them. Nevertheless, by -assisting each other, we contrived to throw ourselves prostrate along -the yard, and embrace it with our arms and legs. In this position, the -stun’-sail-booms greatly assisted in securing our hold. Strange as it -may appear, I do not suppose that, at this moment, the slightest -sensation of fear was felt by one man on that yard. We clung to it with -might and main; but this was instinct. The truth is, that, in -circumstances like these, the sense of fear is annihilated in the -unutterable sights that fill all the eye, and the sounds that fill all -the ear. You become identified with the tempest; your insignificance is -lost in the riot of the stormy universe around. - -Below us, our noble frigate seemed thrice its real length—a vast black -wedge, opposing its widest end to the combined fury of the sea and -wind. - -At length the first fury of the gale began to abate, and we at once -fell to pounding our hands, as a preliminary operation to going to -work; for a gang of men had now ascended to help secure what was left -of the sail; we somehow packed it away, at last, and came down. - -About noon the next day, the gale so moderated that we shook two reefs -out of the top-sails, set new courses, and stood due east, with the -wind astern. - -Thus, all the fine weather we encountered after first weighing anchor -on the pleasant Spanish coast, was but the prelude to this one terrific -night; more especially, that treacherous calm immediately preceding it. -But how could we reach our long-promised homes without encountering -Cape Horn? by what possibility avoid it? And though some ships have -weathered it without these perils, yet by far the greater part must -encounter them. Lucky it is that it comes about midway in the -homeward-bound passage, so that the sailors have time to prepare for -it, and time to recover from it after it is astern. - -But, sailor or landsman, there is some sort of a Cape Horn for all. -Boys! beware of it; prepare for it in time. Gray-beards! thank God it -is passed. And ye lucky livers, to whom, by some rare fatality, your -Cape Horns are placid as Lake Lemans, flatter not yourselves that good -luck is judgment and discretion; for all the yolk in your eggs, you -might have foundered and gone down, had the Spirit of the Cape said the -word. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII. -SOME THOUGHTS GROWING OUT OF MAD JACK’S COUNTERMANDING HIS SUPERIOR’S -ORDER. - - -In time of peril, like the needle to the loadstone, obedience, -irrespective of rank, generally flies to him who is best fitted to -command. The truth of this seemed evinced in the case of Mad Jack, -during the gale, and especially at that perilous moment when he -countermanded the Captain’s order at the helm. But every seaman knew, -at the time, that the Captain’s order was an unwise one in the extreme; -perhaps worse than unwise. - -These two orders given, by the Captain and his Lieutenant, exactly -contrasted their characters. By putting the helm _hard up_, the Captain -was for _scudding_; that is, for flying away from the gale. Whereas, -Mad Jack was for running the ship into its teeth. It is needless to say -that, in almost all cases of similar hard squalls and gales, the latter -step, though attended with more appalling appearances is, in reality, -the safer of the two, and the most generally adopted. - -Scudding makes you a slave to the blast, which drives you headlong -before it; but _running up into the wind’s eye_ enables you, in a -degree, to hold it at bay. Scudding exposes to the gale your stern, the -weakest part of your hull; the contrary course presents to it your -bows, your strongest part. As with ships, so with men; he who turns his -back to his foe gives him an advantage. Whereas, our ribbed chests, -like the ribbed bows of a frigate, are as bulkheads to dam off an -onset. - -That night, off the pitch of the Cape, Captain Claret was hurried forth -from his disguises, and, at a manhood-testing conjuncture, appeared in -his true colours. A thing which every man in the ship had long -suspected that night was proved true. Hitherto, in going about the -ship, and casting his glances among the men, the peculiarly lustreless -repose of the Captain’s eye—his slow, even, unnecessarily methodical -step, and the forced firmness of his whole demeanour—though, to a -casual observer, expressive of the consciousness of command and a -desire to strike subjection among the crew—all this, to some minds, had -only been deemed indications of the fact that Captain Claret, while -carefully shunning positive excesses, continually kept himself in an -uncertain equilibrio between soberness and its reverse; which -equilibrio might be destroyed by the first sharp vicissitude of events. - -And though this is only a surmise, nevertheless, as having some -knowledge of brandy and mankind, White-Jacket will venture to state -that, had Captain Claret been an out-and-out temperance man, he would -never have given that most imprudent order to _hard up_ the helm. He -would either have held his peace, and stayed in his cabin, like his -gracious majesty the Commodore, or else have anticipated Mad Jack’s -order, and thundered forth “Hard down the helm!” - -To show how little real sway at times have the severest restrictive -laws, and how spontaneous is the instinct of discretion in some minds, -it must here be added, that though Mad Jack, under a hot impulse, had -countermanded an order of his superior officer before his very face, -yet that severe Article of War, to which he thus rendered himself -obnoxious, was never enforced against him. Nor, so far as any of the -crew ever knew, did the Captain even venture to reprimand him for his -temerity. - -It has been said that Mad Jack himself was a lover of strong drink. So -he was. But here we only see the virtue of being placed in a station -constantly demanding a cool head and steady nerves, and the misfortune -of filling a post that does _not_ at all times demand these qualities. -So exact and methodical in most things was the discipline of the -frigate, that, to a certain extent, Captain Claret was exempted from -personal interposition in many of its current events, and thereby, -perhaps, was he lulled into security, under the enticing lee of his -decanter. - -But as for Mad Jack, he must stand his regular watches, and pace the -quarter-deck at night, and keep a sharp eye to windward. Hence, at sea, -Mad Jack tried to make a point of keeping sober, though in very fine -weather he was sometimes betrayed into a glass too many. But with Cape -Horn before him, he took the temperance pledge outright, till that -perilous promontory should be far astern. - -The leading incident of the gale irresistibly invites the question, Are -there incompetent officers in the American navy?—that is, incompetent -to the due performance of whatever duties may devolve upon them. But in -that gallant marine, which, during the late war, gained so much of what -is called _glory_, can there possibly be to-day incompetent officers? - -As in the camp ashore, so on the quarter-deck at sea—the trumpets of -one victory drown the muffled drums of a thousand defeats. And, in -degree, this holds true of those events of war which are neuter in -their character, neither making renown nor disgrace. Besides, as a long -array of ciphers, led by but one solitary numeral, swell, by mere force -of aggregation, into an immense arithmetical sum, even so, in some -brilliant actions, do a crowd of officers, each inefficient in himself, -aggregate renown when banded together, and led by a numeral Nelson or a -Wellington. And the renown of such heroes, by outliving themselves, -descends as a heritage to their subordinate survivors. One large brain -and one large heart have virtue sufficient to magnetise a whole fleet -or an army. And if all the men who, since the beginning of the world, -have mainly contributed to the warlike successes or reverses of -nations, were now mustered together, we should be amazed to behold but -a handful of heroes. For there is no heroism in merely running in and -out a gun at a port-hole, enveloped in smoke or vapour, or in firing -off muskets in platoons at the word of command. This kind of merely -manual valour is often born of trepidation at the heart. There may be -men, individually craven, who, united, may display even temerity. Yet -it would be false to deny that, in some in-stances, the lowest privates -have acquitted themselves with even more gallantry than their -commodores. True heroism is not in the hand, but in the heart and the -head. - -But are there incompetent officers in the gallant American navy? For an -American, the question is of no grateful cast. White Jacket must again -evade it, by referring to an historical fact in the history of a -kindred marine, which, from its long standing and magnitude, furnishes -many more examples of all kinds than our own. And this is the only -reason why it is ever referred to in this narrative. I thank God I am -free from all national invidiousness. - -It is indirectly on record in the books of the English Admiralty, that -in the year 1808—after the death of Lord Nelson—when Lord Collingwood -commanded on the Mediterranean station, and his broken health induced -him to solicit a furlough, that out of a list of upward of one hundred -admirals, not a single officer was found who was deemed qualified to -relieve the applicant with credit to the country. This fact Collingwood -sealed with his life; for, hopeless of being recalled, he shortly after -died, worn out, at his post. Now, if this was the case in so renowned a -marine as England’s, what must be inferred with respect to our own? But -herein no special disgrace is involved. For the truth is, that to be an -accomplished and skillful naval generalissimo needs natural -capabilities of an uncommon order. Still more, it may safely be -asserted, that, worthily to command even a frigate, requires a degree -of natural heroism, talent, judgment, and integrity, that is denied to -mediocrity. Yet these qualifications are not only required, but -demanded; and no one has a right to be a naval captain unless he -possesses them. - -Regarding Lieutenants, there are not a few Selvagees and Paper Jacks in -the American navy. Many Commodores know that they have seldom taken a -line-of-battle ship to sea, without feeling more or less nervousness -when some of the Lieutenants have the deck at night. - -According to the last Navy Register (1849), there are now 68 Captains -in the American navy, collectively drawing about $300,000 annually from -the public treasury; also, 297 Commanders, drawing about $200,000; and -377 Lieutenants, drawing about half a million; and 451 Midshipmen -(including Passed-midshipmen), also drawing nearly half a million. -Considering the known facts, that some of these officers are seldom or -never sent to sea, owing to the Navy Department being well aware of -their inefficiency; that others are detailed for pen-and-ink work at -observatories, and solvers of logarithms in the Coast Survey; while the -really meritorious officers, who are accomplished practical seamen, are -known to be sent from ship to ship, with but small interval of a -furlough; considering all this, it is not too much to say, that no -small portion of the million and a half of money above mentioned is -annually paid to national pensioners in disguise, who live on the navy -without serving it. - -Nothing like this can be even insinuated against the “_forward -officers_”—Boatswains, Gunners, etc.; nor against the _petty -officers_—Captains of the Tops, etc.; nor against the able seamen in -the navy. For if any of _these_ are found wanting, they are forthwith -disrated or discharged. - -True, all experience teaches that, whenever there is a great national -establishment, employing large numbers of officials, the public must be -reconciled to support many incompetent men; for such is the favouritism -and nepotism always prevailing in the purlieus of these establishments, -that some incompetent persons are always admitted, to the exclusion of -many of the worthy. - -Nevertheless, in a country like ours, boasting of the political -equality of all social conditions, it is a great reproach that such a -thing as a common seaman rising to the rank of a commissioned officer -in our navy, is nowadays almost unheard-of. Yet, in former times, when -officers have so risen to rank, they have generally proved of signal -usefulness in the service, and sometimes have reflected solid honour -upon the country. Instances in point might be mentioned. - -Is it not well to have our institutions of a piece? Any American -landsman may hope to become President of the Union—commodore of our -squadron of states. And every American sailor should be placed in such -a position, that he might freely aspire to command a squadron of -frigates. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII. -EDGING AWAY. - - -Right before the wind! Ay, blow, blow, ye breezes; so long as ye stay -fair, and we are homeward bound, what care the jolly crew? - -It is worth mentioning here that, in nineteen cases out of twenty, a -passage from the Pacific round the Cape is almost sure to be much -shorter, and attended with less hardship, than a passage undertaken -from the Atlantic. The reason is, that the gales are mostly from the -westward, also the currents. - -But, after all, going before the wind in a frigate, in such a tempest, -has its annoyances and drawbacks, as well as many other blessings. The -disproportionate weight of metal upon the spar and gun decks induces a -violent rolling, unknown to merchant ships. We rolled and rolled on our -way, like the world in its orbit, shipping green seas on both sides, -until the old frigate dipped and went into it like a diving-bell. - -The hatchways of some armed vessels are but poorly secured in bad -weather. This was peculiarly the ease with those of the Neversink. They -were merely spread over with an old tarpaulin, cracked and rent in -every direction. - -In fair weather, the ship’s company messed on the gun-deck; but as this -was now flooded almost continually, we were obliged to take our meals -upon the berth-deck, the next one below. One day, the messes of the -starboard-watch were seated here at dinner; forming little groups, -twelve or fifteen men in each, reclining about the beef-kids and their -pots and pans; when all of a sudden the ship was seized with such a -paroxysm of rolling that, in a single instant, everything on the -berth-deck—pots, kids, sailors, pieces of beef, bread-bags, -clothes-bags, and barges—were tossed indiscriminately from side to -side. It was impossible to stay one’s self; there was nothing but the -bare deck to cling to, which was slippery with the contents of the -kids, and heaving under us as if there were a volcano in the frigate’s -hold. While we were yet sliding in uproarious crowds—all seated—the -windows of the deck opened, and floods of brine descended, -simultaneously with a violent lee-roll. The shower was hailed by the -reckless tars with a hurricane of yells; although, for an instant, I -really imagined we were about being swamped in the sea, such volumes of -water came cascading down. - -A day or two after, we had made sufficient Easting to stand to the -northward, which we did, with the wind astern; thus fairly turning the -corner without abating our rate of progress. Though we had seen no land -since leaving Callao, Cape Horn was said to be somewhere to the west of -us; and though there was no positive evidence of the fact, the weather -encountered might be accounted pretty good presumptive proof. - -The land near Cape Horn, however, is well worth seeing, especially -Staten Land. Upon one occasion, the ship in which I then happened to be -sailing drew near this place from the northward, with a fair, free -wind, blowing steadily, through a bright translucent clay, whose air -was almost musical with the clear, glittering cold. On our starboard -beam, like a pile of glaciers in Switzerland, lay this Staten Land, -gleaming in snow-white barrenness and solitude. Unnumbered white -albatross were skimming the sea near by, and clouds of smaller white -wings fell through the air like snow-flakes. High, towering in their -own turbaned snows, the far-inland pinnacles loomed up, like the border -of some other world. Flashing walls and crystal battlements, like the -diamond watch-towers along heaven’s furthest frontier. - -After leaving the latitude of the Cape, we had several storms of snow; -one night a considerable quantity laid upon the decks, and some of the -sailors enjoyed the juvenile diversion of snow-balling. Woe unto the -“middy” who that night went forward of the booms. Such a target for -snow-balls! The throwers could never be known. By some curious sleight -in hurling the missiles, they seemed to be thrown on board by some -hoydenish sea-nymphs outside the frigate. - -At daybreak Midshipman Pert went below to the surgeon with an alarming -wound, gallantly received in discharging his perilous duty on the -forecastle. The officer of the deck had sent him on an errand, to tell -the boatswain that he was wanted in the captain’s cabin. While in the -very act of performing the exploit of delivering the message, Mr. Pert -was struck on the nose with a snow-ball of wondrous compactness. Upon -being informed of the disaster, the rogues expressed the liveliest -sympathy. Pert was no favourite. - -After one of these storms, it was a curious sight to see the men -relieving the uppermost deck of its load of snow. It became the duty of -the captain of each gun to keep his own station clean; accordingly, -with an old broom, or “squilgee,” he proceeded to business, often -quarrelling with his next-door neighbours about their scraping their -snow on his premises. It was like Broadway in winter, the morning after -a storm, when rival shop-boys are at work cleaning the sidewalk. - -Now and then, by way of variety, we had a fall of hailstones, so big -that sometimes we found ourselves dodging them. - -The Commodore had a Polynesian servant on board, whose services he had -engaged at the Society Islands. Unlike his countrymen, Wooloo was of a -sedate, earnest, and philosophic temperament. Having never been outside -of the tropics before, he found many phenomena off Cape Horn, which -absorbed his attention, and set him, like other philosophers, to feign -theories corresponding to the marvels he beheld. At the first snow, -when he saw the deck covered all over with a white powder, as it were, -he expanded his eyes into stewpans; but upon examining the strange -substance, he decided that this must be a species of super-fine flower, -such as was compounded into his master’s “_duffs_,” and other dainties. -In vain did an experienced natural philosopher belonging to the -fore-top maintain before his face, that in this hypothesis Wooloo was -mistaken. Wooloo’s opinion remained unchanged for some time. - -As for the hailstones, they transported him; he went about with a -bucket, making collections, and receiving contributions, for the -purpose of carrying them home to his sweethearts for glass beads; but -having put his bucket away, and returning to it again, and finding -nothing but a little water, he accused the by-standers of stealing his -precious stones. - -This suggests another story concerning him. The first time he was given -a piece of “duff” to eat, he was observed to pick out very carefully -every raisin, and throw it away, with a gesture indicative of the -highest disgust. It turned out that he had taken the raisins for bugs. - -In our man-of-war, this semi-savage, wandering about the gun-deck in -his barbaric robe, seemed a being from some other sphere. His tastes -were our abominations: ours his. Our creed he rejected: his we. We -thought him a loon: he fancied us fools. Had the case been reversed; -had we been Polynesians and he an American, our mutual opinion of each -other would still have remained the same. A fact proving that neither -was wrong, but both right. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX. -THE NIGHT-WATCHES. - - -Though leaving the Cape behind us, the severe cold still continued, and -one of its worst consequences was the almost incurable drowsiness -induced thereby during the long night-watches. All along the decks, -huddled between the guns, stretched out on the carronade slides, and in -every accessible nook and corner, you would see the sailors wrapped in -their monkey jackets, in a state of half-conscious torpidity, lying -still and freezing alive, without the power to rise and shake -themselves. - -“Up—up, you lazy dogs!” our good-natured Third Lieutenant, a Virginian, -would cry, rapping them with his speaking trumpet. “Get up, and stir -about.” - -But in vain. They would rise for an instant, and as soon as his back -was turned, down they would drop, as if shot through the heart. - -Often I have lain thus when the fact, that if I laid much longer I -would actually freeze to death, would come over me with such -overpowering force as to break the icy spell, and starting to my feet, -I would endeavour to go through the combined manual and pedal exercise -to restore the circulation. The first fling of my benumbed arm -generally struck me in the face, instead of smiting my chest, its true -destination. But in these cases one’s muscles have their own way. - -In exercising my other extremities, I was obliged to hold on to -something, and leap with both feet; for my limbs seemed as destitute of -joints as a pair of canvas pants spread to dry, and frozen stiff. - -When an order was given to haul the braces—which required the strength -of the entire watch, some two hundred men—a spectator would have -supposed that all hands had received a stroke of the palsy. Roused from -their state of enchantment, they came halting and limping across the -decks, falling against each other, and, for a few moments, almost -unable to handle the ropes. The slightest exertion seemed intolerable; -and frequently a body of eighty or a hundred men summoned to brace the -main-yard, would hang over the rope for several minutes, waiting for -some active fellow to pick it up and put it into their hands. Even -then, it was some time before they were able to do anything. They made -all the motions usual in hauling a rope, but it was a long time before -the yard budged an inch. It was to no purpose that the officers swore -at them, or sent the midshipmen among them to find out who those -“_horse-marines_” and “_sogers_” were. The sailors were so enveloped in -monkey jackets, that in the dark night there was no telling one from -the other. - -“Here, _you_, sir!” cries little Mr. Pert eagerly catching hold of the -skirts of an old sea-dog, and trying to turn him round, so as to peer -under his tarpaulin. “Who are _you_, sir? What’s your name?” - -“Find out, Milk-and-Water,” was the impertinent rejoinder. - -“Blast you! you old rascal; I’ll have you licked for that! Tell me his -name, some of you!” turning round to the bystanders. - -“Gammon!” cries a voice at a distance. - -“Hang me, but I know _you_, sir! and here’s at you!” and, so saying, -Mr. Pert drops the impenetrable unknown, and makes into the crowd after -the bodiless voice. But the attempt to find an owner for that voice is -quite as idle as the effort to discover the contents of the monkey -jacket. - -And here sorrowful mention must be made of something which, during this -state of affairs, most sorely afflicted me. Most monkey jackets are of -a dark hue; mine, as I have fifty times repeated, and say again, was -white. And thus, in those long, dark nights, when it was my -quarter-watch on deck, and not in the top, and others went skulking and -“sogering” about the decks, secure from detection—their identity -undiscoverable—my own hapless jacket for ever proclaimed the name of -its wearer. It gave me many a hard job, which otherwise I should have -escaped. When an officer wanted a man for any particular duty—running -aloft, say, to communicate some slight order to the captains of the -tops—how easy, in that mob of incognitoes, to individualise “_that -white jacket_,” and dispatch him on the errand. Then, it would never do -for me to hang back when the ropes were being pulled. - -Indeed, upon all these occasions, such alacrity and cheerfulness was I -obliged to display, that I was frequently held up as an illustrious -example of activity, which the rest were called upon to emulate. -“Pull—pull! you lazy lubbers! Look at White-Jacket, there; pull like -him!” - -Oh! how I execrated my luckless garment; how often I scoured the deck -with it to give it a tawny hue; how often I supplicated the inexorable -Brush, captain of the paint-room, for just one brushful of his -invaluable pigment. Frequently, I meditated giving it a toss overboard; -but I had not the resolution. Jacketless at sea! Jacketless so near -Cape Horn! The thought was unendurable. And, at least, my garment was a -jacket in name, if not in utility. - -At length I essayed a “swap.” “Here, Bob,” said I, assuming all -possible suavity, and accosting a mess-mate with a sort of diplomatic -assumption of superiority, “suppose I was ready to part with this -‘grego’ of mine, and take yours in exchange—what would you give me to -boot?” - -“Give you to _boot?_” he exclaimed, with horror; “I wouldn’t take your -infernal jacket for a gift!” - -How I hailed every snow-squall; for then—blessings on them!—many of the -men became _white-jackets_ along with myself; and, powdered with the -flakes, we all looked like millers. - -We had six lieutenants, all of whom, with the exception of the First -Lieutenant, by turns headed the watches. Three of these officers, -including Mad Jack, were strict disciplinarians, and never permitted us -to lay down on deck during the night. And, to tell the truth, though it -caused much growling, it was far better for our health to be thus kept -on our feet. So promenading was all the vogue. For some of us, however, -it was like pacing in a dungeon; for, as we had to keep at our -stations—some at the halyards, some at the braces, and elsewhere—and -were not allowed to stroll about indefinitely, and fairly take the -measure of the ship’s entire keel, we were fain to confine ourselves to -the space of a very few feet. But the worse of this was soon over. The -suddenness of the change in the temperature consequent on leaving Cape -Horn, and steering to the northward with a ten-knot breeze, is a -noteworthy thing. To-day, you are assailed by a blast that seems to -have edged itself on icebergs; but in a little more than a week, your -jacket may be superfluous. - -One word more about Cape Horn, and we have done with it. - -Years hence, when a ship-canal shall have penetrated the Isthmus of -Darien, and the traveller be taking his seat in the ears at Cape Cod -for Astoria, it will be held a thing almost incredible that, for so -long a period, vessels bound to the Nor’-west Coast from New York -should, by going round Cape Horn, have lengthened their voyages some -thousands of miles. “In those unenlightened days” (I quote, in advance, -the language of some future philosopher), “entire years were frequently -consumed in making the voyage to and from the Spice Islands, the -present fashionable watering-place of the beau-monde of Oregon.” Such -must be our national progress. - -Why, sir, that boy of yours will, one of these days, be sending your -grandson to the salubrious city of Jeddo to spend his summer vacations. - - - - -CHAPTER XXX. -A PEEP THROUGH A PORT-HOLE AT THE SUBTERRANEAN PARTS OF A MAN-OF-WAR. - - -While now running rapidly away from the bitter coast of Patagonia, -battling with the night-watches—still cold—as best we may; come under -the lee of my white-jacket, reader, while I tell of the less painful -sights to be seen in a frigate. - -A hint has already been conveyed concerning the subterranean depths of -the Neversink’s hold. But there is no time here to speak of the -_spirit-room_, a cellar down in the after-hold, where the sailor’s -“grog” is kept; nor of the _cabletiers_, where the great hawsers and -chains are piled, as you see them at a large ship-chandler’s on shore; -nor of the grocer’s vaults, where tierces of sugar, molasses, vinegar, -rice, and flour are snugly stowed; nor of the _sail-room_, full as a -sail-maker’s loft ashore—piled up with great top-sails and -top-gallant-sails, all ready-folded in their places, like so many white -vests in a gentleman’s wardrobe; nor of the copper and copper-fastened -_magazine_, closely packed with kegs of powder, great-gun and small-arm -cartridges; nor of the immense _shot-lockers_, or subterranean -arsenals, full as a bushel of apples with twenty-four-pound balls; nor -of the _bread-room_, a large apartment, tinned all round within to keep -out the mice, where the hard biscuit destined for the consumption of -five hundred men on a long voyage is stowed away by the cubic yard; nor -of the vast iron tanks for fresh water in the hold, like the reservoir -lakes at Fairmount, in Philadelphia; nor of the _paint-room_, where the -kegs of white-lead, and casks of linseed oil, and all sorts of pots and -brushes, are kept; nor of the _armoror’s smithy_, where the ship’s -forges and anvils may be heard ringing at times; I say I have no time -to speak of these things, and many more places of note. - -But there is one very extensive warehouse among the rest that needs -special mention—_the ship’s Yeoman’s storeroom_. In the Neversink it -was down in the ship’s basement, beneath the berth-deck, and you went -to it by way of the _Fore-passage_, a very dim, devious corridor, -indeed. Entering—say at noonday—you find yourself in a gloomy -apartment, lit by a solitary lamp. On one side are shelves, filled with -balls of _marline, ratlin-stuf, seizing-stuff, spun-yarn_, and numerous -twines of assorted sizes. In another direction you see large cases -containing heaps of articles, reminding one of a shoemaker’s -furnishing-store—wooden _serving-mallets, fids, toggles_, and -_heavers:_ iron _prickers_ and _marling-spikes;_ in a third quarter you -see a sort of hardware shop—shelves piled with all manner of hooks, -bolts, nails, screws, and _thimbles;_ and, in still another direction, -you see a block-maker’s store, heaped up with lignum-vitae sheeves and -wheels. - -Through low arches in the bulkhead beyond, you peep in upon distant -vaults and catacombs, obscurely lighted in the far end, and showing -immense coils of new ropes, and other bulky articles, stowed in tiers, -all savouring of tar. - -But by far the most curious department of these mysterious store-rooms -is the armoury, where the spikes, cutlasses, pistols, and belts, -forming the arms of the boarders in time of action, are hung against -the walls, and suspended in thick rows from the beams overhead. Here, -too, are to be seen scores of Colt’s patent revolvers, which, though -furnished with but one tube, multiply the fatal bullets, as the naval -cat-o’-nine-tails, with a cannibal cruelty, in one blow nine times -multiplies a culprit’s lashes; so that when a sailor is ordered one -dozen lashes, the sentence should read one hundred and eight. All these -arms are kept in the brightest order, wearing a fine polish, and may -truly be said to _reflect_ credit on the Yeoman and his mates. - -Among the lower grade of officers in a man-of-war, that of Yeoman is -not the least important. His responsibilities are denoted by his pay. -While the _petty officers_, quarter-gunners, captains of the tops, and -others, receive but fifteen and eighteen dollars a month—but little -more than a mere able seamen—the Yeoman in an American line-of-battle -ship receives forty dollars, and in a frigate thirty-five dollars per -month. - -He is accountable for all the articles under his charge, and on no -account must deliver a yard of twine or a ten-penny nail to the -boatswain or carpenter, unless shown a written requisition and order -from the Senior Lieutenant. The Yeoman is to be found burrowing in his -underground store-rooms all the day long, in readiness to serve -licensed customers. But in the counter, behind which he usually stands, -there is no place for a till to drop the shillings in, which takes away -not a little from the most agreeable part of a storekeeper’s duties. -Nor, among the musty, old account-books in his desk, where he registers -all expenditures of his stuffs, is there any cash or check book. - -The Yeoman of the Neversink was a somewhat odd specimen of a -Troglodyte. He was a little old man, round-shouldered, bald-headed, -with great goggle-eyes, looking through portentous round spectacles, -which he called his _barnacles_. He was imbued with a wonderful zeal -for the naval service, and seemed to think that, in keeping his pistols -and cutlasses free from rust, he preserved the national honour -untarnished. After _general quarters_, it was amusing to watch his -anxious air as the various _petty officers_ restored to him the arms -used at the martial exercises of the crew. As successive bundles would -be deposited on his counter, he would count over the pistols and -cutlasses, like an old housekeeper telling over her silver forks and -spoons in a pantry before retiring for the night. And often, with a -sort of dark lantern in his hand, he might be seen poking into his -furthest vaults and cellars, and counting over his great coils of -ropes, as if they were all jolly puncheons of old Port and Madeira. - -By reason of his incessant watchfulness and unaccountable bachelor -oddities, it was very difficult for him to retain in his employment the -various sailors who, from time to time, were billeted with him to do -the duty of subalterns. In particular, he was always desirous of having -at least one steady, faultless young man, of a literary taste, to keep -an eye to his account-books, and swab out the armoury every morning. It -was an odious business this, to be immured all day in such a bottomless -hole, among tarry old ropes and villainous guns and pistols. It was -with peculiar dread that I one day noticed the goggle-eyes of _Old -Revolver_, as they called him, fastened upon me with a fatal glance of -good-will and approbation. He had somehow heard of my being a very -learned person, who could both read and write with extraordinary -facility; and moreover that I was a rather reserved youth, who kept his -modest, unassuming merits in the background. But though, from the keen -sense of my situation as a man-of-war’s-man all this about my keeping -myself in the _back_ ground was true enough, yet I had no idea of -hiding my diffident merits _under_ ground. I became alarmed at the old -Yeoman’s goggling glances, lest he should drag me down into tarry -perdition in his hideous store-rooms. But this fate was providentially -averted, owing to mysterious causes which I never could fathom. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXI. -THE GUNNER UNDER HATCHES. - - -Among such a crowd of marked characters as were to be met with on board -our frigate, many of whom moved in mysterious circles beneath the -lowermost deck, and at long intervals flitted into sight like -apparitions, and disappeared again for whole weeks together, there were -some who inordinately excited my curiosity, and whose names, callings, -and precise abodes I industriously sought out, in order to learn -something satisfactory concerning them. - -While engaged in these inquiries, often fruitless, or but partially -gratified, I could not but regret that there was no public printed -Directory for the Neversink, such as they have in large towns, -containing an alphabetic list of all the crew, and where they might be -found. Also, in losing myself in some remote, dark corner of the bowels -of the frigate, in the vicinity of the various store-rooms, shops, and -warehouses, I much lamented that no enterprising tar had yet thought of -compiling a _Hand-book of the Neversink_, so that the tourist might -have a reliable guide. - -Indeed, there were several parts of the ship under hatches shrouded in -mystery, and completely inaccessible to the sailor. - -Wondrous old doors, barred and bolted in dingy bulkheads, must have -opened into regions full of interest to a successful explorer. - -They looked like the gloomy entrances to family vaults of buried dead; -and when I chanced to see some unknown functionary insert his key, and -enter these inexplicable apartments with a battle-lantern, as if on -solemn official business, I almost quaked to dive in with him, and -satisfy myself whether these vaults indeed contained the mouldering -relics of by-gone old Commodores and Post-captains. But the habitations -of the living commodore and captain—their spacious and curtained -cabins—were themselves almost as sealed volumes, and I passed them in -hopeless wonderment, like a peasant before a prince’s palace. Night and -day armed sentries guarded their sacred portals, cutlass in hand; and -had I dared to cross their path, I would infallibly have been cut down, -as if in battle. Thus, though for a period of more than a year I was an -inmate of this floating box of live-oak, yet there were numberless -things in it that, to the last, remained wrapped in obscurity, or -concerning which I could only lose myself in vague speculations. I was -as a Roman Jew of the Middle Ages, confined to the Jews’ quarter of the -town, and forbidden to stray beyond my limits. Or I was as a modern -traveller in the same famous city, forced to quit it at last without -gaining ingress to the most mysterious haunts—the innermost shrine of -the Pope, and the dungeons and cells of the Inquisition. - -But among all the persons and things on board that puzzled me, and -filled me most with strange emotions of doubt, misgivings and mystery, -was the Gunner—a short, square, grim man, his hair and beard grizzled -and singed, as if with gunpowder. His skin was of a flecky brown, like -the stained barrel of a fowling-piece, and his hollow eyes burned in -his head like blue-lights. He it was who had access to many of those -mysterious vaults I have spoken of. Often he might be seen groping his -way into them, followed by his subalterns, the old quarter-gunners, as -if intent upon laying a train of powder to blow up the ship. I -remembered Guy Fawkes and the Parliament-house, and made earnest -inquiry whether this gunner was a Roman Catholic. I felt relieved when -informed that he was not. - -A little circumstance which one of his _mates_ once told me heightened -the gloomy interest with which I regarded his chief. He told me that, -at periodical intervals, his master the Gunner, accompanied by his -phalanx, entered into the great Magazine under the Gun-room, of which -he had sole custody and kept the key, nearly as big as the key of the -Bastile, and provided with lanterns, something like Sir Humphrey Davy’s -Safety-lamp for coal mines, proceeded to turn, end for end, all the -kegs of powder and packages of cartridges stored in this innermost -explosive vault, lined throughout with sheets of copper. In the -vestibule of the Magazine, against the panelling, were several pegs for -slippers, and, before penetrating further than that vestibule, every -man of the gunner’s gang silently removed his shoes, for fear that the -nails in their heels might possibly create a spark, by striking against -the coppered floor within. Then, with slippered feet and with hushed -whispers, they stole into the heart of the place. - -This turning of the powder was to preserve its inflammability. And -surely it was a business full of direful interest, to be buried so deep -below the sun, handling whole barrels of powder, any one of which, -touched by the smallest spark, was powerful enough to blow up a whole -street of warehouses. - -The gunner went by the name of _Old Combustibles_, though I thought -this an undignified name for so momentous a personage, who had all our -lives in his hand. - -While we lay in Callao, we received from shore several barrels of -powder. So soon as the _launch_ came alongside with them, orders were -given to extinguish all lights and all fires in the ship; and the -master-at-arms and his corporals inspected every deck to see that this -order was obeyed; a very prudent precaution, no doubt, but not observed -at all in the Turkish navy. The Turkish sailors will sit on their -gun-carriages, tranquilly smoking, while kegs of powder are being -rolled under their ignited pipe-bowls. This shows the great comfort -there is in the doctrine of these Fatalists, and how such a doctrine, -in some things at least, relieves men from nervous anxieties. But we -all are Fatalists at bottom. Nor need we so much marvel at the heroism -of that army officer, who challenged his personal foe to bestride a -barrel of powder with him—the match to be placed between them—and be -blown up in good company, for it is pretty certain that the whole earth -itself is a vast hogshead, full of inflammable materials, and which we -are always bestriding; at the same time, that all good Christians -believe that at any minute the last day may come and the terrible -combustion of the entire planet ensue. - -As if impressed with a befitting sense of the awfulness of his calling, -our gunner always wore a fixed expression of solemnity, which was -heightened by his grizzled hair and beard. But what imparted such a -sinister look to him, and what wrought so upon my imagination -concerning this man, was a frightful scar crossing his left cheek and -forehead. He had been almost mortally wounded, they said, with a -sabre-cut, during a frigate engagement in the last war with Britain. - -He was the most methodical, exact, and punctual of all the forward -officers. Among his other duties, it pertained to him, while in -harbour, to see that at a certain hour in the evening one of the great -guns was discharged from the forecastle, a ceremony only observed in a -flag-ship. And always at the precise moment you might behold him -blowing his match, then applying it; and with that booming thunder in -his ear, and the smell of the powder in his hair, he retired to his -hammock for the night. What dreams he must have had! - -The same precision was observed when ordered to fire a gun to _bring -to_ some ship at sea; for, true to their name, and preserving its -applicability, even in times of peace, all men-of-war are great bullies -on the high seas. They domineer over the poor merchantmen, and with a -hissing hot ball sent bowling across the ocean, compel them to stop -their headway at pleasure. - -It was enough to make you a man of method for life, to see the gunner -superintending his subalterns, when preparing the main-deck batteries -for a great national salute. While lying in harbour, intelligence -reached us of the lamentable casualty that befell certain high officers -of state, including the acting Secretary of the Navy himself, some -other member of the President’s cabinet, a Commodore, and others, all -engaged in experimenting upon a new-fangled engine of war. At the same -time with the receipt of this sad news, orders arrived to fire -minute-guns for the deceased head of the naval department. Upon this -occasion the gunner was more than usually ceremonious, in seeing that -the long twenty-fours were thoroughly loaded and rammed down, and then -accurately marked with chalk, so as to be discharged in undeviating -rotation, first from the larboard side, and then from the starboard. - -But as my ears hummed, and all my bones danced in me with the -reverberating din, and my eyes and nostrils were almost suffocated with -the smoke, and when I saw this grim old gunner firing away so solemnly, -I thought it a strange mode of honouring a man’s memory who had himself -been slaughtered by a cannon. Only the smoke, that, after rolling in at -the port-holes, rapidly drifted away to leeward, and was lost to view, -seemed truly emblematical touching the personage thus honoured, since -that great non-combatant, the Bible, assures us that our life is but a -vapour, that quickly passeth away. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXII. -A DISH OF DUNDERFUNK. - - -In men-of-war, the space on the uppermost deck, round about the -main-mast, is the Police-office, Court-house, and yard of execution, -where all charges are lodged, causes tried, and punishment -administered. In frigate phrase, to be _brought up to the mast_, is -equivalent to being presented before the grand-jury, to see whether a -true bill will be found against you. - -From the merciless, inquisitorial _baiting_, which sailors, charged -with offences, too often experience _at the mast_, that vicinity is -usually known among them as the _bull-ring_. - -The main-mast, moreover, is the only place where the sailor can hold -formal communication with the captain and officers. If any one has been -robbed; if any one has been evilly entreated; if any one’s character -has been defamed; if any one has a request to present; if any one has -aught important for the executive of the ship to know—straight to the -main-mast he repairs; and stands there—generally with his hat -off—waiting the pleasure of the officer of the deck, to advance and -communicate with him. Often, the most ludicrous scenes occur, and the -most comical complaints are made. - -One clear, cold morning, while we were yet running away from the Cape, -a raw boned, crack-pated Down Easter, belonging to the Waist, made his -appearance at the mast, dolefully exhibiting a blackened tin pan, -bearing a few crusty traces of some sort of a sea-pie, which had been -cooked in it. - -“Well, sir, what now?” said the Lieutenant of the Deck, advancing. - -“They stole it, sir; all my nice _dunderfunk_, sir; they did, sir,” -whined the Down Easter, ruefully holding up his pan. “Stole your -_dunderfunk!_ what’s that?” - -“_Dunderfunk_, sir, _dunderfunk_; a cruel nice dish as ever man put -into him.” - -“Speak out, sir; what’s the matter?” - -“My _dunderfunk_, sir—as elegant a dish of _dunderfunk_ as you ever -see, sir—they stole it, sir!” - -“Go forward, you rascal!” cried the Lieutenant, in a towering rage, “or -else stop your whining. Tell me, what’s the matter?” - -“Why, sir, them ’ere two fellows, Dobs and Hodnose, stole my -_dunderfunk_.” - -“Once more, sir, I ask what that _dundledunk_ is? Speak!” “As cruel a -nice——” - -“Be off, sir! sheer!” and muttering something about _non compos -mentis_, the Lieutenant stalked away; while the Down Easter beat a -melancholy retreat, holding up his pan like a tambourine, and making -dolorous music on it as he went. - -“Where are you going with that tear in your eye, like a travelling -rat?” cried a top-man. - -“Oh! he’s going home to Down East,” said another; “so far eastward, you -know, _shippy_, that they have to pry up the sun with a handspike.” - -To make this anecdote plainer, be it said that, at sea, the monotonous -round of salt beef and pork at the messes of the sailors—where but very -few of the varieties of the season are to be found—induces them to -adopt many contrivances in order to diversify their meals. Hence the -various sea-rolls, made dishes, and Mediterranean pies, well known by -men-of-war’s-men—_Scouse, Lob-scouse, Soft-Tack, Soft-Tommy, -Skillagalee, Burgoo, Dough-boys, Lob-Dominion, Dog’s-Body_, and lastly, -and least known, _Dunderfunk_; all of which come under the general -denomination of _Manavalins_. - -_Dunderfunk_ is made of hard biscuit, hashed and pounded, mixed with -beef fat, molasses, and water, and baked brown in a pan. And to those -who are beyond all reach of shore delicacies, this _dunderfunk_, in the -feeling language of the Down Easter, is certainly “_a cruel nice -dish_.” - -Now the only way that a sailor, after preparing his _dunderfunk_, could -get it cooked on board the Neversink, was by slily going to _Old -Coffee_, the ship’s cook, and bribing him to put it into his oven. And -as some such dishes or other are well known to be all the time in the -oven, a set of unprincipled gourmands are constantly on the look-out -for the chance of stealing them. Generally, two or three league -together, and while one engages _Old Coffee_ in some interesting -conversation touching his wife and family at home, another snatches the -first thing he can lay hands on in the oven, and rapidly passes it to -the third man, who at his earliest leisure disappears with it. - -In this manner had the Down Easter lost his precious pie, and afterward -found the empty pan knocking about the forecastle. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIII. -A FLOGGING. - - -If you begin the day with a laugh, you may, nevertheless, end it with a -sob and a sigh. - -Among the many who were exceedingly diverted with the scene between the -Down Easter and the Lieutenant, none laughed more heartily than John, -Peter, Mark, and Antone—four sailors of the starboard-watch. The same -evening these four found themselves prisoners in the “brig,” with a -sentry standing over them. They were charged with violating a -well-known law of the ship—having been engaged in one of those tangled, -general fights sometimes occurring among sailors. They had nothing to -anticipate but a flogging, at the captain’s pleasure. - -Toward evening of the next day, they were startled by the dread summons -of the boatswain and his mates at the principal hatchway—a summons that -ever sends a shudder through every manly heart in a frigate: - -“_All hands witness punishment, ahoy!_” - -The hoarseness of the cry, its unrelenting prolongation, its being -caught up at different points, and sent through the lowermost depths of -the ship; all this produces a most dismal effect upon every heart not -calloused by long habituation to it. - -However much you may desire to absent yourself from the scene that -ensues, yet behold it you must; or, at least, stand near it you must; -for the regulations enjoin the attendance of the entire ship’s company, -from the corpulent Captain himself to the smallest boy who strikes the -bell. - -“_All hands witness punishment, ahoy!_” - -To the sensitive seaman that summons sounds like a doom. He knows that -the same law which impels it—the same law by which the culprits of the -day must suffer; that by that very law he also is liable at any time to -be judged and condemned. And the inevitableness of his own presence at -the scene; the strong arm that drags him in view of the scourge, and -holds him there till all is over; forcing upon his loathing eye and -soul the sufferings and groans of men who have familiarly consorted -with him, eaten with him, battled out watches with him—men of his own -type and badge—all this conveys a terrible hint of the omnipotent -authority under which he lives. Indeed, to such a man the naval summons -to witness punishment carries a thrill, somewhat akin to what we may -impute to the quick and the dead, when they shall hear the Last Trump, -that is to bid them all arise in their ranks, and behold the final -penalties inflicted upon the sinners of our race. - -But it must not be imagined that to all men-of-war’s-men this summons -conveys such poignant emotions; but it is hard to decide whether one -should be glad or sad that this is not the case; whether it is grateful -to know that so much pain is avoided, or whether it is far sadder to -think that, either from constitutional hard-heartedness or the -multiplied searings of habit, hundreds of men-of-war’s-men have been -made proof against the sense of degradation, pity, and shame. - -As if in sympathy with the scene to be enacted, the sun, which the day -previous had merrily flashed upon the tin pan of the disconsolate Down -Easter, was now setting over the dreary waters, veiling itself in -vapours. The wind blew hoarsely in the cordage; the seas broke heavily -against the bows; and the frigate, staggering under whole top-sails, -strained as in agony on her way. - -“_All hands witness punishment, ahoy!_” - -At the summons the crew crowded round the main-mast; multitudes eager -to obtain a good place on the booms, to overlook the scene; many -laughing and chatting, others canvassing the case of the culprits; some -maintaining sad, anxious countenances, or carrying a suppressed -indignation in their eyes; a few purposely keeping behind to avoid -looking on; in short, among five hundred men, there was every possible -shade of character. - -All the officers—midshipmen included—stood together in a group on the -starboard side of the main-mast; the First Lieutenant in advance, and -the surgeon, whose special duty it is to be present at such times, -standing close by his side. - -Presently the Captain came forward from his cabin, and stood in the -centre of this solemn group, with a small paper in his hand. That paper -was the daily report of offences, regularly laid upon his table every -morning or evening, like the day’s journal placed by a bachelor’s -napkin at breakfast. - -“Master-at-arms, bring up the prisoners,” he said. - -A few moments elapsed, during which the Captain, now clothed in his -most dreadful attributes, fixed his eyes severely upon the crew, when -suddenly a lane formed through the crowd of seamen, and the prisoners -advanced—the master-at-arms, rattan in hand, on one side, and an armed -marine on the other—and took up their stations at the mast. - -“You John, you Peter, you Mark, you Antone,” said the Captain, “were -yesterday found fighting on the gun-deck. Have you anything to say?” - -Mark and Antone, two steady, middle-aged men, whom I had often admired -for their sobriety, replied that they did not strike the first blow; -that they had submitted to much before they had yielded to their -passions; but as they acknowledged that they had at last defended -themselves, their excuse was overruled. - -John—a brutal bully, who, it seems, was the real author of the -disturbance—was about entering into a long extenuation, when he was cut -short by being made to confess, irrespective of circumstances, that he -had been in the fray. - -Peter, a handsome lad about nineteen years old, belonging to the -mizzen-top, looked pale and tremulous. He was a great favourite in his -part of the ship, and especially in his own mess, principally composed -of lads of his own age. That morning two of his young mess-mates had -gone to his bag, taken out his best clothes, and, obtaining the -permission of the marine sentry at the “brig,” had handed them to him, -to be put on against being summoned to the mast. This was done to -propitiate the Captain, as most captains love to see a tidy sailor. But -it would not do. To all his supplications the Captain turned a deaf -ear. Peter declared that he had been struck twice before he had -returned a blow. “No matter,” said the Captain, “you struck at last, -instead of reporting the case to an officer. I allow no man to fight on -board here but myself. I do the fighting.” - -“Now, men,” he added, “you all admit the charge; you know the penalty. -Strip! Quarter-masters, are the gratings rigged?” - -The gratings are square frames of barred wood-work, sometimes placed -over the hatchways. One of these squares was now laid on the deck, -close to the ship’s bulwarks, and while the remaining preparations were -being made, the master-at-arms assisted the prisoners in removing their -jackets and shirts. This done, their shirts were loosely thrown over -their shoulders. - -At a sign from the Captain, John, with a shameless leer, advanced, and -stood passively upon the grating, while the bare-headed old -quarter-master, with grey hair streaming in the wind, bound his feet to -the cross-bars, and, stretching out his arms over his head, secured -them to the hammock-nettings above. He then retreated a little space, -standing silent. - -Meanwhile, the boatswain stood solemnly on the other side, with a green -bag in his hand, from which, taking four instruments of punishment, he -gave one to each of his mates; for a fresh “cat” applied by a fresh -hand, is the ceremonious privilege accorded to every man-of-war -culprit. - -At another sign from the Captain, the master-at-arms, stepping up, -removed the shirt from the prisoner. At this juncture a wave broke -against the ship’s side, and clashed the spray over his exposed back. -But though the air was piercing cold, and the water drenched him, John -stood still, without a shudder. - -The Captain’s finger was now lifted, and the first boatswain’s-mate -advanced, combing out the nine tails of his _cat_ with his hand, and -then, sweeping them round his neck, brought them with the whole force -of his body upon the mark. Again, and again, and again; and at every -blow, higher and higher rose the long, purple bars on the prisoner’s -back. But he only bowed over his head, and stood still. Meantime, some -of the crew whispered among themselves in applause of their ship-mate’s -nerve; but the greater part were breathlessly silent as the keen -scourge hissed through the wintry air, and fell with a cutting, wiry -sound upon the mark. One dozen lashes being applied, the man was taken -down, and went among the crew with a smile, saying, “D——n me! it’s -nothing when you’re used to it! Who wants to fight?” - -The next was Antone, the Portuguese. At every blow he surged from side -to side, pouring out a torrent of involuntary blasphemies. Never before -had he been heard to curse. When cut down, he went among the men, -swearing to have the life of the Captain. Of course, this was unheard -by the officers. - -Mark, the third prisoner, only cringed and coughed under his -punishment. He had some pulmonary complaint. He was off duty for -several days after the flogging; but this was partly to be imputed to -his extreme mental misery. It was his first scourging, and he felt the -insult more than the injury. He became silent and sullen for the rest -of the cruise. - -The fourth and last was Peter, the mizzen-top lad. He had often boasted -that he had never been degraded at the gangway. The day before his -cheek had worn its usual red but now no ghost was whiter. As he was -being secured to the gratings, and the shudderings and creepings of his -dazzlingly white back were revealed, he turned round his head -imploringly; but his weeping entreaties and vows of contrition were of -no avail. “I would not forgive God Almighty!” cried the Captain. The -fourth boatswain’s-mate advanced, and at the first blow, the boy, -shouting “_My God! Oh! my God!_” writhed and leaped so as to displace -the gratings, and scatter the nine tails of the scourge all over his -person. At the next blow he howled, leaped, and raged in unendurable -torture. - -“What are you stopping for, boatswain’s-mate?” cried the Captain. “Lay -on!” and the whole dozen was applied. - -“I don’t care what happens to me now!” wept Peter, going among the -crew, with blood-shot eyes, as he put on his shirt. “I have been -flogged once, and they may do it again, if they will. Let them look for -me now!” - -“Pipe down!” cried the Captain, and the crew slowly dispersed. - -Let us have the charity to believe them—as we do—when some Captains in -the Navy say, that the thing of all others most repulsive to them, in -the routine of what they consider their duty, is the administration of -corporal punishment upon the crew; for, surely, not to feel scarified -to the quick at these scenes would argue a man but a beast. - -You see a human being, stripped like a slave; scourged worse than a -hound. And for what? For things not essentially criminal, but only made -so by arbitrary laws. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIV. -SOME OF THE EVIL EFFECTS OF FLOGGING. - - -There are incidental considerations touching this matter of flogging, -which exaggerate the evil into a great enormity. Many illustrations -might be given, but let us be content with a few. - -One of the arguments advanced by officers of the Navy in favour of -corporal punishment is this: it can be inflicted in a moment; it -consumes no valuable time; and when the prisoner’s shirt is put on, -_that_ is the last of it. Whereas, if another punishment were -substituted, it would probably occasion a great waste of time and -trouble, besides thereby begetting in the sailor an undue idea of his -importance. - -Absurd, or worse than absurd, as it may appear, all this is true; and -if you start from the same premises with these officers, you, must -admit that they advance an irresistible argument. But in accordance -with this principle, captains in the Navy, to a certain extent, inflict -the scourge—which is ever at hand—for nearly all degrees of -transgression. In offences not cognisable by a court-martial, little, -if any, discrimination is shown. It is of a piece with the penal laws -that prevailed in England some sixty years ago, when one hundred and -sixty different offences were declared by the statute-book to be -capital, and the servant-maid who but pilfered a watch was hung beside -the murderer of a family. - -It is one of the most common punishments for very trivial offences in -the Navy, to “stop” a seaman’s _grog_ for a day or a week. And as most -seamen so cling to their _grog_, the loss of it is generally deemed by -them a very serious penalty. You will sometimes hear them say, “I would -rather have my wind _stopped_ than _my grog!_” - -But there are some sober seamen that would much rather draw the money -for it, instead of the grog itself, as provided by law; but they are -too often deterred from this by the thought of receiving a scourging -for some inconsiderable offence, as a substitute for the stopping of -their spirits. This is a most serious obstacle to the cause of -temperance in the Navy. But, in many cases, even the reluctant drawing -of his grog cannot exempt a prudent seaman from ignominy; for besides -the formal administering of the “_cat_” at the gangway for petty -offences, he is liable to the “colt,” or rope’s-end, a bit of -_ratlin-stuff_, indiscriminately applied—without stripping the -victim—at any time, and in any part of the ship, at the merest wink -from the Captain. By an express order of that officer, most boatswain’s -mates carry the “colt” coiled in their hats, in readiness to be -administered at a minute’s warning upon any offender. This was the -custom in the Neversink. And until so recent a period as the -administration of President Polk, when the historian Bancroft, -Secretary of the Navy, officially interposed, it was an almost -universal thing for the officers of the watch, at their own discretion, -to inflict chastisement upon a sailor, and this, too, in the face of -the ordinance restricting the power of flogging solely to Captains and -Courts Martial. Nor was it a thing unknown for a Lieutenant, in a -sudden outburst of passion, perhaps inflamed by brandy, or smarting -under the sense of being disliked or hated by the seamen, to order a -whole watch of two hundred and fifty men, at dead of night, to undergo -the indignity of the “colt.” - -It is believed that, even at the present day, there are instances of -Commanders still violating the law, by delegating the power of the colt -to subordinates. At all events, it is certain that, almost to a man, -the Lieutenants in the Navy bitterly rail against the officiousness of -Bancroft, in so materially abridging their usurped functions by -snatching the colt from their hands. At the time, they predicted that -this rash and most ill-judged interference of the Secretary would end -in the breaking up of all discipline in the Navy. But it has not so -proved. These officers _now_ predict that, if the “cat” be abolished, -the same unfulfilled prediction would be verified. - -Concerning the license with which many captains violate the express -laws laid down by Congress for the government of the Navy, a glaring -instance may be quoted. For upward of forty years there has been on the -American Statute-book a law prohibiting a captain from inflicting, on -his own authority, more than twelve lashes at one time. If more are to -be given, the sentence must be passed by a Court-martial. Yet, for -nearly half a century, this law has been frequently, and with almost -perfect impunity, set at naught: though of late, through the exertions -of Bancroft and others, it has been much better observed than formerly; -indeed, at the present day, it is generally respected. Still, while the -Neversink was lying in a South American port, on the cruise now written -of, the seamen belonging to another American frigate informed us that -their captain sometimes inflicted, upon his own authority, eighteen and -twenty lashes. It is worth while to state that this frigate was vastly -admired by the shore ladies for her wonderfully neat appearance. One of -her forecastle-men told me that he had used up three jack-knives -(charged to him on the books of the purser) in scraping the -belaying-pins and the combings of the hatchways. - -It is singular that while the Lieutenants of the watch in American -men-of-war so long usurped the power of inflicting corporal punishment -with the _colt_, few or no similar abuses were known in the English -Navy. And though the captain of an English armed ship is authorised to -inflict, at his own discretion, _more_ than a dozen lashes (I think -three dozen), yet it is to be doubted whether, upon the whole, there is -as much flogging at present in the English Navy as in the American. The -chivalric Virginian, John Randolph of Roanoke, declared, in his place -in Congress, that on board of the American man-of-war that carried him -out Ambassador to Russia he had witnessed more flogging than had taken -place on his own plantation of five hundred African slaves in ten -years. Certain it is, from what I have personally seen, that the -English officers, as a general thing, seem to be less disliked by their -crews than the American officers by theirs. The reason probably is, -that many of them, from their station in life, have been more -accustomed to social command; hence, quarter-deck authority sits more -naturally on them. A coarse, vulgar man, who happens to rise to high -naval rank by the exhibition of talents not incompatible with -vulgarity, invariably proves a tyrant to his crew. It is a thing that -American men-of-war’s-men have often observed, that the Lieutenants -from the Southern States, the descendants of the old Virginians, are -much less severe, and much more gentle and gentlemanly in command, than -the Northern officers, as a class. - -According to the present laws and usages of the Navy, a seaman, for the -most trivial alleged offences, of which he may be entirely innocent, -must, without a trial, undergo a penalty the traces whereof he carries -to the grave; for to a man-of-war’s-man’s experienced eye the marks of -a naval scourging with the “_cat_” are through life discernible. And -with these marks on his back, this image of his Creator must rise at -the Last Day. Yet so untouchable is true dignity, that there are cases -wherein to be flogged at the gangway is no dishonour; though, to abase -and hurl down the last pride of some sailor who has piqued him, be -some-times the secret motive, with some malicious officer, in procuring -him to be condemned to the lash. But this feeling of the innate dignity -remaining untouched, though outwardly the body be scarred for the whole -term of the natural life, is one of the hushed things, buried among the -holiest privacies of the soul; a thing between a man’s God and himself; -and for ever undiscernible by our fellow-men, who account _that_ a -degradation which seems so to the corporal eye. But what torments must -that seaman undergo who, while his back bleeds at the gangway, bleeds -agonized drops of shame from his soul! Are we not justified in -immeasurably denouncing this thing? Join hands with me, then; and, in -the name of that Being in whose image the flogged sailor is made, let -us demand of Legislators, by what right they dare profane what God -himself accounts sacred. - -Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman? asks the -intrepid Apostle, well knowing, as a Roman citizen, that it was not. -And now, eighteen hundred years after, is it lawful for you, my -countrymen, to scourge a man that is an American? to scourge him round -the world in your frigates? - -It is to no purpose that you apologetically appeal to the general -depravity of the man-of-war’s-man. Depravity in the oppressed is no -apology for the oppressor; but rather an additional stigma to him, as -being, in a large degree, the effect, and not the cause and -justification of oppression. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXV. -FLOGGING NOT LAWFUL. - - -It is next to idle, at the present day, merely to denounce an iniquity. -Be ours, then, a different task. - -If there are any three things opposed to the genius of the American -Constitution, they are these: irresponsibility in a judge, unlimited -discretionary authority in an executive, and the union of an -irresponsible judge and an unlimited executive in one person. - -Yet by virtue of an enactment of Congress, all the Commodores in the -American navy are obnoxious to these three charges, so far as concerns -the punishment of the sailor for alleged misdemeanors not particularly -set forth in the Articles of War. - -Here is the enactment in question. - -XXXII. _Of the Articles of War_.—“All crimes committed by persons -belonging to the Navy, which are not specified in the foregoing -articles, shall be punished according to the laws and customs in such -cases at sea.” - -This is the article that, above all others, puts the scourge into the -hands of the Captain, calls him to no account for its exercise, and -furnishes him with an ample warrant for inflictions of cruelty upon the -common sailor, hardly credible to landsmen. - -By this article the Captain is made a legislator, as well as a judge -and an executive. So far as it goes, it absolutely leaves to his -discretion to decide what things shall be considered crimes, and what -shall be the penalty; whether an accused person has been guilty of -actions by him declared to be crimes; and how, when, and where the -penalty shall be inflicted. - -In the American Navy there is an everlasting suspension of the Habeas -Corpus. Upon the bare allegation of misconduct there is no law to -restrain the Captain from imprisoning a seaman, and keeping him -confined at his pleasure. While I was in the Neversink, the Captain of -an American sloop of war, from undoubted motives of personal pique, -kept a seaman confined in the brig for upward of a month. - -Certainly the necessities of navies warrant a code for their government -more stringent than the law that governs the land; but that code should -conform to the spirit of the political institutions of the country that -ordains it. It should not convert into slaves some of the citizens of a -nation of free-men. Such objections cannot be urged against the laws of -the Russian navy (not essentially different from our own), because the -laws of that navy, creating the absolute one-man power in the Captain, -and vesting in him the authority to scourge, conform in spirit to the -territorial laws of Russia, which is ruled by an autocrat, and whose -courts inflict the _knout_ upon the subjects of the land. But with us -it is different. Our institutions claim to be based upon broad -principles of political liberty and equality. Whereas, it would hardly -affect one iota the condition on shipboard of an American -man-of-war’s-man, were he transferred to the Russian navy and made a -subject of the Czar. - -As a sailor, he shares none of our civil immunities; the law of our -soil in no respect accompanies the national floating timbers grown -thereon, and to which he clings as his home. For him our Revolution was -in vain; to him our Declaration of Independence is a lie. - -It is not sufficiently borne in mind, perhaps, that though the naval -code comes under the head of the martial law, yet, in time of peace, -and in the thousand questions arising between man and man on board -ship, this code, to a certain extent, may not improperly be deemed -municipal. With its crew of 800 or 1,000 men, a three-decker is a city -on the sea. But in most of these matters between man and man, the -Captain instead of being a magistrate, dispensing what the law -promulgates, is an absolute ruler, making and unmaking law as he -pleases. - -It will be seen that the XXth of the Articles of War provides, that if -any person in the Navy negligently perform the duties assigned him, he -shall suffer such punishment as a court-martial shall adjudge; but if -the offender be a private (common sailor) he may, at the discretion of -the Captain, be put in irons or flogged. It is needless to say, that in -cases where an officer commits a trivial violation of this law, a -court-martial is seldom or never called to sit upon his trial; but in -the sailor’s case, he is at once condemned to the lash. Thus, one set -of sea-citizens is exempted from a law that is hung in terror over -others. What would landsmen think, were the State of New York to pass a -law against some offence, affixing a fine as a penalty, and then add to -that law a section restricting its penal operation to mechanics and day -laborers, exempting all gentlemen with an income of one thousand -dollars? Yet thus, in the spirit of its practical operation, even thus, -stands a good part of the naval laws wherein naval flogging is -involved. - -But a law should be “universal,” and include in its possible penal -operations the very judge himself who gives decisions upon it; nay, the -very judge who expounds it. Had Sir William Blackstone violated the -laws of England, he would have been brought before the bar over which -he had presided, and would there have been tried, with the counsel for -the crown reading to him, perhaps, from a copy of his own -_Commentaries_. And should he have been found guilty, he would have -suffered like the meanest subject, “according to law.” - -How is it in an American frigate? Let one example suffice. By the -Articles of War, and especially by Article I., an American Captain may, -and frequently does, inflict a severe and degrading punishment upon a -sailor, while he himself is for ever removed from the possibility of -undergoing the like disgrace; and, in all probability, from undergoing -any punishment whatever, even if guilty of the same thing—contention -with his equals, for instance—for which he punishes another. Yet both -sailor and captain are American citizens. - -Now, in the language of Blackstone, again, there is a law, “coeval with -mankind, dictated by God himself, superior in obligation to any other, -and no human laws are of any validity if contrary to this.” That law is -the Law of Nature; among the three great principles of which Justinian -includes “that to every man should be rendered his due.” But we have -seen that the laws involving flogging in the Navy do _not_ render to -every man his due, since in some cases they indirectly exclude the -officers from any punishment whatever, and in all cases protect them -from the scourge, which is inflicted upon the sailor. Therefore, -according to Blackstone and Justinian, those laws have no binding -force; and every American man-of-war’s-man would be morally justified -in resisting the scourge to the uttermost; and, in so resisting, would -be religiously justified in what would be judicially styled “the act of -mutiny” itself. - -If, then, these scourging laws be for any reason necessary, make them -binding upon all who of right come under their sway; and let us see an -honest Commodore, duly authorised by Congress, condemning to the lash a -transgressing Captain by the side of a transgressing sailor. And if the -Commodore himself prove a transgressor, let us see one of his brother -Commodores take up the lash against _him_, even as the boatswain’s -mates, the navy executioners, are often called upon to scourge each -other. - -Or will you say that a navy officer is a man, but that an American-born -citizen, whose grandsire may have ennobled him by pouring out his blood -at Bunker Hill—will you say that, by entering the service of his -country as a common seaman, and standing ready to fight her foes, he -thereby loses his manhood at the very time he most asserts it? Will you -say that, by so doing, he degrades himself to the liability of the -scourge, but if he tarries ashore in time of danger, he is safe from -that indignity? All our linked states, all four continents of mankind, -unite in denouncing such a thought. - -We plant the question, then, on the topmost argument of all. -Irrespective of incidental considerations, we assert that flogging in -the navy is opposed to the essential dignity, of man, which no -legislator has a right to violate; that it is oppressive, and glaringly -unequal in its operations; that it is utterly repugnant to the spirit -of our democratic institutions; indeed, that it involves a lingering -trait of the worst times of a barbarous feudal aristocracy; in a word, -we denounce it as religiously, morally, and immutably _wrong_. - -No matter, then, what may be the consequences of its abolition; no -matter if we have to dismantle our fleets, and our unprotected commerce -should fall a prey to the spoiler, the awful admonitions of justice and -humanity demand that abolition without procrastination; in a voice that -is not to be mistaken, demand that abolition today. It is not a -dollar-and-cent question of expediency; it is a matter of _right and -wrong_. And if any man can lay his hand on his heart, and solemnly say -that this scourging is right, let that man but once feel the lash on -his own back, and in his agony you will hear the apostate call the -seventh heavens to witness that it is _wrong_. And, in the name of -immortal manhood, would to God that every man who upholds this thing -were scourged at the gangway till he recanted. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVI. -FLOGGING NOT NECESSARY. - - -But White-Jacket is ready to come down from the lofty mast-head of an -eternal principle, and fight you—Commodores and Captains of the navy—on -your own quarter-deck, with your own weapons, at your own paces. - -Exempt yourselves from the lash, you take Bible oaths to it that it is -indispensable for others; you swear that, without the lash, no armed -ship can be kept in suitable discipline. Be it proved to you, officers, -and stamped upon your foreheads, that herein you are utterly wrong. - -“Send them to Collingwood,” said Lord Nelson, “and _he_ will bring them -to order.” This was the language of that renowned Admiral, when his -officers reported to him certain seamen of the fleet as wholly -ungovernable. “Send them to Collingwood.” And who was Collingwood, -that, after these navy rebels had been imprisoned and scourged without -being brought to order, Collingwood could convert them to docility? - -Who Admiral Collinngwood was, as an historical hero, history herself -will tell you; nor, in whatever triumphal hall they may be hanging, -will the captured flags of Trafalgar fail to rustle at the mention of -that name. But what Collingwood was as a disciplinarian on board the -ships he commanded perhaps needs to be said. He was an officer, then, -who held in abhorrence all corporal punishment; who, though seeing more -active service than any sea-officer of his time, yet, for years -together, governed his men without inflicting the lash. - -But these seaman of his must have been most exemplary saints to have -proved docile under so lenient a sway. Were they saints? Answer, ye -jails and alms-houses throughout the length and breadth of Great -Britain, which, in Collingwood’s time, were swept clean of the last -lingering villain and pauper to man his majesty’s fleets. - -Still more, _that_ was a period when the uttermost resources of England -were taxed to the quick; when the masts of her multiplied fleets almost -transplanted her forests, all standing to the sea; when British -press-gangs not only boarded foreign ships on the high seas, and -boarded foreign pier-heads, but boarded their own merchantmen at the -mouth of the Thames, and boarded the very fire-sides along its banks; -when Englishmen were knocked down and dragged into the navy, like -cattle into the slaughter-house, with every mortal provocation to a mad -desperation against the service that thus ran their unwilling heads -into the muzzles of the enemy’s cannon. _This_ was the time, and -_these_ the men that Collingwood governed without the lash. - -I know it has been said that Lord Collingwood began by inflicting -severe punishments, and afterward ruling his sailors by the mere memory -of a by-gone terror, which he could at pleasure revive; and that his -sailors knew this, and hence their good behaviour under a lenient sway. -But, granting the quoted assertion to be true, how comes it that many -American Captains, who, after inflicting as severe punishment as ever -Collingwood could have authorized—how comes it that _they_, also, have -not been able to maintain good order without subsequent floggings, -after once showing to the crew with what terrible attributes they were -invested? But it is notorious, and a thing that I myself, in several -instances, _know_ to have been the case, that in the American navy, -where corporal punishment has been most severe, it has also been most -frequent. - -But it is incredible that, with such crews as Lord -Collingwood’s—composed, in part, of the most desperate characters, the -rakings of the jails—it is incredible that such a set of men could have -been governed by the mere _memory_ of the lash. Some other influence -must have been brought to bear; mainly, no doubt, the influence wrought -by a powerful brain, and a determined, intrepid spirit over a -miscellaneous rabble. - -It is well known that Lord Nelson himself, in point of policy, was -averse to flogging; and that, too, when he had witnessed the mutinous -effects of government abuses in the navy—unknown in our times—and -which, to the terror of all England, developed themselves at the great -mutiny of the Nore: an outbreak that for several weeks jeopardised the -very existence of the British navy. - -But we may press this thing nearly two centuries further back, for it -is a matter of historical doubt whether, in Robert Blake’s time, -Cromwell’s great admiral, such a thing as flogging was known at the -gangways of his victorious fleets. And as in this matter we cannot go -further back than to Blake, so we cannot advance further than to our -own time, which shows Commodore Stockton, during the recent war with -Mexico, governing the American squadron in the Pacific without -employing the scourge. - -But if of three famous English Admirals one has abhorred flogging, -another almost governed his ships without it, and to the third it may -be supposed to have been unknown, while an American Commander has, -within the present year almost, been enabled to sustain the good -discipline of an entire squadron in time of war without having an -instrument of scourging on board, what inevitable inferences must be -drawn, and how disastrous to the mental character of all advocates of -navy flogging, who may happen to be navy officers themselves. - -It cannot have escaped the discernment of any observer of mankind, -that, in the presence of its conventional inferiors, conscious -imbecility in power often seeks to carry off that imbecility by -assumptions of lordly severity. The amount of flogging on board an -American man-of-war is, in many cases, in exact proportion to the -professional and intellectual incapacity of her officers to command. -Thus, in these cases, the law that authorises flogging does but put a -scourge into the hand of a fool. In most calamitous instances this has -been shown. - -It is a matter of record, that some English ships of war have fallen a -prey to the enemy through the insubordination of the crew, induced by -the witless cruelty of their officers; officers so armed by the law -that they could inflict that cruelty without restraint. Nor have there -been wanting instances where the seamen have ran away with their ships, -as in the case of the Hermione and Danae, and forever rid themselves of -the outrageous inflictions of their officers by sacrificing their lives -to their fury. - -Events like these aroused the attention of the British public at the -time. But it was a tender theme, the public agitation of which the -government was anxious to suppress. Nevertheless, whenever the thing -was privately discussed, these terrific mutinies, together with the -then prevailing insubordination of the men in the navy, were almost -universally attributed to the exasperating system of flogging. And the -necessity for flogging was generally believed to be directly referable -to the impressment of such crowds of dissatisfied men. And in high -quarters it was held that if, by any mode, the English fleet could be -manned without resource to coercive measures, then the necessity of -flogging would cease. - -“If we abolish either impressment or flogging, the abolition of the -other will follow as a matter of course.” This was the language of the -_Edinburgh Review_, at a still later period, 1824. - -If, then, the necessity of flogging in the British armed marine was -solely attributed to the impressment of the seamen, what faintest -shadow of reason is there for the continuance of this barbarity in the -American service, which is wholly freed from the reproach of -impressment? - -It is true that, during a long period of non-impressment, and even down -to the present day, flogging has been, and still is, the law of the -English navy. But in things of this kind England should be nothing to -us, except an example to be shunned. Nor should wise legislators wholly -govern themselves by precedents, and conclude that, since scourging has -so long prevailed, some virtue must reside in it. Not so. The world has -arrived at a period which renders it the part of Wisdom to pay homage -to the prospective precedents of the Future in preference to those of -the Past. The Past is dead, and has no resurrection; but the Future is -endowed with such a life, that it lives to us even in anticipation. The -Past is, in many things, the foe of mankind; the Future is, in all -things, our friend. In the Past is no hope; the Future is both hope and -fruition. The Past is the text-book of tyrants; the Future the Bible of -the Free. Those who are solely governed by the Past stand like Lot’s -wife, crystallised in the act of looking backward, and forever -incapable of looking before. - -Let us leave the Past, then, to dictate laws to immovable China; let us -abandon it to the Chinese Legitimists of Europe. But for us, we will -have another captain to rule over us—that captain who ever marches at -the head of his troop and beckons them forward, not lingering in the -rear, and impeding their march with lumbering baggage-wagons of old -precedents. _This_ is the Past. - -But in many things we Americans are driven to a rejection of the maxims -of the Past, seeing that, ere long, the van of the nations must, of -right, belong to ourselves. There are occasions when it is for America -to make precedents, and not to obey them. We should, if possible, prove -a teacher to posterity, instead of being the pupil of by-gone -generations. More shall come after us than have gone before; the world -is not yet middle-aged. - -Escaped from the house of bondage, Israel of old did not follow after -the ways of the Egyptians. To her was given an express dispensation; to -her were given new things under the sun. And we Americans are the -peculiar, chosen people—the Israel of our time; we bear the ark of the -liberties of the world. Seventy years ago we escaped from thrall; and, -besides our first birthright—embracing one continent of earth—God has -given to us, for a future inheritance, the broad domains of the -political pagans, that shall yet come and lie down under the shade of -our ark, without bloody hands being lifted. God has predestinated, -mankind expects, great things from our race; and great things we feel -in our souls. The rest of the nations must soon be in our rear. We are -the pioneers of the world; the advance-guard, sent on through the -wilderness of untried things, to break a new path in the New World that -is ours. In our youth is our strength; in our inexperience, our wisdom. -At a period when other nations have but lisped, our deep voice is heard -afar. Long enough, have we been skeptics with regard to ourselves, and -doubted whether, indeed, the political Messiah had come. But he has -come in us, if we would but give utterance to his promptings. And let -us always remember that with ourselves, almost for the first time in -the history of earth, national selfishness is unbounded philanthropy; -for we can not do a good to America but we give alms to the world. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVII. -SOME SUPERIOR OLD “LONDON DOCK” FROM THE WINE-COOLERS OF NEPTUNE. - - -We had just slid into pleasant weather, drawing near to the Tropics, -when all hands were thrown into a wonderful excitement by an event that -eloquently appealed to many palates. - -A man at the fore-top-sail-yard sung out that there were eight or ten -dark objects floating on the sea, some three points off our lee-bow. - -“Keep her off three points!” cried Captain Claret, to the -quarter-master at the _cun_. - -And thus, with all our batteries, store-rooms, and five hundred men, -with their baggage, and beds, and provisions, at one move of a round -bit of mahogany, our great-embattled ark edged away for the strangers, -as easily as a boy turns to the right or left in pursuit of insects in -the field. - -Directly the man on the top-sail-yard reported the dark objects to be -hogsheads. Instantly all the top-men were straining their eyes, in -delirious expectation of having their long _grog fast_ broken at last, -and that, too, by what seemed an almost miraculous intervention. It was -a curious circumstance that, without knowing the contents of the -hogsheads, they yet seemed certain that the staves encompassed the -thing they longed for. - -Sail was now shortened, our headway was stopped, and a cutter was -lowered, with orders to tow the fleet of strangers alongside. The men -sprang to their oars with a will, and soon five goodly puncheons lay -wallowing in the sea, just under the main-chains. We got overboard the -slings, and hoisted them out of the water. - -It was a sight that Bacchus and his bacchanals would have gloated over. -Each puncheon was of a deep-green color, so covered with minute -barnacles and shell-fish, and streaming with sea-weed, that it needed -long searching to find out their bung-holes; they looked like venerable -old _loggerhead-turtles._ How long they had been tossing about, and -making voyages for the benefit of the flavour of their contents, no one -could tell. In trying to raft them ashore, or on board of some -merchant-ship, they must have drifted off to sea. This we inferred from -the ropes that length-wise united them, and which, from one point of -view, made them resemble a long sea-serpent. They were _struck_ into -the gun-deck, where, the eager crowd being kept off by sentries, the -cooper was called with his tools. - -“Bung up, and bilge free!” he cried, in an ecstasy, flourishing his -driver and hammer. - -Upon clearing away the barnacles and moss, a flat sort of shell-fish -was found, closely adhering, like a California-shell, right over one of -the bungs. Doubtless this shell-fish had there taken up his quarters, -and thrown his own body into the breach, in order the better to -preserve the precious contents of the cask. The by-standers were -breathless, when at last this puncheon was canted over and a tin-pot -held to the orifice. What was to come forth? salt-water or wine? But a -rich purple tide soon settled the question, and the lieutenant assigned -to taste it, with a loud and satisfactory smack of his lips, pronounced -it Port! - -“Oporto!” cried Mad Jack, “and no mistake!” - -But, to the surprise, grief, and consternation of the sailors, an order -now came from the quarter-deck to strike the “strangers down into the -main-hold!” This proceeding occasioned all sorts of censorious -observations upon the Captain, who, of course, had authorised it. - -It must be related here that, on the passage out from home, the -Neversink had touched at Madeira; and there, as is often the case with -men-of-war, the Commodore and Captain had laid in a goodly stock of -wines for their own private tables, and the benefit of their foreign -visitors. And although the Commodore was a small, spare man, who -evidently emptied but few glasses, yet Captain Claret was a portly -gentleman, with a crimson face, whose father had fought at the battle -of the Brandywine, and whose brother had commanded the well-known -frigate named in honour of that engagement. And his whole appearance -evinced that Captain Claret himself had fought many Brandywine battles -ashore in honour of his sire’s memory, and commanded in many bloodless -Brandywine actions at sea. - -It was therefore with some savour of provocation that the sailors held -forth on the ungenerous conduct of Captain Claret, in stepping in -between them and Providence, as it were, which by this lucky windfall, -they held, seemed bent upon relieving their necessities; while Captain -Claret himself, with an inexhaustible cellar, emptied his Madeira -decanters at his leisure. - -But next day all hands were electrified by the old familiar sound—so -long hushed—of the drum rolling to grog. - -After that the port was served out twice a day, till all was expended. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVIII. -THE CHAPLAIN AND CHAPEL IN A MAN-OF-WAR. - - -The next day was Sunday; a fact set down in the almanac, spite of -merchant seamen’s maxim, that _there are no Sundays of soundings_. - -_No Sundays off soundings,_ indeed! No Sundays on shipboard! You may as -well say there should be no Sundays in churches; for is not a ship -modeled after a church? has it not three spires—three steeples? yea, -and on the gun-deck, a bell and a belfry? And does not that bell -merrily peal every Sunday morning, to summon the crew to devotions? - -At any rate, there were Sundays on board this particular frigate of -ours, and a clergyman also. He was a slender, middle-aged man, of an -amiable deportment and irreproachable conversation; but I must say, -that his sermons were but ill calculated to benefit the crew. He had -drank at the mystic fountain of Plato; his head had been turned by the -Germans; and this I will say, that White-Jacket himself saw him with -Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria in his hand. - -Fancy, now, this transcendental divine standing behind a gun-carriage -on the main-deck, and addressing five hundred salt-sea sinners upon the -psychological phenomena of the soul, and the ontological necessity of -every sailor’s saving it at all hazards. He enlarged upon the follies -of the ancient philosophers; learnedly alluded to the Phiedon of Plato; -exposed the follies of Simplicius’s Commentary on Aristotle’s “De -Coelo,” by arraying against that clever Pagan author the admired tract -of Tertullian—_De Prascriptionibus Haereticorum_—and concluded by a -Sanscrit invocation. He was particularly hard upon the Gnostics and -Marcionites of the second century of the Christian era; but he never, -in the remotest manner, attacked the everyday vices of the nineteenth -century, as eminently illustrated in our man-of-war world. Concerning -drunkenness, fighting, flogging, and oppression—things expressly or -impliedly prohibited by Christianity—he never said aught. But the most -mighty Commodore and Captain sat before him; and in general, if, in a -monarchy, the state form the audience of the church, little evangelical -piety will be preached. Hence, the harmless, non-committal abstrusities -of our Chaplain were not to be wondered at. He was no Massillon, to -thunder forth his ecclesiastical rhetoric, even when a Louis le Grand -was enthroned among his congregation. Nor did the chaplains who -preached on the quarter-deck of Lord Nelson ever allude to the guilty -Felix, nor to Delilah, nor practically reason of righteousness, -temperance, and judgment to come, when that renowned Admiral sat, -sword-belted, before them. - -During these Sunday discourses, the officers always sat in a circle -round the Chaplain, and, with a business-like air, steadily preserved -the utmost propriety. In particular, our old Commodore himself made a -point of looking intensely edified; and not a sailor on board but -believed that the Commodore, being the greatest man present, must alone -comprehend the mystic sentences that fell from our parson’s lips. - -Of all the noble lords in the ward-room, this lord-spiritual, with the -exception of the Purser, was in the highest favour with the Commodore, -who frequently conversed with him in a close and confidential manner. -Nor, upon reflection, was this to be marvelled at, seeing how -efficacious, in all despotic governments, it is for the throne and -altar to go hand-in-hand. - -The accommodations of our chapel were very poor. We had nothing to sit -on but the great gun-rammers and capstan-bars, placed horizontally upon -shot-boxes. These seats were exceedingly uncomfortable, wearing out our -trowsers and our tempers, and, no doubt, impeded the con-version of -many valuable souls. - -To say the truth, men-of-war’s-men, in general, make but poor auditors -upon these occasions, and adopt every possible means to elude them. -Often the boatswain’s-mates were obliged to drive the men to service, -violently swearing upon these occasions, as upon every other. - -“Go to prayers, d——n you! To prayers, you rascals—to prayers!” In this -clerical invitation Captain Claret would frequently unite. - -At this Jack Chase would sometimes make merry. “Come, boys, don’t hang -back,” he would say; “come, let us go hear the parson talk about his -Lord High Admiral Plato, and Commodore Socrates.” - -But, in one instance, grave exception was taken to this summons. A -remarkably serious, but bigoted seaman, a sheet-anchor-man—whose -private devotions may hereafter be alluded to—once touched his hat to -the Captain, and respectfully said, “Sir, I am a Baptist; the chaplain -is an Episcopalian; his form of worship is not mine; I do not believe -with him, and it is against my conscience to be under his ministry. May -I be allowed, sir, _not_ to attend service on the half-deck?” - -“You will be allowed, sir!” said the Captain, haughtily, “to obey the -laws of the ship. If you absent yourself from prayers on Sunday -mornings, you know the penalty.” - -According to the Articles of War, the Captain was perfectly right; but -if any law requiring an American to attend divine service against his -will be a law respecting the establishment of religion, then the -Articles of War are, in this one particular, opposed to the American -Constitution, which expressly says, “Congress shall make no law -respecting the establishment of religion, or the free exercise -thereof.” But this is only one of several things in which the Articles -of War are repugnant to that instrument. They will be glanced at in -another part of the narrative. - -The motive which prompts the introduction of chaplains into the Navy -cannot but be warmly responded to by every Christian. But it does not -follow, that because chaplains are to be found in men-of-war, that, -under the present system, they achieve much good, or that, under any -other, they ever will. - -How can it be expected that the religion of peace should flourish in an -oaken castle of war? How can it be expected that the clergyman, whose -pulpit is a forty-two-pounder, should convert sinners to a faith that -enjoins them to turn the right cheek when the left is smitten? How is -it to be expected that when, according to the XLII. of the Articles of -War, as they now stand unrepealed on the Statute-book, “a bounty shall -be paid” (to the officers and crew) “by the United States government of -$20 for each person on board any ship of an enemy which shall be sunk -or destroyed by any United States ship;” and when, by a subsequent -section (vii.), it is provided, among other apportionings, that the -chaplain shall receive “two twentieths” of this price paid for sinking -and destroying ships full of human beings? How is it to be expected -that a clergyman, thus provided for, should prove efficacious in -enlarging upon the criminality of Judas, who, for thirty pieces of -silver, betrayed his Master? - -Although, by the regulations of the Navy, each seaman’s mess on board -the _Neversink_ was furnished with a Bible, these Bibles were seldom or -never to be seen, except on Sunday mornings, when usage demands that -they shall be exhibited by the cooks of the messes, when the -master-at-arms goes his rounds on the berth-deck. At such times, they -usually surmounted a highly-polished tin-pot placed on the lid of the -chest. - -Yet, for all this, the Christianity of men-of-war’s men, and their -disposition to contribute to pious enterprises, are often relied upon. -Several times subscription papers were circulated among the crew of the -Neversink, while in harbour, under the direct patronage of the -Chaplain. One was for the purpose of building a seaman’s chapel in -China; another to pay the salary of a tract-distributor in Greece; a -third to raise a fund for the benefit of an African Colonization -Society. - -Where the Captain himself is a moral man, he makes a far better -chaplain for his crew than any clergyman can be. This is sometimes -illustrated in the case of sloops of war and armed brigs, which are not -allowed a regular chaplain. I have known one crew, who were warmly -attached to a naval commander worthy of their love, who have mustered -even with alacrity to the call to prayer; and when their Captain would -read the Church of England service to them, would present a -congregation not to be surpassed for earnestness and devotion by any -Scottish Kirk. It seemed like family devotions, where the head of the -house is foremost in confessing himself before his Maker. But our own -hearts are our best prayer-rooms, and the chaplains who can most help -us are ourselves. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIX. -THE FRIGATE IN HARBOUR.—THE BOATS.—GRAND STATE RECEPTION OF THE -COMMODORE. - - -In good time we were up with the parallel of Rio de Janeiro, and, -standing in for the land, the mist soon cleared; and high aloft the -famed Sugar Loaf pinnacle was seen, our bowsprit pointing for it -straight as a die. - -As we glided on toward our anchorage, the bands of the various -men-of-war in harbour saluted us with national airs, and gallantly -lowered their ensigns. Nothing can exceed the courteous etiquette of -these ships, of all nations, in greeting their brethren. Of all men, -your accomplished duellist is generally the most polite. - -We lay in Rio some weeks, lazily taking in stores and otherwise -preparing for the passage home. But though Rio is one of the most -magnificent bays in the world; though the city itself contains many -striking objects; and though much might be said of the Sugar Loaf and -Signal Hill heights; and the little islet of Lucia; and the fortified -Ihla Dos Cobras, or Isle of the Snakes (though the only anacondas and -adders now found in the arsenals there are great guns and pistols); and -Lord Wood’s Nose—a lofty eminence said by seamen to resemble his -lordship’s conch-shell; and the Prays do Flamingo—a noble tract of -beach, so called from its having been the resort, in olden times, of -those gorgeous birds; and the charming Bay of Botofogo, which, spite of -its name, is fragrant as the neighbouring Larangieros, or Valley of the -Oranges; and the green Gloria Hill, surmounted by the belfries of the -queenly Church of Nossa Senora de Gloria; and the iron-gray Benedictine -convent near by; and the fine drive and promenade, Passeo Publico; and -the massive arch-over-arch aqueduct, Arcos de Carico; and the Emperor’s -Palace; and the Empress’s Gardens; and the fine Church de Candelaria; -and the gilded throne on wheels, drawn by eight silken, silver-belled -mules, in which, of pleasant evenings, his Imperial Majesty is driven -out of town to his Moorish villa of St. Christova—ay, though much might -be said of all this, yet must I forbear, if I may, and adhere to my one -proper object, _the world in a man-of-war_. - -Behold, now, the Neversink under a new aspect. With all her batteries, -she is tranquilly lying in harbour, surrounded by English, French, -Dutch, Portuguese, and Brazilian seventy-fours, moored in the -deep-green water, close under the lee of that oblong, castellated mass -of rock, Ilha Dos Cobras, which, with its port-holes and lofty -flag-staffs, looks like another man-of-war, fast anchored in the way. -But what is an insular fortress, indeed, but an embattled land-slide -into the sea from the world Gibraltars and Quebecs? And what a -main-land fortress but a few decks of a line-of-battle ship -transplanted ashore? They are all one—all, as King David, men-of-war -from their youth. - -Ay, behold now the Neversink at her anchors, in many respects -presenting a different appearance from what she presented at sea. Nor -is the routine of life on board the same. - -At sea there is more to employ the sailors, and less temptation to -violations of the law. Whereas, in port, unless some particular service -engages them, they lead the laziest of lives, beset by all the -allurements of the shore, though perhaps that shore they may never -touch. - -Unless you happen to belong to one of the numerous boats, which, in a -man-of-war in harbour, are continually plying to and from the land, you -are mostly thrown upon your own resources to while away the time. Whole -days frequently pass without your being individually called upon to -lift a finger; for though, in the merchant-service, they make a point -of keeping the men always busy about something or other, yet, to employ -five hundred sailors when there is nothing definite to be done wholly -surpasses the ingenuity of any First Lieutenant in the Navy. - -As mention has just been made of the numerous boats employed in -harbour, something more may as well be put down concerning them. Our -frigate carried a very large boat—as big as a small sloop—called a -_launch_, which was generally used for getting off wood, water, and -other bulky articles. Besides this, she carried four boats of an -arithmetical progression in point of size—the largest being known as -the first cutter, the next largest the second cutter, then the third -and fourth cutters. She also carried a Commodore’s Barge, a Captain’s -Gig, and a “dingy,” a small yawl, with a crew of apprentice boys. All -these boats, except the “dingy,” had their regular crews, who were -subordinate to their cockswains—_petty officers_, receiving pay in -addition to their seaman’s wages. - -The _launch_ was manned by the old Tritons of the forecastle, who were -no ways particular about their dress, while the other -boats—commissioned for genteeler duties—were rowed by young follows, -mostly, who had a dandy eye to their personal appearance. Above all, -the officers see to it that the Commodore’s Barge and the Captain’s Gig -are manned by gentlemanly youths, who may do credit to their country, -and form agreeable objects for the eyes of the Commodore or Captain to -repose upon as he tranquilly sits in the stern, when pulled ashore by -his barge-men or gig-men, as the case may be. Some sailors are very -fond of belonging to the boats, and deem it a great honour to be a -_Commodore’s barge-man_; but others, perceiving no particular -distinction in that office, do not court it so much. - -On the second day after arriving at Rio, one of the gig-men fell sick, -and, to my no small concern, I found myself temporarily appointed to -his place. - -“Come, White-Jacket, rig yourself in white—that’s the gig’s uniform -to-day; you are a gig-man, my boy—give ye joy!” This was the first -announcement of the fact that I heard; but soon after it was officially -ratified. - -I was about to seek the First Lieutenant, and plead the scantiness of -my wardrobe, which wholly disqualified me to fill so distinguished a -station, when I heard the bugler call away the “gig;” and, without more -ado, I slipped into a clean frock, which a messmate doffed for my -benefit, and soon after found myself pulling off his High Mightiness, -the Captain, to an English seventy-four. - -As we were bounding along, the cockswain suddenly cried “Oars!” At the -word every oar was suspended in the air, while our Commodore’s barge -floated by, bearing that dignitary himself. At the sight, Captain -Claret removed his chapeau, and saluted profoundly, our boat lying -motionless on the water. But the barge never stopped; and the Commodore -made but a slight return to the obsequious salute he had received. - -We then resumed rowing, and presently I heard “Oars!” again; but from -another boat, the second cutter, which turned out to be carrying a -Lieutenant ashore. If was now Captain Claret’s turn to be honoured. The -cutter lay still, and the Lieutenant off hat; while the Captain only -nodded, and we kept on our way. - -This naval etiquette is very much like the etiquette at the Grand Porte -of Constantinople, where, after washing the Sublime Sultan’s feet, the -Grand Vizier avenges himself on an Emir, who does the same office for -him. - -When we arrived aboard the English seventy-four, the Captain was -received with the usual honours, and the gig’s crew were conducted -below, and hospitably regaled with some spirits, served out by order of -the officer of the deck. - -Soon after, the English crew went to quarters; and as they stood up at -their guns, all along the main-deck, a row of beef-fed Britons, -stalwart-looking fellows, I was struck with the contrast they afforded -to similar sights on board of the Neversink. - -For on board of us our “_quarters_” showed an array of rather slender, -lean-checked chaps. But then I made no doubt, that, in a sea-tussle, -these lantern-jawed varlets would have approved themselves as slender -Damascus blades, nimble and flexible; whereas these Britons would have -been, perhaps, as sturdy broadswords. Yet every one remembers that -story of Saladin and Richard trying their respective blades; how -gallant Richard clove an anvil in twain, or something quite as -ponderous, and Saladin elegantly severed a cushion; so that the two -monarchs were even—each excelling in his way—though, unfortunately for -my simile, in a patriotic point of view, Richard whipped Saladin’s -armies in the end. - -There happened to be a lord on board of this ship—the younger son of an -earl, they told me. He was a fine-looking fellow. I chanced to stand by -when he put a question to an Irish captain of a gum; upon the seaman’s -inadvertently saying sir to him, his lordship looked daggers at the -slight; and the sailor touching his hat a thousand times, said, -“Pardon, your honour; I meant to say _my lord_, sir!” - -I was much pleased with an old white-headed musician, who stood at the -main hatchway, with his enormous bass drum full before him, and -thumping it sturdily to the tune of “God Save the King!” though small -mercy did he have on his drum-heads. Two little boys were clashing -cymbals, and another was blowing a fife, with his cheeks puffed out -like the plumpest of his country’s plum-puddings. - -When we returned from this trip, there again took place that -ceremonious reception of our captain on board the vessel he commanded, -which always had struck me as exceedingly diverting. - -In the first place, while in port, one of the quarter-masters is always -stationed on the poop with a spy-glass, to look out for all boats -approaching, and report the same to the officer of the deck; also, who -it is that may be coming in them; so that preparations may be made -accordingly. As soon, then, as the gig touched the side, a mighty -shrill piping was heard, as if some boys were celebrating the Fourth of -July with penny whistles. This proceeded from a boatswain’s mate, who, -standing at the gangway, was thus honouring the Captain’s return after -his long and perilous absence. - -The Captain then slowly mounted the ladder, and gravely marching -through a lane of “_side-boys_,” so called—all in their best bibs and -tuckers, and who stood making sly faces behind his back—was received by -all the Lieutenants in a body, their hats in their hands, and making a -prodigious scraping and bowing, as if they had just graduated at a -French dancing-school. Meanwhile, preserving an erect, inflexible, and -ram-rod carriage, and slightly touching his chapeau, the Captain made -his ceremonious way to the cabin, disappearing behind the scenes, like -the pasteboard ghost in Hamlet. - -But these ceremonies are nothing to those in homage of the Commodore’s -arrival, even should he depart and arrive twenty times a day. Upon such -occasions, the whole marine guard, except the sentries on duty, are -marshalled on the quarter-deck, presenting arms as the Commodore passes -them; while their commanding officer gives the military salute with his -sword, as if making masonic signs. Meanwhile, the boatswain himself—not -a _boatswain’s mate_—is keeping up a persevering whistling with his -silver pipe; for the Commodore is never greeted with the rude whistle -of a boatswain’s subaltern; _that_ would be positively insulting. All -the Lieutenants and Midshipmen, besides the Captain himself, are drawn -up in a phalanx, and off hat together; and the _side-boys_, whose -number is now increased to ten or twelve, make an imposing display at -the gangway; while the whole brass band, elevated upon the poop, strike -up “See! the Conquering Hero Comes!” At least, this was the tune that -our Captain always hinted, by a gesture, to the captain of the band, -whenever the Commodore arrived from shore. - -It conveyed a complimentary appreciation, on the Captain’s part, of the -Commodore’s heroism during the late war. - -To return to the gig. As I did not relish the idea of being a sort of -body-servant to Captain Claret—since his gig-men were often called upon -to scrub his cabin floor, and perform other duties for him—I made it my -particular business to get rid of my appointment in his boat as soon as -possible, and the next day after receiving it, succeeded in procuring a -substitute, who was glad of the chance to fill the position I so much -undervalued. - -And thus, with our counterlikes and dislikes, most of us -men-of-war’s-men harmoniously dove-tail into each other, and, by our -very points of opposition, unite in a clever whole, like the parts of a -Chinese puzzle. But as, in a Chinese puzzle, many pieces are hard to -place, so there are some unfortunate fellows who can never slip into -their proper angles, and thus the whole puzzle becomes a puzzle indeed, -which is the precise condition of the greatest puzzle in the world—this -man-of-war world itself. - - - - -CHAPTER XL. -SOME OF THE CEREMONIES IN A MAN-OF-WAR UNNECESSARY AND INJURIOUS. - - -The ceremonials of a man-of-war, some of which have been described in -the preceding chapter, may merit a reflection or two. - -The general usages of the American Navy are founded upon the usages -that prevailed in the navy of monarchical England more than a century -ago; nor have they been materially altered since. And while both -England and America have become greatly liberalised in the interval; -while shore pomp in high places has come to be regarded by the more -intelligent masses of men as belonging to the absurd, ridiculous, and -mock-heroic; while that most truly august of all the majesties of -earth, the President of the United States, may be seen entering his -residence with his umbrella under his arm, and no brass band or -military guard at his heels, and unostentatiously taking his seat by -the side of the meanest citizen in a public conveyance; while this is -the case, there still lingers in American men-of-war all the stilted -etiquette and childish parade of the old-fashioned Spanish court of -Madrid. Indeed, so far as the things that meet the eye are concerned, -an American Commodore is by far a greater man than the President of -twenty millions of freemen. - -But we plain people ashore might very willingly be content to leave -these commodores in the unmolested possession of their gilded penny -whistles, rattles, and gewgaws, since they seem to take so much -pleasure in them, were it not that all this is attended by consequences -to their subordinates in the last degree to be deplored. - -While hardly any one will question that a naval officer should be -surrounded by circumstances calculated to impart a requisite dignity to -his position, it is not the less certain that, by the excessive pomp he -at present maintains, there is naturally and unavoidably generated a -feeling of servility and debasement in the hearts of most of the seamen -who continually behold a fellow-mortal flourishing over their heads -like the archangel Michael with a thousand wings. And as, in degree, -this same pomp is observed toward their inferiors by all the grades of -commissioned officers, even down to a midshipman, the evil is -proportionately multiplied. - -It would not at all diminish a proper respect for the officers, and -subordination to their authority among the seamen, were all this idle -parade—only ministering to the arrogance of the officers, without at -all benefiting the state—completely done away. But to do so, we voters -and lawgivers ourselves must be no respecters of persons. - -That saying about _levelling upward, and not downward_, may seem very -fine to those who cannot see its self-involved absurdity. But the truth -is, that, to gain the true level, in some things, we _must_ cut -downward; for how can you make every sailor a commodore? or how raise -the valleys, without filling them up with the superfluous tops of the -hills? - -Some discreet, but democratic, legislation in this matter is much to be -desired. And by bringing down naval officers, in these things at least, -without affecting their legitimate dignity and authority, we shall -correspondingly elevate the common sailor, without relaxing the -subordination, in which he should by all means be retained. - - - - -CHAPTER XLI. -A MAN-OF-WAR LIBRARY. - - -Nowhere does time pass more heavily than with most men-of-war’s-men on -board their craft in harbour. - -One of my principal antidotes against _ennui_ in Rio, was reading. -There was a public library on board, paid for by government, and -intrusted to the custody of one of the marine corporals, a little, -dried-up man, of a somewhat literary turn. He had once been a clerk in -a post-office ashore; and, having been long accustomed to hand over -letters when called for, he was now just the man to hand over books. He -kept them in a large cask on the berth-deck, and, when seeking a -particular volume, had to capsize it like a barrel of potatoes. This -made him very cross and irritable, as most all librarians are. Who had -the selection of these books, I do not know, but some of them must have -been selected by our Chaplain, who so pranced on Coleridge’s “_High -German horse_.” - -Mason Good’s Book of Nature—a very good book, to be sure, but not -precisely adapted to tarry tastes—was one of these volumes; and -Machiavel’s Art of War—which was very dry fighting; and a folio of -Tillotson’s Sermons—the best of reading for divines, indeed, but with -little relish for a main-top-man; and Locke’s Essays—incomparable -essays, everybody knows, but miserable reading at sea; and Plutarch’s -Lives—super-excellent biographies, which pit Greek against Roman in -beautiful style, but then, in a sailor’s estimation, not to be -mentioned with the _Lives of the Admirals_; and Blair’s Lectures, -University Edition—a fine treatise on rhetoric, but having nothing to -say about nautical phrases, such as “_splicing the main-brace_,” -“_passing a gammoning_,” “_puddinging the dolphin_,” and “_making a -Carrick-bend_;” besides numerous invaluable but unreadable tomes, that -might have been purchased cheap at the auction of some -college-professor’s library. - -But I found ample entertainment in a few choice old authors, whom I -stumbled upon in various parts of the ship, among the inferior -officers. One was “_Morgan’s History of Algiers_,” a famous old quarto, -abounding in picturesque narratives of corsairs, captives, dungeons, -and sea-fights; and making mention of a cruel old Dey, who, toward the -latter part of his life, was so filled with remorse for his cruelties -and crimes that he could not stay in bed after four o’clock in the -morning, but had to rise in great trepidation and walk off his bad -feelings till breakfast time. And another venerable octavo, containing -a certificate from Sir Christopher Wren to its authenticity, entitled -“_Knox’s Captivity in Ceylon, 1681_”—abounding in stories about the -Devil, who was superstitiously supposed to tyrannise over that -unfortunate land: to mollify him, the priests offered up buttermilk, -red cocks, and sausages; and the Devil ran roaring about in the woods, -frightening travellers out of their wits; insomuch that the Islanders -bitterly lamented to Knox that their country was full of devils, and -consequently, there was no hope for their eventual well-being. Knox -swears that he himself heard the Devil roar, though he did not see his -horns; it was a terrible noise, he says, like the baying of a hungry -mastiff. - -Then there was Walpole’s Letters—very witty, pert, and polite—and some -odd volumes of plays, each of which was a precious casket of jewels of -good things, shaming the trash nowadays passed off for dramas, -containing “The Jew of Malta,” “Old Fortunatus,” “The City Madam.” -“Volpone,” “The Alchymist,” and other glorious old dramas of the age of -Marlow and Jonson, and that literary Damon and Pythias, the -magnificent, mellow old Beaumont and Fletcher, who have sent the long -shadow of their reputation, side by side with Shakspeare’s, far down -the endless vale of posterity. And may that shadow never be less! but -as for St. Shakspeare may his never be more, lest the commentators -arise, and settling upon his sacred text like unto locusts, devour it -clean up, leaving never a dot over an I. - -I diversified this reading of mine, by borrowing Moore’s “_Loves of the -Angels_” from Rose-water, who recommended it as “_de charmingest of -volumes;_” and a Negro Song-book, containing _Sittin’ on a Rail_, -_Gumbo Squash_, and _Jim along Josey_, from Broadbit, a -sheet-anchor-man. The sad taste of this old tar, in admiring such -vulgar stuff, was much denounced by Rose-water, whose own predilections -were of a more elegant nature, as evinced by his exalted opinion of the -literary merits of the “_Loves of the Angels_.” - -I was by no means the only reader of books on board the Neversink. -Several other sailors were diligent readers, though their studies did -not lie in the way of belles-lettres. Their favourite authors were such -as you may find at the book-stalls around Fulton Market; they were -slightly physiological in their nature. My book experiences on board of -the frigate proved an example of a fact which every book-lover must -have experienced before me, namely, that though public libraries have -an imposing air, and doubtless contain invaluable volumes, yet, -somehow, the books that prove most agreeable, grateful, and -companionable, are those we pick up by chance here and there; those -which seem put into our hands by Providence; those which pretend to -little, but abound in much. - - - - -CHAPTER XLII. -KILLING TIME IN A MAN-OF-WAR IN HARBOUR. - - -Reading was by no means the only method adopted by my shipmates in -whiling away the long, tedious hours in harbour. In truth, many of them -could not have read, had they wanted to ever so much; in early youth -their primers had been sadly neglected. Still, they had other pursuits; -some were experts at the needle, and employed their time in making -elaborate shirts, stitching picturesque eagles, and anchors, and all -the stars of the federated states in the collars thereof; so that when -they at last completed and put on these shirts, they may be said to -have hoisted the American colors. - -Others excelled in _tattooing_ or _pricking_, as it is called in a -man-of-war. Of these prickers, two had long been celebrated, in their -way, as consummate masters of the art. Each had a small box full of -tools and colouring matter; and they charged so high for their -services, that at the end of the cruise they were supposed to have -cleared upward of four hundred dollars. They would _prick_ you to order -a palm-tree, or an anchor, a crucifix, a lady, a lion, an eagle, or -anything else you might want. - -The Roman Catholic sailors on board had at least the crucifix pricked -on their arms, and for this reason: If they chanced to die in a -Catholic land, they would be sure of a decent burial in consecrated -ground, as the priest would be sure to observe the symbol of Mother -Church on their persons. They would not fare as Protestant sailors -dying in Callao, who are shoved under the sands of St. Lorenzo, a -solitary, volcanic island in the harbour, overrun with reptiles, their -heretical bodies not being permitted to repose in the more genial loam -of Lima. - -And many sailors not Catholics were anxious to have the crucifix -painted on them, owing to a curious superstition of theirs. They -affirm—some of them—that if you have that mark tattooed upon all four -limbs, you might fall overboard among seven hundred and seventy-five -thousand white sharks, all dinnerless, and not one of them would so -much as dare to smell at your little finger. - -We had one fore-top-man on board, who, during the entire cruise, was -having an endless cable _pricked_ round and round his waist, so that, -when his frock was off, he looked like a capstan with a hawser coiled -round about it. This fore-top-man paid eighteen pence per link for the -cable, besides being on the smart the whole cruise, suffering the -effects of his repeated puncturings; so he paid very dear for his -cable. - -One other mode of passing time while in port was cleaning and polishing -your _bright-work_; for it must be known that, in men-of-war, every -sailor has some brass or steel of one kind or other to keep in high -order—like housemaids, whose business it is to keep well-polished the -knobs on the front door railing and the parlour-grates. - -Excepting the ring-bolts, eye-bolts, and belaying-pins scattered about -the decks, this bright-work, as it is called, is principally about the -guns, embracing the “_monkey-tails_” of the carronades, the screws, -_prickers_, little irons, and other things. - -The portion that fell to my own share I kept in superior order, quite -equal in polish to Rogers’s best cutlery. I received the most -extravagant encomiums from the officers; one of whom offered to match -me against any brazier or brass-polisher in her British Majesty’s Navy. -Indeed, I devoted myself to the work body and soul, and thought no -pains too painful, and no labour too laborious, to achieve the highest -attainable polish possible for us poor lost sons of Adam to reach. - -Upon one occasion, even, when woollen rags were scarce, and no -burned-brick was to be had from the ship’s Yeoman, I sacrificed the -corners of my woollen shirt, and used some dentrifice I had, as -substitutes for the rags and burned-brick. The dentrifice operated -delightfully, and made the threading of my carronade screw shine and -grin again, like a set of false teeth in an eager heiress-hunter’s -mouth. - -Still another mode of passing time, was arraying yourself in your best -“_togs_” and promenading up and down the gun-deck, admiring the shore -scenery from the port-holes, which, in an amphitheatrical bay like -Rio—belted about by the most varied and charming scenery of hill, dale, -moss, meadow, court, castle, tower, grove, vine, vineyard, aqueduct, -palace, square, island, fort—is very much like lounging round a -circular cosmorama, and ever and anon lazily peeping through the -glasses here and there. Oh! there is something worth living for, even -in our man-of-war world; and one glimpse of a bower of grapes, though a -cable’s length off, is almost satisfaction for dining off a shank-bone -salted down. - -This promenading was chiefly patronised by the marines, and -particularly by Colbrook, a remarkably handsome and very gentlemanly -corporal among them. He was a complete lady’s man; with fine black -eyes, bright red cheeks, glossy jet whiskers, and a refined -organisation of the whole man. He used to array himself in his -regimentals, and saunter about like an officer of the Coldstream -Guards, strolling down to his club in St. James’s. Every time he passed -me, he would heave a sentimental sigh, and hum to himself “_The girl I -left behind me_.” This fine corporal afterward became a representative -in the Legislature of the State of New Jersey; for I saw his name -returned about a year after my return home. - -But, after all, there was not much room, while in port, for -promenading, at least on the gun-deck, for the whole larboard side is -kept clear for the benefit of the officers, who appreciate the -advantages of having a clear stroll fore and aft; and they well know -that the sailors had much better be crowded together on the other side -than that the set of their own coat-tails should be impaired by -brushing against their tarry trowsers. - -One other way of killing time while in port is playing checkers; that -is, when it is permitted; for it is not every navy captain who will -allow such a scandalous proceeding, But, as for Captain Claret, though -he _did_ like his glass of Madeira uncommonly well, and was an -undoubted descendant from the hero of the Battle of the Brandywine, and -though he sometimes showed a suspiciously flushed face when -superintending in person the flogging of a sailor for getting -intoxicated against his particular orders, yet I will say for Captain -Claret that, upon the whole, he was rather indulgent to his crew, so -long as they were perfectly docile. He allowed them to play checkers as -much as they pleased. More than once I have known him, when going -forward to the forecastle, pick his way carefully among scores of -canvas checker-cloths spread upon the deck, so as not to tread upon the -men—the checker-men and man-of-war’s-men included; but, in a certain -sense, they were both one; for, as the sailors used their checker-men, -so, at quarters, their officers used these man-of-war’s men. - -But Captain Claret’s leniency in permitting checkers on board his ship -might have arisen from the following little circumstance, -confidentially communicated to me. Soon after the ship had sailed from -home, checkers were prohibited; whereupon the sailors were exasperated -against the Captain, and one night, when he was walking round the -forecastle, bim! came an iron belaying-pin past his ears; and while he -was dodging that, bim! came another, from the other side; so that, it -being a very dark night, and nobody to be seen, and it being impossible -to find out the trespassers, he thought it best to get back into his -cabin as soon as possible. Some time after—just as if the belaying-pins -had nothing to do with it—it was indirectly rumoured that the -checker-boards might be brought out again, which—as a philosophical -shipmate observed—showed that Captain Claret was a man of a ready -understanding, and could understand a hint as well as any other man, -even when conveyed by several pounds of iron. - -Some of the sailors were very precise about their checker-cloths, and -even went so far that they would not let you play with them unless you -first washed your hands, especially if so be you had just come from -tarring down the rigging. - -Another way of beguiling the tedious hours, is to get a cosy seat -somewhere, and fall into as snug a little reverie as you can. Or if a -seat is not to be had—which is frequently the case—then get a tolerably -comfortable _stand-up_ against the bulwarks, and begin to think about -home and bread and butter—always inseparably connected to a -wanderer—which will very soon bring delicious tears into your eyes; for -every one knows what a luxury is grief, when you can get a private -closet to enjoy it in, and no Paul Prys intrude. Several of my shore -friends, indeed, when suddenly overwhelmed by some disaster, always -make a point of flying to the first oyster-cellar, and shutting -themselves up in a box with nothing but a plate of stewed oysters, some -crackers, the castor, and a decanter of old port. - -Still another way of killing time in harbour, is to lean over the -bulwarks, and speculate upon where, under the sun, you are going to be -that day next year, which is a subject full of interest to every living -soul; so much so, that there is a particular day of a particular month -of the year, which, from my earliest recollections, I have always kept -the run of, so that I can even now tell just where I was on that -identical day of every year past since I was twelve years old. And, -when I am all alone, to run over this almanac in my mind is almost as -entertaining as to read your own diary, and far more interesting than -to peruse a table of logarithms on a rainy afternoon. I always keep the -anniversary of that day with lamb and peas, and a pint of sherry, for -it comes in Spring. But when it came round in the Neversink, I could -get neither lamb, peas, nor sherry. - -But perhaps the best way to drive the hours before you four-in-hand, is -to select a soft plank on the gun-deck, and go to sleep. A fine -specific, which seldom fails, unless, to be sure, you have been -sleeping all the twenty-four hours beforehand. - -Whenever employed in killing time in harbour, I have lifted myself up -on my elbow and looked around me, and seen so many of my shipmates all -employed at the same common business; all under lock and key; all -hopeless prisoners like myself; all under martial law; all dieting on -salt beef and biscuit; all in one uniform; all yawning, gaping, and -stretching in concert, it was then that I used to feel a certain love -and affection for them, grounded, doubtless, on a fellow-feeling. - -And though, in a previous part of this narrative, I have mentioned that -I used to hold myself somewhat aloof from the mass of seamen on board -the Neversink; and though this was true, and my real acquaintances were -comparatively few, and my intimates still fewer, yet, to tell the -truth, it is quite impossible to live so long with five hundred of your -fellow-beings, even if not of the best families in the land, and with -morals that would not be spoiled by further cultivation; it is quite -impossible, I say, to live with five hundred of your fellow-beings, be -they who they may, without feeling a common sympathy with them at the -time, and ever after cherishing some sort of interest in their welfare. - -The truth of this was curiously corroborated by a rather equivocal -acquaintance of mine, who, among the men, went by the name of -“_Shakings_.” He belonged to the fore-hold, whence, of a dark night, he -would sometimes emerge to chat with the sailors on deck. I never liked -the man’s looks; I protest it was a mere accident that gave me the -honour of his acquaintance, and generally I did my best to avoid him, -when he would come skulking, like a jail-bird, out of his den into the -liberal, open air of the sky. Nevertheless, the anecdote this _holder_ -told me is well worth preserving, more especially the extraordinary -frankness evinced in his narrating such a thing to a comparative -stranger. - -The substance of his story was as follows: Shakings, it seems, had once -been a convict in the New York State’s Prison at Sing Sing, where he -had been for years confined for a crime, which he gave me his solemn -word of honour he was wholly innocent of. He told me that, after his -term had expired, and he went out into the world again, he never could -stumble upon any of his old Sing Sing associates without dropping into -a public house and talking over old times. And when fortune would go -hard with him, and he felt out of sorts, and incensed at matters and -things in general, he told me that, at such time, he almost wished he -was back again in Sing Sing, where he was relieved from all anxieties -about what he should eat and drink, and was supported, like the -President of the United States and Prince Albert, at the public charge. -He used to have such a snug little cell, he said, all to himself, and -never felt afraid of house-breakers, for the walls were uncommonly -thick, and his door was securely bolted for him, and a watchman was all -the time walking up and down in the passage, while he himself was fast -asleep and dreaming. To this, in substance, the _holder_ added, that he -narrated this anecdote because he thought it applicable to a -man-of-war, which he scandalously asserted to be a sort of State Prison -afloat. - -Concerning the curious disposition to fraternise and be sociable, which -this Shakings mentioned as characteristic of the convicts liberated -from his old homestead at Sing Sing, it may well be asked, whether it -may not prove to be some feeling, somehow akin to the reminiscent -impulses which influenced them, that shall hereafter fraternally -reunite all us mortals, when we shall have exchanged this State’s -Prison man-of-war world of ours for another and a better. - -From the foregoing account of the great difficulty we had in killing -time while in port, it must not be inferred that on board of the -Neversink in Rio there was literally no work to be done, at long -intervals the _launch_ would come alongside with water-casks, to be -emptied into iron tanks in the hold. In this way nearly fifty thousand -gallons, as chronicled in the books of the master’s mate, were decanted -into the ship’s bowels—a ninety day’s allowance. With this huge Lake -Ontario in us, the mighty Neversink might be said to resemble the -united continent of the Eastern Hemisphere—floating in a vast ocean -herself, and having a Mediterranean floating in her. - - - - -CHAPTER XLIII. -SMUGGLING IN A MAN-OF-WAR. - - -It is in a good degree owing to the idleness just described, that, -while lying in harbour, the man-of-war’s-man is exposed to the most -temptations and gets into his saddest scrapes. For though his vessel be -anchored a mile from the shore, and her sides are patrolled by sentries -night and day, yet these things cannot entirely prevent the seductions -of the land from reaching him. The prime agent in working his -calamities in port is his old arch-enemy, the ever-devilish god of -grog. - -Immured as the man-of-war’s-man is, serving out his weary three years -in a sort of sea-Newgate, from which he cannot escape, either by the -roof or burrowing underground, he too often flies to the bottle to seek -relief from the intolerable ennui of nothing to do, and nowhere to go. -His ordinary government allowance of spirits, one gill per diem, is not -enough to give a sufficient to his listless senses; he pronounces his -grog basely _watered_; he scouts at it as _thinner than muslin;_ he -craves a more vigorous _nip at the cable_, a more sturdy _swig at the -halyards;_ and if opium were to be had, many would steep themselves a -thousand fathoms down in the densest fumes of that oblivious drug. Tell -him that the delirium tremens and the mania-a-potu lie in ambush for -drunkards, he will say to you, “Let them bear down upon me, then, -before the wind; anything that smacks of life is better than to feel -Davy Jones’s chest-lid on your nose.” He is reckless as an avalanche; -and though his fall destroy himself and others, yet a ruinous commotion -is better than being frozen fast in unendurable solitudes. No wonder, -then, that he goes all lengths to procure the thing he craves; no -wonder that he pays the most exorbitant prices, breaks through all law, -and braves the ignominious lash itself, rather than be deprived of his -stimulus. - -Now, concerning no one thing in a man-of-war, are the regulations more -severe than respecting the smuggling of grog, and being found -intoxicated. For either offence there is but one penalty, invariably -enforced; and that is the degradation of the gangway. - -All conceivable precautions are taken by most frigate-executives to -guard against the secret admission of spirits into the vessel. In the -first place, no shore-boat whatever is allowed to approach a man-of-war -in a foreign harbour without permission from the officer of the deck. -Even the _bum-boats_, the small craft licensed by the officers to bring -off fruit for the sailors, to be bought out of their own money—these -are invariably inspected before permitted to hold intercourse with the -ship’s company. And not only this, but every one of the numerous ship’s -boats—kept almost continually plying to and from the shore—are -similarly inspected, sometimes each boat twenty times in the day. - -This inspection is thus performed: The boat being descried by the -quarter-master from the poop, she is reported to the deck officer, who -thereupon summons the master-at-arms, the ship’s chief of police. This -functionary now stations himself at the gangway, and as the boat’s -crew, one by one, come up the side, he personally overhauls them, -making them take off their hats, and then, placing both hands upon -their heads, draws his palms slowly down to their feet, carefully -feeling all unusual protuberances. If nothing suspicious is felt, the -man is let pass; and so on, till the whole boat’s crew, averaging about -sixteen men, are examined. The chief of police then descends into the -boat, and walks from stem to stern, eyeing it all over, and poking his -long rattan into every nook and cranny. This operation concluded, and -nothing found, he mounts the ladder, touches his hat to the -deck-officer, and reports the boat _clean_; whereupon she is hauled out -to the booms. - -Thus it will be seen that not a man of the ship’s company ever enters -the vessel from shore without it being rendered next to impossible, -apparently, that he should have succeeded in smuggling anything. Those -individuals who are permitted to board the ship without undergoing this -ordeal, are only persons whom it would be preposterous to search—such -as the Commodore himself, the Captain, Lieutenants, etc., and gentlemen -and ladies coming as visitors. - -For anything to be clandestinely thrust through the lower port-holes at -night, is rendered very difficult, from the watchfulness of the -quarter-master in hailing all boats that approach, long before they -draw alongside, and the vigilance of the sentries, posted on platforms -overhanging the water, whose orders are to fire into a strange boat -which, after being warned to withdraw, should still persist in drawing -nigh. Moreover, thirty-two-pound shots are slung to ropes, and -suspended over the bows, to drop a hole into and sink any small craft, -which, spite of all precautions, by strategy should succeed in getting -under the bows with liquor by night. Indeed, the whole power of martial -law is enlisted in this matter; and every one of the numerous officers -of the ship, besides his general zeal in enforcing the regulations, -adds to that a personal feeling, since the sobriety of the men abridges -his own cares and anxieties. - -How then, it will be asked, in the face of an argus-eyed police, and in -defiance even of bayonets and bullets, do men-of-war’s-men contrive to -smuggle their spirits? Not to enlarge upon minor stratagems—every few -days detected, and rendered naught (such as rolling up, in a -handkerchief, a long, slender “skin” of grog, like a sausage, and in -that manner ascending to the deck out of a boat just from shore; or -openly bringing on board cocoa-nuts and melons, procured from a knavish -bum-boat filled with spirits, instead of milk or water)—we will only -mention here two or three other modes, coming under my own observation. - -While in Rio, a fore-top-man, belonging to the second cutter, paid down -the money, and made an arrangement with a person encountered at the -Palace-landing ashore, to the following effect. Of a certain moonless -night, he was to bring off three gallons of spirits, _in skins_, and -moor them to the frigate’s anchor-buoy—some distance from the -vessel—attaching something heavy, to sink them out of sight. In the -middle watch of the night, the fore-top-man slips out of his hammock, -and by creeping along in the shadows, eludes the vigilance of the -master-at-arms and his mates, gains a port-hole, and softly lowers -himself into the water, almost without creating a ripple—the sentries -marching to and fro on their overhanging platform above him. He is an -expert swimmer, and paddles along under the surface, every now and then -rising a little, and lying motionless on his back to breathe—little but -his nose exposed. The buoy gained, he cuts the skins adrift, ties them -round his body, and in the same adroit manner makes good his return. - -This feat is very seldom attempted, for it needs the utmost caution, -address, and dexterity; and no one but a super-expert burglar, and -faultless Leander of a swimmer, could achieve it. - -From the greater privileges which they enjoy, the “_forward officers_,” -that is, the Gunner, Boatswain, etc., have much greater opportunities -for successful smuggling than the common seamen. Coming alongside one -night in a cutter, Yarn, our boatswain, in some inexplicable way, -contrived to slip several skins of brandy through the air-port of his -own state-room. The feat, however, must have been perceived by one of -the boat’s crew, who immediately, on gaining the deck, sprung down the -ladders, stole into the boatswain’s room, and made away with the prize, -not three minutes before the rightful owner entered to claim it. -Though, from certain circumstances, the thief was known to the -aggrieved party, yet the latter could say nothing, since he himself had -infringed the law. But the next day, in the capacity of captain of the -ship’s executioners, Yarn had the satisfaction (it was so to him) of -standing over the robber at the gangway; for, being found intoxicated -with the very liquor the boatswain himself had smuggled, the man had -been condemned to a flogging. - -This recalls another instance, still more illustrative of the knotted, -trebly intertwisted villainy, accumulating at a sort of compound -interest in a man-of-war. The cockswain of the Commodore’s barge takes -his crew apart, one by one, and cautiously sounds them as to their -fidelity—not to the United States of America, but to himself. Three -individuals, whom he deems doubtful—that is, faithful to the United -States of America—he procures to be discharged from the barge, and men -of his own selection are substituted; for he is always an influential -character, this cockswain of the Commodore’s barge. Previous to this, -however, he has seen to it well, that no Temperance men—that is, -sailors who do not draw their government ration of grog, but take the -money for it—he has seen to it, that none of these _balkers_ are -numbered among his crew. Having now proved his men, he divulges his -plan to the assembled body; a solemn oath of secrecy is obtained, and -he waits the first fit opportunity to carry into execution his -nefarious designs. - -At last it comes. One afternoon the barge carries the Commodore across -the Bay to a fine water-side settlement of noblemen’s seats, called -Praya Grande. The Commodore is visiting a Portuguese marquis, and the -pair linger long over their dinner in an arbour in the garden. -Meanwhile, the cockswain has liberty to roam about where he pleases. He -searches out a place where some choice _red-eye_ (brandy) is to be had, -purchases six large bottles, and conceals them among the trees. Under -the pretence of filling the boat-keg with water, which is always kept -in the barge to refresh the crew, he now carries it off into the grove, -knocks out the head, puts the bottles inside, reheads the keg, fills it -with water, carries it down to the boat, and audaciously restores it to -its conspicuous position in the middle, with its bung-hole up. When the -Commodore comes down to the beach, and they pull off for the ship, the -cockswain, in a loud voice, commands the nearest man to take that bung -out of the keg—that precious water will spoil. Arrived alongside the -frigate, the boat’s crew are overhauled, as usual, at the gangway; and -nothing being found on them, are passed. The master-at-arms now -descending into the barge, and finding nothing suspicious, reports it -_clean_, having put his finger into the open bung of the keg and tasted -that the water was pure. The barge is ordered out to the booms, and -deep night is waited for, ere the cockswain essays to snatch the -bottles from the keg. - -But, unfortunately for the success of this masterly smuggler, one of -his crew is a weak-pated fellow, who, having drank somewhat freely -ashore, goes about the gun-deck throwing out profound, tipsy hints -concerning some unutterable proceeding on the ship’s anvil. A knowing -old sheet-anchor-man, an unprincipled fellow, putting this, that, and -the other together, ferrets out the mystery; and straightway resolves -to reap the goodly harvest which the cockswain has sowed. He seeks him -out, takes him to one side, and addresses him thus: - -“Cockswain, you have been smuggling off some _red-eye_, which at this -moment is in your barge at the booms. Now, cockswain, I have stationed -two of my mess-mates at the port-holes, on that side of the ship; and -if they report to me that you, or any of your bargemen, offer to enter -that barge before morning, I will immediately report you as a smuggler -to the officer of the deck.” - -The cockswain is astounded; for, to be reported to the deck-officer as -a smuggler, would inevitably procure him a sound flogging, and be the -disgraceful _breaking_ of him as a petty officer, receiving four -dollars a month beyond his pay as an able seaman. He attempts to bribe -the other to secrecy, by promising half the profits of the enterprise; -but the sheet-anchor-man’s integrity is like a rock; he is no -mercenary, to be bought up for a song. The cockswain, therefore, is -forced to swear that neither himself, nor any of his crew, shall enter -the barge before morning. This done, the sheet-anchor-man goes to his -confidants, and arranges his plans. In a word, he succeeds in -introducing the six brandy bottles into the ship; five of which he -sells at eight dollars a bottle; and then, with the sixth, between two -guns, he secretly regales himself and confederates; while the helpless -cockswain, stifling his rage, bitterly eyes them from afar. - -Thus, though they say that there is honour among thieves, there is -little among man-of-war smugglers. - - - - -CHAPTER XLIV. -A KNAVE IN OFFICE IN A MAN-OF-WAR. - - -The last smuggling story now about to be related also occurred while we -lay in Rio. It is the more particularly presented, since it furnishes -the most curious evidence of the almost incredible corruption pervading -nearly all ranks in some men-of-war. - -For some days, the number of intoxicated sailors collared and brought -up to the mast by the master-at-arms, to be reported to the -deck-officers—previous to a flogging at the gangway—had, in the last -degree, excited the surprise and vexation of the Captain and senior -officers. So strict were the Captain’s regulations concerning the -suppression of grog-smuggling, and so particular had he been in -charging the matter upon all the Lieutenants, and every understrapper -official in the frigate, that he was wholly at a loss how so large a -quantity of spirits could have been spirited into the ship, in the face -of all these checks, guards, and precautions. - -Still additional steps were adopted to detect the smugglers; and Bland, -the master-at-arms, together with his corporals, were publicly -harangued at the mast by the Captain in person, and charged to exert -their best powers in suppressing the traffic. Crowds were present at -the time, and saw the master-at-arms touch his cap in obsequious -homage, as he solemnly assured the Captain that he would still continue -to do his best; as, indeed, he said he had always done. He concluded -with a pious ejaculation expressive of his personal abhorrence of -smuggling and drunkenness, and his fixed resolution, so help him -Heaven, to spend his last wink in sitting up by night, to spy out all -deeds of darkness. - -“I do not doubt you, master-at-arms,” returned the Captain; “now go to -your duty.” This master-at-arms was a favourite of the Captain’s. - -The next morning, before breakfast, when the market-boat came off (that -is, one of the ship’s boats regularly deputed to bring off the daily -fresh provisions for the officers)—when this boat came off, the -master-at-arms, as usual, after carefully examining both her and her -crew, reported them to the deck-officer to be free from suspicion. The -provisions were then hoisted out, and among them came a good-sized -wooden box, addressed to “Mr. —— Purser of the United States ship -Neversink.” Of course, any private matter of this sort, destined for a -gentleman of the ward-room, was sacred from examination, and the -master-at-arms commanded one of his corporals to carry it down into the -Purser’s state-room. But recent occurrences had sharpened the vigilance -of the deck-officer to an unwonted degree, and seeing the box going -down the hatchway, he demanded what that was, and whom it was for. - -“All right, sir,” said the master-at-arms, touching his cap; “stores -for the Purser, sir.” - -“Let it remain on deck,” said the Lieutenant. “Mr. Montgomery!” calling -a midshipman, “ask the Purser whether there is any box coming off for -him this morning.” - -“Ay, ay, sir,” said the middy, touching his cap. - -Presently he returned, saying that the Purser was ashore. - -“Very good, then; Mr. Montgomery, have that box put into the ‘brig,’ -with strict orders to the sentry not to suffer any one to touch it.” - -“Had I not better take it down into my mess, sir, till the Purser comes -off?” said the master-at-arms, deferentially. - -“I have given my orders, sir!” said the Lieutenant, turning away. - -When the Purser came on board, it turned out that he knew nothing at -all about the box. He had never so much as heard of it in his life. So -it was again brought up before the deck-officer, who immediately -summoned the master-at-arms. - -“Break open that box!” - -“Certainly, sir!” said the master-at-arms; and, wrenching off the -cover, twenty-five brown jugs like a litter of twenty-five brown pigs, -were found snugly nestled in a bed of straw. - -“The smugglers are at work, sir,” said the master-at-arms, looking up. - -“Uncork and taste it,” said the officer. - -The master-at-arms did so; and, smacking his lips after a puzzled -fashion, was a little doubtful whether it was American whisky or -Holland gin; but he said he was not used to liquor. - -“Brandy; I know it by the smell,” said the officer; “return the box to -the brig.” - -“Ay, ay, sir,” said the master-at-arms, redoubling his activity. - -The affair was at once reported to the Captain, who, incensed at the -audacity of the thing, adopted every plan to detect the guilty parties. -Inquiries were made ashore; but by whom the box had been brought down -to the market-boat there was no finding out. Here the matter rested for -a time. - -Some days after, one of the boys of the mizzen-top was flogged for -drunkenness, and, while suspended in agony at the gratings, was made to -reveal from whom he had procured his spirits. The man was called, and -turned out to be an old superannuated marine, one Scriggs, who did the -cooking for the marine-sergeants and masters-at-arms’ mess. This marine -was one of the most villainous-looking fellows in the ship, with a -squinting, pick-lock, gray eye, and hang-dog gallows gait. How such a -most unmartial vagabond had insinuated himself into the honourable -marine corps was a perfect mystery. He had always been noted for his -personal uncleanliness, and among all hands, fore and aft, had the -reputation of being a notorious old miser, who denied himself the few -comforts, and many of the common necessaries of a man-of-war life. - -Seeing no escape, Scriggs fell on his knees before the Captain, and -confessed the charge of the boy. Observing the fellow to be in an agony -of fear at the sight of the boatswain’s mates and their lashes, and all -the striking parade of public punishment, the Captain must have thought -this a good opportunity for completely pumping him of all his secrets. -This terrified marine was at length forced to reveal his having been -for some time an accomplice in a complicated system of underhand -villainy, the head of which was no less a personage than the -indefatigable chief of police, the master-at-arms himself. It appeared -that this official had his confidential agents ashore, who supplied him -with spirits, and in various boxes, packages, and bundles—addressed to -the Purser and others—brought them down to the frigate’s boats at the -landing. Ordinarily, the appearance of these things for the Purser and -other ward-room gentlemen occasioned no surprise; for almost every day -some bundle or other is coming off for them, especially for the Purser; -and, as the master-at-arms was always present on these occasions, it -was an easy matter for him to hurry the smuggled liquor out of sight, -and, under pretence of carrying the box or bundle down to the Purser’s -room, hide it away upon his own premises. - -The miserly marine, Scriggs, with the pick-lock eye, was the man who -clandestinely sold the spirits to the sailors, thus completely keeping -the master-at-arms in the background. The liquor sold at the most -exorbitant prices; at one time reaching twelve dollars the bottle in -cash, and thirty dollars a bottle in orders upon the Purser, to be -honored upon the frigate’s arrival home. It may seem incredible that -such prices should have been given by the sailors; but when some -man-of-war’s-men crave liquor, and it is hard to procure, they would -almost barter ten years of their life-time for but one solitary “_tot_” -if they could. - -The sailors who became intoxicated with the liquor thus smuggled on -board by the master-at-arms, were, in almost numberless instances, -officially seized by that functionary and scourged at the gangway. In a -previous place it has been shown how conspicuous a part the -master-at-arms enacts at this scene. - -The ample profits of this iniquitous business were divided, between all -the parties concerned in it; Scriggs, the marine, coming in for one -third. His cook’s mess-chest being brought on deck, four canvas bags of -silver were found in it, amounting to a sum something short of as many -hundred dollars. - -The guilty parties were scourged, double-ironed, and for several weeks -were confined in the “brig” under a sentry; all but the master-at-arms, -who was merely cashiered and imprisoned for a time; with bracelets at -his wrists. Upon being liberated, he was turned adrift among the ship’s -company; and by way of disgracing him still more, was thrust into the -_waist_, the most inglorious division of the ship. - -Upon going to dinner one day, I found him soberly seated at my own -mess; and at first I could not but feel some very serious scruples -about dining with him. Nevertheless, he was a man to study and digest; -so, upon a little reflection; I was not displeased at his presence. It -amazed me, however, that he had wormed himself into the mess, since so -many of the other messes had declined the honour, until at last, I -ascertained that he had induced a mess-mate of ours, a distant relation -of his, to prevail upon the cook to admit him. - -Now it would not have answered for hardly any other mess in the ship to -have received this man among them, for it would have torn a huge rent -in their reputation; but our mess, A. No. 1—the Forty-two-pounder -Club—was composed of so fine a set of fellows; so many captains of -tops, and quarter-masters—men of undeniable mark on board ship—of -long-established standing and consideration on the gun-deck; that, with -impunity, we could do so many equivocal things, utterly inadmissible -for messes of inferior pretension. Besides, though we all abhorred the -monster of Sin itself, yet, from our social superiority, highly -rarified education in our lofty top, and large and liberal sweep of the -aggregate of things, we were in a good degree free from those useless, -personal prejudices, and galling hatreds against conspicuous _sinners_, -not _Sin_—which so widely prevail among men of warped understandings -and unchristian and uncharitable hearts. No; the superstitions and -dogmas concerning Sin had not laid their withering maxims upon our -hearts. We perceived how that evil was but good disguised, and a knave -a saint in his way; how that in other planets, perhaps, what we deem -wrong, may there be deemed right; even as some substances, without -undergoing any mutations in themselves utterly change their colour, -according to the light thrown upon them. We perceived that the -anticipated millennium must have begun upon the morning the first words -were created; and that, taken all in all, our man-of-war world itself -was as eligible a round-sterned craft as any to be found in the Milky -Way. And we fancied that though some of us, of the gun-deck, were at -times condemned to sufferings and blights, and all manner of -tribulation and anguish, yet, no doubt, it was only our misapprehension -of these things that made us take them for woeful pains instead of the -most agreeable pleasures. I have dreamed of a sphere, says Pinzella, -where to break a man on the wheel is held the most exquisite of -delights you can confer upon him; where for one gentleman in any way to -vanquish another is accounted an everlasting dishonour; where to tumble -one into a pit after death, and then throw cold clods upon his upturned -face, is a species of contumely, only inflicted upon the most notorious -criminals. - -But whatever we mess-mates thought, in whatever circumstances we found -ourselves, we never forgot that our frigate, had as it was, was -homeward-bound. Such, at least, were our reveries at times, though -sorely jarred, now and then, by events that took our philosophy aback. -For after all, philosophy—that is, the best wisdom that has ever in any -way been revealed to our man-of-war world—is but a slough and a mire, -with a few tufts of good footing here and there. - -But there was one man in the mess who would have naught to do with our -philosophy—a churlish, ill-tempered, unphilosophical, superstitious old -bear of a quarter-gunner; a believer in Tophet, for which he was -accordingly preparing himself. Priming was his name; but methinks I -have spoken of him before. - -Besides, this Bland, the master-at-arms, was no vulgar, dirty knave. In -him—to modify Burke’s phrase—vice _seemed_, but only seemed, to lose -half its seeming evil by losing all its apparent grossness. He was a -neat and gentlemanly villain, and broke his biscuit with a dainty hand. -There was a fine polish about his whole person, and a pliant, -insinuating style in his conversation, that was, socially, quite -irresistible. Save my noble captain, Jack Chase, he proved himself the -most entertaining, I had almost said the most companionable man in the -mess. Nothing but his mouth, that was somewhat small, Moorish-arched, -and wickedly delicate, and his snaky, black eye, that at times shone -like a dark-lantern in a jeweller-shop at midnight, betokened the -accomplished scoundrel within. But in his conversation there was no -trace of evil; nothing equivocal; he studiously shunned an indelicacy, -never swore, and chiefly abounded in passing puns and witticisms, -varied with humorous contrasts between ship and shore life, and many -agreeable and racy anecdotes, very tastefully narrated. In short—in a -merely psychological point of view, at least—he was a charming -blackleg. Ashore, such a man might have been an irreproachable -mercantile swindler, circulating in polite society. - -But he was still more than this. Indeed, I claim for this -master-at-arms a lofty and honourable niche in the Newgate Calendar of -history. His intrepidity, coolness, and wonderful self-possession in -calmly resigning himself to a fate that thrust him from an office in -which he had tyrannised over five hundred mortals, many of whom hated -and loathed him, passed all belief; his intrepidity, I say, in now -fearlessly gliding among them, like a disarmed swordfish among -ferocious white-sharks; this, surely, bespoke no ordinary man. While in -office, even, his life had often been secretly attempted by the seamen -whom he had brought to the gangway. Of dark nights they had dropped -shot down the hatchways, destined “to damage his pepper-box,” as they -phrased it; they had made ropes with a hangman’s noose at the end and -tried to _lasso_ him in dark corners. And now he was adrift among them, -under notorious circumstances of superlative villainy, at last dragged -to light; and yet he blandly smiled, politely offered his cigar-holder -to a perfect stranger, and laughed and chatted to right and left, as if -springy, buoyant, and elastic, with an angelic conscience, and sure of -kind friends wherever he went, both in this life and the life to come. - -While he was lying ironed in the “brig,” gangs of the men were -sometimes overheard whispering about the terrible reception they would -give him when he should be set at large. Nevertheless, when liberated, -they seemed confounded by his erect and cordial assurance, his -gentlemanly sociability and fearless companionableness. From being an -implacable policeman, vigilant, cruel, and remorseless in his office, -however polished in his phrases, he was now become a disinterested, -sauntering man of leisure, winking at all improprieties, and ready to -laugh and make merry with any one. Still, at first, the men gave him a -wide berth, and returned scowls for his smiles; but who can forever -resist the very Devil himself, when he comes in the guise of a -gentleman, free, fine, and frank? Though Goethe’s pious Margaret hates -the Devil in his horns and harpooner’s tail, yet she smiles and nods to -the engaging fiend in the persuasive, _winning_, oily, wholly harmless -Mephistopheles. But, however it was, I, for one, regarded this -master-at-arms with mixed feelings of detestation, pity, admiration, -and something opposed to enmity. I could not but abominate him when I -thought of his conduct; but I pitied the continual gnawing which, under -all his deftly-donned disguises, I saw lying at the bottom of his soul. -I admired his heroism in sustaining himself so well under such -reverses. And when I thought how arbitrary the _Articles of War_ are in -defining a man-of-war villain; how much undetected guilt might be -sheltered by the aristocratic awning of our quarter-deck; how many -florid pursers, ornaments of the ward-room, had been legally protected -in defrauding _the people_, I could not but say to myself, Well, after -all, though this man is a most wicked one indeed, yet is he even more -luckless than depraved. - -Besides, a studied observation of Bland convinced me that he was an -organic and irreclaimable scoundrel, who did wicked deeds as the cattle -browse the herbage, because wicked deeds seemed the legitimate -operation of his whole infernal organisation. Phrenologically, he was -without a soul. Is it to be wondered at, that the devils are -irreligious? What, then, thought I, who is to blame in this matter? For -one, I will not take the Day of Judgment upon me by authoritatively -pronouncing upon the essential criminality of any man-of-war’s-man; and -Christianity has taught me that, at the last day, man-of-war’s-men will -not be judged by the _Articles of War_, nor by the _United States -Statutes at Large_, but by immutable laws, ineffably beyond the -comprehension of the honourable Board of Commodores and Navy -Commissioners. But though I will stand by even a man-of-war thief, and -defend him from being seized up at the gangway, if I can—remembering -that my Saviour once hung between two thieves, promising one -life-eternal—yet I would not, after the plain conviction of a villain, -again let him entirely loose to prey upon honest seamen, fore and aft -all three decks. But this did Captain Claret; and though the thing may -not perhaps be credited, nevertheless, here it shall be recorded. - -After the master-at-arms had been adrift among the ship’s company for -several weeks, and we were within a few days’ sail of home, he was -summoned to the mast, and publicly reinstated in his office as the -ship’s chief of police. Perhaps Captain Claret had read the Memoirs of -Vidocq, and believed in the old saying, _set a rogue to catch a rogue_. -Or, perhaps, he was a man of very tender feelings, highly susceptible -to the soft emotions of gratitude, and could not bear to leave in -disgrace a person who, out of the generosity of his heart, had, about a -year previous, presented him with a rare snuff-box, fabricated from a -sperm-whale’s tooth, with a curious silver hinge, and cunningly wrought -in the shape of a whale; also a splendid gold-mounted cane, of a costly -Brazilian wood, with a gold plate, bearing the Captain’s name and rank -in the service, the place and time of his birth, and with a vacancy -underneath—no doubt providentially left for his heirs to record his -decease. - -Certain it was that, some months previous to the master-at-arms’ -disgrace, he had presented these articles to the Captain, with his best -love and compliments; and the Captain had received them, and seldom -went ashore without the cane, and never took snuff but out of that box. -With some Captains, a sense of propriety might have induced them to -return these presents, when the generous donor had proved himself -unworthy of having them retained; but it was not Captain Claret who -would inflict such a cutting wound upon any officer’s sensibilities, -though long-established naval customs had habituated him to scourging -_the people_ upon an emergency. - -Now had Captain Claret deemed himself constitutionally bound to decline -all presents from his subordinates, the sense of gratitude would not -have operated to the prejudice of justice. And, as some of the -subordinates of a man-of-war captain are apt to invoke his good wishes -and mollify his conscience by making him friendly gifts, it would -perhaps _have_ been an excellent thing for him to adopt the plan -pursued by the President of the United States, when he received a -present of lions and Arabian chargers from the Sultan of Muscat. Being -forbidden by his sovereign lords and masters, the imperial people, to -accept of any gifts from foreign powers, the President sent them to an -auctioneer, and the proceeds were deposited in the Treasury. In the -same manner, when Captain Claret received his snuff-box and cane, he -might have accepted them very kindly, and then sold them off to the -highest bidder, perhaps to the donor himself, who in that case would -never have tempted him again. - -Upon his return home, Bland was paid off for his full term, not -deducting the period of his suspension. He again entered the service in -his old capacity. - -As no further allusion will be made to this affair, it may as well be -stated now that, for the very brief period elapsing between his -restoration and being paid off in port by the Purser, the -master-at-arms conducted himself with infinite discretion, artfully -steering between any relaxation of discipline—which would have awakened -the displeasure of the officers—and any unwise severity—which would -have revived, in tenfold force, all the old grudges of the seamen under -his command. - -Never did he show so much talent and tact as when vibrating in this his -most delicate predicament; and plenty of cause was there for the -exercise of his cunningest abilities; for, upon the discharge of our -man-of-war’s-men at home, should he _then_ be held by them as an enemy, -as free and independent citizens they would waylay him in the public -streets, and take purple vengeance for all his iniquities, past, -present, and possible in the future. More than once a master-at-arms -ashore has been seized by night by an exasperated crew, and served as -Origen served himself, or as his enemies served Abelard. - -But though, under extreme provocation, _the people_ of a man-of-war -have been guilty of the maddest vengeance, yet, at other times, they -are very placable and milky-hearted, even to those who may have -outrageously abused them; many things in point might be related, but I -forbear. - -This account of the master-at-arms cannot better be concluded than by -denominating him, in the vivid language of the Captain of the Fore-top, -as “_the two ends and middle of the thrice-laid strand of a bloody -rascal_,” which was intended for a terse, well-knit, and -all-comprehensive assertion, without omission or reservation. It was -also asserted that, had Tophet itself been raked with a fine-tooth -comb, such another ineffable villain could not by any possibility have -been caught. - - - - -CHAPTER XLV. -PUBLISHING POETRY IN A MAN-OF-WAR. - - -A day or two after our arrival in Rio, a rather amusing incident -occurred to a particular acquaintance of mine, young Lemsford, the -gun-deck bard. - -The great guns of an armed ship have blocks of wood, called _tompions_, -painted black, inserted in their muzzles, to keep out the spray of the -sea. These tompions slip in and out very handily, like covers to butter -firkins. - -By advice of a friend, Lemsford, alarmed for the fate of his box of -poetry, had latterly made use of a particular gun on the main-deck, in -the tube of which he thrust his manuscripts, by simply crawling partly -out of the porthole, removing the tompion, inserting his papers, -tightly rolled, and making all snug again. - -Breakfast over, he and I were reclining in the main-top—where, by -permission of my noble master, Jack Chase, I had invited him—when, of a -sudden, we heard a cannonading. It was our own ship. - -“Ah!” said a top-man, “returning the shore salute they gave us -yesterday.” - -“O Lord!” cried Lemsford, “my _Songs of the Sirens!_” and he ran down -the rigging to the batteries; but just as he touched the gun-deck, gun -No. 20—his literary strong-box—went off with a terrific report. - -“Well, my after-guard Virgil,” said Jack Chase to him, as he slowly -returned up the rigging, “did you get it? You need not answer; I see -you were too late. But never mind, my boy: no printer could do the -business for you better. That’s the way to publish, White-Jacket,” -turning to me—“fire it right into ’em; every canto a twenty-four-pound -shot; _hull_ the blockheads, whether they will or no. And mind you, -Lemsford, when your shot does the most execution, your hear the least -from the foe. A killed man cannot even lisp.” - -“Glorious Jack!” cried Lemsford, running up and snatching him by the -hand, “say that again, Jack! look me in the eyes. By all the Homers, -Jack, you have made my soul mount like a balloon! Jack, I’m a poor -devil of a poet. Not two months before I shipped aboard here, I -published a volume of poems, very aggressive on the world, Jack. Heaven -knows what it cost me. I published it, Jack, and the cursed publisher -sued me for damages; my friends looked sheepish; one or two who liked -it were non-committal; and as for the addle-pated mob and rabble, they -thought they had found out a fool. Blast them, Jack, what they call the -public is a monster, like the idol we saw in Owhyhee, with the head of -a jackass, the body of a baboon, and the tail of a scorpion!” - -“I don’t like that,” said Jack; “when I’m ashore, I myself am part of -the public.” - -“Your pardon, Jack; you are not, you are then a part of the people, -just as you are aboard the frigate here. The public is one thing, Jack, -and the people another.” - -“You are right,” said Jack; “right as this leg. Virgil, you are a -trump; you are a jewel, my boy. The public and the people! Ay, ay, my -lads, let us hate the one and cleave to the other.” - - - - -CHAPTER XLVI. -THE COMMODORE ON THE POOP, AND ONE OF “THE PEOPLE” UNDER THE HANDS OF -THE SURGEON. - - -A day or two after the publication of Lemsford’s “Songs of the Sirens,” -a sad accident befell a mess-mate of mine, one of the captains of the -mizzen-top. He was a fine little Scot, who, from the premature loss of -the hair on the top of his head, always went by the name of _Baldy_. -This baldness was no doubt, in great part, attributable to the same -cause that early thins the locks of most man-of-war’s-men—namely, the -hard, unyielding, and ponderous man-of-war and navy-regulation -tarpaulin hat, which, when new, is stiff enough to sit upon, and -indeed, in lieu of his thumb, sometimes serves the common sailor for a -bench. - -Now, there is nothing upon which the Commodore of a squadron more -prides himself than upon the celerity with which his men can handle the -sails, and go through with all the evolutions pertaining thereto. This -is especially manifested in harbour, when other vessels of his squadron -are near, and perhaps the armed ships of rival nations. - -Upon these occasions, surrounded by his post-captain satraps—each of -whom in his own floating island is king—the Commodore domineers over -all—emperor of the whole oaken archipelago; yea, magisterial and -magnificent as the Sultan of the Isles of Sooloo. - -But, even as so potent an emperor and Caesar to boot as the great Don -of Germany, Charles the Fifth, was used to divert himself in his dotage -by watching the gyrations of the springs and cogs of a long row of -clocks, even so does an elderly Commodore while away his leisure in -harbour, by what is called “_exercising guns_,” and also “_exercising -yards and sails;_” causing the various spars of all the ships under his -command to be “braced,” “topped,” and “cock billed” in concert, while -the Commodore himself sits, something like King Canute, on an arm-chest -on the poop of his flag-ship. - -But far more regal than any descendant of Charlemagne, more haughty -than any Mogul of the East, and almost mysterious and voiceless in his -authority as the Great Spirit of the Five Nations, the Commodore deigns -not to verbalise his commands; they are imparted by signal. - -And as for old Charles the Fifth, again, the gay-pranked, coloured -suits of cards were invented, to while away his dotage, even so, -doubtless, must these pretty little signals of blue and red spotted -_bunting_ have been devised to cheer the old age of all Commodores. - -By the Commodore’s side stands the signal-midshipman, with a sea-green -bag swung on his shoulder (as a sportsman bears his game-bag), the -signal-book in one hand, and the signal spy-glass in the other. As this -signal-book contains the Masonic signs and tokens of the navy, and -would therefore be invaluable to an enemy, its binding is always -bordered with lead, so as to insure its sinking in case the ship should -be captured. Not the only book this, that might appropriately be bound -in lead, though there be many where the author, and not the bookbinder, -furnishes the metal. - -As White-Jacket understands it, these signals consist of -variously-coloured flags, each standing for a certain number. Say there -are ten flags, representing the cardinal numbers—the red flag, No. 1; -the blue flag, No. 2; the green flag, No. 3, and so forth; then, by -mounting the blue flag over the red, that would stand for No. 21: if -the green flag were set underneath, it would then stand for 213. How -easy, then, by endless transpositions, to multiply the various numbers -that may be exhibited at the mizzen-peak, even by only three or four of -these flags. - -To each number a particular meaning is applied. No. 100, for instance, -may mean, “_Beat to quarters_.” No. 150, “_All hands to grog_.” No. -2000, “_Strike top-gallant-yards_.” No. 2110, “_See anything to -windward?_” No. 2800, “_No_.” - -And as every man-of-war is furnished with a signal-book, where all -these things are set down in order, therefore, though two American -frigates—almost perfect strangers to each other—came from the opposite -Poles, yet at a distance of more than a mile they could carry on a very -liberal conversation in the air. - -When several men-of-war of one nation lie at anchor in one port, -forming a wide circle round their lord and master, the flag-ship, it is -a very interesting sight to see them all obeying the Commodore’s -orders, who meanwhile never opens his lips. - -Thus was it with us in Rio, and hereby hangs the story of my poor -messmate Bally. - -One morning, in obedience to a signal from our flag-ship, the various -vessels belonging to the American squadron then in harbour -simultaneously loosened their sails to dry. In the evening, the signal -was set to furl them. Upon such occasions, great rivalry exists between -the First Lieutenants of the different ships; they vie with each other -who shall first have his sails stowed on the yards. And this rivalry is -shared between all the officers of each vessel, who are respectively -placed over the different top-men; so that the main-mast is all -eagerness to vanquish the fore-mast, and the mizzen-mast to vanquish -them both. Stimulated by the shouts of their officers, the sailors -throughout the squadron exert themselves to the utmost. - -“Aloft, topmen! lay out! furl!” cried the First Lieutenant of the -Neversink. - -At the word the men sprang into the rigging, and on all three masts -were soon climbing about the yards, in reckless haste, to execute their -orders. - -Now, in furling top-sails or courses, the point of honour, and the -hardest work, is in the _bunt_, or middle of the yard; this post -belongs to the first captain of the top. - -“What are you ’bout there, mizzen-top-men?” roared the First -Lieutenant, through his trumpet. “D——n you, you are clumsy as Russian -bears! don’t you see the main—top-men are nearly off the yard? Bear a -hand, bear a hand, or I’ll stop your grog all round! You, Baldy! are -you going to sleep there in the bunt?” - -While this was being said, poor Baldy—his hat off, his face streaming -with perspiration—was frantically exerting himself, piling up the -ponderous folds of canvas in the middle of the yard; ever and anon -glancing at victorious Jack Chase, hard at work at the -main-top-sail-yard before him. - -At last, the sail being well piled up, Baldy jumped with both feet into -the _bunt_, holding on with one hand to the chain “_tie_,” and in that -manner was violently treading down the canvas, to pack it close. - -“D——n you, Baldy, why don’t you move, you crawling caterpillar;” roared -the First Lieutenant. - -Baldy brought his whole weight to bear on the rebellious sail, and in -his frenzied heedlessness let go his hold on the _tie_. - -“You, Baldy! are you afraid of falling?” cried the First Lieutenant. - -At that moment, with all his force, Baldy jumped down upon the sail; -the _bunt gasket_ parted; and a dark form dropped through the air. -Lighting upon the _top-rim_, it rolled off; and the next instant, with -a horrid crash of all his bones, Baldy came, like a thunderbolt, upon -the deck. - -Aboard of most large men-of-war there is a stout oaken platform, about -four feet square, on each side of the quarter-deck. You ascend to it by -three or four steps; on top, it is railed in at the sides, with -horizontal brass bars. It is called _the Horse Block;_ and there the -officer of the deck usually stands, in giving his orders at sea. - -It was one of these horse blocks, now unoccupied, that broke poor -Baldy’s fall. He fell lengthwise across the brass bars, bending them -into elbows, and crushing the whole oaken platform, steps and all, -right down to the deck in a thousand splinters. - -He was picked up for dead, and carried below to the surgeon. His bones -seemed like those of a man broken on the wheel, and no one thought he -would survive the night. But with the surgeon’s skillful treatment he -soon promised recovery. Surgeon Cuticle devoted all his science to this -case. - -A curious frame-work of wood was made for the maimed man; and placed in -this, with all his limbs stretched out, Baldy lay flat on the floor of -the Sick-bay, for many weeks. Upon our arrival home, he was able to -hobble ashore on crutches; but from a hale, hearty man, with bronzed -cheeks, he was become a mere dislocated skeleton, white as foam; but -ere this, perhaps, his broken bones are healed and whole in the last -repose of the man-of-war’s-man. - -Not many days after Baldy’s accident in furling sails—in this same -frenzied manner, under the stimulus of a shouting officer—a seaman fell -from the main-royal-yard of an English line-of-battle ship near us, and -buried his ankle-bones in the deck, leaving two indentations there, as -if scooped out by a carpenter’s gouge. - -The royal-yard forms a cross with the mast, and falling from that lofty -cross in a line-of-battle ship is almost like falling from the cross of -St. Paul’s; almost like falling as Lucifer from the well-spring of -morning down to the Phlegethon of night. - -In some cases, a man, hurled thus from a yard, has fallen upon his own -shipmates in the tops, and dragged them down with him to the same -destruction with himself. - -Hardly ever will you hear of a man-of-war returning home after a -cruise, without the loss of some of her crew from aloft, whereas -similar accidents in the merchant service—considering the much greater -number of men employed in it—are comparatively few. - -Why mince the matter? The death of most of these man-of-war’s-men lies -at the door of the souls of those officers, who, while safely standing -on deck themselves, scruple not to sacrifice an immortal man or two, in -order to show off the excelling discipline of the ship. And thus do -_the people_ of the gun-deck suffer, that the Commodore on the poop may -be glorified. - - - - -CHAPTER XLVII. -AN AUCTION IN A MAN-OF-WAR. - - -Some allusion has been made to the weariness experienced by the -man-of-war’s-men while lying at anchor; but there are scenes now and -then that serve to relieve it. Chief among these are the Purser’s -auctions, taking place while in harbour. Some weeks, or perhaps months, -after a sailor dies in an armed vessel, his bag of clothes is in this -manner sold, and the proceeds transferred to the account of his heirs -or executors. - -One of these auctions came off in Rio, shortly after the sad accident -of Baldy. - -It was a dreamy, quiet afternoon, and the crew were listlessly lying -around, when suddenly the Boatswain’s whistle was heard, followed by -the announcement, “D’ye hear there, fore and aft? Purser’s auction on -the spar-deck!” - -At the sound, the sailors sprang to their feet and mustered round the -main-mast. Presently up came the Purser’s steward, marshalling before -him three or four of his subordinates, carrying several clothes’ bags, -which were deposited at the base of the mast. - -Our Purser’s steward was a rather gentlemanly man in his way. Like many -young Americans of his class, he had at various times assumed the most -opposite functions for a livelihood, turning from one to the other with -all the facility of a light-hearted, clever adventurer. He had been a -clerk in a steamer on the Mississippi River; an auctioneer in Ohio; a -stock actor at the Olympic Theatre in New York; and now he was Purser’s -steward in the Navy. In the course of this deversified career his -natural wit and waggery had been highly spiced, and every way improved; -and he had acquired the last and most difficult art of the joker, the -art of lengthening his own face while widening those of his hearers, -preserving the utmost solemnity while setting them all in a roar. He -was quite a favourite with the sailors, which, in a good degree, was -owing to his humour; but likewise to his off-hand, irresistible, -romantic, theatrical manner of addressing them. - -With a dignified air, he now mounted the pedestal of the main-top-sail -sheet-bitts, imposing silence by a theatrical wave of his hand; -meantime, his subordinates were rummaging the bags, and assorting their -contents before him. - -“Now, my noble hearties,” he began, “we will open this auction by -offering to your impartial competition a very superior pair of old -boots;” and so saying, he dangled aloft one clumsy cowhide cylinder, -almost as large as a fire bucket, as a specimen of the complete pair. - -“What shall I have now, my noble tars, for this superior pair of -sea-boots?” - -“Where’s t’other boot?” cried a suspicious-eyed waister. “I remember -them ’ere boots. They were old Bob’s the quarter-gunner’s; there was -two on ’em, too. I want to see t’other boot.” - -“My sweet and pleasant fellow,” said the auctioneer, with his blandest -accents, “the other boot is not just at hand, but I give you my word of -honour that it in all respects corresponds to the one you here see—it -does, I assure you. And I solemnly guarantee, my noble sea-faring -fencibles,” he added, turning round upon all, “that the other boot is -the exact counterpart of this. Now, then, say the word, my fine -fellows. What shall I have? Ten dollars, did you say?” politely bowing -toward some indefinite person in the background. - -“No; ten cents,” responded a voice. - -“Ten cents! ten cents! gallant sailors, for this noble pair of boots,” -exclaimed the auctioneer, with affected horror; “I must close the -auction, my tars of Columbia; this will never do. But let’s have -another bid; now, come,” he added, coaxingly and soothingly. “What is -it? One dollar, one dollar then—one dollar; going at one dollar; going, -going—going. Just see how it vibrates”—swinging the boot to and -fro—“this superior pair of sea-boots vibrating at one dollar; wouldn’t -pay for the nails in their heels; going, going—gone!” And down went the -boots. - -“Ah, what a sacrifice! what a sacrifice!” he sighed, tearfully eyeing -the solitary fire-bucket, and then glancing round the company for -sympathy. - -“A sacrifice, indeed!” exclaimed Jack Chase, who stood by; “Purser’s -Steward, you are Mark Antony over the body of Julius Cesar.” - -“So I am, so I am,” said the auctioneer, without moving a muscle. “And -look!” he exclaimed, suddenly seizing the boot, and exhibiting it on -high, “look, my noble tars, if you have tears, prepare to shed them -now. You all do know this boot. I remember the first time ever old Bob -put it on. ’Twas on a winter evening, off Cape Horn, between the -starboard carronades—that day his precious grog was stopped. Look! in -this place a mouse has nibbled through; see what a rent some envious -rat has made, through this another filed, and, as he plucked his cursed -rasp away, mark how the bootleg gaped. This was the unkindest cut of -all. But whose are the boots?” suddenly assuming a business-like air; -“yours? yours? yours?” - -But not a friend of the lamented Bob stood by. - -“Tars of Columbia,” said the auctioneer, imperatively, “these boots -must be sold; and if I can’t sell them one way, I must sell them -another. How much _a pound_, now, for this superior pair of old boots? -going by _the pound_ now, remember, my gallant sailors! what shall I -have? one cent, do I hear? going now at one cent a -pound—going—going—going—_gone!_” - -“Whose are they? Yours, Captain of the Waist? Well, my sweet and -pleasant friend, I will have them weighed out to you when the auction -is over.” - -In like manner all the contents of the bags were disposed of, embracing -old frocks, trowsers, and jackets, the various sums for which they went -being charged to the bidders on the books of the Purser. - -Having been present at this auction, though not a purchaser, and seeing -with what facility the most dismantled old garments went off, through -the magical cleverness of the accomplished auctioneer, the thought -occurred to me, that if ever I calmly and positively decided to dispose -of my famous white jacket, this would be the very way to do it. I -turned the matter over in my mind a long time. - -The weather in Rio was genial and warm, and that I would ever again -need such a thing as a heavy quilted jacket—and such a jacket as the -white one, too—seemed almost impossible. Yet I remembered the American -coast, and that it would probably be Autumn when we should arrive -there. Yes, I thought of all that, to be sure; nevertheless, the -ungovernable whim seized me to sacrifice my jacket and recklessly abide -the consequences. Besides, was it not a horrible jacket? To how many -annoyances had it subjected me? How many scrapes had it dragged me -into? Nay, had it not once jeopardised my very existence? And I had a -dreadful presentiment that, if I persisted in retaining it, it would do -so again. Enough! I will sell it, I muttered; and so muttering, I -thrust my hands further down in my waistband, and walked the main-top -in the stern concentration of an inflexible purpose. Next day, hearing -that another auction was shortly to take place, I repaired to the -office of the Purser’s steward, with whom I was upon rather friendly -terms. After vaguely and delicately hinting at the object of my visit, -I came roundly to the point, and asked him whether he could slip my -jacket into one of the bags of clothes next to be sold, and so dispose -of it by public auction. He kindly acquiesced and the thing was done. - -In due time all hands were again summoned round the main-mast; the -Purser’s steward mounted his post, and the ceremony began. Meantime, I -lingered out of sight, but still within hearing, on the gun-deck below, -gazing up, un-perceived, at the scene. - -As it is now so long ago, I will here frankly make confession that I -had privately retained the services of a friend—Williams, the Yankee -pedagogue and peddler—whose business it would be to linger near the -scene of the auction, and, if the bids on the jacket loitered, to start -it roundly himself; and if the bidding then became brisk, he was -continually to strike in with the most pertinacious and infatuated -bids, and so exasperate competition into the maddest and most -extravagant overtures. - -A variety of other articles having been put up, the white jacket was -slowly produced, and, held high aloft between the auctioneer’s thumb -and fore-finger, was submitted to the inspection of the discriminating -public. - -Here it behooves me once again to describe my jacket; for, as a -portrait taken at one period of life will not answer for a later stage; -much more this jacket of mine, undergoing so many changes, needs to be -painted again and again, in order truly to present its actual -appearance at any given period. - -A premature old age had now settled upon it; all over it bore -melancholy sears of the masoned-up pockets that had once trenched it in -various directions. Some parts of it were slightly mildewed from -dampness; on one side several of the buttons were gone, and others were -broken or cracked; while, alas! my many mad endeavours to rub it black -on the decks had now imparted to the whole garment an exceedingly -untidy appearance. Such as it was, with all its faults, the auctioneer -displayed it. - -“You, venerable sheet-anchor-men! and you, gallant fore-top-men! and -you, my fine waisters! what do you say now for this superior old -jacket? Buttons and sleeves, lining and skirts, it must this day be -sold without reservation. How much for it, my gallant tars of Columbia? -say the word, and how much?” - -“My eyes!” exclaimed a fore-top-man, “don’t that ’ere bunch of old -swabs belong to Jack Chase’s pet? Aren’t that _the white jacket?_” - -“_The white jacket!_” cried fifty voices in response; “_the white -jacket!_” The cry ran fore and aft the ship like a slogan, completely -overwhelming the solitary voice of my private friend Williams, while -all hands gazed at it with straining eyes, wondering how it came among -the bags of deceased mariners. - -“Ay, noble tars,” said the auctioneer, “you may well stare at it; you -will not find another jacket like this on either side of Cape Horn, I -assure you. Why, just look at it! How much, now? _Give_ me a bid—but -don’t be rash; be prudent, be prudent, men; remember your Purser’s -accounts, and don’t be betrayed into extravagant bids.” - -“Purser’s Steward!” cried Grummet, one of the quarter-gunners, slowly -shifting his quid from one cheek to the other, like a ballast-stone, “I -won’t bid on that ’ere bunch of old swabs, unless you put up ten pounds -of soap with it.” - -“Don’t mind that old fellow,” said the auctioneer. “How much for the -jacket, my noble tars?” - -“Jacket;” cried a dandy _bone polisher_ of the gun-room. “The -sail-maker was the tailor, then. How many fathoms of canvas in it, -Purser’s Steward?” - -“How much for this _jacket_?” reiterated the auctioneer, emphatically. - -“_Jacket_, do you call it!” cried a captain of the hold. - -“Why not call it a white-washed man-of-war schooner? Look at the -port-holes, to let in the air of cold nights.” - -“A reg’lar herring-net,” chimed in Grummet. - -“Gives me the _fever nagur_ to look at it,” echoed a mizzen-top-man. - -“Silence!” cried the auctioneer. “Start it now—start it, boys; anything -you please, my fine fellows! it _must_ be sold. Come, what ought I to -have on it, now?” - -“Why, Purser’s Steward,” cried a waister, “you ought to have new -sleeves, a new lining, and a new body on it, afore you try to shove it -off on a greenhorn.” - -“What are you, ‘busin’ that ’ere garment for?” cried an old -sheet-anchor-man. “Don’t you see it’s a ‘uniform mustering -jacket’—three buttons on one side, and none on t’other?” - -“Silence!” again cried the auctioneer. “How much, my sea-fencibles, for -this superior old jacket?” - -“Well,” said Grummet, “I’ll take it for cleaning-rags at one cent.” - -“Oh, come, give us a bid! say something, Colombians.” - -“Well, then,” said Grummet, all at once bursting into genuine -indignation, “if you want us to say something, then heave that bunch of -old swabs overboard, _say I_, and show us something worth looking at.” - -“No one will give me a bid, then? Very good; here, shove it aside. -Let’s have something else there.” - -While this scene was going forward, and my white jacket was thus being -abused, how my heart swelled within me! Thrice was I on the point of -rushing out of my hiding-place, and bearing it off from derision; but I -lingered, still flattering myself that all would be well, and the -jacket find a purchaser at last. But no, alas! there was no getting rid -of it, except by rolling a forty-two-pound shot in it, and committing -it to the deep. But though, in my desperation, I had once contemplated -something of that sort, yet I had now become unaccountably averse to -it, from certain involuntary superstitious considerations. If I sink my -jacket, thought I, it will be sure to spread itself into a bed at the -bottom of the sea, upon which I shall sooner or later recline, a dead -man. So, unable to conjure it into the possession of another, and -withheld from burying it out of sight for ever, my jacket stuck to me -like the fatal shirt on Nessus. - - - - -CHAPTER XLVIII. -PURSER, PURSER’S STEWARD, AND POSTMASTER IN A MAN-OF-WAR. - - -As the Purser’s steward so conspicuously figured at the unsuccessful -auction of my jacket, it reminds me of how important a personage that -official is on board of all men-of-war. He is the right-hand man and -confidential deputy and clerk of the Purser, who intrusts to him all -his accounts with the crew, while, in most cases, he himself, snug and -comfortable in his state-room, glances over a file of newspapers -instead of overhauling his ledgers. - -Of all the non-combatants of a man-of-war, the Purser, perhaps, stands -foremost in importance. Though he is but a member of the gun-room mess, -yet usage seems to assign him a conventional station somewhat above -that of his equals in navy rank—the Chaplain, Surgeon, and Professor. -Moreover, he is frequently to be seen in close conversation with the -Commodore, who, in the Neversink, was more than once known to be -slightly jocular with our Purser. Upon several occasions, also, he was -called into the Commodore’s cabin, and remained closeted there for -several minutes together. Nor do I remember that there ever happened a -cabinet meeting of the ward-room barons, the Lieutenants, in the -Commodore’s cabin, but the Purser made one of the party. Doubtless the -important fact of the Purser having under his charge all the financial -affairs of a man-of-war, imparts to him the great importance he enjoys. -Indeed, we find in every government—monarchies and republics alike—that -the personage at the head of the finances invariably occupies a -commanding position. Thus, in point of station, the Secretary of the -Treasury of the United States is deemed superior to the other heads of -departments. Also, in England, the real office held by the great -Premier himself is—as every one knows—that of First Lord of the -Treasury. - -Now, under this high functionary of state, the official known as the -Purser’s Steward was head clerk of the frigate’s fiscal affairs. Upon -the berth-deck he had a regular counting-room, full of ledgers, -journals, and day-books. His desk was as much littered with papers as -any Pearl Street merchant’s, and much time was devoted to his accounts. -For hours together you would see him, through the window of his -subterranean office, writing by the light of his perpetual lamp. - -_Ex-officio_, the Purser’s Steward of most ships is a sort of -postmaster, and his office the post-office. When the letter-bags for -the squadron—almost as large as those of the United States mail—arrived -on board the Neversink, it was the Purser’s Steward that sat at his -little window on the berth-deck and handed you your letter or paper—if -any there were to your address. Some disappointed applicants among the -sailors would offer to buy the epistles of their more fortunate -shipmates, while yet the seal was unbroken—maintaining that the sole -and confidential reading of a fond, long, domestic letter from any -man’s home, was far better than no letter at all. - -In the vicinity of the office of the Purser’s Steward are the principal -store-rooms of the Purser, where large quantities of goods of every -description are to be found. On board of those ships where goods are -permitted to be served out to the crew for the purpose of selling them -ashore, to raise money, more business is transacted at the office of a -Purser’s Steward in one _Liberty-day_ morning than all the dry goods -shops in a considerable village would transact in a week. - -Once a month, with undeviating regularity, this official has his hands -more than usually full. For, once a month, certain printed bills, -called Mess-bills, are circulated among the crew, and whatever you may -want from the Purser—be it tobacco, soap, duck, dungaree, needles, -thread, knives, belts, calico, ribbon, pipes, paper, pens, hats, ink, -shoes, socks, or whatever it may be—down it goes on the mess-bill, -which, being the next day returned to the office of the Steward, the -“slops,” as they are called, are served out to the men and charged to -their accounts. - -Lucky is it for man-of-war’s-men that the outrageous impositions to -which, but a very few years ago, they were subjected from the abuses in -this department of the service, and the unscrupulous cupidity of many -of the pursers—lucky is it for them that _now_ these things are in a -great degree done away. The Pursers, instead of being at liberty to -make almost what they pleased from the sale of their wares, are now -paid by regular stipends laid down by law. - -Under the exploded system, the profits of some of these officers were -almost incredible. In one cruise up the Mediterranean, the Purser of an -American line-of-battle ship was, on good authority, said to have -cleared the sum of $50,000. Upon that he quitted the service, and -retired into the country. Shortly after, his three daughters—not very -lovely—married extremely well. - -The ideas that sailors entertain of Pursers is expressed in a rather -inelegant but expressive saying of theirs: “The Purser is a conjurer; -he can make a dead man chew tobacco”—insinuating that the accounts of a -dead man are sometimes subjected to post-mortem charges. Among sailors, -also, Pursers commonly go by the name of _nip-cheeses_. - -No wonder that on board of the old frigate Java, upon her return from a -cruise extending over a period of more than four years, one thousand -dollars paid off eighty of her crew, though the aggregate wages of the -eighty for the voyage must have amounted to about sixty thousand -dollars. Even under the present system, the Purser of a line-of-battle -ship, for instance, is far better paid than any other officer, short of -Captain or Commodore. While the Lieutenant commonly receives but -eighteen hundred dollars, the Surgeon of the fleet but fifteen hundred, -the Chaplain twelve hundred, the Purser of a line-of-battle ship -receives thirty-five hundred dollars. In considering his salary, -however, his responsibilities are not to be over-looked; they are by no -means insignificant. - -There are Pursers in the Navy whom the sailors exempt from the -insinuations above mentioned, nor, as a class, are they so obnoxious to -them now as formerly; for one, the florid old Purser of the -Neversink—never coming into disciplinary contact with the seamen, and -being withal a jovial and apparently good-hearted gentleman—was -something of a favourite with many of the crew. - - - - -CHAPTER XLIX. -NEVERSINK. - - -While lying in the harbour of Callao, in Peru, certain rumours had come -to us touching a war with England, growing out of the long-vexed -Northeastern Boundary Question. In Rio these rumours were increased; -and the probability of hostilities induced our Commodore to authorize -proceedings that closely brought home to every man on board the -Neversink his liability at any time to be killed at his gun. - -Among other things, a number of men were detailed to pass up the rusty -cannon-balls from the shot-lockers in the hold, and scrape them clean -for service. The Commodore was a very neat gentleman, and would not -fire a dirty shot into his foe. - -It was an interesting occasion for a tranquil observer; nor was it -altogether neglected. Not to recite the precise remarks made by the -seamen while pitching the shot up the hatchway from hand to hand, like -schoolboys playing ball ashore, it will be enough to say that, from the -general drift of their discourse—jocular as it was—it was manifest -that, almost to a man, they abhorred the idea of going into action. - -And why should they desire a war? Would their wages be raised? Not a -cent. The prize-money, though, ought to have been an inducement. But of -all the “rewards of virtue,” prize-money is the most uncertain; and -this the man-of-war’s-man knows. What, then, has he to expect from war? -What but harder work, and harder usage than in peace; a wooden leg or -arm; mortal wounds, and death? Enough, however, that by far the -majority of the common sailors of the Neversink were plainly concerned -at the prospect of war, and were plainly averse to it. - -But with the officers of the quarter-deck it was just the reverse. None -of them, to be sure, in my hearing at least, verbally expressed their -gratification; but it was unavoidably betrayed by the increased -cheerfulness of their demeanour toward each other, their frequent -fraternal conferences, and their unwonted animation for several clays -in issuing their orders. The voice of Mad Jack—always a belfry to -hear—now resounded like that famous bell of England, Great Tom of -Oxford. As for Selvagee, he wore his sword with a jaunty air, and his -servant daily polished the blade. - -But why this contrast between the forecastle and the quarter-deck, -between the man-of-war’s-man and his officer? Because, though war would -equally jeopardize the lives of both, yet, while it held out to the -sailor no promise of promotion, and what is called _glory_, these -things fired the breast of his officers. - -It is no pleasing task, nor a thankful one, to dive into the souls of -some men; but there are occasions when, to bring up the mud from the -bottom, reveals to us on what soundings we are, on what coast we -adjoin. - -How were these officers to gain glory? How but by a distinguished -slaughtering of their fellow-men. How were they to be promoted? How but -over the buried heads of killed comrades and mess-mates. - -This hostile contrast between the feelings with which the common seamen -and the officers of the Neversink looked forward to this more than -possible war, is one of many instances that might be quoted to show the -antagonism of their interests, the incurable antagonism in which they -dwell. But can men, whose interests are diverse, ever hope to live -together in a harmony uncoerced? Can the brotherhood of the race of -mankind ever hope to prevail in a man-of-war, where one man’s bane is -almost another’s blessing? By abolishing the scourge, shall we do away -tyranny; _that_ tyranny which must ever prevail, where of two -essentially antagonistic classes in perpetual contact, one is -immeasurably the stronger? Surely it seems all but impossible. And as -the very object of a man-of-war, as its name implies, is to fight the -very battles so naturally averse to the seamen; so long as a man-of-war -exists, it must ever remain a picture of much that is tyrannical and -repelling in human nature. - -Being an establishment much more extensive than the American Navy, the -English armed marine furnishes a yet more striking example of this -thing, especially as the existence of war produces so vast an -augmentation of her naval force compared with what it is in time of -peace. It is well known what joy the news of Bonaparte’s sudden return -from Elba created among crowds of British naval officers, who had -previously been expecting to be sent ashore on half-pay. Thus, when all -the world wailed, these officers found occasion for thanksgiving. I -urge it not against them as men—their feelings belonged to their -profession. Had they not been naval officers, they had not been -rejoicers in the midst of despair. - -When shall the time come, how much longer will God postpone it, when -the clouds, which at times gather over the horizons of nations, shall -not be hailed by any class of humanity, and invoked to burst as a bomb? -Standing navies, as well as standing armies, serve to keep alive the -spirit of war even in the meek heart of peace. In its very embers and -smoulderings, they nourish that fatal fire, and half-pay officers, as -the priests of Mars, yet guard the temple, though no god be there. - - - - -CHAPTER L. -THE BAY OF ALL BEAUTIES. - - -I have said that I must pass over Rio without a description; but just -now such a flood of scented reminiscences steals over me, that I must -needs yield and recant, as I inhale that musky air. - -More than one hundred and fifty miles’ circuit of living green hills -embosoms a translucent expanse, so gemmed in by sierras of grass, that -among the Indian tribes the place was known as “The Hidden Water.” On -all sides, in the distance, rise high conical peaks, which at sunrise -and sunset burn like vast tapers; and down from the interior, through -vineyards and forests, flow radiating streams, all emptying into the -harbour. - -Talk not of Bahia de Todos os Santos—the Bay of All Saints; for though -that be a glorious haven, yet Rio is the Bay of all Rivers—the Bay of -all Delights—the Bay of all Beauties. From circumjacent hillsides, -untiring summer hangs perpetually in terraces of vivid verdure; and, -embossed with old mosses, convent and castle nestle in valley and glen. - -All round, deep inlets run into the green mountain land, and, overhung -with wild Highlands, more resemble Loch Katrines than Lake Lemans. And -though Loch Katrine has been sung by the bonneted Scott, and Lake Leman -by the coroneted Byron; yet here, in Rio, both the loch and the lake -are but two wild flowers in a prospect that is almost unlimited. For, -behold! far away and away, stretches the broad blue of the water, to -yonder soft-swelling hills of light green, backed by the purple -pinnacles and pipes of the grand Organ Mountains; fitly so called, for -in thunder-time they roll cannonades down the bay, drowning the blended -bass of all the cathedrals in Rio. Shout amain, exalt your voices, -stamp your feet, jubilate, Organ Mountains! and roll your Te Deums -round the world! - -What though, for more than five thousand five hundred years, this grand -harbour of Rio lay hid in the hills, unknown by the Catholic -Portuguese? Centuries ere Haydn performed before emperors and kings, -these Organ Mountains played his Oratorio of the Creation, before the -Creator himself. But nervous Haydn could not have endured that -cannonading choir, since this composer of thunderbolts himself died at -last through the crashing commotion of Napoleon’s bombardment of -Vienna. - -But all mountains are Organ Mountains: the Alps and the Himalayas; the -Appalachian Chain, the Ural, the Andes, the Green Hills and the White. -All of them play anthems forever: The Messiah, and Samson, and Israel -in Egypt, and Saul, and Judas Maccabeus, and Solomon. - -Archipelago Rio! ere Noah on old Ararat anchored his ark, there lay -anchored in you all these green, rocky isles I now see. But God did not -build on you, isles! those long lines of batteries; nor did our blessed -Saviour stand godfather at the christening of yon frowning fortress of -Santa Cruz, though named in honour of himself, the divine Prince of -Peace! - -Amphitheatrical Rio! in your broad expanse might be held the -Resurrection and Judgment-day of the whole world’s men-of-war, -represented by the flag-ships of fleets—the flag-ships of the -Phoenician armed galleys of Tyre and Sidon; of King Solomon’s annual -squadrons that sailed to Ophir; whence in after times, perhaps, sailed -the Acapulco fleets of the Spaniards, with golden ingots for -ballasting; the flag-ships of all the Greek and Persian craft that -exchanged the war-hug at Salamis; of all the Roman and Egyptian galleys -that, eagle-like, with blood-dripping prows, beaked each other at -Actium; of all the Danish keels of the Vikings; of all the musquito -craft of Abba Thule, king of the Pelaws, when he went to vanquish -Artinsall; of all the Venetian, Genoese, and Papal fleets that came to -the shock at Lepanto; of both horns of the crescent of the Spanish -Armada; of the Portuguese squadron that, under the gallant Gama, -chastised the Moors, and discovered the Moluccas; of all the Dutch -navies red by Van Tromp, and sunk by Admiral Hawke; of the forty-seven -French and Spanish sail-of-the-line that, for three months, essayed to -batter down Gibraltar; of all Nelson’s seventy-fours that -thunder-bolted off St. Vincent’s, at the Nile, Copenhagen, and -Trafalgar; of all the frigate-merchantmen of the East India Company; of -Perry’s war-brigs, sloops, and schooners that scattered the British -armament on Lake Erie; of all the Barbary corsairs captured by -Bainbridge; of the war-canoes of the Polynesian kings, Tammahammaha and -Pomare—ay! one and all, with Commodore Noah for their Lord High -Admiral—in this abounding Bay of Rio these flag-ships might all come to -anchor, and swing round in concert to the first of the flood. - -Rio is a small Mediterranean; and what was fabled of the entrance to -that sea, in Rio is partly made true; for here, at the mouth, stands -one of Hercules’ Pillars, the Sugar-Loaf Mountain, one thousand feet -high, inclining over a little, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. At its -base crouch, like mastiffs, the batteries of Jose and Theodosia; while -opposite, you are menaced by a rock-founded fort. - -The channel between—the sole inlet to the bay—seems but a biscuit’s -toss over; you see naught of the land-locked sea within till fairly in -the strait. But, then, what a sight is beheld! Diversified as the -harbour of Constantinople, but a thousand-fold grander. When the -Neversink swept in, word was passed, “Aloft, top-men! and furl -t’-gallant-sails and royals!” - -At the sound I sprang into the rigging, and was soon at my perch. How I -hung over that main-royal-yard in a rapture High in air, poised over -that magnificent bay, a new world to my ravished eyes, I felt like the -foremost of a flight of angels, new-lighted upon earth, from some star -in the Milky Way. - - - - -CHAPTER LI. -ONE OF “THE PEOPLE” HAS AN AUDIENCE WITH THE COMMODORE AND THE CAPTAIN -ON THE QUARTER-DECK. - - -We had not lain in Rio long, when in the innermost recesses of the -mighty soul of my noble Captain of the Top—incomparable Jack Chase—the -deliberate opinion was formed, and rock-founded, that our ship’s -company must have at least one day’s “_liberty_” to go ashore ere we -weighed anchor for home. - -Here it must be mentioned that, concerning anything of this kind, no -sailor in a man-of-war ever presumes to be an agitator, unless he is of -a rank superior to a mere able-seaman; and no one short of a petty -officer—that is, a captain of the top, a quarter-gunner, or boatswain’s -mate—ever dreams of being a spokesman to the supreme authority of the -vessel in soliciting any kind of favor for himself and shipmates. - -After canvassing the matter thoroughly with several old quarter-masters -and other dignified sea-fencibles, Jack, hat in hand, made his -appearance, one fine evening, at the mast, and, waiting till Captain -Claret drew nigh, bowed, and addressed him in his own off-hand, -polished, and poetical style. In his intercourse with the quarter-deck, -he always presumed upon his being such a universal favourite. - -“Sir, this Rio is a charming harbour, and we poor mariners—your trusty -sea-warriors, valiant Captain! who, with _you_ at their head, would -board the Rock of Gibraltar itself, and carry it by storm—we poor -fellows, valiant Captain! have gazed round upon this ravishing -landscape till we can gaze no more. Will Captain Claret vouchsafe one -day’s liberty, and so assure himself of eternal felicity, since, in our -flowing cups, he will be ever after freshly remembered?” - -As Jack thus rounded off with a snatch from Shakspeare, he saluted the -Captain with a gallant flourish of his tarpaulin, and then, bringing -the rim to his mouth, with his head bowed, and his body thrown into a -fine negligent attitude, stood a picture of eloquent but passive -appeal. He seemed to say, Magnanimous Captain Claret, we fine fellows, -and hearts of oak, throw ourselves upon your unparalleled goodness. - -“And what do you want to go ashore for?” asked the Captain, evasively, -and trying to conceal his admiration of Jack by affecting some -haughtiness. - -“Ah! sir,” sighed Jack, “why do the thirsty camels of the desert desire -to lap the waters of the fountain and roll in the green grass of the -oasis? Are we not but just from the ocean Sahara? and is not this Rio a -verdant spot, noble Captain? Surely you will not keep us always -tethered at anchor, when a little more cable would admit of our -cropping the herbage! And it is a weary thing, Captain Claret, to be -imprisoned month after month on the gun-deck, without so much as -smelling a citron. Ah! Captain Claret, what sings sweet Waller: - - ‘But who can always on the billows lie? - The watery wilderness yields no supply.’ - - -compared with such a prisoner, noble Captain, - - ‘Happy, thrice happy, who, in battle slain, - Press’d in Atrides’ cause the Trojan pain!’ - - -Pope’s version, sir, not the original Greek.” - -And so saying, Jack once more brought his hat-rim to his mouth, and -slightly bending forward, stood mute. - -At this juncture the Most Serene Commodore himself happened to emerge -from the after-gangway, his gilded buttons, epaulets, and the gold lace -on his chapeau glittering in the flooding sunset. Attracted by the -scene between Captain Claret and so well-known and admired a commoner -as Jack Chase he approached, and assuming for the moment an air of -pleasant condescension—never shown to his noble barons the officers of -the ward-room—he said, with a smile, “Well, Jack, you and your -shipmates are after some favour, I suppose—a day’s liberty, is it not?” - -Whether it was the horizontal setting sun, streaming along the deck, -that blinded Jack, or whether it was in sun-worshipping homage of the -mighty Commodore, there is no telling; but just at this juncture noble -Jack was standing reverentially holding his hat to his brow, like a man -with weak eyes. - -“Valiant Commodore,” said he, at last, “this audience is indeed an -honour undeserved. I almost sink beneath it. Yes, valiant Commodore, -your sagacious mind has truly divined our object. Liberty, sir; liberty -is, indeed, our humble prayer. I trust your honourable wound, received -in glorious battle, valiant Comodore, pains you less today than -common.” - -“Ah! cunning Jack!” cried the Commodore, by no means blind to the bold -sortie of his flattery, but not at all displeased with it. In more -respects than one, our Commodore’s wound was his weak side. - -“I think we must give them liberty,” he added, turning to Captain -Claret; who thereupon, waving Jack further off, fell into confidential -discourse with his superior. - -“Well, Jack, we will see about it,” at last cried the Commodore, -advancing. “I think we must let you go.” - -“To your duty, captain of the main-top!” said the Captain, rather -stiffly. He wished to neutralise somewhat the effect of the Commodore’s -condescension. Besides, he had much rather the Commodore had been in -his cabin. His presence, for the time, affected his own supremacy in -his ship. But Jack was nowise cast down by the Captain’s coldness; he -felt safe enough; so he proceeded to offer his acknowledgments. - -“‘Kind gentlemen,’” he sighed, “‘your pains are registered where every -day I turn the leaf to read,’—Macbeth, valiant Commodore and -Captain!—what the Thane says to the noble lords, Ross and Angus.” - -And long and lingeringly bowing to the two noble officers, Jack backed -away from their presence, still shading his eyes with the broad rim of -his hat. - -“Jack Chase for ever!” cried his shipmates, as he carried the grateful -news of liberty to them on the forecastle. “Who can talk to Commodores -like our matchless Jack!” - - - - -CHAPTER LII. -SOMETHING CONCERNING MIDSHIPMEN. - - -It was the next morning after matchless Jack’s interview with the -Commodore and Captain, that a little incident occurred, soon forgotten -by the crew at large, but long remembered by the few seamen who were in -the habit of closely scrutinising every-day proceedings. Upon the face -of it, it was but a common event—at least in a man-of-war—the flogging -of a man at the gangway. But the under-current of circumstances in the -case were of a nature that magnified this particular flogging into a -matter of no small importance. The story itself cannot here be related; -it would not well bear recital: enough that the person flogged was a -middle-aged man of the Waist—a forlorn, broken-down, miserable object, -truly; one of those wretched landsmen sometimes driven into the Navy by -their unfitness for all things else, even as others are driven into the -workhouse. He was flogged at the complaint of a midshipman; and hereby -hangs the drift of the thing. For though this waister was so ignoble a -mortal, yet his being scourged on this one occasion indirectly -proceeded from the mere wanton spite and unscrupulousness of the -midshipman in question—a youth, who was apt to indulge at times in -undignified familiarities with some of the men, who, sooner or later, -almost always suffered from his capricious preferences. - -But the leading principle that was involved in this affair is far too -mischievous to be lightly dismissed. - -In most cases, it would seem to be a cardinal principle with a Navy -Captain that his subordinates are disintegrated parts of himself, -detached from the main body on special service, and that the order of -the minutest midshipman must be as deferentially obeyed by the seamen -as if proceeding from the Commodore on the poop. This principle was -once emphasised in a remarkable manner by the valiant and handsome Sir -Peter Parker, upon whose death, on a national arson expedition on the -shores of Chesapeake Bay, in 1812 or 1813, Lord Byron wrote his -well-known stanzas. “By the god of war!” said Sir Peter to his sailors, -“I’ll make you touch your hat to a midshipman’s coat, if it’s only hung -on a broomstick to dry!” - -That the king, in the eye of the law, can do no wrong, is the -well-known fiction of despotic states; but it has remained for the -navies of Constitutional Monarchies and Republics to magnify this -fiction, by indirectly extending it to all the quarter-deck -subordinates of an armed ship’s chief magistrate. And though judicially -unrecognised, and unacknowledged by the officers themselves, yet this -is the principle that pervades the fleet; this is the principle that is -every hour acted upon, and to sustain which, thousands of seamen have -been flogged at the gangway. - -However childish, ignorant, stupid, or idiotic a midshipman, if he but -orders a sailor to perform even the most absurd action, that man is not -only bound to render instant and unanswering obedience, but he would -refuse at his peril. And if, having obeyed, he should then complain to -the Captain, and the Captain, in his own mind, should be thoroughly -convinced of the impropriety, perhaps of the illegality of the order, -yet, in nine cases out of ten, he would not publicly reprimand the -midshipman, nor by the slightest token admit before the complainant -that, in this particular thing, the midshipman had done otherwise than -perfectly right. - -Upon a midshipman’s complaining of a seaman to Lord Collingwood, when -Captain of a line-of-battle ship, he ordered the man for punishment; -and, in the interval, calling the midshipman aside, said to him, “In -all probability, now, the fault is yours—you know; therefore, when the -man is brought to the mast, you had better ask for his pardon.” - -Accordingly, upon the lad’s public intercession, Collingwood, turning -to the culprit, said, “This young gentleman has pleaded so humanely for -you, that, in hope you feel a due gratitude to him for his benevolence, -I will, for this time, overlook your offence.” This story is related by -the editor of the Admiral’s “Correspondence,” to show the Admiral’s -kindheartedness. - -Now Collingood was, in reality, one of the most just, humane, and -benevolent admirals that ever hoisted a flag. For a sea-officer, -Collingwood was a man in a million. But if a man like him, swayed by -old usages, could thus violate the commonest principle of justice—with -however good motives at bottom—what must be expected from other -Captains not so eminently gifted with noble traits as Collingwood? - -And if the corps of American midshipmen is mostly replenished from the -nursery, the counter, and the lap of unrestrained indulgence at home: -and if most of them at least, by their impotency as officers, in all -important functions at sea, by their boyish and overweening conceit of -their gold lace, by their overbearing manner toward the seamen, and by -their peculiar aptitude to construe the merest trivialities of manner -into set affronts against their dignity; if by all this they sometimes -contract the ill-will of the seamen; and if, in a thousand ways, the -seamen cannot but betray it—how easy for any of these midshipmen, who -may happen to be unrestrained by moral principle, to resort to spiteful -practices in procuring vengeance upon the offenders, in many instances -to the extremity of the lash; since, as we have seen, the tacit -principle in the Navy seems to be that, in his ordinary intercourse -with the sailors, a midshipman can do nothing obnoxious to the public -censure of his superiors. - -“You fellow, I’ll get you _licked_ before long,” is often heard from a -midshipman to a sailor who, in some way not open to the judicial action -of the Captain, has chanced to offend him. - -At times you will see one of these lads, not five feet high, gazing up -with inflamed eye at some venerable six-footer of a forecastle man, -cursing and insulting him by every epithet deemed most scandalous and -unendurable among men. Yet that man’s indignant tongue is -treble-knotted by the law, that suspends death itself over his head -should his passion discharge the slightest blow at the boy-worm that -spits at his feet. - -But since what human nature is, and what it must for ever continue to -be, is well enough understood for most practical purposes, it needs no -special example to prove that, where the merest boys, indiscriminately -snatched from the human family, are given such authority over mature -men, the results must be proportionable in monstrousness to the custom -that authorises this worse than cruel absurdity. - -Nor is it unworthy of remark that, while the noblest-minded and most -heroic sea-officers—men of the topmost stature, including Lord Nelson -himself—have regarded flogging in the Navy with the deepest concern, -and not without weighty scruples touching its general necessity, still, -one who has seen much of midshipmen can truly say that he has seen but -few midshipmen who were not enthusiastic advocates and admirers of -scourging. It would almost seem that they themselves, having so -recently escaped the posterior discipline of the nursery and the infant -school, are impatient to recover from those smarting reminiscences by -mincing the backs of full-grown American freemen. - -It should not to be omitted here, that the midshipmen in the English -Navy are not permitted to be quite so imperious as in the American -ships. They are divided into three (I think) probationary classes of -“volunteers,” instead of being at once advanced to a warrant. Nor will -you fail to remark, when you see an English cutter officered by one of -those volunteers, that the boy does not so strut and slap his dirk-hilt -with a Bobadil air, and anticipatingly feel of the place where his -warlike whiskers are going to be, and sputter out oaths so at the men, -as is too often the case with the little boys wearing best-bower -anchors on their lapels in the American Navy. - -Yet it must be confessed that at times you see midshipmen who are noble -little fellows, and not at all disliked by the crew. Besides three -gallant youths, one black-eyed little lad in particular, in the -Neversink, was such a one. From his diminutiveness, he went by the name -of _Boat Plug_ among the seamen. Without being exactly familiar with -them, he had yet become a general favourite, by reason of his kindness -of manner, and never cursing them. It was amusing to hear some of the -older Tritons invoke blessings upon the youngster, when his kind tones -fell on their weather-beaten ears. “Ah, good luck to you, sir!” -touching their hats to the little man; “you have a soul to be saved, -sir!” There was a wonderful deal of meaning involved in the latter -sentence. _You have a soul to be saved_, is the phrase which a -man-of-war’s-man peculiarly applies to a humane and kind-hearted -officer. It also implies that the majority of quarter-deck officers are -regarded by them in such a light that they deny to them the possession -of souls. Ah! but these plebeians sometimes have a sublime vengeance -upon patricians. Imagine an outcast old sailor seriously cherishing the -purely speculative conceit that some bully in epaulets, who orders him -to and fro like a slave, is of an organization immeasurably inferior to -himself; must at last perish with the brutes, while he goes to his -immortality in heaven. - -But from what has been said in this chapter, it must not be inferred -that a midshipman leads a lord’s life in a man-of-war. Far from it. He -lords it over those below him, while lorded over himself by his -superiors. It is as if with one hand a school-boy snapped his fingers -at a dog, and at the same time received upon the other the discipline -of the usher’s ferule. And though, by the American Articles of War, a -Navy Captain cannot, of his own authority, legally punish a midshipman, -otherwise than by suspension from duty (the same as with respect to the -Ward-room officers), yet this is one of those sea-statutes which the -Captain, to a certain extent, observes or disregards at his pleasure. -Many instances might be related of the petty mortifications and -official insults inflicted by some Captains upon their midshipmen; far -more severe, in one sense, than the old-fashioned punishment of sending -them to the mast-head, though not so arbitrary as sending them before -the mast, to do duty with the common sailors—a custom, in former times, -pursued by Captains in the English Navy. - -Captain Claret himself had no special fondness for midshipmen. A tall, -overgrown young midshipman, about sixteen years old, having fallen -under his displeasure, he interrupted the humble apologies he was -making, by saying, “Not a word, sir! I’ll not hear a word! Mount the -netting, sir, and stand there till you are ordered to come down!” - -The midshipman obeyed; and, in full sight of the entire ship’s company, -Captain Claret promenaded to and fro below his lofty perch, reading him -a most aggravating lecture upon his alleged misconduct. To a lad of -sensibility, such treatment must have been almost as stinging as the -lash itself would have been. - -It is to be remembered that, wherever these chapters treat of -midshipmen, the officers known as passed-midshipmen are not at all -referred to. In the American Navy, these officers form a class of young -men, who, having seen sufficient service at sea as midshipmen to pass -an examination before a Board of Commodores, are promoted to the rank -of passed-midshipmen, introductory to that of lieutenant. They are -supposed to be qualified to do duty as lieutenants, and in some cases -temporarily serve as such. The difference between a passed-midshipman -and a midshipman may be also inferred from their respective rates of -pay. The former, upon sea-service, receives $750 a year; the latter, -$400. There were no passed-midshipmen in the Neversink. - - - - -CHAPTER LIII. -SEAFARING PERSONS PECULIARLY SUBJECT TO BEING UNDER THE WEATHER.—THE -EFFECTS OF THIS UPON A MAN-OF-WAR CAPTAIN. - - -It has been said that some midshipmen, in certain cases, are guilty of -spiteful practices against the man-of-war’s-man. But as these -midshipmen are presumed to have received the liberal and lofty breeding -of gentlemen, it would seem all but incredible that any of their corps -could descend to the paltriness of cherishing personal malice against -so conventionally degraded a being as a sailor. So, indeed, it would -seem. But when all the circumstances are considered, it will not appear -extraordinary that some of them should thus cast discredit upon the -warrants they wear. Title, and rank, and wealth, and education cannot -unmake human nature; the same in cabin-boy and commodore, its only -differences lie in the different modes of development. - -At sea, a frigate houses and homes five hundred mortals in a space so -contracted that they can hardly so much as move but they touch. Cut off -from all those outward passing things which ashore employ the eyes, -tongues, and thoughts of landsmen, the inmates of a frigate are thrown -upon themselves and each other, and all their ponderings are -introspective. A morbidness of mind is often the consequence, -especially upon long voyages, accompanied by foul weather, calms, or -head-winds. Nor does this exempt from its evil influence any rank on -board. Indeed, high station only ministers to it the more, since the -higher the rank in a man-of-war, the less companionship. - -It is an odious, unthankful, repugnant thing to dwell upon a subject -like this; nevertheless, be it said, that, through these jaundiced -influences, even the captain of a frigate is, in some cases, indirectly -induced to the infliction of corporal punishment upon a seaman. Never -sail under a navy captain whom you suspect of being dyspeptic, or -constitutionally prone to hypochondria. - -The manifestation of these things is sometimes remarkable. In the -earlier part of the cruise, while making a long, tedious run from -Mazatlan to Callao on the Main, baffled by light head winds and -frequent intermitting calms, when all hands were heartily wearied by -the torrid, monotonous sea, a good-natured fore-top-man, by the name of -Candy—quite a character in his way—standing in the waist among a crowd -of seamen, touched me, and said, “D’ye see the old man there, -White-Jacket, walking the poop? Well, don’t he look as if he wanted to -flog someone? Look at him once.” - -But to me, at least, no such indications were visible in the deportment -of the Captain, though his thrashing the arm-chest with the slack of -the spanker-out-haul looked a little suspicious. But any one might have -been doing that to pass away a calm. - -“Depend on it,” said the top-man, “he must somehow have thought I was -making sport of _him_ a while ago, when I was only taking off old -Priming, the gunner’s mate. Just look at him once, White-Jacket, while -I make believe coil this here rope; if there arn’t a dozen in that ’ere -Captain’s top-lights, my name is _horse-marine_. If I could only touch -my tile to him now, and take my Bible oath on it, that I was only -taking off Priming, and not _him_, he wouldn’t have such hard thoughts -of me. But that can’t be done; he’d think I meant to insult him. Well, -it can’t be helped; I suppose I must look out for a baker’s dozen afore -long.” - -I had an incredulous laugh at this. But two days afterward, when we -were hoisting the main-top-mast stun’-sail, and the Lieutenant of the -Watch was reprimanding the crowd of seamen at the halyards for their -laziness—for the sail was but just crawling up to its place, owing to -the languor of the men, induced by the heat—the Captain, who had been -impatiently walking the deck, suddenly stopped short, and darting his -eyes among the seamen, suddenly fixed them, crying out, “You, Candy, -and be damned to you, you don’t pull an ounce, you blackguard! Stand up -to that gun, sir; I’ll teach you to be grinning over a rope that way, -without lending your pound of beef to it. Boatswain’s mate, where’s -your _colt?_ Give that man a dozen.” - -Removing his hat, the boatswain’s mate looked into the crown aghast; -the coiled rope, usually worn there, was not to be found; but the next -instant it slid from the top of his head to the deck. Picking it up, -and straightening it out, he advanced toward the sailor. - -“Sir,” said Candy, touching and retouching his cap to the Captain, “I -was pulling, sir, as much as the rest, sir; I was, indeed, sir.” - -“Stand up to that gun,” cried the Captain. “Boatswain’s mate, do your -duty.” - -Three stripes were given, when the Captain raised his finger. -“You——,[3] do you dare stand up to be flogged with your hat on! Take it -off, sir, instantly.” - - [3] The phrase here used I have never seen either written or printed, - and should not like to be the first person to introduce it to the - public. - - -Candy dropped it on deck. - -“Now go on, boatswain’s mate.” And the sailor received his dozen. - -With his hand to his back he came up to me, where I stood among the -by-standers, saying, “O Lord, O Lord! that boatswain’s mate, too, had a -spite agin me; he always thought it was _me_ that set afloat that yarn -about his wife in Norfolk. O Lord! just run your hand under my shirt -will you, White-Jacket? There!! didn’t he have a spite agin me, to -raise such bars as them? And my shirt all cut to pieces, too—arn’t it, -White-Jacket? Damn me, but these coltings puts the tin in the Purser’s -pocket. O Lord! my back feels as if there was a red-hot gridiron lashed -to it. But I told you so—a widow’s curse on him, say I—he thought I -meant _him_, and not Priming.” - - - - -CHAPTER LIV. -“THE PEOPLE” ARE GIVEN “LIBERTY.” - - -Whenever, in intervals of mild benevolence, or yielding to mere politic -dictates, Kings and Commodores relax the yoke of servitude, they should -see to it well that the concession seem not too sudden or unqualified; -for, in the commoner’s estimation, that might argue feebleness or fear. - -Hence it was, perhaps, that, though noble Jack had carried the day -captive in his audience at the mast, yet more than thirty-six hours -elapsed ere anything official was heard of the “liberty” his shipmates -so earnestly coveted. Some of the people began to growl and grumble. - -“It’s turned out all gammon, Jack,” said one. - -“Blast the Commodore!” cried another, “he bamboozled you, Jack.” - -“Lay on your oars a while,” answered Jack, “and we shall see; we’ve -struck for liberty, and liberty we’ll have! I’m your tribune, boys; I’m -your Rienzi. The Commodore must keep his word.” - -Next day, about breakfast-time, a mighty whistling and piping was heard -at the main-hatchway, and presently the boatswain’s voice was heard: -“D’ye hear there, fore and aft! all you starboard-quarter watch! get -ready to go ashore on liberty!” - -In a paroxysm of delight, a young mizzen-top-man, standing by at the -time, whipped the tarpaulin from his head, and smashed it like a -pancake on the deck. “Liberty!” he shouted, leaping down into the -berth-deck after his bag. - -At the appointed hour, the quarter-watch mustered round the capstan, at -which stood our old First Lord of the Treasury and Pay-Master-General, -the Purser, with several goodly buck-skin bags of dollars, piled up on -the capstan. He helped us all round to half a handful or so, and then -the boats were manned, and, like so many Esterhazys, we were pulled -ashore by our shipmates. All their lives lords may live in listless -state; but give the commoners a holiday, and they outlord the Commodore -himself. - -The ship’s company were divided into four sections or quarter-watches, -only one of which were on shore at a time, the rest remaining to -garrison the frigate—the term of liberty for each being twenty-four -hours. - -With Jack Chase and a few other discreet and gentlemanly top-men, I -went ashore on the first day, with the first quarter-watch. Our own -little party had a charming time; we saw many fine sights; fell in—as -all sailors must—with dashing adventures. But, though not a few good -chapters might be written on this head, I must again forbear; for in -this book I have nothing to do with the shore further than to glance at -it, now and then, from the water; my man-of-war world alone must supply -me with the staple of my matter; I have taken an oath to keep afloat to -the last letter of my narrative. - -Had they all been as punctual as Jack Chase’s party, the whole -quarter-watch of liberty-men had been safe on board the frigate at the -expiration of the twenty-four hours. But this was not the case; and -during the entire day succeeding, the midshipmen and others were -engaged in ferreting them out of their hiding-places on shore, and -bringing them off in scattered detachments to the ship. - -They came in all imaginable stages of intoxication; some with blackened -eyes and broken heads; some still more severely injured, having been -stabbed in frays with the Portuguese soldiers. Others, unharmed, were -immediately dropped on the gun-deck, between the guns, where they lay -snoring for the rest of the day. As a considerable degree of license is -invariably permitted to man-of-war’s-men just “off liberty,” and as -man-of-war’s-men well know this to be the case, they occasionally avail -themselves of the privilege to talk very frankly to the officers when -they first cross the gangway, taking care, meanwhile, to reel about -very industriously, so that there shall be no doubt about their being -seriously intoxicated, and altogether _non compos_ for the time. And -though but few of them have cause to feign intoxication, yet some -individuals may be suspected of enacting a studied part upon these -occasions. Indeed—judging by certain symptoms—even when really -inebriated, some of the sailors must have previously determined upon -their conduct; just as some persons who, before taking the exhilarating -gas, secretly make up their minds to perform certain mad feats while -under its influence, which feats consequently come to pass precisely as -if the actors were not accountable for them. - -For several days, while the other quarter-watches were given liberty, -the Neversink presented a sad scene. She was more like a madhouse than -a frigate; the gun-deck resounded with frantic fights, shouts, and -songs. All visitors from shore were kept at a cable’s length. - -These scenes, however, are nothing to those which have repeatedly been -enacted in American men-of-war upon other stations. But the custom of -introducing women on board, in harbour, is now pretty much -discontinued, both in the English and American Navy, unless a ship, -commanded by some dissolute Captain, happens to lie in some far away, -outlandish port, in the Pacific or Indian Ocean. - -The British line-of-battle ship, Royal George, which in 1782 sunk at -her anchors at Spithead, carried down three hundred English women among -the one thousand souls that were drowned on that memorable morning. - -When, at last, after all the mad tumult and contention of “Liberty,” -the reaction came, our frigate presented a very different scene. The -men looked jaded and wan, lethargic and lazy; and many an old mariner, -with hand upon abdomen, called upon the Flag-staff to witness that -there were more _hot coppers_ in the Neversink than those in the ship’s -galley. - -Such are the lamentable effects of suddenly and completely releasing -“_the people_” of a man-of-war from arbitrary discipline. It shows -that, to such, “liberty,” at first, must be administered in small and -moderate quantities, increasing with the patient’s capacity to make -good use of it. - -Of course while we lay in Rio, our officers frequently went ashore for -pleasure, and, as a general thing, conducted themselves with propriety. -But it is a sad thing to say, that, as for Lieutenant Mad Jack, he -enjoyed himself so delightfully for three consecutive days in the town, -that, upon returning to the ship, he sent his card to the Surgeon, with -his compliments, begging him to drop into his state-room the first time -he happened to pass that way in the ward-room. - -But one of our Surgeon’s mates, a young medico of fine family but -slender fortune, must have created by far the strongest impression -among the hidalgoes of Rio. He had read Don Quixote, and, instead of -curing him of his Quixotism, as it ought to have done, it only made him -still more Quixotic. Indeed, there are some natures concerning whose -moral maladies the grand maxim of Mr. Similia Similibus Curantur -Hahneman does not hold true, since, with them, _like cures_ not _like_, -but only aggravates _like_. Though, on the other hand, so incurable are -the moral maladies of such persons, that the antagonist maxim, -_contraria contrariis curantar_, often proves equally false. - -Of a warm tropical day, this Surgeon’s mate must needs go ashore in his -blue cloth boat-cloak, wearing it, with a gallant Spanish toss, over -his cavalier shoulder. By noon, he perspired very freely; but then his -cloak attracted all eyes, and that was huge satisfaction. Nevertheless, -his being knock-kneed, and spavined of one leg, sorely impaired the -effect of this hidalgo cloak, which, by-the-way, was some-what rusty in -front, where his chin rubbed against it, and a good deal bedraggled all -over, from his having used it as a counterpane off Cape Horn. - -As for the midshipmen, there is no knowing what their mammas would have -said to their conduct in Rio. Three of them drank a good deal too much; -and when they came on board, the Captain ordered them to be sewed up in -their hammocks, to cut short their obstreperous capers till sober. - -This shows how unwise it is to allow children yet in their teens to -wander so far from home. It more especially illustrates the folly of -giving them long holidays in a foreign land, full of seductive -dissipation. Port for men, claret for boys, cried Dr. Johnson. Even so, -men only should drink the strong drink of travel; boys should still be -kept on milk and water at home. Middies! you may despise your mother’s -leading-strings, but they are the _man-ropes_ my lads, by which many -youngsters have steadied the giddiness of youth, and saved themselves -from lamentable falls. And middies! know this, that as infants, being -too early put on their feet, grow up bandy-legged, and curtailed of -their fair proportions, even so, my dear middies, does it morally prove -with some of you, who prematurely are sent off to sea. - -These admonitions are solely addressed to the more diminutive class of -midshipmen—those under five feet high, and under seven stone in weight. - -Truly, the records of the steerages of men-of-war are full of most -melancholy examples of early dissipation, disease, disgrace, and death. -Answer, ye shades of fine boys, who in the soils of all climes, the -round world over, far away sleep from your homes. - -Mothers of men! If your hearts have been cast down when your boys have -fallen in the way of temptations ashore, how much more bursting your -grief, did you know that those boys were far from your arms, cabined -and cribbed in by all manner of iniquities. But this some of you cannot -believe. It is, perhaps, well that it is so. - -But hold them fast—all those who have not yet weighed their anchors for -the Navy-round and round, hitch over hitch, bind your leading-strings -on them, and clinching a ring-bolt into your chimmey-jam, moor your -boys fast to that best of harbours, the hearth-stone. - -But if youth be giddy, old age is staid; even as young saplings, in the -litheness of their limbs, toss to their roots in the fresh morning air; -but, stiff and unyielding with age, mossy trunks never bend. With pride -and pleasure be it said, that, as for our old Commodore, though he -might treat himself to as many “_liberty days_” as he pleased, yet -throughout our stay in Rio he conducted himself with the utmost -discretion. - -But he was an old, old man; physically, a very small man; his spine was -as an unloaded musket-barrel—not only attenuated, but destitute of a -solitary cartridge, and his ribs were as the ribs of a weasel. - -Besides, he was Commodore of the fleet, supreme lord of the Commons in -Blue. It beseemed him, therefore, to erect himself into an ensample of -virtue, and show the gun-deck what virtue was. But alas! when Virtue -sits high aloft on a frigate’s poop, when Virtue is crowned in the -cabin a Commodore, when Virtue rules by compulsion, and domineers over -Vice as a slave, then Virtue, though her mandates be outwardly -observed, bears little interior sway. To be efficacious, Virtue must -come down from aloft, even as our blessed Redeemer came down to redeem -our whole man-of-war world; to that end, mixing with its sailors and -sinners as equals. - - - - -CHAPTER LV. -MIDSHIPMEN ENTERING THE NAVY EARLY. - - -The allusion in the preceding chapter to the early age at which some of -the midshipmen enter the Navy, suggests some thoughts relative to more -important considerations. - -A very general modern impression seems to be, that, in order to learn -the profession of a sea-officer, a boy can hardly be sent to sea too -early. To a certain extent, this may be a mistake. Other professions, -involving a knowledge of technicalities and things restricted to one -particular field of action, are frequently mastered by men who begin -after the age of twenty-one, or even at a later period of life. It was -only about the middle of the seventeenth century that the British -military and naval services were kept distinct. Previous to that epoch -the king’s officers commanded indifferently either by sea or by land. - -Robert Blake, perhaps one of the most accomplished, and certainly one -of the most successful Admirals that ever hoisted a flag, was more than -half a century old (fifty-one years) before he entered the naval -service, or had aught to do, professionally, with a ship. He was of a -studious turn, and, after leaving Oxford, resided quietly on his -estate, a country gentleman, till his forty-second year, soon after -which he became connected with the Parliamentary army. - -The historian Clarendon says of him, “He was the first man that made it -manifest that the science (seamanship) might be attained in less time -than was imagined.” And doubtless it was to his shore sympathies that -the well-known humanity and kindness which Blake evinced in his -intercourse with the sailors is in a large degree to be imputed. - -Midshipmen sent into the Navy at a very early age are exposed to the -passive reception of all the prejudices of the quarter-deck in favour -of ancient usages, however useless or pernicious; those prejudices grow -up with them, and solidify with their very bones. As they rise in rank, -they naturally carry them up, whence the inveterate repugnance of many -Commodores and Captains to the slightest innovations in the service, -however salutary they may appear to landsmen. - -It is hardly to be doubted that, in matters connected with the general -welfare of the Navy, government has paid rather too much deference to -the opinions of the officers of the Navy, considering them as men -almost born to the service, and therefore far better qualified to judge -concerning any and all questions touching it than people on shore. But -in a nation under a liberal Constitution, it must ever be unwise to -make too distinct and peculiar the profession of either branch of its -military men. True, in a country like ours, nothing is at present to be -apprehended of their gaining political rule; but not a little is to be -apprehended concerning their perpetuating or creating abuses among -their subordinates, unless civilians have full cognisance of their -administrative affairs, and account themselves competent to the -complete overlooking and ordering them. - -We do wrong when we in any way contribute to the prevailing -mystification that has been thrown about the internal affairs of the -national sea-service. Hitherto those affairs have been regarded even by -some high state functionaries as things beyond their insight—altogether -too technical and mysterious to be fully comprehended by landsmen. And -this it is that has perpetuated in the Navy many evils that otherwise -would have been abolished in the general amelioration of other things. -The army is sometimes remodelled, but the Navy goes down from -generation to generation almost untouched and unquestioned, as if its -code were infallible, and itself a piece of perfection that no -statesman could improve. When a Secretary of the Navy ventures to -innovate upon its established customs, you hear some of the Navy -officers say, “What does this landsman know about our affairs? Did he -ever head a watch? He does not know starboard from larboard, girt-line -from back-stay.” - -While we deferentially and cheerfully leave to Navy officers the sole -conduct of making and shortening sail, tacking ship, and performing -other nautical manoeuvres, as may seem to them best; let us beware of -abandoning to their discretion those general municipal regulations -touching the well-being of the great body of men before the mast; let -us beware of being too much influenced by their opinions in matters -where it is but natural to suppose that their long-established -prejudices are enlisted. - - - - -CHAPTER LVI. -A SHORE EMPEROR ON BOARD A MAN-OF-WAR. - - -While we lay in Rio, we sometimes had company from shore; but an -unforeseen honour awaited us. One day, the young Emperor, Don Pedro -II., and suite—making a circuit of the harbour, and visiting all the -men-of-war in rotation—at last condescendingly visited the Neversink. - -He came in a splendid barge, rowed by thirty African slaves, who, after -the Brazilian manner, in concert rose upright to their oars at every -stroke; then sank backward again to their seats with a simultaneous -groan. - -He reclined under a canopy of yellow silk, looped with tassels of -green, the national colours. At the stern waved the Brazilian flag, -bearing a large diamond figure in the centre, emblematical, perhaps, of -the mines of precious stones in the interior; or, it may be, a -magnified portrait of the famous “Portuguese diamond” itself, which was -found in Brazil, in the district of Tejuco, on the banks of the Rio -Belmonte. - -We gave them a grand salute, which almost made the ship’s live-oak -_knees_ knock together with the tremendous concussions. We manned the -yards, and went through a long ceremonial of paying the Emperor homage. -Republicans are often more courteous to royalty than royalists -themselves. But doubtless this springs from a noble magnanimity. - -At the gangway, the Emperor was received by our Commodore in person, -arrayed in his most resplendent coat and finest French epaulets. His -servant had devoted himself to polishing every button that morning with -rotten-stone and rags—your sea air is a sworn foe to metallic glosses; -whence it comes that the swords of sea-officers have, of late, so -rusted in their scabbards that they are with difficulty drawn. - -It was a fine sight to see this Emperor and Commodore complimenting -each other. Both were _chapeaux-de-bras_, and both continually waved -them. By instinct, the Emperor knew that the venerable personage before -him was as much a monarch afloat as he himself was ashore. Did not our -Commodore carry the sword of state by his side? For though not borne -before him, it must have been a sword of state, since it looked far to -lustrous to have been his fighting sword. _That_ was naught but a -limber steel blade, with a plain, serviceable handle, like the handle -of a slaughter-house knife. - -Who ever saw a star when the noon sun was in sight? But you seldom see -a king without satellites. In the suite of the youthful Emperor came a -princely train; so brilliant with gems, that they seemed just emerged -from the mines of the Rio Belmonte. - -You have seen cones of crystallised salt? Just so flashed these -Portuguese Barons, Marquises, Viscounts, and Counts. Were it not for -their titles, and being seen in the train of their lord, you would have -sworn they were eldest sons of jewelers all, who had run away with -their fathers’ cases on their backs. - -Contrasted with these lamp-lustres of Barons of Brazil, how waned the -gold lace of our barons of the frigate, the officers of the gun-room! -and compared with the long, jewel-hilted rapiers of the Marquises, the -little dirks of our cadets of noble houses—the middies—looked like -gilded tenpenny nails in their girdles. - -But there they stood! Commodore and Emperor, Lieutenants and Marquises, -middies and pages! The brazen band on the poop struck up; the marine -guard presented arms; and high aloft, looking down on this scene, all -_the people_ vigorously hurraed. A top-man next me on the -main-royal-yard removed his hat, and diligently manipulated his head in -honour of the event; but he was so far out of sight in the clouds, that -this ceremony went for nothing. - -A great pity it was, that in addition to all these honours, that -admirer of Portuguese literature, Viscount Strangford, of Great -Britain—who, I believe, once went out Ambassador Extraordinary to the -Brazils—it was a pity that he was not present on this occasion, to -yield his tribute of “A Stanza to Braganza!” For our royal visitor was -an undoubted Braganza, allied to nearly all the great families of -Europe. His grandfather, John VI., had been King of Portugal; his own -sister, Maria, was now its queen. He was, indeed, a distinguished young -gentleman, entitled to high consideration, and that consideration was -most cheerfully accorded him. - -He wore a green dress-coat, with one regal morning-star at the breast, -and white pantaloons. In his chapeau was a single, bright, golden-hued -feather of the Imperial Toucan fowl, a magnificent, omnivorous, -broad-billed bandit bird of prey, a native of Brazil. Its perch is on -the loftiest trees, whence it looks down upon all humbler fowls, and, -hawk-like, flies at their throats. The Toucan once formed part of the -savage regalia of the Indian caciques of the country, and upon the -establishment of the empire, was symbolically retained by the -Portuguese sovereigns. - -His Imperial Majesty was yet in his youth; rather corpulent, if -anything, with a care-free, pleasant face, and a polite, indifferent, -and easy address. His manners, indeed, were entirely unexceptionable. - -Now here, thought I, is a very fine lad, with very fine prospects -before him. He is supreme Emperor of all these Brazils; he has no -stormy night-watches to stand; he can lay abed of mornings just as long -as he pleases. Any gentleman in Rio would be proud of his personal -acquaintance, and the prettiest girl in all South America would deem -herself honoured with the least glance from the acutest angle of his -eye. - -Yes: this young Emperor will have a fine time of this life, even so -long as he condescends to exist. Every one jumps to obey him; and see, -as I live, there is an old nobleman in his suit—the Marquis d’Acarty -they call him, old enough to be his grandfather—who, in the hot sun, is -standing bareheaded before him, while the Emperor carries his hat on -his head. - -“I suppose that old gentleman, now,” said a young New England tar -beside me, “would consider it a great honour to put on his Royal -Majesty’s boots; and yet, White-Jacket, if yonder Emperor and I were to -strip and jump overboard for a bath, it would be hard telling which was -of the blood royal when we should once be in the water. Look you, Don -Pedro II.,” he added, “how do you come to be Emperor? Tell me that. You -cannot pull as many pounds as I on the main-topsail-halyards; you are -not as tall as I: your nose is a pug, and mine is a cut-water; and how -do you come to be a ‘_brigand_,’ with that thin pair of spars? A -_brigand_, indeed!” - -“_Braganza_, you mean,” said I, willing to correct the rhetoric of so -fierce a republican, and, by so doing, chastise his censoriousness. - -“Braganza! _bragger_ it is,” he replied; “and a bragger, indeed. See -that feather in his cap! See how he struts in that coat! He may well -wear a green one, top-mates—he’s a green-looking swab at the best.” - -“Hush, Jonathan,” said I; “there’s the _First Duff_ looking up. Be -still! the Emperor will hear you;” and I put my hand on his mouth. - -“Take your hand away, White-Jacket,” he cried; “there’s no law up aloft -here. I say, you Emperor—you greenhorn in the green coat, there—look -you, you can’t raise a pair of whiskers yet; and see what a pair of -homeward-bounders I have on my jowls! _Don Pedro_, eh? What’s that, -after all, but plain Peter—reckoned a shabby name in my country. Damn -me, White-Jacket, I wouldn’t call my dog Peter!” - -“Clap a stopper on your jaw-tackle, will you?” cried Ringbolt, the -sailor on the other side of him. “You’ll be getting us all into darbies -for this.” - -“I won’t trice up my red rag for nobody,” retorted Jonathan. “So you -had better take a round turn with yours, Ringbolt, and let me alone, or -I’ll fetch you such a swat over your figure-head, you’ll think a Long -Wharf truck-horse kicked you with all four shoes on one hoof! You -Emperor—you counter-jumping son of a gun—cock your weather eye up aloft -here, and see your betters! I say, top-mates, he ain’t any Emperor at -all—I’m the rightful Emperor. Yes, by the Commodore’s boots! they stole -me out of my cradle here in the palace of Rio, and put that green-horn -in my place. Ay, you timber-head, you, I’m Don Pedro II., and by good -rights you ought to be a main-top-man here, with your fist in a -tar-bucket! Look you, I say, that crown of yours ought to be on my -head; or, if you don’t believe _that_, just heave it into the ring -once, and see who’s the best man.” - -“What’s this hurra’s nest here aloft?” cried Jack Chase, coming up the -t’-gallant rigging from the top-sail yard. “Can’t you behave yourself, -royal-yard-men, when an Emperor’s on board?” - -“It’s this here Jonathan,” answered Ringbolt; “he’s been blackguarding -the young nob in the green coat, there. He says Don Pedro stole his -hat.” - -“How?” - -“Crown, he means, noble Jack,” said a top-man. - -“Jonathan don’t call himself an Emperor, does he?” asked Jack. - -“Yes,” cried Jonathan; “that greenhorn, standing there by the -Commodore, is sailing under false colours; he’s an impostor, I say; he -wears my crown.” - -“Ha! ha!” laughed Jack, now seeing into the joke, and willing to humour -it; “though I’m born a Briton, boys, yet, by the mast! these Don Pedros -are all Perkin Warbecks. But I say, Jonathan, my lad, don’t pipe your -eye now about the loss of your crown; for, look you, we all wear -crowns, from our cradles to our graves, and though in _double-darbies_ -in the _brig_, the Commodore himself can’t unking us.” - -“A riddle, noble Jack.” - -“Not a bit; every man who has a sole to his foot has a crown to his -head. Here’s mine;” and so saying, Jack, removing his tarpaulin, -exhibited a bald spot, just about the bigness of a crown-piece, on the -summit of his curly and classical head. - - - - -CHAPTER LVII. -THE EMPEROR REVIEWS THE PEOPLE AT QUARTERS. - - -I Beg their Royal Highnesses’ pardons all round, but I had almost -forgotten to chronicle the fact, that with the Emperor came several -other royal Princes—kings for aught we knew—since it was just after the -celebration of the nuptials of a younger sister of the Brazilian -monarch to some European royalty. Indeed, the Emperor and his suite -formed a sort of bridal party, only the bride herself was absent. - -The first reception over, the smoke of the cannonading salute having -cleared away, and the martial outburst of the brass band having also -rolled off to leeward, the people were called down from the yards, and -the drum beat to quarters. - -To quarters we went; and there we stood up by our iron bull-dogs, while -our royal and noble visitors promenaded along the batteries, breaking -out into frequent exclamations at our warlike array, the extreme -neatness of our garments, and, above all, the extraordinary polish of -the _bright-work_ about the great guns, and the marvellous whiteness of -the decks. - -“Que gosto!” cried a Marquis, with several dry goods samples of ribbon, -tallied with bright buttons, hanging from his breast. - -“Que gloria!” cried a crooked, coffee-coloured Viscount, spreading both -palms. - -“Que alegria!” cried a little Count, mincingly circumnavigating a -shot-box. - -“Que contentamento he o meu!” cried the Emperor himself, complacently -folding his royal arms, and serenely gazing along our ranks. - -_Pleasure, Glory_, and _Joy_—this was the burden of the three noble -courtiers. _And very pleasing indeed_—was the simple rendering of Don -Pedro’s imperial remark. - -“Ay, ay,” growled a grim rammer-and-sponger behind me; “it’s all -devilish fine for you nobs to look at; but what would you say if you -had to holy-stone the deck yourselves, and wear out your elbows in -polishing this cursed old iron, besides getting a dozen at the gangway, -if you dropped a grease-spot on deck in your mess? Ay, ay, devilish -fine for you, but devilish dull for us!” - -In due time the drums beat the retreat, and the ship’s company -scattered over the decks. - -Some of the officers now assumed the part of cicerones, to show the -distinguished strangers the bowels of the frigate, concerning which -several of them showed a good deal of intelligent curiosity. A guard of -honour, detached from the marine corps, accompanied them, and they made -the circuit of the berth-deck, where, at a judicious distance, the -Emperor peeped down into the cable-tier, a very subterranean vault. - -The Captain of the Main-Hold, who there presided, made a polite bow in -the twilight, and respectfully expressed a desire for His Royal Majesty -to step down and honour him with a call; but, with his handkerchief to -his Imperial nose, his Majesty declined. The party then commenced the -ascent to the spar-deck; which, from so great a depth in a frigate, is -something like getting up to the top of Bunker Hill Monument from the -basement. - -While a crowd of people was gathered about the forward part of the -booms, a sudden cry was heard from below; a lieutenant came running -forward to learn the cause, when an old sheet-anchor-man, standing by, -after touching his hat hitched up his waistbands, and replied, “I don’t -know, sir, but I’m thinking as how one o’ them ’ere kings has been -tumblin’ down the hatchway.” - -And something like this it turned out. In ascending one of the narrow -ladders leading from the berth-deck to the gun-deck, the Most Noble -Marquis of Silva, in the act of elevating the Imperial coat-tails, so -as to protect them from rubbing against the newly-painted combings of -the hatchway, this noble marquis’s sword, being an uncommonly long one, -had caught between his legs, and tripped him head over heels down into -the fore-passage. - -“Onde ides?” (where are you going?) said his royal master, tranquilly -peeping down toward the falling Marquis; “and what did you let go of my -coat-tails for?” he suddenly added, in a passion, glancing round at the -same time, to see if they had suffered from the unfaithfulness of his -train bearer. - -“Oh, Lord!” sighed the Captain of the Fore-top, “who would be a Marquis -of Silva?” - -Upon being assisted to the spar-deck, the unfortunate Marquis was found -to have escaped without serious harm; but, from the marked coolness of -his royal master, when the Marquis drew near to apologise for his -awkwardness, it was plain that he was condemned to languish for a time -under the royal displeasure. - -Shortly after, the Imperial party withdrew, under another grand -national salute. - - - - -CHAPTER LVIII. -A QUARTER-DECK OFFICER BEFORE THE MAST. - - -As we were somewhat short-handed while we lay in Rio, we received a -small draft of men from a United States sloop of war, whose three -years’ term of service would expire about the time of our arrival in -America. - -Under guard of an armed Lieutenant and four midshipmen, they came on -board in the afternoon. They were immediately mustered in the starboard -gangway, that Mr. Bridewell, our First Lieutenant, might take down -their names, and assign them their stations. - -They stood in a mute and solemn row; the officer advanced, with his -memorandum-book and pencil. - -My casual friend, Shakings, the holder, happened to be by at the time. -Touching my arm, he said, “White-Jacket, this here reminds me of -Sing-Sing, when a draft of fellows in darbies, came on from the State -Prison at Auburn for a change of scene like, you know!” - -After taking down four or five names, Mr. Bridewell accosted the next -man, a rather good-looking person, but, from his haggard cheek and -sunken eye, he seemed to have been in the sad habit, all his life, of -sitting up rather late at night; and though all sailors do certainly -keep late hours enough—standing watches at midnight—yet there is no -small difference between keeping late hours at sea and keeping late -hours ashore. - -“What’s your name?” asked the officer, of this rather rakish-looking -recruit. - -“Mandeville, sir,” said the man, courteously touching his cap. “You -must remember me, sir,” he added, in a low, confidential tone, -strangely dashed with servility; “we sailed together once in the old -Macedonian, sir. I wore an epaulet then; we had the same state-room, -you know, sir. I’m your old chum, Mandeville, sir,” and he again -touched his cap. - -“I remember an _officer_ by that name,” said the First Lieutenant, -emphatically, “and I know _you_, fellow. But I know you henceforth for -a common sailor. I can show no favouritism here. If you ever violate -the ship’s rules, you shall be flogged like any other seaman. I place -you in the fore-top; go forward to your duty.” - -It seemed this Mandeville had entered the Navy when very young, and had -risen to be a lieutenant, as he said. But brandy had been his bane. One -night, when he had the deck of a line-of-battle ship, in the -Mediterranean, he was seized with a fit of mania-a-potu, and being out -of his senses for the time, went below and turned into his berth, -leaving the deck without a commanding officer. For this unpardonable -offence he was broken. - -Having no fortune, and no other profession than the sea, upon his -disgrace he entered the merchant-service as a chief mate; but his love -of strong drink still pursuing him, he was again cashiered at sea, and -degraded before the mast by the Captain. After this, in a state of -intoxication, he re-entered the Navy at Pensacola as a common sailor. -But all these lessons, so biting-bitter to learn, could not cure him of -his sin. He had hardly been a week on board the Neversink, when he was -found intoxicated with smuggled spirits. They lashed him to the -gratings, and ignominiously scourged him under the eye of his old -friend and comrade, the First Lieutenant. - -This took place while we lay in port, which reminds me of the -circumstance, that when punishment is about to be inflicted in harbour, -all strangers are ordered ashore; and the sentries at the side have it -in strict charge to waive off all boats drawing near. - - - - -CHAPTER LIX. -A MAN-OF-WAR BUTTON DIVIDES TWO BROTHERS. - - -The conduct of Mandeville, in claiming the acquaintance of the First -Lieutenant under such disreputable circumstances was strongly -contrasted by the behaviour of another person on board, placed for a -time in a somewhat similar situation. - -Among the genteel youths of the after-guard was a lad of about sixteen, -a very handsome young fellow, with starry eyes, curly hair of a golden -colour, and a bright, sunshiny complexion: he must have been the son of -some goldsmith. He was one of the few sailors—not in the main-top—whom -I used to single out for occasional conversation. After several -friendly interviews he became quite frank, and communicated certain -portions of his history. There is some charm in the sea, which induces -most persons to be very communicative concerning themselves. - -We had lain in Rio but a day, when I observed that this lad—whom I -shall here call Frank—wore an unwonted expression of sadness, mixed -with apprehension. I questioned him as to the cause, but he chose to -conceal it. Not three days after, he abruptly accosted me on the -gun-deck, where I happened to be taking a promenade. - -“I can’t keep it to myself any more,” he said; “I must have a -confidant, or I shall go mad!” - -“What is the matter?” said I, in alarm. - -“Matter enough—look at this!” and he handed me a torn half sheet of an -old New York _Herald_, putting his finger upon a particular word in a -particular paragraph. It was the announcement of the sailing from the -Brooklyn Navy-yard of a United States store ship, with provisions for -the squadron in Rio. It was upon a particular name, in the list of -officers and midshipmen, that Frank’s fingers was placed. - -“That is my own brother,” said he; “he must have got a reefer’s warrant -since I left home. Now, White-Jacket, what’s to be done? I have -calculated that the store ship may be expected here every day; my -brother will then see me—he an officer and I a miserable sailor that -any moment may be flogged at the gangway, before his very eyes. -Heavens! White-Jacket, what shall I do? Would you run? Do you think -there is any chance to desert? I won’t see him, by Heaven, with this -sailor’s frock on, and he with the anchor button!” - -“Why, Frank,” said I, “I do not really see sufficient cause for this -fit you are in. Your brother is an of officer—very good; and you are -nothing but a sailor—but that is no disgrace. If he comes on board -here, go up to him, and take him by the hand; believe me, he will be -glad enough to see you!” - -Frank started from his desponding attitude, and fixing his eyes full -upon mine, with clasped hands exclaimed, “White-Jacket, I have been -from home nearly three years; in that time I have never heard one word -from my family, and, though God knows how I love them, yet I swear to -you, that though my brother can tell me whether my sisters are still -alive, yet, rather than accost him in this _lined-frock_, I would go -ten centuries without hearing one syllable from home?” - -Amazed at his earnestness, and hardly able to account for it -altogether, I stood silent a moment; then said, “Why, Frank, this -midshipman is your own brother, you say; now, do you really think that -your own flesh and blood is going to give himself airs over you, simply -because he sports large brass buttons on his coat? Never believe it. If -he does, he can be no brother, and ought to be hanged—that’s all!” - -“Don’t say that again,” said Frank, resentfully; “my brother is a -noble-hearted fellow; I love him as I do myself. You don’t understand -me, White-Jacket; don’t you see, that when my brother arrives, he must -consort more or less with our chuckle-headed reefers on board here? -There’s that namby-pamby Miss Nancy of a white-face, Stribbles, who, -the other day, when Mad Jack’s back was turned, ordered me to hand him -the spy-glass, as if he were a Commodore. Do you suppose, now, I want -my brother to see me a lackey abroad here? By Heaven it is enough to -drive one distracted! What’s to be done?” he cried, fiercely. - -Much more passed between us, but all my philosophy was in vain, and at -last Frank departed, his head hanging down in despondency. - -For several days after, whenever the quarter-master reported a sail -entering the harbour, Frank was foremost in the rigging to observe it. -At length, one afternoon, a vessel drawing near was reported to be the -long-expected store ship. I looked round for Frank on the spar-deck, -but he was nowhere to be seen. He must have been below, gazing out of a -port-hole. The vessel was hailed from our poop, and came to anchor -within a biscuit’s toss of our batteries. - -That evening I heard that Frank had ineffectually endeavoured to get -removed from his place as an oarsman in the First-Cutter—a boat which, -from its size, is generally employed with the launch in carrying -ship-stores. When I thought that, the very next day, perhaps, this boat -would be plying between the store ship and our frigate, I was at no -loss to account for Frank’s attempts to get rid of his oar, and felt -heartily grieved at their failure. - -Next morning the bugler called away the First-Cutter’s crew, and Frank -entered the boat with his hat slouched over his eyes. Upon his return, -I was all eagerness to learn what had happened, and, as the -communication of his feelings was a grateful relief, he poured his -whole story into my ear. - -It seemed that, with his comrades, he mounted the store ship’s side, -and hurried forward to the forecastle. Then, turning anxiously toward -the quarter-deck, he spied two midshipmen leaning against the bulwarks, -conversing. One was the officer of his boat—was the other his brother? -No; he was too tall—too large. Thank Heaven! it was not him. And -perhaps his brother had not sailed from home, after all; there might -have been some mistake. But suddenly the strange midshipman laughed -aloud, and that laugh Frank had heard a thousand times before. It was a -free, hearty laugh—a brother’s laugh; but it carried a pang to the -heart of poor Frank. - -He was now ordered down to the main-deck to assist in removing the -stores. The boat being loaded, he was ordered into her, when, looking -toward the gangway, he perceived the two midshipmen lounging upon each -side of it, so that no one could pass them without brushing their -persons. But again pulling his hat over his eyes, Frank, darting -between them, gained his oar. “How my heart thumped,” he said, “when I -actually, felt him so near me; but I wouldn’t look at him—no! I’d have -died first!” - -To Frank’s great relief, the store ship at last moved further up the -bay, and it fortunately happened that he saw no more of his brother -while in Rio; and while there, he never in any way made himself known -to him. - - - - -CHAPTER LX. -A MAN-OF-WAR’S-MAN SHOT AT. - - -There was a seaman belonging to the fore-top—a mess-mate, though not a -top-mate of mine, and no favourite of the Captain’s,—who, for certain -venial transgressions, had been prohibited from going ashore on liberty -when the ship’s company went. Enraged at the deprivation—for he had not -touched earth in upward of a year—he, some nights after, lowered -himself overboard, with the view of gaining a canoe, attached by a rope -to a Dutch galiot some cables’-lengths distant. In this canoe he -proposed paddling himself ashore. Not being a very expert swimmer, the -commotion he made in the water attracted the ear of the sentry on that -side of the ship, who, turning about in his walk, perceived the faint -white spot where the fugitive was swimming in the frigate’s shadow. He -hailed it; but no reply. - -“Give the word, or I fire!” - -Not a word was heard. - -The next instant there was a red flash, and, before it had completely -ceased illuminating the night the white spot was changed into crimson. -Some of the officers, returning from a party at the Beach of the -Flamingoes, happened to be drawing near the ship in one of her cutters. -They saw the flash, and the bounding body it revealed. In a moment the -topman was dragged into the boat, a handkerchief was used for a -tourniquet, and the wounded fugitive was soon on board the frigate, -when, the surgeon being called, the necessary attentions were rendered. - -Now, it appeared, that at the moment the sentry fired, the top-man—in -order to elude discovery, by manifesting the completest quietude—was -floating on the water, straight and horizontal, as if reposing on a -bed. As he was not far from the ship at the time, and the sentry was -considerably elevated above him—pacing his platform, on a level with -the upper part of the hammock-nettings—the ball struck with great -force, with a downward obliquity, entering the right thigh just above -the knee, and, penetrating some inches, glanced upward along the bone, -burying itself somewhere, so that it could not be felt by outward -manipulation. There was no dusky discoloration to mark its internal -track, as in the case when a partly-spent ball—obliquely hitting—after -entering the skin, courses on, just beneath the surface, without -penetrating further. Nor was there any mark on the opposite part of the -thigh to denote its place, as when a ball forces itself straight -through a limb, and lodges, perhaps, close to the skin on the other -side. Nothing was visible but a small, ragged puncture, bluish about -the edges, as if the rough point of a tenpenny nail had been forced -into the flesh, and withdrawn. It seemed almost impossible, that -through so small an aperture, a musket-bullet could have penetrated. - -The extreme misery and general prostration of the man, caused by the -great effusion of blood—though, strange to say, at first he said he -felt no pain from the wound itself—induced the Surgeon, very -reluctantly, to forego an immediate search for the ball, to extract it, -as that would have involved the dilating of the wound by the knife; an -operation which, at that juncture, would have been almost certainly -attended with fatal results. A day or two, therefore, was permitted to -pass, while simple dressings were applied. - -The Surgeon of the other American ships of war in harbour occasionally -visited the Neversink, to examine the patient, and incidentally to -listen to the expositions of our own Surgeon, their senior in rank. But -Cadwallader Cuticle, who, as yet, has been but incidentally alluded to, -now deserves a chapter by himself. - - - - -CHAPTER LXI. -THE SURGEON OF THE FLEET. - - -Cadwallader Cuticle, M. D., and Honorary Member of the most -distinguished Colleges of Surgeons both in Europe and America, was our -Surgeon of the Fleet. Nor was he at all blind to the dignity of his -position; to which, indeed, he was rendered peculiarly competent, if -the reputation he enjoyed was deserved. He had the name of being the -foremost Surgeon in the Navy, a gentleman of remarkable science, and a -veteran practitioner. - -He was a small, withered man, nearly, perhaps quite, sixty years of -age. His chest was shallow, his shoulders bent, his pantaloons hung -round skeleton legs, and his face was singularly attenuated. In truth, -the corporeal vitality of this man seemed, in a good degree, to have -died out of him. He walked abroad, a curious patch-work of life and -death, with a wig, one glass eye, and a set of false teeth, while his -voice was husky and thick; but his mind seemed undebilitated as in -youth; it shone out of his remaining eye with basilisk brilliancy. - -Like most old physicians and surgeons who have seen much service, and -have been promoted to high professional place for their scientific -attainments, this Cuticle was an enthusiast in his calling. In private, -he had once been heard to say, confidentially, that he would rather cut -off a man’s arm than dismember the wing of the most delicate pheasant. -In particular, the department of Morbid Anatomy was his peculiar love; -and in his state-room below he had a most unsightly collection of -Parisian casts, in plaster and wax, representing all imaginable -malformations of the human members, both organic and induced by -disease. Chief among these was a cast, often to be met with in the -Anatomical Museums of Europe, and no doubt an unexaggerated copy of a -genuine original; it was the head of an elderly woman, with an aspect -singularly gentle and meek, but at the same time wonderfully expressive -of a gnawing sorrow, never to be relieved. You would almost have -thought it the face of some abbess, for some unspeakable crime -voluntarily sequestered from human society, and leading a life of -agonised penitence without hope; so marvellously sad and tearfully -pitiable was this head. But when you first beheld it, no such emotions -ever crossed your mind. All your eyes and all your horrified soul were -fast fascinated and frozen by the sight of a hideous, crumpled horn, -like that of a ram, downward growing out from the forehead, and partly -shadowing the face; but as you gazed, the freezing fascination of its -horribleness gradually waned, and then your whole heart burst with -sorrow, as you contemplated those aged features, ashy pale and wan. The -horn seemed the mark of a curse for some mysterious sin, conceived and -committed before the spirit had entered the flesh. Yet that sin seemed -something imposed, and not voluntarily sought; some sin growing out of -the heartless necessities of the predestination of things; some sin -under which the sinner sank in sinless woe. - -But no pang of pain, not the slightest touch of concern, ever crossed -the bosom of Cuticle when he looked on this cast. It was immovably -fixed to a bracket, against the partition of his state-room, so that it -was the first object that greeted his eyes when he opened them from his -nightly sleep. Nor was it to hide the face, that upon retiring, he -always hung his Navy cap upon the upward curling extremity of the horn, -for that obscured it but little. - -The Surgeon’s cot-boy, the lad who made up his swinging bed and took -care of his room, often told us of the horror he sometimes felt when he -would find himself alone in his master’s retreat. At times he was -seized with the idea that Cuticle was a preternatural being; and once -entering his room in the middle watch of the night, he started at -finding it enveloped in a thick, bluish vapour, and stifling with the -odours of brimstone. Upon hearing a low groan from the smoke, with a -wild cry he darted from the place, and, rousing the occupants of the -neighbouring state-rooms, it was found that the vapour proceeded from -smouldering bunches of lucifer matches, which had become ignited -through the carelessness of the Surgeon. Cuticle, almost dead, was -dragged from the suffocating atmosphere, and it was several days ere he -completely recovered from its effects. This accident took place -immediately over the powder magazine; but as Cuticle, during his -sickness, paid dearly enough for transgressing the laws prohibiting -combustibles in the gun-room, the Captain contented himself with -privately remonstrating with him. - -Well knowing the enthusiasm of the Surgeon for all specimens of morbid -anatomy, some of the ward-room officers used to play upon his -credulity, though, in every case, Cuticle was not long in discovering -their deceptions. Once, when they had some sago pudding for dinner, and -Cuticle chanced to be ashore, they made up a neat parcel of this -bluish-white, firm, jelly-like preparation, and placing it in a tin -box, carefully sealed with wax, they deposited it on the gun-room -table, with a note, purporting to come from an eminent physician in -Rio, connected with the Grand National Museum on the Praca d’ -Acclamacao, begging leave to present the scientific Senhor Cuticle—with -the donor’s compliments—an uncommonly fine specimen of a cancer. - -Descending to the ward-room, Cuticle spied the note, and no sooner read -it, than, clutching the case, he opened it, and exclaimed, “Beautiful! -splendid! I have never seen a finer specimen of this most interesting -disease.” - -“What have you there, Surgeon Cuticle?” said a Lieutenant, advancing. - -“Why, sir, look at it; did you ever see anything more exquisite?” - -“Very exquisite indeed; let me have a bit of it, will you, Cuticle?” - -“Let you have a bit of it!” shrieked the Surgeon, starting back. “Let -you have one of my limbs! I wouldn’t mar so large a specimen for a -hundred dollars; but what can you want of it? You are not making -collections!” - -“I’m fond of the article,” said the Lieutenant; “it’s a fine cold -relish to bacon or ham. You know, I was in New Zealand last cruise, -Cuticle, and got into sad dissipation there among the cannibals; come, -let’s have a bit, if it’s only a mouthful.” - -“Why, you infernal Feejee!” shouted Cuticle, eyeing the other with a -confounded expression; “you don’t really mean to eat a piece of this -cancer?” - -“Hand it to me, and see whether I will not,” was the reply. - -“In God’s name, take it!” cried the Surgeon, putting the case into his -hands, and then standing with his own uplifted. - -“Steward!” cried the Lieutenant, “the castor—quick! I always use plenty -of pepper with this dish, Surgeon; it’s oystery. Ah! this is really -delicious,” he added, smacking his lips over a mouthful. “Try it now, -Surgeon, and you’ll never keep such a fine dish as this, lying uneaten -on your hands, as a mere scientific curiosity.” - -Cuticle’s whole countenance changed; and, slowly walking up to the -table, he put his nose close to the tin case, then touched its contents -with his finger and tasted it. Enough. Buttoning up his coat, in all -the tremblings of an old man’s rage he burst from the ward-room, and, -calling for a boat, was not seen again for twenty-four hours. - -But though, like all other mortals, Cuticle was subject at times to -these fits of passion—at least under outrageous provocation—nothing -could exceed his coolness when actually employed in his imminent -vocation. Surrounded by moans and shrieks, by features distorted with -anguish inflicted by himself, he yet maintained a countenance almost -supernaturally calm; and unless the intense interest of the operation -flushed his wan face with a momentary tinge of professional enthusiasm, -he toiled away, untouched by the keenest misery coming under a -fleet-surgeon’s eye. Indeed, long habituation to the dissecting-room -and the amputation-table had made him seemingly impervious to the -ordinary emotions of humanity. Yet you could not say that Cuticle was -essentially a cruel-hearted man. His apparent heartlessness must have -been of a purely scientific origin. It is not to be imagined even that -Cuticle would have harmed a fly, unless he could procure a microscope -powerful enough to assist him in experimenting on the minute vitals of -the creature. - -But notwithstanding his marvellous indifference to the sufferings of -his patients, and spite even of his enthusiasm in his vocation—not -cooled by frosting old age itself—Cuticle, on some occasions, would -effect a certain disrelish of his profession, and declaim against the -necessity that forced a man of his humanity to perform a surgical -operation. Especially was it apt to be thus with him, when the case was -one of more than ordinary interest. In discussing it previous to -setting about it, he would veil his eagerness under an aspect of great -circumspection, curiously marred, however, by continual sallies of -unsuppressible impatience. But the knife once in his hand, the -compassionless surgeon himself, undisguised, stood before you. Such was -Cadwallader Cuticle, our Surgeon of the Fleet. - - - - -CHAPTER LXII. -A CONSULTATION OF MAN-OF-WAR SURGEONS. - - -It seems customary for the Surgeon of the Fleet, when any important -operation in his department is on the anvil, and there is nothing to -absorb professional attention from it, to invite his brother surgeons, -if at hand at the time, to a ceremonious consultation upon it. And -this, in courtesy, his brother surgeons expect. - -In pursuance of this custom, then, the surgeons of the neighbouring -American ships of war were requested to visit the Neversink in a body, -to advise concerning the case of the top-man, whose situation had now -become critical. They assembled on the half-deck, and were soon joined -by their respected senior, Cuticle. In a body they bowed as he -approached, and accosted him with deferential regard. - -“Gentlemen,” said Cuticle, unostentatiously seating himself on a -camp-stool, handed him by his cot-boy, “we have here an extremely -interesting case. You have all seen the patient, I believe. At first I -had hopes that I should have been able to cut down to the ball, and -remove it; but the state of the patient forbade. Since then, the -inflammation and sloughing of the part has been attended with a copious -suppuration, great loss of substance, extreme debility and emaciation. -From this, I am convinced that the ball has shattered and deadened the -bone, and now lies impacted in the medullary canal. In fact, there can -be no doubt that the wound is incurable, and that amputation is the -only resource. But, gentlemen, I find myself placed in a very delicate -predicament. I assure you I feel no professional anxiety to perform the -operation. I desire your advice, and if you will now again visit the -patient with me, we can then return here and decide what is best to be -done. Once more, let me say, that I feel no personal anxiety whatever -to use the knife.” - -The assembled surgeons listened to this address with the most serious -attention, and, in accordance with their superior’s desire, now -descended to the sick-bay, where the patient was languishing. The -examination concluded, they returned to the half-deck, and the -consultation was renewed. - -“Gentlemen,” began Cuticle, again seating himself, “you have now just -inspected the limb; you have seen that there is no resource but -amputation; and now, gentlemen, what do you say? Surgeon Bandage, of -the Mohawk, will you express your opinion?” - -“The wound is a very serious one,” said Bandage—a corpulent man, with a -high German forehead—shaking his head solemnly. - -“Can anything save him but amputation?” demanded Cuticle. - -“His constitutional debility is extreme,” observed Bandage, “but I have -seen more dangerous cases.” - -“Surgeon Wedge, of the Malay,” said Cuticle, in a pet, “be pleased to -give _your_ opinion; and let it be definitive, I entreat:” this was -said with a severe glance toward Bandage. - -“If I thought,” began Wedge, a very spare, tall man, elevating himself -still higher on his toes, “that the ball had shattered and divided the -whole _femur_, including the _Greater_ and _Lesser Trochanter_ the -_Linear aspera_ the _Digital fossa_, and the _Intertrochanteric_, I -should certainly be in favour of amputation; but that, sir, permit me -to observe, is not my opinion.” - -“Surgeon Sawyer, of the Buccaneer,” said Cuticle, drawing in his thin -lower lip with vexation, and turning to a round-faced, florid, frank, -sensible-looking man, whose uniform coat very handsomely fitted him, -and was adorned with an unusual quantity of gold lace; “Surgeon Sawyer, -of the Buccaneer, let us now hear _your_ opinion, if you please. Is not -amputation the only resource, sir?” - -“Excuse me,” said Sawyer, “I am decidedly opposed to it; for if -hitherto the patient has not been strong enough to undergo the -extraction of the ball, I do not see how he can be expected to endure a -far more severe operation. As there is no immediate danger of -mortification, and you say the ball cannot be reached without making -large incisions, I should support him, I think, for the present, with -tonics, and gentle antiphlogistics, locally applied. On no account -would I proceed to amputation until further symptoms are exhibited.” - -“Surgeon Patella, of the Algerine,” said Cuticle, in an ill-suppressed -passion, abruptly turning round on the person addressed, “will _you_ -have the kindness to say whether _you_ do not think that amputation is -the only resource?” - -Now Patella was the youngest of the company, a modest man, filled with -a profound reverence for the science of Cuticle, and desirous of -gaining his good opinion, yet not wishing to commit himself altogether -by a decided reply, though, like Surgeon Sawyer, in his own mind he -might have been clearly against the operation. - -“What you have remarked, Mr. Surgeon of the Fleet,” said Patella, -respectfully hemming, “concerning the dangerous condition of the limb, -seems obvious enough; amputation would certainly be a cure to the -wound; but then, as, notwithstanding his present debility, the patient -seems to have a strong constitution, he might rally as it is, and by -your scientific treatment, Mr. Surgeon of the Fleet”—bowing—“be -entirely made whole, without risking an amputation. Still, it is a very -critical case, and amputation may be indispensable; and if it is to be -performed, there ought to be no delay whatever. That is my view of the -case, Mr. Surgeon of the Fleet.” - -“Surgeon Patella, then, gentlemen,” said Cuticle, turning round -triumphantly, “is clearly of opinion that amputation should be -immediately performed. For my own part—individually, I mean, and -without respect to the patient—I am sorry to have it so decided. But -this settles the question, gentlemen—in my own mind, however, it was -settled before. At ten o’clock to-morrow morning the operation will be -performed. I shall be happy to see you all on the occasion, and also -your juniors” (alluding to the absent _Assistant Surgeons_). -“Good-morning, gentlemen; at ten o’clock, remember.” - -And Cuticle retreated to the Ward-room. - - - - -CHAPTER LXIII. -THE OPERATION. - - -Next morning, at the appointed hour, the surgeons arrived in a body. -They were accompanied by their juniors, young men ranging in age from -nineteen years to thirty. Like the senior surgeons, these young -gentlemen were arrayed in their blue navy uniforms, displaying a -profusion of bright buttons, and several broad bars of gold lace about -the wristbands. As in honour of the occasion, they had put on their -best coats; they looked exceedingly brilliant. - -The whole party immediately descended to the half-deck, where -preparations had been made for the operation. A large garrison-ensign -was stretched across the ship by the main-mast, so as completely to -screen the space behind. This space included the whole extent aft to -the bulk-head of the Commodore’s cabin, at the door of which the -marine-orderly paced, in plain sight, cutlass in hand. - -Upon two gun-carriages, dragged amidships, the Death-board (used for -burials at sea) was horizontally placed, covered with an old -royal-stun’-sail. Upon this occasion, to do duty as an -amputation-table, it was widened by an additional plank. Two -match-tubs, near by, placed one upon another, at either end supported -another plank, distinct from the table, whereon was exhibited an array -of saws and knives of various and peculiar shapes and sizes; also, a -sort of steel, something like the dinner-table implement, together with -long needles, crooked at the end for taking up the arteries, and large -darning-needles, thread and bee’s-wax, for sewing up a wound. - -At the end nearest the larger table was a tin basin of water, -surrounded by small sponges, placed at mathematical intervals. From the -long horizontal pole of a great-gun rammer—fixed in its usual place -overhead—hung a number of towels, with “U.S.” marked in the corners. - -All these arrangements had been made by the “Surgeon’s steward,” a -person whose important functions in a man-of-war will, in a future -chapter, be entered upon at large. Upon the present occasion, he was -bustling about, adjusting and readjusting the knives, needles, and -carver, like an over-conscientious butler fidgeting over a dinner-table -just before the convivialists enter. - -But by far the most striking object to be seen behind the ensign was a -human skeleton, whose every joint articulated with wires. By a rivet at -the apex of the skull, it hung dangling from a hammock-hook fixed in a -beam above. Why this object was here, will presently be seen; but why -it was placed immediately at the foot of the amputation-table, only -Surgeon Cuticle can tell. - -While the final preparations were being made, Cuticle stood conversing -with the assembled Surgeons and Assistant Surgeons, his invited guests. - -“Gentlemen,” said he, taking up one of the glittering knives and -artistically drawing the steel across it; “Gentlemen, though these -scenes are very unpleasant, and in some moods, I may say, repulsive to -me—yet how much better for our patient to have the contusions and -lacerations of his present wound—with all its dangerous -symptoms—converted into a clean incision, free from these objections, -and occasioning so much less subsequent anxiety to himself and the -Surgeon. Yes,” he added, tenderly feeling the edge of his knife, -“amputation is our only resource. Is it not so, Surgeon Patella?” -turning toward that gentleman, as if relying upon some sort of an -assent, however clogged with conditions. - -“Certainly,” said Patella, “amputation is your only resource, Mr. -Surgeon of the Fleet; that is, I mean, if you are fully persuaded of -its necessity.” - -The other surgeons said nothing, maintaining a somewhat reserved air, -as if conscious that they had no positive authority in the case, -whatever might be their own private opinions; but they seemed willing -to behold, and, if called upon, to assist at the operation, since it -could not now be averted. - -The young men, their Assistants, looked very eager, and cast frequent -glances of awe upon so distinguished a practitioner as the venerable -Cuticle. - -“They say he can drop a leg in one minute and ten seconds from the -moment the knife touches it,” whispered one of them to another. - -“We shall see,” was the reply, and the speaker clapped his hand to his -fob, to see if his watch would be forthcoming when wanted. - -“Are you all ready here?” demanded Cuticle, now advancing to his -steward; “have not those fellows got through yet?” pointing to three -men of the carpenter’s gang, who were placing bits of wood under the -gun-carriages supporting the central table. - -“They are just through, sir,” respectfully answered the steward, -touching his hand to his forehead, as if there were a cap-front there. - -“Bring up the patient, then,” said Cuticle. - -“Young gentlemen,” he added, turning to the row of Assistant Surgeons, -“seeing you here reminds me of the classes of students once under my -instruction at the Philadelphia College of Physicians and Surgeons. Ah, -those were happy days!” he sighed, applying the extreme corner of his -handkerchief to his glass-eye. “Excuse an old man’s emotions, young -gentlemen; but when I think of the numerous rare cases that then came -under my treatment, I cannot but give way to my feelings. The town, the -city, the metropolis, young gentlemen, is the place for you students; -at least in these dull times of peace, when the army and navy furnish -no inducements for a youth ambitious of rising in our honourable -profession. Take an old man’s advice, and if the war now threatening -between the States and Mexico should break out, exchange your navy -commissions for commissions in the army. From having no military marine -herself, Mexico has always been backward in furnishing subjects for the -amputation-tables of foreign navies. The cause of science has -languished in her hands. The army, young gentlemen, is your best -school; depend upon it. You will hardly believe it, Surgeon Bandage,” -turning to that gentleman, “but this is my first important case of -surgery in a nearly three years’ cruise. I have been almost wholly -confined in this ship to doctor’s practice prescribing for fevers and -fluxes. True, the other day a man fell from the mizzen-top-sail-yard; -but that was merely an aggravated case of dislocations and bones -splintered and broken. No one, sir, could have made an amputation of -it, without severely contusing his conscience. And mine—I may say it, -gentlemen, without ostentation is—peculiarly susceptible.” - -And so saying, the knife and carver touchingly dropped to his sides, -and he stood for a moment fixed in a tender reverie but a commotion -being heard beyond the curtain, he started, and, briskly crossing and -recrossing the knife and carver, exclaimed, “Ali, here comes our -patient; surgeons, this side of the table, if you please; young -gentlemen, a little further off, I beg. Steward, take off my coat—so; -my neckerchief now; I must be perfectly unencumbered, Surgeon Patella, -or I can do nothing whatever.” - -These articles being removed, he snatched off his wig, placing it on -the gun-deck capstan; then took out his set of false teeth, and placed -it by the side of the wig; and, lastly, putting his forefinger to the -inner angle of his blind eye, spirited out the glass optic with -professional dexterity, and deposited that, also, next to the wig and -false teeth. - -Thus divested of nearly all inorganic appurtenances, what was left of -the Surgeon slightly shook itself, to see whether anything more could -be spared to advantage. - -“Carpenter’s mates,” he now cried, “will you never get through with -that job?” - -“Almost through, sir—just through,” they replied, staring round in -search of the strange, unearthly voice that addressed them; for the -absence of his teeth had not at all improved the conversational tones -of the Surgeon of the Fleet. - -With natural curiosity, these men had purposely been lingering, to see -all they could; but now, having no further excuse, they snatched up -their hammers and chisels, and—like the stage-builders decamping from a -public meeting at the eleventh hour, after just completing the rostrum -in time for the first speaker—the Carpenter’s gang withdrew. - -The broad ensign now lifted, revealing a glimpse of the crowd of -man-of-war’s-men outside, and the patient, borne in the arms of two of -his mess-mates, entered the place. He was much emaciated, weak as an -infant, and every limb visibly trembled, or rather jarred, like the -head of a man with the palsy. As if an organic and involuntary -apprehension of death had seized the wounded leg, its nervous motions -were so violent that one of the mess-mates was obliged to keep his hand -upon it. - -The top-man was immediately stretched upon the table, the attendants -steadying his limbs, when, slowly opening his eyes, he glanced about at -the glittering knives and saws, the towels and sponges, the armed -sentry at the Commodore’s cabin-door, the row of eager-eyed students, -the meagre death’s-head of a Cuticle, now with his shirt sleeves rolled -up upon his withered arms, and knife in hand, and, finally, his eyes -settled in horror upon the skeleton, slowly vibrating and jingling -before him, with the slow, slight roll of the frigate in the water. - -“I would advise perfect repose of your every limb, my man,” said -Cuticle, addressing him; “the precision of an operation is often -impaired by the inconsiderate restlessness of the patient. But if you -consider, my good fellow,” he added, in a patronising and almost -sympathetic tone, and slightly pressing his hand on the limb, “if you -consider how much better it is to live with three limbs than to die -with four, and especially if you but knew to what torments both sailors -and soldiers were subjected before the time of Celsus, owing to the -lamentable ignorance of surgery then prevailing, you would certainly -thank God from the bottom of your heart that _your_ operation has been -postponed to the period of this enlightened age, blessed with a Bell, a -Brodie, and a Lally. My man, before Celsus’s time, such was the general -ignorance of our noble science, that, in order to prevent the excessive -effusion of blood, it was deemed indispensable to operate with a -red-hot knife”—making a professional movement toward the thigh—“and -pour scalding oil upon the parts”—elevating his elbow, as if with a -tea-pot in his hand—“still further to sear them, after amputation had -been performed.” - -“He is fainting!” said one of his mess-mates; “quick! some water!” The -steward immediately hurried to the top-man with the basin. - -Cuticle took the top-man by the wrist, and feeling it a while, -observed, “Don’t be alarmed, men,” addressing the two mess-mates; -“he’ll recover presently; this fainting very generally takes place.” -And he stood for a moment, tranquilly eyeing the patient. - -Now the Surgeon of the Fleet and the top-man presented a spectacle -which, to a reflecting mind, was better than a church-yard sermon on -the mortality of man. - -Here was a sailor, who four days previous, had stood erect—a pillar of -life—with an arm like a royal-mast and a thigh like a windlass. But the -slightest conceivable finger-touch of a bit of crooked trigger had -eventuated in stretching him out, more helpless than an hour-old babe, -with a blasted thigh, utterly drained of its brawn. And who was it that -now stood over him like a superior being, and, as if clothed himself -with the attributes of immortality, indifferently discoursed of carving -up his broken flesh, and thus piecing out his abbreviated days. Who was -it, that in capacity of Surgeon, seemed enacting the part of a -Regenerator of life? The withered, shrunken, one-eyed, toothless, -hairless Cuticle; with a trunk half dead—a _memento mori_ to behold! - -And while, in those soul-sinking and panic-striking premonitions of -speedy death which almost invariably accompany a severe gun-shot wound, -even with the most intrepid spirits; while thus drooping and dying, -this once robust top-man’s eye was now waning in his head like a -Lapland moon being eclipsed in clouds—Cuticle, who for years had still -lived in his withered tabernacle of a body—Cuticle, no doubt sharing in -the common self-delusion of old age—Cuticle must have felt his hold of -life as secure as the grim hug of a grizzly bear. Verily, Life is more -awful than Death; and let no man, though his live heart beat in him -like a cannon—let him not hug his life to himself; for, in the -predestinated necessities of things, that bounding life of his is not a -whit more secure than the life of a man on his death-bed. To-day we -inhale the air with expanding lungs, and life runs through us like a -thousand Niles; but to-morrow we may collapse in death, and all our -veins be dry as the Brook Kedron in a drought. - -“And now, young gentlemen,” said Cuticle, turning to the Assistant -Surgeons, “while the patient is coming to, permit me to describe to you -the highly-interesting operation I am about to perform.” - -“Mr. Surgeon of the Fleet,” said Surgeon Bandage, “if you are about to -lecture, permit me to present you with your teeth; they will make your -discourse more readily understood.” And so saying, Bandage, with a bow, -placed the two semicircles of ivory into Cuticle’s hands. - -“Thank you, Surgeon Bandage,” said Cuticle, and slipped the ivory into -its place. - -“In the first place, now, young gentlemen, let me direct your attention -to the excellent preparation before you. I have had it unpacked from -its case, and set up here from my state-room, where it occupies the -spare berth; and all this for your express benefit, young gentlemen. -This skeleton I procured in person from the Hunterian department of the -Royal College of Surgeons in London. It is a masterpiece of art. But we -have no time to examine it now. Delicacy forbids that I should amplify -at a juncture like this”—casting an almost benignant glance toward the -patient, now beginning to open his eyes; “but let me point out to you -upon this thigh-bone”—disengaging it from the skeleton, with a gentle -twist—“the precise place where I propose to perform the operation. -_Here_, young gentlemen, _here_ is the place. You perceive it is very -near the point of articulation with the trunk.” - -“Yes,” interposed Surgeon Wedge, rising on his toes, “yes, young -gentlemen, the point of articulation with the _acetabulum_ of the _os -innominatum_.” - -“Where’s your Bell on Bones, Dick?” whispered one of the assistants to -the student next him. “Wedge has been spending the whole morning over -it, getting out the hard names.” - -“Surgeon Wedge,” said Cuticle, looking round severely, “we will -dispense with your commentaries, if you please, at present. Now, young -gentlemen, you cannot but perceive, that the point of operation being -so near the trunk and the vitals, it becomes an unusually beautiful -one, demanding a steady hand and a true eye; and, after all, the -patient may die under my hands.” - -“Quick, Steward! water, water; he’s fainting again!” cried the two -mess-mates. - -“Don’t be alarmed for your comrade; men,” said Cuticle, turning round. -“I tell you it is not an uncommon thing for the patient to betray some -emotion upon these occasions—most usually manifested by swooning; it is -quite natural it should be so. But we must not delay the operation. -Steward, that knife—no, the next one—there, that’s it. He is coming to, -I think”—feeling the top-man’s wrist. “Are you all ready, sir?” - -This last observation was addressed to one of the Neversink’s assistant -surgeons, a tall, lank, cadaverous young man, arrayed in a sort of -shroud of white canvas, pinned about his throat, and completely -enveloping his person. He was seated on a match-tub—the skeleton -swinging near his head—at the foot of the table, in readiness to grasp -the limb, as when a plank is being severed by a carpenter and his -apprentice. - -“The sponges, Steward,” said Cuticle, for the last time taking out his -teeth, and drawing up his shirt sleeves still further. Then, taking the -patient by the wrist, “Stand by, now, you mess-mates; keep hold of his -arms; pin him down. Steward, put your hand on the artery; I shall -commence as soon as his pulse begins to—_now, now!_” Letting fall the -wrist, feeling the thigh carefully, and bowing over it an instant, he -drew the fatal knife unerringly across the flesh. As it first touched -the part, the row of surgeons simultaneously dropped their eyes to the -watches in their hands while the patient lay, with eyes horribly -distended, in a kind of waking trance. Not a breath was heard; but as -the quivering flesh parted in a long, lingering gash, a spring of blood -welled up between the living walls of the wounds, and two thick -streams, in opposite directions, coursed down the thigh. The sponges -were instantly dipped in the purple pool; every face present was -pinched to a point with suspense; the limb writhed; the man shrieked; -his mess-mates pinioned him; while round and round the leg went the -unpitying cut. - -“The saw!” said Cuticle. - -Instantly it was in his hand. - -Full of the operation, he was about to apply it, when, looking up, and -turning to the assistant surgeons, he said, “Would any of you young -gentlemen like to apply the saw? A splendid subject!” - -Several volunteered; when, selecting one, Cuticle surrendered the -instrument to him, saying, “Don’t be hurried, now; be steady.” - -While the rest of the assistants looked upon their comrade with glances -of envy, he went rather timidly to work; and Cuticle, who was earnestly -regarding him, suddenly snatched the saw from his hand. “Away, butcher! -you disgrace the profession. Look at _me!_” - -For a few moments the thrilling, rasping sound was heard; and then the -top-man seemed parted in twain at the hip, as the leg slowly slid into -the arms of the pale, gaunt man in the shroud, who at once made away -with it, and tucked it out of sight under one of the guns. - -“Surgeon Sawyer,” now said Cuticle, courteously turning to the surgeon -of the Mohawk, “would you like to take up the arteries? They are quite -at your service, sir.” - -“Do, Sawyer; be prevailed upon,” said Surgeon Bandage. - -Sawyer complied; and while, with some modesty he was conducting the -operation, Cuticle, turning to the row of assistants said, “Young -gentlemen, we will now proceed with our Illustration. Hand me that -bone, Steward.” And taking the thigh-bone in his still bloody hands, -and holding it conspicuously before his auditors, the Surgeon of the -Fleet began: - -“Young gentlemen, you will perceive that precisely at this -spot—_here_—to which I previously directed your attention—at the -corresponding spot precisely—the operation has been performed. About -here, young gentlemen, here”—lifting his hand some inches from the -bone—“about _here_ the great artery was. But you noticed that I did not -use the tourniquet; I never do. The forefinger of my steward is far -better than a tourniquet, being so much more manageable, and leaving -the smaller veins uncompressed. But I have been told, young gentlemen, -that a certain Seignior Seignioroni, a surgeon of Seville, has recently -invented an admirable substitute for the clumsy, old-fashioned -tourniquet. As I understand it, it is something like a pair of -_calipers_, working with a small Archimedes screw—a very clever -invention, according to all accounts. For the padded points at the end -of the arches”—arching his forefinger and thumb—“can be so worked as to -approximate in such a way, as to—but you don’t attend to me, young -gentlemen,” he added, all at once starting. - -Being more interested in the active proceedings of Surgeon Sawyer, who -was now threading a needle to sew up the overlapping of the stump, the -young gentlemen had not scrupled to turn away their attention -altogether from the lecturer. - -A few moments more, and the top-man, in a swoon, was removed below into -the sick-bay. As the curtain settled again after the patient had -disappeared, Cuticle, still holding the thigh-bone of the skeleton in -his ensanguined hands, proceeded with his remarks upon it; and having -concluded them, added, “Now, young gentlemen, not the least interesting -consequence of this operation will be the finding of the ball, which, -in case of non-amputation, might have long eluded the most careful -search. That ball, young gentlemen, must have taken a most circuitous -route. Nor, in cases where the direction is oblique, is this at all -unusual. Indeed, the learned Henner gives us a most remarkable—I had -almost said an incredible—case of a soldier’s neck, where the bullet, -entering at the part called Adam’s Apple—” - -“Yes,” said Surgeon Wedge, elevating himself, “the _pomum Adami_.” - -“Entering the point called _Adam’s Apple_,” continued Cuticle, severely -emphasising the last two words, “ran completely round the neck, and, -emerging at the same hole it had entered, shot the next man in the -ranks. It was afterward extracted, says Renner, from the second man, -and pieces of the other’s skin were found adhering to it. But examples -of foreign substances being received into the body with a ball, young -gentlemen, are frequently observed. Being attached to a United States -ship at the time, I happened to be near the spot of the battle of -Ayacucho, in Peru. The day after the action, I saw in the barracks of -the wounded a trooper, who, having been severely injured in the brain, -went crazy, and, with his own holster-pistol, committed suicide in the -hospital. The ball drove inward a portion of his woollen night-cap——” - -“In the form of a _cul-de-sac_, doubtless,” said the undaunted Wedge. - -“For once, Surgeon Wedge, you use the only term that can be employed; -and let me avail myself of this opportunity to say to you, young -gentlemen, that a man of true science”—expanding his shallow chest a -little—“uses but few hard words, and those only when none other will -answer his purpose; whereas the smatterer in science”—slightly glancing -toward Wedge—“thinks, that by mouthing hard words, he proves that he -understands hard things. Let this sink deep in your minds, young -gentlemen; and, Surgeon Wedge “—with a stiff bow—“permit me to submit -the reflection to yourself. Well, young gentlemen, the bullet was -afterward extracted by pulling upon the external parts of the -_cul-de-sac_—a simple, but exceedingly beautiful operation. There is a -fine example, somewhat similar, related in Guthrie; but, of course, you -must have met with it, in so well-known a work as his Treatise upon -Gun-shot Wounds. When, upward of twenty years ago, I was with Lord -Cochrane, then Admiral of the fleets of this very country”—pointing -shoreward, out of a port-hole—“a sailor of the vessel to which I was -attached, during the blockade of Bahia, had his leg——” But by this time -the fidgets had completely taken possession of his auditors, especially -of the senior surgeons; and turning upon them abruptly, he added, “But -I will not detain you longer, gentlemen”—turning round upon all the -surgeons—“your dinners must be waiting you on board your respective -ships. But, Surgeon Sawyer, perhaps you may desire to wash your hands -before you go. There is the basin, sir; you will find a clean towel on -the rammer. For myself, I seldom use them”—taking out his handkerchief. -“I must leave you now, gentlemen”—bowing. “To-morrow, at ten, the limb -will be upon the table, and I shall be happy to see you all upon the -occasion. Who’s there?” turning to the curtain, which then rustled. - -“Please, sir,” said the Steward, entering, “the patient is dead.” - -“The body also, gentlemen, at ten precisely,” said Cuticle, once more -turning round upon his guests. “I predicted that the operation might -prove fatal; he was very much run down. Good-morning;” and Cuticle -departed. - -“He does not, surely, mean to touch the body?” exclaimed Surgeon -Sawyer, with much excitement. - -“Oh, no!” said Patella, “that’s only his way; he means, doubtless, that -it may be inspected previous to being taken ashore for burial.” - -The assemblage of gold-laced surgeons now ascended to the quarter-deck; -the second cutter was called away by the bugler, and, one by one, they -were dropped aboard of their respective ships. - -The following evening the mess-mates of the top-man rowed his remains -ashore, and buried them in the ever-vernal Protestant cemetery, hard by -the Beach of the Flamingoes, in plain sight from the bay. - - - - -CHAPTER LXIV. -MAN-OF-WAR TROPHIES. - - -When the second cutter pulled about among the ships, dropping the -surgeons aboard the American men-of-war here and there—as a pilot-boat -distributes her pilots at the mouth of the harbour—she passed several -foreign frigates, two of which, an Englishman and a Frenchman, had -excited not a little remark on board the Neversink. These vessels often -loosed their sails and exercised yards simultaneously with ourselves, -as if desirous of comparing the respective efficiency of the crews. - -When we were nearly ready for sea, the English frigate, weighing her -anchor, made all sail with the sea-breeze, and began showing off her -paces by gliding about among all the men-of-war in harbour, and -particularly by running down under the Neversink’s stern. Every time -she drew near, we complimented her by lowering our ensign a little, and -invariably she courteously returned the salute. She was inviting us to -a sailing-match; and it was rumoured that, when we should leave the -bay, our Captain would have no objections to gratify her; for, be it -known, the Neversink was accounted the fleetest keeled craft sailing -under the American long-pennant. Perhaps this was the reason why the -stranger challenged us. - -It may have been that a portion of our crew were the more anxious to -race with this frigate, from a little circumstance which a few of them -deemed rather galling. Not many cables’-length distant from our -Commodore’s cabin lay the frigate President, with the red cross of St. -George flying from her peak. As its name imported, this fine craft was -an American born; but having been captured during the last war with -Britain, she now sailed the salt seas as a trophy. - -Think of it, my gallant countrymen, one and all, down the sea-coast and -along the endless banks of the Ohio and Columbia—think of the twinges -we sea-patriots must have felt to behold the live-oak of the Floridas -and the pines of green Maine built into the oaken walls of Old England! -But, to some of the sailors, there was a counterbalancing thought, as -grateful as the other was galling, and that was, that somewhere, -sailing under the stars and stripes, was the frigate Macedonian, a -British-born craft which had once sported the battle-banner of Britain. - -It has ever been the custom to spend almost any amount of money in -repairing a captured vessel, in order that she may long survive to -commemorate the heroism of the conqueror. Thus, in the English Navy, -there are many Monsieurs of seventy-fours won from the Gaul. But we -Americans can show but few similar trophies, though, no doubt, we would -much like to be able so to do. - -But I never have beheld any of thee floating trophies without being -reminded of a scene once witnessed in a pioneer village on the western -bank of the Mississippi. Not far from this village, where the stumps of -aboriginal trees yet stand in the market-place, some years ago lived a -portion of the remnant tribes of the Sioux Indians, who frequently -visited the white settlements to purchase trinkets and cloths. - -One florid crimson evening in July, when the red-hot sun was going down -in a blaze, and I was leaning against a corner in my huntsman’s frock, -lo! there came stalking out of the crimson West a gigantic red-man, -erect as a pine, with his glittering tomahawk, big as a broad-ax, -folded in martial repose across his chest, Moodily wrapped in his -blanket, and striding like a king on the stage, he promenaded up and -down the rustic streets, exhibiting on the back of his blanket a crowd -of human hands, rudely delineated in red; one of them seemed recently -drawn. - -“Who is this warrior?” asked I; “and why marches he here? and for what -are these bloody hands?” - -“That warrior is the _Red-Hot Coal_,” said a pioneer in moccasins, by -my side. “He marches here to show-off his last trophy; every one of -those hands attests a foe scalped by his tomahawk; and he has just -emerged from Ben Brown’s, the painter, who has sketched the last red -hand that you see; for last night this _Red-Hot Coal_ outburned the -_Yellow Torch_, the chief of a band of the Foxes.” - -Poor savage thought I; and is this the cause of your lofty gait? Do you -straighten yourself to think that you have committed a murder, when a -chance-falling stone has often done the same? Is it a proud thing to -topple down six feet perpendicular of immortal manhood, though that -lofty living tower needed perhaps thirty good growing summers to bring -it to maturity? Poor savage! And you account it so glorious, do you, to -mutilate and destroy what God himself was more than a quarter of a -century in building? - -And yet, fellow-Christians, what is the American frigate Macedonian, or -the English frigate President, but as two bloody red hands painted on -this poor savage’s blanket? - -Are there no Moravians in the Moon, that not a missionary has yet -visited this poor pagan planet of ours, to civilise civilisation and -christianise Christendom? - - - - -CHAPTER LXV. -A MAN-OF-WAR RACE. - - -We lay in Rio so long—for what reason the Commodore only knows—that a -saying went abroad among the impatient sailors that our frigate would -at last ground on the beef-bones daily thrown overboard by the cooks. - -But at last good tidings came. “All hands up anchor, ahoy!” And bright -and early in the morning up came our old iron, as the sun rose in the -East. - -The land-breezes at Rio—by which alone vessels may emerge from the -bay—is ever languid and faint. It comes from gardens of citrons and -cloves, spiced with all the spices of the Tropic of Capricorn. And, -like that old exquisite, Mohammed, who so much loved to snuff perfumes -and essences, and used to lounge out of the conservatories of Khadija, -his wife, to give battle to the robust sons of Koriesh; even so this -Rio land-breeze comes jaded with sweet-smelling savours, to wrestle -with the wild Tartar breezes of the sea. - -Slowly we dropped and dropped down the bay, glided like a stately swan -through the outlet, and were gradually rolled by the smooth, sliding -billows broad out upon the deep. Straight in our wake came the tall -main-mast of the English fighting-frigate, terminating, like a steepled -cathedral, in the bannered cross of the religion of peace; and straight -after _her_ came the rainbow banner of France, sporting God’s token -that no more would he make war on the earth. - -Both Englishmen and Frenchmen were resolved upon a race; and we Yankees -swore by our top-sails and royals to sink their blazing banners that -night among the Southern constellations we should daily be -extinguishing behind us in our run to the North. - -“Ay,” said Mad Jack, “St. George’s banner shall be as the _Southern -Cross_, out of sight, leagues down the horizon, while our gallant -stars, my brave boys, shall burn all alone in the North, like the Great -Bear at the Pole! Come on, Rainbow and Cross!” - -But the wind was long languid and faint, not yet recovered from its -night’s dissipation ashore, and noon advanced, with the Sugar-Loaf -pinnacle in sight. - -Now it is not with ships as with horses; for though, if a horse walk -well and fast, it generally furnishes good token that he is not bad at -a gallop, yet the ship that in a light breeze is outstripped, may sweep -the stakes, so soon as a t’gallant breeze enables her to strike into a -canter. Thus fared it with us. First, the Englishman glided ahead, and -bluffly passed on; then the Frenchman politely bade us adieu, while the -old Neversink lingered behind, railing at the effeminate breeze. At one -time, all three frigates were irregularly abreast, forming a diagonal -line; and so near were all three, that the stately officers on the -poops stiffly saluted by touching their caps, though refraining from -any further civilities. At this juncture, it was a noble sight to -behold those fine frigates, with dripping breast-hooks, all rearing and -nodding in concert, and to look through their tall spars and wilderness -of rigging, that seemed like inextricably-entangled, gigantic cobwebs -against the sky. - -Toward sundown the ocean pawed its white hoofs to the spur of its -helter-skelter rider, a strong blast from the Eastward, and, giving -three cheers from decks, yards, and tops, we crowded all sail on St. -George and St. Denis. - -But it is harder to overtake than outstrip; night fell upon us, still -in the rear—still where the little boat was, which, at the eleventh -hour, according to a Rabbinical tradition, pushed after the ark of old -Noah. - -It was a misty, cloudy night; and though at first our look-outs kept -the chase in dim sight, yet at last so thick became the atmosphere, -that no sign of a strange spar was to be seen. But the worst of it was -that, when last discerned, the Frenchman was broad on our weather-bow, -and the Englishman gallantly leading his van. - -The breeze blew fresher and fresher; but, with even our main-royal set, -we dashed along through a cream-coloured ocean of illuminated foam. -White-Jacket was then in the top; and it was glorious to look down and -see our black hull butting the white sea with its broad bows like a -ram. - -“We must beat them with such a breeze, dear Jack,” said I to our noble -Captain of the Top. - -“But the same breeze blows for John Bull, remember,” replied Jack, who, -being a Briton, perhaps favoured the Englishman more than the -Neversink. - -“But how we boom through the billows!” cried Jack, gazing over the -top-rail; then, flinging forth his arm, recited, - - “‘Aslope, and gliding on the leeward side, - The bounding vessel cuts the roaring tide.’ - - -Camoens! White-Jacket, Camoens! Did you ever read him? The Lusiad, I -mean? It’s the man-of-war epic of the world, my lad. Give me Gama for a -Commodore, say I—Noble Gama! And Mickle, White-Jacket, did you ever -read of him? William Julius Mickle? Camoens’s Translator? A -disappointed man though, White-Jacket. Besides his version of the -Lusiad, he wrote many forgotten things. Did you ever see his ballad of -Cumnor Hall?—No?—Why, it gave Sir Walter Scott the hint of Kenilworth. -My father knew Mickle when he went to sea on board the old Romney -man-of-war. How many great men have been sailors, White-Jacket! They -say Homer himself was once a tar, even as his hero, Ulysses, was both a -sailor and a shipwright. I’ll swear Shakspeare was once a captain of -the forecastle. Do you mind the first scene in _The Tempest_, -White-Jacket? And the world-finder, Christopher Columbus, was a sailor! -and so was Camoens, who went to sea with Gama, else we had never had -the Lusiad, White-Jacket. Yes, I’ve sailed over the very track that -Camoens sailed—round the East Cape into the Indian Ocean. I’ve been in -Don Jose’s garden, too, in Macao, and bathed my feet in the blessed dew -of the walks where Camoens wandered before me. Yes, White-Jacket, and I -have seen and sat in the cave at the end of the flowery, winding way, -where Camoens, according to tradition, composed certain parts of his -Lusiad. Ay, Camoens was a sailor once! Then, there’s Falconer, whose -‘Ship-wreck’ will never founder, though he himself, poor fellow, was -lost at sea in the Aurora frigate. Old Noah was the first sailor. And -St. Paul, too, knew how to box the compass, my lad! mind you that -chapter in Acts? I couldn’t spin the yarn better myself. Were you ever -in Malta? They called it Melita in the Apostle’s day. I have been in -Paul’s cave there, White-Jacket. They say a piece of it is good for a -charm against shipwreck; but I never tried it. There’s Shelley, he was -quite a sailor. Shelley—poor lad! a Percy, too—but they ought to have -let him sleep in his sailor’s grave—he was drowned in the -Mediterranean, you know, near Leghorn—and not burn his body, as they -did, as if he had been a bloody Turk. But many people thought him so, -White-Jacket, because he didn’t go to mass, and because he wrote Queen -Mab. Trelawney was by at the burning; and he was an ocean-rover, too! -Ay, and Byron helped put a piece of a keel on the fire; for it was made -of bits of a wreck, they say; one wreck burning another! And was not -Byron a sailor? an amateur forecastle-man, White-Jacket, so he was; -else how bid the ocean heave and fall in that grand, majestic way? I -say, White-Jacket, d’ye mind me? there never was a very great man yet -who spent all his life inland. A snuff of the sea, my boy, is -inspiration; and having been once out of sight of land, has been the -making of many a true poet and the blasting of many pretenders; for, -d’ye see, there’s no gammon about the ocean; it knocks the false keel -right off a pretender’s bows; it tells him just what he is, and makes -him feel it, too. A sailor’s life, I say, is the thing to bring us -mortals out. What does the blessed Bible say? Don’t it say that we -main-top-men alone see the marvellous sights and wonders? Don’t deny -the blessed Bible, now! don’t do it! How it rocks up here, my boy!” -holding on to a shroud; “but it only proves what I’ve been saying—the -sea is the place to cradle genius! Heave and fall, old sea!” - -“And _you_, also, noble Jack,” said I, “what are you but a sailor?” - -“You’re merry, my boy,” said Jack, looking up with a glance like that -of a sentimental archangel doomed to drag out his eternity in disgrace. -“But mind you, White-Jacket, there are many great men in the world -besides Commodores and Captains. I’ve that here, White-Jacket”—touching -his forehead—“which, under happier skies—perhaps in you solitary star -there, peeping down from those clouds—might have made a Homer of me. -But Fate is Fate, White-Jacket; and we Homers who happen to be captains -of tops must write our odes in our hearts, and publish them in our -heads. But look! the Captain’s on the poop.” - -It was now midnight; but all the officers were on deck. - -“Jib-boom, there!” cried the Lieutenant of the Watch, going forward and -hailing the headmost look-out. “D’ye see anything of those fellows -now?” - -“See nothing, sir.” - -“See nothing, sir,” said the Lieutenant, approaching the Captain, and -touching his cap. - -“Call all hands!” roared the Captain. “This keel sha’n’t be beat while -I stride it.” - -All hands were called, and the hammocks stowed in the nettings for the -rest of the night, so that no one could lie between blankets. - -Now, in order to explain the means adopted by the Captain to insure us -the race, it needs to be said of the Neversink, that, for some years -after being launched, she was accounted one of the slowest vessels in -the American Navy. But it chanced upon a time, that, being on a cruise -in the Mediterranean, she happened to sail out of Port Mahon in what -was then supposed to be very bad trim for the sea. Her bows were -rooting in the water, and her stern kicking up its heels in the air. -But, wonderful to tell, it was soon discovered that in this comical -posture she sailed like a shooting-star; she outstripped every vessel -on the station. Thenceforward all her Captains, on all cruises, -_trimmed her by the head;_ and the Neversink gained the name of a -clipper. - -To return. All hands being called, they were now made use of by Captain -Claret as make-weights, to trim the ship, scientifically, to her most -approved bearings. Some were sent forward on the spar-deck, with -twenty-four-pound shot in their hands, and were judiciously scattered -about here and there, with strict orders not to budge an inch from -their stations, for fear of marring the Captain’s plans. Others were -distributed along the gun and berth-decks, with similar orders; and, to -crown all, several carronade guns were unshipped from their carriages, -and swung in their breechings from the beams of the main-deck, so as to -impart a sort of vibratory briskness and oscillating buoyancy to the -frigate. - -And thus we five hundred make-weights stood out that whole night, some -of us exposed to a drenching rain, in order that the Neversink might -not be beaten. But the comfort and consolation of all make-weights is -as dust in the balance in the estimation of the rulers of our -man-of-war world. - -The long, anxious night at last came to an end, and, with the first -peep of day, the look-out on the jib-boom was hailed; but nothing was -in sight. At last it was broad day; yet still not a bow was to be seen -in our rear, nor a stern in our van. - -“Where are they?” cried the Captain. - -“Out of sight, astern, to be sure, sir,” said the officer of the deck. - -“Out of sight, _ahead_, to be sure, sir,” muttered Jack Chase, in the -top. - -Precisely thus stood the question: whether we beat them, or whether -they beat us, no mortal can tell to this hour, since we never saw them -again; but for one, White-Jacket will lay his two hands on the bow -chasers of the Neversink, and take his ship’s oath that we Yankees -carried the day. - - - - -CHAPTER LXVI. -FUN IN A MAN-OF-WAR. - - -After the race (our man-of-war Derby) we had many days fine weather, -during which we continued running before the Trades toward the north. -Exhilarated by the thought of being homeward-bound, many of the seamen -became joyous, and the discipline of the ship, if anything, became a -little relaxed. Many pastimes served to while away the _Dog-Watches_ in -particular. These _Dog-Watches_ (embracing two hours in the early part -of the evening) form the only authorised play-time for the crews of -most ships at sea. - -Among other diversions at present licensed by authority in the -Neversink, were those of single-stick, sparring, hammer-and-anvil, and -head-bumping. All these were under the direct patronage of the Captain, -otherwise—seeing the consequences they sometimes led to—they would -undoubtedly have been strictly prohibited. It is a curious coincidence, -that when a navy captain does not happen to be an admirer of the -_Fistiana_ his crew seldom amuse themselves in that way. - -_Single-stick_, as every one knows, is a delightful pastime, which -consists in two men standing a few feet apart, and rapping each other -over the head with long poles. There is a good deal of fun in it, so -long as you are not hit; but a hit—in the judgment of discreet -persons—spoils the sport completely. When this pastime is practiced by -connoisseurs ashore, they wear heavy, wired helmets, to break the force -of the blows. But the only helmets of our tars were those with which -nature had furnished them. They played with great gun-rammers. - -_Sparring_ consists in playing single-stick with bone poles instead of -wooden ones. Two men stand apart, and pommel each other with their -fists (a hard bunch of knuckles permanently attached to the arms, and -made globular, or extended into a palm, at the pleasure of the -proprietor), till one of them, finding himself sufficiently thrashed, -cries _enough_. - -_Hammer-and-anvil_ is thus practised by amateurs: Patient No. 1 gets on -all-fours, and stays so; while patient No. 2 is taken up by his arms -and legs, and his base is swung against the base of patient No. 1, till -patient No. 1, with the force of the final blow, is sent flying along -the deck. - -_Head-bumping_, as patronised by Captain Claret, consists in two -negroes (whites will not answer) butting at each other like rams. This -pastime was an especial favourite with the Captain. In the dog-watches, -Rose-water and May-day were repeatedly summoned into the lee waist to -tilt at each other, for the benefit of the Captain’s health. - -May-day was a full-blooded “_bull-negro_,” so the sailors called him, -with a skull like an iron tea-kettle, wherefore May-day much fancied -the sport. But Rose-water, he was a slender and rather handsome -mulatto, and abhorred the pastime. Nevertheless, the Captain must be -obeyed; so at the word poor Rose-water was fain to put himself in a -posture of defence, else May-day would incontinently have bumped him -out of a port-hole into the sea. I used to pity poor Rose-water from -the bottom of my heart. But my pity was almost aroused into indignation -at a sad sequel to one of these gladiatorial scenes. - -It seems that, lifted up by the unaffected, though verbally unexpressed -applause of the Captain, May-day had begun to despise Rose-water as a -poltroon—a fellow all brains and no skull; whereas he himself was a -great warrior, all skull and no brains. - -Accordingly, after they had been bumping one evening to the Captain’s -content, May-day confidentially told Rose-water that he considered him -a “_nigger_,” which, among some blacks, is held a great term of -reproach. Fired at the insult, Rose-water gave May-day to understand -that he utterly erred; for his mother, a black slave, had been one of -the mistresses of a Virginia planter belonging to one of the oldest -families in that state. Another insulting remark followed this innocent -disclosure; retort followed retort; in a word, at last they came -together in mortal combat. - -The master-at-arms caught them in the act, and brought them up to the -mast. The Captain advanced. - -“Please, sir,” said poor Rose-water, “it all came of dat ’ar bumping; -May-day, here, aggrawated me ’bout it.” - -“Master-at-arms,” said the Captain, “did you see them fighting?” - -“Ay, sir,” said the master-at-arms, touching his cap. - -“Rig the gratings,” said the Captain. “I’ll teach you two men that, -though I now and then permit you to _play_, I will have no _fighting_. -Do your duty, boatswain’s mate!” And the negroes were flogged. - -Justice commands that the fact of the Captain’s not showing any -leniency to May-day—a decided favourite of his, at least while in the -ring—should not be passed over. He flogged both culprits in the most -impartial manner. - -As in the matter of the scene at the gangway, shortly after the Cape -Horn theatricals, when my attention had been directed to the fact that -the officers had _shipped their quarter-deck faces_—upon that occasion, -I say, it was seen with what facility a sea-officer assumes his wonted -severity of demeanour after a casual relaxation of it. This was -especially the case with Captain Claret upon the present occasion. For -any landsman to have beheld him in the lee waist, of a pleasant -dog-watch, with a genial, good-humoured countenance, observing the -gladiators in the ring, and now and then indulging in a playful -remark—that landsman would have deemed Captain Claret the indulgent -father of his crew, perhaps permitting the excess of his -kind-heartedness to encroach upon the appropriate dignity of his -station. He would have deemed Captain Claret a fine illustration of -those two well-known poetical comparisons between a sea-captain and a -father, and between a sea-captain and the master of apprentices, -instituted by those eminent maritime jurists, the noble Lords Tenterden -and Stowell. - -But surely, if there is anything hateful, it is this _shipping of the -quarter-deck face_ after wearing a merry and good-natured one. How can -they have the heart? Methinks, if but once I smiled upon a man—never -mind how much beneath me—I could not bring myself to condemn him to the -shocking misery of the lash. Oh officers! all round the world, if this -quarter-deck face you wear at all, then never unship it for another, to -be merely sported for a moment. Of all insults, the temporary -condescension of a master to a slave is the most outrageous and -galling. That potentate who most condescends, mark him well; for that -potentate, if occasion come, will prove your uttermost tyrant. - - - - -CHAPTER LXVII. -WHITE-JACKET ARRAIGNED AT THE MAST. - - -When with five hundred others I made one of the compelled spectators at -the scourging of poor Rose-water, I little thought what Fate had -ordained for myself the next day. - -Poor mulatto! thought I, one of an oppressed race, they degrade you -like a hound. Thank God! I am a white. Yet I had seen whites also -scourged; for, black or white, all my shipmates were liable to that. -Still, there is something in us, somehow, that in the most degraded -condition, we snatch at a chance to deceive ourselves into a fancied -superiority to others, whom we suppose lower in the scale than -ourselves. - -Poor Rose-water! thought I; poor mulatto! Heaven send you a release -from your humiliation! - -To make plain the thing about to be related, it needs to repeat what -has somewhere been previously mentioned, that in _tacking ship_ every -seaman in a man-of-war has a particular station assigned him. What that -station is, should be made known to him by the First Lieutenant; and -when the word is passed to _tack_ or _wear_, it is every seaman’s duty -to be found at his post. But among the various _numbers and stations_ -given to me by the senior Lieutenant, when I first came on board the -frigate, he had altogether omitted informing me of my particular place -at those times, and, up to the precise period now written of, I had -hardly known that I should have had any special place then at all. For -the rest of the men, they seemed to me to catch hold of the first rope -that offered, as in a merchant-man upon similar occasions. Indeed, I -subsequently discovered, that such was the state of discipline—in this -one particular, at least—that very few of the seamen could tell where -their proper stations were, at _tacking or wearing_. - -“All hands tack ship, ahoy!” such was the announcement made by the -boatswain’s mates at the hatchways the morning after the hard fate of -Rose-water. It was just eight bells—noon, and springing from my white -jacket, which I had spread between the guns for a bed on the main-deck, -I ran up the ladders, and, as usual, seized hold of the main-brace, -which fifty hands were streaming along forward. When _main-top-sail -haul!_ was given through the trumpet, I pulled at this brace with such -heartiness and good-will, that I almost flattered myself that my -instrumentality in getting the frigate round on the other tack, -deserved a public vote of thanks, and a silver tankard from Congress. - -But something happened to be in the way aloft when the yards swung -round; a little confusion ensued; and, with anger on his brow, Captain -Claret came forward to see what occasioned it. No one to let go the -weather-lift of the main-yard! The rope was cast off, however, by a -hand, and the yards unobstructed, came round. - -When the last rope was coiled, away, the Captain desired to know of the -First Lieutenant who it might be that was stationed at the weather -(then the starboard) main-lift. With a vexed expression of countenance -the First Lieutenant sent a midshipman for the Station Bill, when, upon -glancing it over, my own name was found put down at the post in -question. - -At the time I was on the gun-deck below, and did not know of these -proceedings; but a moment after, I heard the boatswain’s mates bawling -my name at all the hatch-ways, and along all three decks. It was the -first time I had ever heard it so sent through the furthest recesses of -the ship, and well knowing what this generally betokened to other -seamen, my heart jumped to my throat, and I hurriedly asked Flute, the -boatswain’s-mate at the fore-hatchway, what was wanted of me. - -“Captain wants ye at the mast,” he replied. “Going to flog ye, I -guess.” - -“What for?” - -“My eyes! you’ve been chalking your face, hain’t ye?” - -“What am I wanted for?” I repeated. - -But at that instant my name was again thundered forth by the other -boatswain’s mate, and Flute hurried me away, hinting that I would soon -find out what the Captain desired of me. - -I swallowed down my heart in me as I touched the spar-deck, for a -single instant balanced myself on my best centre, and then, wholly -ignorant of what was going to be alleged against me, advanced to the -dread tribunal of the frigate. - -As I passed through the gangway, I saw the quarter-master rigging the -gratings; the boatswain with his green bag of scourges; the -master-at-arms ready to help off some one’s shirt. - -Again I made a desperate swallow of my whole soul in me, and found -myself standing before Captain Claret. His flushed face obviously -showed him in ill-humour. Among the group of officers by his side was -the First Lieutenant, who, as I came aft, eyed me in such a manner, -that I plainly perceived him to be extremely vexed at me for having -been the innocent means of reflecting upon the manner in which he kept -up the discipline of the ship. - -“Why were you not at your station, sir?” asked the Captain. - -“What station do you mean, sir?” said I. - -It is generally the custom with man-of-war’s-men to stand obsequiously -touching their hat at every sentence they address to the Captain. But -as this was not obligatory upon me by the Articles of War, I did not do -so upon the present occasion, and previously, I had never had the -dangerous honour of a personal interview with Captain Claret. - -He quickly noticed my omission of the homage usually rendered him, and -instinct told me, that to a certain extent, it set his heart against -me. - -“What station, sir, do you mean?” said I. - -“You pretend ignorance,” he replied; “it will not help you, sir.” - -Glancing at the Captain, the First Lieutenant now produced the Station -Bill, and read my name in connection with that of the starboard -main-lift. - -“Captain Claret,” said I, “it is the first time I ever heard of my -being assigned to that post.” - -“How is this, Mr. Bridewell?” he said, turning to the First Lieutenant, -with a fault-finding expression. - -“It is impossible, sir,” said that officer, striving to hide his -vexation, “but this man must have known his station.” - -“I have never known it before this moment, Captain Claret,” said I. - -“Do you contradict my officer?” he returned. “I shall flog you.” - -I had now been on board the frigate upward of a year, and remained -unscourged; the ship was homeward-bound, and in a few weeks, at most, I -would be a free man. And now, after making a hermit of myself in some -things, in order to avoid the possibility of the scourge, here it was -hanging over me for a thing utterly unforeseen, for a crime of which I -was as utterly innocent. But all that was as naught. I saw that my case -was hopeless; my solemn disclaimer was thrown in my teeth, and the -boatswain’s mate stood curling his fingers through the _cat_. - -There are times when wild thoughts enter a man’s heart, when he seems -almost irresponsible for his act and his deed. The Captain stood on the -weather-side of the deck. Sideways, on an unobstructed line with him, -was the opening of the lee-gangway, where the side-ladders are -suspended in port. Nothing but a slight bit of sinnate-stuff served to -rail in this opening, which was cut right down to the level of the -Captain’s feet, showing the far sea beyond. I stood a little to -windward of him, and, though he was a large, powerful man, it was -certain that a sudden rush against him, along the slanting deck, would -infallibly pitch him headforemost into the ocean, though he who so -rushed must needs go over with him. My blood seemed clotting in my -veins; I felt icy cold at the tips of my fingers, and a dimness was -before my eyes. But through that dimness the boatswain’s mate, scourge -in hand, loomed like a giant, and Captain Claret, and the blue sea seen -through the opening at the gangway, showed with an awful vividness. I -cannot analyse my heart, though it then stood still within me. But the -thing that swayed me to my purpose was not altogether the thought that -Captain Claret was about to degrade me, and that I had taken an oath -with my soul that he should not. No, I felt my man’s manhood so -bottomless within me, that no word, no blow, no scourge of Captain -Claret could cut me deep enough for that. I but swung to an instinct in -me—the instinct diffused through all animated nature, the same that -prompts even a worm to turn under the heel. Locking souls-with him, I -meant to drag Captain Claret from this earthly tribunal of his to that -of Jehovah and let Him decide between us. No other way could I escape -the scourge. - -Nature has not implanted any power in man that was not meant to be -exercised at times, though too often our powers have been abused. The -privilege, inborn and inalienable, that every man has of dying himself, -and inflicting death upon another, was not given to us without a -purpose. These are the last resources of an insulted and unendurable -existence. - -“To the gratings, sir!” said Captain Claret; “do you hear?” - -My eye was measuring the distance between him and the sea. - -“Captain Claret,” said a voice advancing from the crowd. I turned to -see who this might be, that audaciously interposed at a juncture like -this. It was the same remarkably handsome and gentlemanly corporal of -marines, Colbrook, who has been previously alluded to, in the chapter -describing killing time in a man-of-war. - -“I know that man,” said Colbrook, touching his cap, and speaking in a -mild, firm, but extremely deferential manner; “and I know that he would -not be found absent from his station, if he knew where it was.” - -This speech was almost unprecedented. Seldom or never before had a -marine dared to speak to the Captain of a frigate in behalf of a seaman -at the mast. But there was something so unostentatiously commanding in -the calm manner of the man, that the Captain, though astounded, did not -in any way reprimand him. The very unusualness of his interference -seemed Colbrook’s protection. - -Taking heart, perhaps, from Colbrook’s example, Jack Chase interposed, -and in a manly but carefully respectful manner, in substance repeated -the corporal’s remark, adding that he had never found me wanting in the -top. - -The Captain looked from Chase to Colbrook, and from Colbrook to -Chase—one the foremost man among the seamen, the other the foremost man -among the soldiers—then all round upon the packed and silent crew, and, -as if a slave to Fate, though supreme Captain of a frigate, he turned -to the First Lieutenant, made some indifferent remark, and saying to me -_you may go_, sauntered aft into his cabin; while I, who, in the -desperation of my soul, had but just escaped being a murderer and a -suicide, almost burst into tears of thanks-giving where I stood. - - - - -CHAPTER LXVIII. -A MAN-OF-WAR FOUNTAIN, AND OTHER THINGS. - - -Let us forget the scourge and the gangway a while, and jot down in our -memories a few little things pertaining to our man-of-war world. I let -nothing slip, however small; and feel myself actuated by the same -motive which has prompted many worthy old chroniclers, to set down the -merest trifles concerning things that are destined to pass away -entirely from the earth, and which, if not preserved in the nick of -time, must infallibly perish from the memories of man. Who knows that -this humble narrative may not hereafter prove the history of an -obsolete barbarism? Who knows that, when men-of-war shall be no more, -“White-Jacket” may not be quoted to show to the people in the -Millennium what a man-of-war was? God hasten the time! Lo! ye years, -escort it hither, and bless our eyes ere we die. - -There is no part of a frigate where you will see more going and coming -of strangers, and overhear more greetings and gossipings of -acquaintances, than in the immediate vicinity of the scuttle-butt, just -forward of the main-hatchway, on the gun-deck. - -The scuttle-butt is a goodly, round, painted cask, standing on end, and -with its upper head removed, showing a narrow, circular shelf within, -where rest a number of tin cups for the accommodation of drinkers. -Central, within the scuttle-butt itself, stands an iron pump, which, -connecting with the immense water-tanks in the hold, furnishes an -unfailing supply of the much-admired Pale Ale, first brewed in the -brooks of the garden of Eden, and stamped with the _brand_ of our old -father Adam, who never knew what wine was. We are indebted to the old -vintner Noah for that. The scuttle-butt is the only fountain in the -ship; and here alone can you drink, unless at your meals. Night and day -an armed sentry paces before it, bayonet in hand, to see that no water -is taken away, except according to law. I wonder that they station no -sentries at the port-holes, to see that no air is breathed, except -according to Navy regulations. - -As five hundred men come to drink at this scuttle-butt; as it is often -surrounded by officers’ servants drawing water for their masters to -wash; by the cooks of the range, who hither come to fill their -coffee-pots; and by the cooks of the ship’s messes to procure water for -their _duffs_; the scuttle-butt may be denominated the town-pump of the -ship. And would that my fine countryman, Hawthorne of Salem, had but -served on board a man-of-war in his time, that he might give us the -reading of a “_rill_” from the scuttle-butt. - - -As in all extensive establishments—abbeys, arsenals, colleges, -treasuries, metropolitan post-offices, and monasteries—there are many -snug little niches, wherein are ensconced certain superannuated old -pensioner officials; and, more especially, as in most ecclesiastical -establishments, a few choice prebendary stalls are to be found, -furnished with well-filled mangers and racks; so, in a man-of-war, -there are a variety of similar snuggeries for the benefit of decrepit -or rheumatic old tars. Chief among these is the office of _mast-man_. - -There is a stout rail on deck, at the base of each mast, where a number -of _braces, lifts_, and _buntlines_ are belayed to the pins. It is the -sole duty of the mast-man to see that these ropes are always kept -clear, to preserve his premises in a state of the greatest attainable -neatness, and every Sunday morning to dispose his ropes in neat -_Flemish coils_. - -The _main-mast-man_ of the Neversink was a very aged seaman, who well -deserved his comfortable berth. He had seen more than half a century of -the most active service, and, through all, had proved himself a good -and faithful man. He furnished one of the very rare examples of a -sailor in a green old age; for, with most sailors, old age comes in -youth, and Hardship and Vice carry them on an early bier to the grave. - -As in the evening of life, and at the close of the day, old Abraham sat -at the door of his tent, biding his time to die, so sits our old -mast-man on the _coat of the mast_, glancing round him with patriarchal -benignity. And that mild expression of his sets off very strangely a -face that has been burned almost black by the torrid suns that shone -fifty years ago—a face that is seamed with three sabre cuts. You would -almost think this old mast-man had been blown out of Vesuvius, to look -alone at his scarred, blackened forehead, chin, and cheeks. But gaze -down into his eye, and though all the snows of Time have drifted higher -and higher upon his brow, yet deep down in that eye you behold an -infantile, sinless look, the same that answered the glance of this old -man’s mother when first she cried for the babe to be laid by her side. -That look is the fadeless, ever infantile immortality within. - - -The Lord Nelsons of the sea, though but Barons in the state, yet -oftentimes prove more potent than their royal masters; and at such -scenes as Trafalgar—dethroning this Emperor and reinstating that—enact -on the ocean the proud part of mighty Richard Neville, the king-making -Earl of the land. And as Richard Neville entrenched himself in his -moated old man-of-war castle of Warwick, which, underground, was -traversed with vaults, hewn out of the solid rock, and intricate as the -wards of the old keys of Calais surrendered to Edward III.; even so do -these King-Commodores house themselves in their water-rimmed, -cannon-sentried frigates, oaken dug, deck under deck, as cell under -cell. And as the old Middle-Age warders of Warwick, every night at -curfew, patrolled the battlements, and dove down into the vaults to see -that all lights were extinguished, even so do the master-at-arms and -ship’s corporals of a frigate perambulate all the decks of a -man-of-war, blowing out all tapers but those burning in the legalized -battle-lanterns. Yea, in these things, so potent is the authority of -these sea-wardens, that, though almost the lowest subalterns in the -ship, yet should they find the Senior Lieutenant himself sitting up -late in his state-room, reading Bowditch’s Navigator, or D’Anton “_On -Gunpowder and Fire-arms_,” they would infallibly blow the light out -under his very nose; nor durst that Grand-Vizier resent the indignity. - -But, unwittingly, I have ennobled, by grand historical comparisons, -this prying, pettifogging, Irish-informer of a master-at-arms. - -You have seen some slim, slip-shod housekeeper, at midnight ferreting -over a rambling old house in the country, startling at fancied witches -and ghosts, yet intent on seeing every door bolted, every smouldering -ember in the fireplaces smothered, every loitering domestic abed, and -every light made dark. This is the master-at-arms taking his -night-rounds in a frigate. - - -It may be thought that but little is seen of the Commodore in these -chapters, and that, since he so seldom appears on the stage, he cannot -be so august a personage, after all. But the mightiest potentates keep -the most behind the veil. You might tarry in Constantinople a month, -and never catch a glimpse of the Sultan. The grand Lama of Thibet, -according to some accounts, is never beheld by the people. But if any -one doubts the majesty of a Commodore, let him know that, according to -XLII. of the Articles of War, he is invested with a prerogative which, -according to monarchical jurists, is inseparable from the throne—the -plenary pardoning power. He may pardon all offences committed in the -squadron under his command. - -But this prerogative is only his while at sea, or on a foreign station. -A circumstance peculiarly significant of the great difference between -the stately absolutism of a Commodore enthroned on his poop in a -foreign harbour, and an unlaced Commodore negligently reclining in an -easy-chair in the bosom of his family at home. - - - - -CHAPTER LXIX. -PRAYERS AT THE GUNS. - - -The training-days, or general quarters, now and then taking place in -our frigate, have already been described, also the Sunday devotions on -the half-deck; but nothing has yet been said concerning the daily -morning and evening quarters, when the men silently stand at their -guns, and the chaplain simply offers up a prayer. - -Let us now enlarge upon this matter. We have plenty of time; the -occasion invites; for behold! the homeward-bound Neversink bowls along -over a jubilant sea. - -Shortly after breakfast the drum beats to quarters; and among five -hundred men, scattered over all three decks, and engaged in all manner -of ways, that sudden rolling march is magical as the monitory sound to -which every good Mussulman at sunset drops to the ground whatsoever his -hands might have found to do, and, throughout all Turkey, the people in -concert kneel toward their holy Mecca. - -The sailors run to and fro-some up the deck-ladders, some down—to gain -their respective stations in the shortest possible time. In three -minutes all is composed. One by one, the various officers stationed -over the separate divisions of the ship then approach the First -Lieutenant on the quarter-deck, and report their respective men at -their quarters. It is curious to watch their countenances at this time. -A profound silence prevails; and, emerging through the hatchway, from -one of the lower decks, a slender young officer appears, hugging his -sword to his thigh, and advances through the long lanes of sailors at -their guns, his serious eye all the time fixed upon the First -Lieutenant’s—his polar star. Sometimes he essays a stately and -graduated step, an erect and martial bearing, and seems full of the -vast national importance of what he is about to communicate. - -But when at last he gains his destination, you are amazed to perceive -that all he has to say is imparted by a Freemason touch of his cap, and -a bow. He then turns and makes off to his division, perhaps passing -several brother Lieutenants, all bound on the same errand he himself -has just achieved. For about five minutes these officers are coming and -going, bringing in thrilling intelligence from all quarters of the -frigate; most stoically received, however, by the First Lieutenant. -With his legs apart, so as to give a broad foundation for the -superstructure of his dignity, this gentleman stands stiff as a -pike-staff on the quarter-deck. One hand holds his sabre—an -appurtenance altogether unnecessary at the time; and which he -accordingly tucks, point backward, under his arm, like an umbrella on a -sun-shiny day. The other hand is continually bobbing up and down to the -leather front of his cap, in response to the reports and salute of his -subordinates, to whom he never deigns to vouchsafe a syllable, merely -going through the motions of accepting their news, without bestowing -thanks for their pains. - -This continual touching of caps between officers on board a man-of-war -is the reason why you invariably notice that the glazed fronts of their -caps look jaded, lack-lustre, and worn; sometimes slightly -oleaginous—though, in other respects, the cap may appear glossy and -fresh. But as for the First Lieutenant, he ought to have extra pay -allowed to him, on account of his extraordinary outlays in cap fronts; -for he it is to whom, all day long, reports of various kinds are -incessantly being made by the junior Lieutenants; and no report is made -by them, however trivial, but caps are touched on the occasion. It is -obvious that these individual salutes must be greatly multiplied and -aggregated upon the senior Lieutenant, who must return them all. -Indeed, when a subordinate officer is first promoted to that rank, he -generally complains of the same exhaustion about the shoulder and elbow -that La Fayette mourned over, when, in visiting America, he did little -else but shake the sturdy hands of patriotic farmers from sunrise to -sunset. - -The various officers of divisions having presented their respects, and -made good their return to their stations, the First Lieutenant turns -round, and, marching aft, endeavours to catch the eye of the Captain, -in order to touch his own cap to that personage, and thereby, without -adding a word of explanation, communicate the fact of all hands being -at their gun’s. He is a sort of retort, or receiver-general, to -concentrate the whole sum of the information imparted to him, and -discharge it upon his superior at one touch of his cap front. - -But sometimes the Captain feels out of sorts, or in ill-humour, or is -pleased to be somewhat capricious, or has a fancy to show a touch of -his omnipotent supremacy; or, peradventure, it has so happened that the -First Lieutenant has, in some way, piqued or offended him, and he is -not unwilling to show a slight specimen of his dominion over him, even -before the eyes of all hands; at all events, only by some one of these -suppositions can the singular circumstance be accounted for, that -frequently Captain Claret would pertinaciously promenade up and down -the poop, purposely averting his eye from the First Lieutenant, who -would stand below in the most awkward suspense, waiting the first wink -from his superior’s eye. - -“Now I have him!” he must have said to himself, as the Captain would -turn toward him in his walk; “now’s my time!” and up would go his hand -to his cap; but, alas! the Captain was off again; and the men at the -guns would cast sly winks at each other as the embarrassed Lieutenant -would bite his lips with suppressed vexation. - -Upon some occasions this scene would be repeated several times, till at -last Captain Claret, thinking, that in the eyes of all hands, his -dignity must by this time be pretty well bolstered, would stalk towards -his subordinate, looking him full in the eyes; whereupon up goes his -hand to the cap front, and the Captain, nodding his acceptance of the -report, descends from his perch to the quarter-deck. - -By this time the stately Commodore slowly emerges from his cabin, and -soon stands leaning alone against the brass rails of the -after-hatchway. In passing him, the Captain makes a profound -salutation, which his superior returns, in token that the Captain is at -perfect liberty to proceed with the ceremonies of the hour. - -Marching on, Captain Claret at last halts near the main-mast, at the -head of a group of the ward-room officers, and by the side of the -Chaplain. At a sign from his finger, the brass band strikes up the -Portuguese hymn. This over, from Commodore to hammock-boy, all hands -uncover, and the Chaplain reads a prayer. Upon its conclusion, the drum -beats the retreat, and the ship’s company disappear from the guns. At -sea or in harbour, this ceremony is repeated every morning and evening. - -By those stationed on the quarter-deck the Chaplain is distinctly -heard; but the quarter-deck gun division embraces but a tenth part of -the ship’s company, many of whom are below, on the main-deck, where not -one syllable of the prayer can be heard. This seemed a great -misfortune; for I well knew myself how blessed and soothing it was to -mingle twice every day in these peaceful devotions, and, with the -Commodore, and Captain, and smallest boy, unite in acknowledging -Almighty God. There was also a touch of the temporary equality of the -Church about it, exceedingly grateful to a man-of-war’s-man like me. - -My carronade-gun happened to be directly opposite the brass railing -against which the Commodore invariably leaned at prayers. Brought so -close together, twice every day, for more than a year, we could not but -become intimately acquainted with each other’s faces. To this fortunate -circumstance it is to be ascribed, that some time after reaching home, -we were able to recognise each other when we chanced to meet in -Washington, at a ball given by the Russian Minister, the Baron de -Bodisco. And though, while on board the frigate, the Commodore never in -any manner personally addressed me—nor did I him—yet, at the Minister’s -social entertainment, we _there_ became exceedingly chatty; nor did I -fail to observe, among that crowd of foreign dignitaries and magnates -from all parts of America, that my worthy friend did not appear so -exalted as when leaning, in solitary state, against the brass railing -of the Neversink’s quarter-deck. Like many other gentlemen, he appeared -to the best advantage, and was treated with the most deference in the -bosom of his home, the frigate. - -Our morning and evening quarters were agreeably diversified for some -weeks by a little circumstance, which to some of us at least, always -seemed very pleasing. - -At Callao, half of the Commodore’s cabin had been hospitably yielded to -the family of a certain aristocratic-looking magnate, who was going -ambassador from Peru to the Court of the Brazils, at Rio. This -dignified diplomatist sported a long, twirling mustache, that almost -enveloped his mouth. The sailors said he looked like a rat with his -teeth through a bunch of oakum, or a St. Jago monkey peeping through a -prickly-pear bush. - -He was accompanied by a very beautiful wife, and a still more beautiful -little daughter, about six years old. Between this dark-eyed little -gipsy and our chaplain there soon sprung up a cordial love and good -feeling, so much so, that they were seldom apart. And whenever the drum -beat to quarters, and the sailors were hurrying to their stations, this -little signorita would outrun them all to gain her own quarters at the -capstan, where she would stand by the chaplain’s side, grasping his -hand, and looking up archly in his face. - -It was a sweet relief from the domineering sternness of our martial -discipline—a sternness not relaxed even at our devotions before the -altar of the common God of commodore and cabin-boy—to see that lovely -little girl standing among the thirty-two pounders, and now and then -casting a wondering, commiserating glance at the array of grim seamen -around her. - - - - -CHAPTER LXX. -MONTHLY MUSTER ROUND THE CAPSTAN. - - -Besides general quarters, and the regular morning and evening quarters -for prayers on board the Neversink, on the first Sunday of every month -we had a grand “_muster round the capstan_,” when we passed in solemn -review before the Captain and officers, who closely scanned our frocks -and trowsers, to see whether they were according to the Navy cut. In -some ships, every man is required to bring his bag and hammock along -for inspection. - -This ceremony acquires its chief solemnity, and, to a novice, is -rendered even terrible, by the reading of the Articles of War by the -Captain’s clerk before the assembled ship’s company, who in testimony -of their enforced reverence for the code, stand bareheaded till the -last sentence is pronounced. - -To a mere amateur reader the quiet perusal of these Articles of War -would be attended with some nervous emotions. Imagine, then, what _my_ -feelings must have been, when, with my hat deferentially in my hand, I -stood before my lord and master, Captain Claret, and heard these -Articles read as the law and gospel, the infallible, unappealable -dispensation and code, whereby I lived, and moved, and had my being on -board of the United States ship Neversink. - -Of some twenty offences—made penal—that a seaman may commit, and which -are specified in this code, thirteen are punishable by death. - -“_Shall suffer death!_” This was the burden of nearly every Article -read by the Captain’s clerk; for he seemed to have been instructed to -omit the longer Articles, and only present those which were brief and -to the point. - -“_Shall suffer death!_” The repeated announcement falls on your ear -like the intermitting discharge of artillery. After it has been -repeated again and again, you listen to the reader as he deliberately -begins a new paragraph; you hear him reciting the involved, but -comprehensive and clear arrangement of the sentence, detailing all -possible particulars of the offence described, and you breathlessly -await, whether _that_ clause also is going to be concluded by the -discharge of the terrible minute-gun. When, lo! it again booms on your -ear—_shall suffer death!_ No reservations, no contingencies; not the -remotest promise of pardon or reprieve; not a glimpse of commutation of -the sentence; all hope and consolation is shut out—_shall suffer -death!_ that is the simple fact for you to digest; and it is a tougher -morsel, believe White-Jacket when he says it, than a forty-two-pound -cannon-ball. - -But there is a glimmering of an alternative to the sailor who infringes -these Articles. Some of them thus terminates: “_Shall suffer death, or -such punishment as a court-martial shall adjudge_.” But hints this at a -penalty still more serious? Perhaps it means “_death, or worse -punishment_.” - -Your honours of the Spanish Inquisition, Loyola and Torquemada! -produce, reverend gentlemen, your most secret code, and match these -Articles of War, if you can. Jack Ketch, _you_ also are experienced in -these things! Thou most benevolent of mortals, who standest by us, and -hangest round our necks, when all the rest of this world are against -us—tell us, hangman, what punishment is this, horribly hinted at as -being worse than death? Is it, upon an empty stomach, to read the -Articles of War every morning, for the term of one’s natural life? Or -is it to be imprisoned in a cell, with its walls papered from floor to -ceiling with printed copies, in italics, of these Articles of War? - -But it needs not to dilate upon the pure, bubbling milk of human -kindness, and Christian charity, and forgiveness of injuries which -pervade this charming document, so thoroughly imbued, as a Christian -code, with the benignant spirit of the Sermon on the Mount. But as it -is very nearly alike in the foremost states of Christendom, and as it -is nationally set forth by those states, it indirectly becomes an index -to the true condition of the present civilization of the world. - -As, month after month, I would stand bareheaded among my shipmates, and -hear this document read, I have thought to myself, Well, well, -White-Jacket, you are in a sad box, indeed. But prick your ears, there -goes another minute-gun. It admonishes you to take all bad usage in -good part, and never to join in any public meeting that may be held on -the gun-deck for a redress of grievances. Listen: - -Art. XIII. “If any person in the navy shall make, or attempt to make, -any mutinous assembly, he shall, on conviction thereof by a court -martial, suffer death.” - -Bless me, White-Jacket, are you a great gun yourself, that you so -recoil, to the extremity of your breechings, at that discharge? - -But give ear again. Here goes another minute-gun. It indirectly -admonishes you to receive the grossest insult, and stand still under -it: - -Art. XIV. “No private in the navy shall disobey the lawful orders of -his superior officer, or strike him, or draw, or offer to draw, or -raise any weapon against him, while in the execution of the duties of -his office, on pain of death.” - -Do not hang back there by the bulwarks, White-Jacket; come up to the -mark once more; for here goes still another minute-gun, which -admonishes you never to be caught napping: - -Part of Art. XX. “If any person in the navy shall sleep upon his watch, -he shall suffer death.” - -Murderous! But then, in time of peace, they do not enforce these -blood-thirsty laws? Do they not, indeed? What happened to those three -sailors on board an American armed vessel a few years ago, quite within -your memory, White-Jacket; yea, while you yourself were yet serving on -board this very frigate, the Neversink? What happened to those three -Americans, White-Jacket—those three sailors, even as you, who once were -alive, but now are dead? “_Shall suffer death!_” those were the three -words that hung those three sailors. - -Have a care, then, have a care, lest you come to a sad end, even the -end of a rope; lest, with a black-and-blue throat, you turn a dumb -diver after pearl-shells; put to bed for ever, and tucked in, in your -own hammock, at the bottom of the sea. And there you will lie, -White-Jacket, while hostile navies are playing cannon-ball billiards -over your grave. - -By the main-mast! then, in a time of profound peace, I am subject to -the cut-throat martial law. And when my own brother, who happens to be -dwelling ashore, and does not serve his country as I am now doing—when -_he_ is at liberty to call personally upon the President of the United -States, and express his disapprobation of the whole national -administration, here am I, liable at any time to be run up at the -yard-arm, with a necklace, made by no jeweler, round my neck! - -A hard case, truly, White-Jacket; but it cannot be helped. Yes; you -live under this same martial law. Does not everything around you din -the fact in your ears? Twice every day do you not jump to your quarters -at the sound of a drum? Every morning, in port, are you not roused from -your hammock by the _reveille_, and sent to it again at nightfall by -the _tattoo?_ Every Sunday are you not commanded in the mere matter of -the very dress you shall wear through that blessed day? Can your -shipmates so much as drink their “tot of grog?” nay, can they even -drink but a cup of water at the scuttle-butt, without an armed sentry -standing over them? Does not every officer wear a sword instead of a -cane? You live and move among twenty-four-pounders. White-Jacket; the -very cannon-balls are deemed an ornament around you, serving to -embellish the hatchways; and should you come to die at sea, -White-Jacket, still two cannon-balls would bear you company when you -would be committed to the deep. Yea, by all methods, and devices, and -inventions, you are momentarily admonished of the fact that you live -under the Articles of War. And by virtue of them it is, White-Jacket, -that, without a hearing and without a trial, you may, at a wink from -the Captain, be condemned to the scourge. - -Speak you true? Then let me fly! - -Nay, White-Jacket, the landless horizon hoops you in. - -Some tempest, then, surge all the sea against us! hidden reefs and -rocks, arise and dash the ships to chips! I was not born a serf, and -will not live a slave! Quick! cork-screw whirlpools, suck us down! -world’s end whelm us! - -Nay, White-Jacket, though this frigate laid her broken bones upon the -Antarctic shores of Palmer’s Land; though not two planks adhered; -though all her guns were spiked by sword-fish blades, and at her -yawning hatchways mouth-yawning sharks swam in and out; yet, should you -escape the wreck and scramble to the beach, this Martial Law would meet -you still, and snatch you by the throat. Hark! - -Art. XLII. Part of Sec. 3.-“In all cases where the crews of the ships -or vessels of the United States shall be separated from their vessels -by the latter being wrecked, lost, or destroyed, all the command, -power, and authority given to the officers of such ships or vessels -shall remain, and be in full force, as effectually as if such ship or -vessel were not so wrecked, lost or destroyed.” - -Hear you that, White-Jacket! I tell you there is no escape. Afloat or -wrecked the Martial Law relaxes not its gripe. And though, by that -self-same warrant, for some offence therein set down, you were indeed -to “suffer death,” even then the Martial Law might hunt you straight -through the other world, and out again at its other end, following you -through all eternity, like an endless thread on the inevitable track of -its own point, passing unnumbered needles through. - - - - -CHAPTER LXXI. -THE GENEALOGY OF THE ARTICLES OF WAR. - - -As the Articles of War form the ark and constitution of the penal laws -of the American Navy, in all sobriety and earnestness it may be well to -glance at their origin. Whence came they? And how is it that one arm of -the national defences of a Republic comes to be ruled by a Turkish -code, whose every section almost, like each of the tubes of a revolving -pistol, fires nothing short of death into the heart of an offender? How -comes it that, by virtue of a law solemnly ratified by a Congress of -freemen, the representatives of freemen, thousands of Americans are -subjected to the most despotic usages, and, from the dockyards of a -republic, absolute monarchies are launched, with the “glorious stars -and stripes” for an ensign? By what unparalleled anomaly, by what -monstrous grafting of tyranny upon freedom did these Articles of War -ever come to be so much as heard of in the American Navy? - -Whence came they? They cannot be the indigenous growth of those -political institutions, which are based upon that arch-democrat Thomas -Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence? No; they are an importation -from abroad, even from Britain, whose laws we Americans hurled off as -tyrannical, and yet retained the most tyrannical of all. - -But we stop not here; for these Articles of War had their congenial -origin in a period of the history of Britain when the Puritan Republic -had yielded to a monarchy restored; when a hangman Judge Jeffreys -sentenced a world’s champion like Algernon Sidney to the block; when -one of a race by some deemed accursed of God—even a Stuart, was on the -throne; and a Stuart, also, was at the head of the Navy, as Lord High -Admiral. One, the son of a King beheaded for encroachments upon the -rights of his people, and the other, his own brother, afterward a king, -James II., who was hurled from the throne for his tyranny. This is the -origin of the Articles of War; and it carries with it an unmistakable -clew to their despotism.[4] - - [4] The first Naval Articles of War in the English language were - passed in the thirteenth year of the reign of Charles the Second, - under the title of “_An act for establishing Articles and Orders for - the regulating and better Government of his Majesty’s Navies, - Ships-of-War, and Forces by Sea_.” This act was repealed, and, so far - as concerned the officers, a modification of it substituted, in the - twenty-second year of the reign of George the Second, shortly after - the Peace of Aix la Chapelle, just one century ago. This last act, it - is believed, comprises, in substance, the Articles of War at this day - in force in the British Navy. It is not a little curious, nor without - meaning, that neither of these acts explicitly empowers an officer to - inflict the lash. It would almost seem as if, in this case, the - British lawgivers were willing to leave such a stigma out of an - organic statute, and bestow the power of the lash in some less solemn, - and perhaps less public manner. Indeed, the only broad enactments - directly sanctioning naval scourging at sea are to be found in the - United States Statute Book and in the “Sea Laws” of the absolute - monarch, Louis le Grand, of France.[5] - Taking for their basis the above-mentioned British Naval Code, and - ingrafting upon it the positive scourging laws, which Britain was - loth to recognise as organic statutes, our American lawgivers, in - the year 1800, framed the Articles of War now governing the - American Navy. They may be found in the second volume of the - “United States Statutes at Large,” under chapter xxxiii.—“An act - for the _better_ government of the Navy of the United States.” - - - [5] For reference to the latter (L’Ord. de la Marine), _vide_ Curtis’s - _Treatise on the Rights and Duties of Merchant-Seamen, according to - the General Maritime Law_, Part ii., c. i. - - -Nor is it a dumb thing that the men who, in democratic Cromwell’s time, -first proved to the nations the toughness of the British oak and the -hardihood of the British sailor—that in Cromwell’s time, whose fleets -struck terror into the cruisers of France, Spain, Portugal, and -Holland, and the corsairs of Algiers and the Levant; in Cromwell’s -time, when Robert Blake swept the Narrow Seas of all the keels of a -Dutch Admiral who insultingly carried a broom at his fore-mast; it is -not a dumb thing that, at a period deemed so glorious to the British -Navy, these Articles of War were unknown. - -Nevertheless, it is granted that some laws or other must have governed -Blake’s sailors at that period; but they must have been far less severe -than those laid down in the written code which superseded them, since, -according to the father-in-law of James II., the Historian of the -Rebellion, the English Navy, prior to the enforcement of the new code, -was full of officers and sailors who, of all men, were the most -republican. Moreover, the same author informs us that the first work -undertaken by his respected son-in-law, then Duke of York, upon -entering on the duties of Lord High Admiral, was to have a grand -re-christening of the men-of-war, which still carried on their sterns -names too democratic to suit his high-tory ears. - -But if these Articles of War were unknown in Blake’s time, and also -during the most brilliant period of Admiral Benbow’s career, what -inference must follow? That such tyrannical ordinances are not -indispensable—even during war—to the highest possible efficiency of a -military marine. - - - - -CHAPTER LXXII. -“HEREIN ARE THE GOOD ORDINANCES OF THE SEA, WHICH WISE MEN, WHO VOYAGED -ROUND THE WORLD, GAVE TO OUR ANCESTORS, AND WHICH CONSTITUTE THE BOOKS -OF THE SCIENCE OF GOOD CUSTOMS.”—_The Consulate of the Sea_. - - -The present usages of the American Navy are such that, though there is -no government enactment to that effect, yet, in many respect, its -Commanders seem virtually invested with the power to observe or -violate, as seems to them fit, several of the Articles of War. - -According to Article XV., “_No person in the Navy shall quarrel with -any other person in the Navy, nor use provoking or reproachful words, -gestures, or menaces, on pain of such punishment as a court-martial -shall adjudge_.” - -“_Provoking or reproachful words!_” Officers of the Navy, answer me! -Have you not, many of you, a thousand times violated this law, and -addressed to men, whose tongues were tied by this very Article, -language which no landsman would ever hearken to without flying at the -throat of his insulter? I know that worse words than _you_ ever used -are to be heard addressed by a merchant-captain to his crew; but the -merchant-captain does not live under this XVth Article of War. - -Not to make an example of him, nor to gratify any personal feeling, but -to furnish one certain illustration of what is here asserted, I -honestly declare that Captain Claret, of the Neversink, repeatedly -violated this law in his own proper person. - -According to Article III., no officer, or other person in the Navy, -shall be guilty of “oppression, fraud, profane swearing, drunkenness, -or any other scandalous conduct.” - -Again let me ask you, officers of the Navy, whether many of you have -not repeatedly, and in more than one particular, violated this law? And -here, again, as a certain illustration, I must once more cite Captain -Claret as an offender, especially in the matter of profane swearing. I -must also cite four of the lieutenants, some eight of the midshipmen, -and nearly all the seamen. - -Additional Articles might be quoted that are habitually violated by the -officers, while nearly all those _exclusively_ referring to the sailors -are unscrupulously enforced. Yet those Articles, by which the sailor is -scourged at the gangway, are not one whit more laws than those _other_ -Articles, binding upon the officers, that have become obsolete from -immemorial disuse; while still other Articles, to which the sailors -alone are obnoxious, are observed or violated at the caprice of the -Captain. Now, if it be not so much the severity as the certainty of -punishment that deters from transgression, how fatal to all proper -reverence for the enactments of Congress must be this disregard of its -statutes. - -Still more. This violation of the law, on the part of the officers, in -many cases involves oppression to the sailor. But throughout the whole -naval code, which so hems in the mariner by law upon law, and which -invests the Captain with so much judicial and administrative authority -over him—in most cases entirely discretionary—not one solitary clause -is to be found which in any way provides means for a seaman deeming -himself aggrieved to obtain redress. Indeed, both the written and -unwritten laws of the American Navy are as destitute of individual -guarantees to the mass of seamen as the Statute Book of the despotic -Empire of Russia. - -Who put this great gulf between the American Captain and the American -sailor? Or is the Captain a creature of like passions with ourselves? -Or is he an infallible archangel, incapable of the shadow of error? Or -has a sailor no mark of humanity, no attribute of manhood, that, bound -hand and foot, he is cast into an American frigate shorn of all rights -and defences, while the notorious lawlessness of the Commander has -passed into a proverb, familiar to man-of-war’s-men, _the law was not -made for the Captain!_ Indeed, he may almost be said to put off the -citizen when he touches his quarter-deck; and, almost exempt from the -law of the land himself, he comes down upon others with a judicial -severity unknown on the national soil. With the Articles of War in one -hand, and the cat-o’-nine-tails in the other, he stands an undignified -parody upon Mohammed enforcing Moslemism with the sword and the Koran. - -The concluding sections of the Articles of War treat of the naval -courts-martial before which officers are tried for serious offences as -well as the seamen. The oath administered to members of these -courts—which sometimes sit upon matters of life and death—explicitly -enjoins that the members shall not “at any time divulge the vote or -opinion of any particular member of the court, unless required so to do -before a court of justice in due course of law.” - -Here, then, is a Council of Ten and a Star Chamber indeed! Remember, -also, that though the sailor is sometimes tried for his life before a -tribunal like this, in no case do his fellow-sailors, his peers, form -part of the court. Yet that a man should be tried by his peers is the -fundamental principle of all civilised jurisprudence. And not only -tried by his peers, but his peers must be unanimous to render a -verdict; whereas, in a court-martial, the concurrence of a majority of -conventional and social superiors is all that is requisite. - -In the English Navy, it is said, they had a law which authorised the -sailor to appeal, if he chose, from the decision of the Captain—even in -a comparatively trivial case—to the higher tribunal of a court-martial. -It was an English seaman who related this to me. When I said that such -a law must be a fatal clog to the exercise of the penal power in the -Captain, he, in substance, told me the following story. - -A top-man guilty of drunkenness being sent to the gratings, and the -scourge about to be inflicted, he turned round and demanded a -court-martial. The Captain smiled, and ordered him to be taken down and -put into the “brig,” There he was kept in irons some weeks, when, -despairing of being liberated, he offered to compromise at two dozen -lashes. “Sick of your bargain, then, are you?” said the Captain. “No, -no! a court-martial you demanded, and a court-martial you shall have!” -Being at last tried before the bar of quarter-deck officers, he was -condemned to two hundred lashes. What for? for his having been drunk? -No! for his having had the insolence to appeal from an authority, in -maintaining which the men who tried and condemned him had so strong a -sympathetic interest. - -Whether this story be wholly true or not, or whether the particular law -involved prevails, or ever did prevail, in the English Navy, the thing, -nevertheless, illustrates the ideas that man-of-war’s-men themselves -have touching the tribunals in question. - -What can be expected from a court whose deeds are done in the darkness -of the recluse courts of the Spanish Inquisition? when that darkness is -solemnised by an oath on the Bible? when an oligarchy of epaulets sits -upon the bench, and a plebeian top-man, without a jury, stands -judicially naked at the bar? - -In view of these things, and especially in view of the fact that, in -several cases, the degree of punishment inflicted upon a -man-of-war’s-man is absolutely left to the discretion of the court, -what shame should American legislators take to themselves, that with -perfect truth we may apply to the entire body of the American -man-of-war’s-men that infallible principle of Sir Edward Coke: “It is -one of the genuine marks of servitude to have the law either concealed -or precarious.” But still better may we subscribe to the saying of Sir -Matthew Hale in his History of the Common Law, that “the Martial Law, -being based upon no settled principles, is, in truth and reality, no -law, but something indulged rather than allowed as a law.” - -I know it may be said that the whole nature of this naval code is -purposely adapted to the war exigencies of the Navy. But waiving the -grave question that might be raised concerning the moral, not judicial, -lawfulness of this arbitrary code, even in time of war; be it asked, -why it is in force during a time of peace? The United States has now -existed as a nation upward of seventy years, and in all that time the -alleged necessity for the operation of the naval code—in cases deemed -capital—has only existed during a period of two or three years at most. - -Some may urge that the severest operations of the code are tacitly made -null in time of peace. But though with respect to several of the -Articles this holds true, yet at any time any and all of them may be -legally enforced. Nor have there been wanting recent instances, -illustrating the spirit of this code, even in cases where the letter of -the code was not altogether observed. The well-known case of a United -States brig furnishes a memorable example, which at any moment may be -repeated. Three men, in a time of peace, were then hung at the -yard-arm, merely because, in the Captain’s judgment, it became -necessary to hang them. To this day the question of their complete -guilt is socially discussed. - -How shall we characterise such a deed? Says Blackstone, “If any one -that hath commission of martial authority doth, in time of peace, hang, -or otherwise execute any man by colour of martial law, this is murder; -for it is against Magna Charta.”* [* Commentaries, b. i., c. xiii.] - -Magna Charta! We moderns, who may be landsmen, may justly boast of -civil immunities not possessed by our forefathers; but our remoter -forefathers who happened to be mariners may straighten themselves even -in their ashes to think that their lawgivers were wiser and more humane -in their generation than our lawgivers in ours. Compare the sea-laws of -our Navy with the Roman and Rhodian ocean ordinances; compare them with -the “Consulate of the Sea;” compare them with the Laws of the Hanse -Towns; compare them with the ancient Wisbury laws. In the last we find -that they were ocean democrats in those days. “If he strikes, he ought -to receive blow for blow.” Thus speak out the Wisbury laws concerning a -Gothland sea-captain. - -In final reference to all that has been said in previous chapters -touching the severity and unusualness of the laws of the American Navy, -and the large authority vested in its commanding officers, be it here -observed, that White-Jacket is not unaware of the fact, that the -responsibility of an officer commanding at sea—whether in the merchant -service or the national marine—is unparalleled by that of any other -relation in which man may stand to man. Nor is he unmindful that both -wisdom and humanity dictate that, from the peculiarity of his position, -a sea-officer in command should be clothed with a degree of authority -and discretion inadmissible in any master ashore. But, at the same -time, these principles—recognised by all writers on maritime law—have -undoubtedly furnished warrant for clothing modern sea-commanders and -naval courts-martial with powers which exceed the due limits of reason -and necessity. Nor is this the only instance where right and salutary -principles, in themselves almost self-evident and infallible, have been -advanced in justification of things, which in themselves are just as -self-evidently wrong and pernicious. - -Be it here, once and for all, understood, that no sentimental and -theoretic love for the common sailor; no romantic belief in that -peculiar noble-heartedness and exaggerated generosity of disposition -fictitiously imputed to him in novels; and no prevailing desire to gain -the reputation of being his friend, have actuated me in anything I have -said, in any part of this work, touching the gross oppression under -which I know that the sailors suffers. Indifferent as to who may be the -parties concerned, I but desire to see wrong things righted, and equal -justice administered to all. - -Nor, as has been elsewhere hinted, is the general ignorance or -depravity of any race of men to be alleged as an apology for tyranny -over them. On the contrary, it cannot admit of a reasonable doubt, in -any unbiased mind conversant with the interior life of a man-of-war, -that most of the sailor iniquities practised therein are indirectly to -be ascribed to the morally debasing effects of the unjust, despotic, -and degrading laws under which the man-of-war’s-man lives. - - - - -CHAPTER LXXIII. -NIGHT AND DAY GAMBLING IN A MAN-OF-WAR. - - -Mention has been made that the game of draughts, or checkers, was -permitted to be played on board the Neversink. At the present time, -while there was little or no shipwork to be done, and all hands, in -high spirits, were sailing homeward over the warm smooth sea of the -tropics; so numerous became the players, scattered about the decks, -that our First Lieutenant used ironically to say that it was a pity -they were not tesselated with squares of white and black marble, for -the express benefit and convenience of the players. Had this gentleman -had his way, our checker-boards would very soon have been pitched out -of the ports. But the Captain—usually lenient in some things—permitted -them, and so Mr. Bridewell was fain to hold his peace. - -But, although this one game was allowable in the frigate, all kinds of -gambling were strictly interdicted, under the penalty of the gangway; -nor were cards or dice tolerated in any way whatever. This regulation -was indispensable, for, of all human beings, man-of-war’s-men are -perhaps the most inclined to gambling. The reason must be obvious to -any one who reflects upon their condition on shipboard. And -gambling—the most mischievous of vices anywhere—in a man-of-war -operates still more perniciously than on shore. But quite as often as -the law against smuggling spirits is transgressed by the unscrupulous -sailors, the statutes against cards and dice are evaded. - -Sable night, which, since the beginning of the world, has winked and -looked on at so many deeds of iniquity—night is the time usually -selected for their operations by man-of-war gamblers. The place pitched -upon is generally the berth-deck, where the hammocks are swung, and -which is lighted so stintedly as not to disturb the sleeping seamen -with any obtruding glare. In so spacious an area the two lanterns -swinging from the stanchions diffuse a subdued illumination, like a -night-taper in the apartment of some invalid. Owing to their position, -also, these lanterns are far from shedding an impartial light, however -dim, but fling long angular rays here and there, like burglar’s -dark-lanterns in the fifty-acre vaults of the West India Docks on the -Thames. - -It may well be imagined, therefore, how well adapted is this mysterious -and subterranean Hall of Eblis to the clandestine proceedings of -gamblers, especially as the hammocks not only hang thickly, but many of -them swing very low, within two feet of the floor, thus forming -innumerable little canvas glens, grottoes, nooks, corners, and -crannies, where a good deal of wickedness may be practiced by the wary -with considerable impunity. - -Now the master-at-arms, assisted by his mates, the ship’s corporals, -reigns supreme in these bowels of the ship. Throughout the night these -policemen relieve each other at standing guard over the premises; and, -except when the watches are called, they sit in the midst of a profound -silence, only invaded by trumpeters’ snores, or the ramblings of some -old sheet-anchor-man in his sleep. - -The two ship’s corporals went among the sailors by the names of Leggs -and Pounce; Pounce had been a policeman, it was said, in Liverpool; -Leggs, a turnkey attached to “The Tombs” in New York. Hence their -education eminently fitted them for their stations; and Bland, the -master-at-arms, ravished with their dexterity in prying out offenders, -used to call them his two right hands. - -When man-of-war’s-men desire to gamble, they appoint the hour, and -select some certain corner, in some certain shadow, behind some certain -hammock. They then contribute a small sum toward a joint fund, to be -invested in a bribe for some argus-eyed shipmate, who shall play the -part of a spy upon the master-at-arms and corporals while the gaming is -in progress. In nine cases out of ten these arrangements are so cunning -and comprehensive, that the gamblers, eluding all vigilance, conclude -their game unmolested. But now and then, seduced into unwariness, or -perhaps, from parsimony, being unwilling to employ the services of a -spy, they are suddenly lighted upon by the constables, remorselessly -collared, and dragged into the brig there to await a dozen lashes in -the morning. - -Several times at midnight I have been startled out of a sound sleep by -a sudden, violent rush under my hammock, caused by the abrupt breaking -up of some nest of gamblers, who have scattered in all directions, -brushing under the tiers of swinging pallets, and setting them all in a -rocking commotion. - -It is, however, while laying in port that gambling most thrives in a -man-of-war. Then the men frequently practice their dark deeds in the -light of the day, and the additional guards which, at such times, they -deem indispensable, are not unworthy of note. More especially, their -extra precautions in engaging the services of several spies, -necessitate a considerable expenditure, so that, in port, the diversion -of gambling rises to the dignity of a nabob luxury. - -During the day the master-at-arms and his corporals are continually -prowling about on all three decks, eager to spy out iniquities. At one -time, for example, you see Leggs switching his magisterial rattan, and -lurking round the fore-mast on the spar-deck; the next moment, perhaps, -he is three decks down, out of sight, prowling among the cable-tiers. -Just so with his master, and Pounce his coadjutor; they are here, -there, and everywhere, seemingly gifted with ubiquity. - -In order successfully to carry on their proceedings by day, the -gamblers must see to it that each of these constables is relentlessly -dogged wherever he goes; so that, in case of his approach toward the -spot where themselves are engaged, they may be warned of the fact in -time to make good their escape. Accordingly, light and active scouts -are selected to follow the constable about. From their youthful -alertness and activity, the boys of the mizzen-top are generally chosen -for this purpose. - -But this is not all. Onboard of most men-of-war there is a set of sly, -knavish foxes among the crew, destitute of every principle of honour, -and on a par with Irish informers. In man-of-war parlance, they come -under the denomination of _fancy-men_ and _white-mice_, They are called -_fancy-men_ because, from their zeal in craftily reporting offenders, -they are presumed to be regarded with high favour by some of the -officers. Though it is seldom that these informers can be certainly -individualised, so secret and subtle are they in laying their -information, yet certain of the crew, and especially certain of the -marines, are invariably suspected to be _fancy-men_ and _white-mice_, -and are accordingly more or less hated by their comrades. - -Now, in addition to having an eye on the master-at-arms and his aids, -the day-gamblers must see to it, that every person suspected of being a -_white-mouse_ or _fancy-man_, is like-wise dogged wherever he goes. -Additional scouts are retained constantly to snuff at their trail. But -the mysteries of man-of-war vice are wonderful; and it is now to be -recorded, that, from long habit and observation, and familiarity with -the _guardo moves_ and _manoeuvres_ of a frigate, the master-at-arms -and his aids can almost invariably tell when any gambling is going on -by day; though, in the crowded vessel, abounding in decks, tops, dark -places, and outlandish corners of all sorts, they may not be able to -pounce upon the identical spot where the gamblers are hidden. - -During the period that Bland was suspended from his office as -master-at-arms, a person who, among the sailors, went by the name of -Sneak, having been long suspected to have been a _white-mouse_, was put -in Bland’s place. He proved a hangdog, sidelong catch-thief, but gifted -with a marvellous perseverance in ferreting out culprits; following in -their track like an inevitable Cuba blood-hound, with his noiseless -nose. When disconcerted, however, you sometimes heard his bay. - -“The muffled dice are somewhere around,” Sneak would say to his aids; -“there are them three chaps, there, been dogging me about for the last -half-hour. I say, Pounce, has any one been scouting around _you_ this -morning?” - -“Four on ’em,” says Pounce. “I know’d it; I know’d the muffled dice was -rattlin’!” - -“Leggs!” says the master-at-arms to his other aid, “Leggs, how is it -with _you_—any spies?” - -“Ten on’ em,” says Leggs. “There’s one on ’em now—that fellow stitching -a hat.” - -“Halloo, you, sir!” cried the master-at-arms, “top your boom and sail -large, now. If I see you about me again, I’ll have you up to the mast.” - -“What am I a-doin’ now?” says the hat-stitcher, with a face as long as -a rope-walk. “Can’t a feller be workin’ here, without being ’spected of -Tom Coxe’s traverse, up one ladder and down t’other?” - -“Oh, I know the moves, sir; I have been on board a _guardo_. Top your -boom, I say, and be off, or I’ll have you hauled up and riveted in a -clinch—both fore-tacks over the main-yard, and no bloody knife to cut -the seizing. Sheer! or I’ll pitch into you like a shin of beef into a -beggar’s wallet.” - -It is often observable, that, in vessels of all kinds, the men who talk -the most sailor lingo are the least sailor-like in reality. You may -sometimes hear even marines jerk out more salt phrases than the Captain -of the Forecastle himself. On the other hand, when not actively engaged -in his vocation, you would take the best specimen of a seaman for a -landsman. When you see a fellow yawning about the docks like a -homeward-bound Indiaman, a long Commodore’s pennant of black ribbon -flying from his mast-head, and fetching up at a grog-shop with a slew -of his hull, as if an Admiral were coming alongside a three-decker in -his barge; you may put that man down for what man-of-war’s-men call a -_damn-my-eyes-tar_, that is, a humbug. And many damn-my-eyes humbugs -there are in this man-of-war world of ours. - - - - -CHAPTER LXXIV. -THE MAIN-TOP AT NIGHT. - - -The whole of our run from Rio to the Line was one delightful yachting, -so far as fine weather and the ship’s sailing were concerned. It was -especially pleasant when our quarter-watch lounged in the main-top, -diverting ourselves in many agreeable ways. Removed from the immediate -presence of the officers, we there harmlessly enjoyed ourselves, more -than in any other part of the ship. By day, many of us were very -industrious, making hats or mending our clothes. But by night we became -more romantically inclined. - -Often Jack Chase, an enthusiastic admirer of sea-scenery, would direct -our attention to the moonlight on the waves, by fine snatches from his -catalogue of poets. I shall never forget the lyric air with which, one -morning, at dawn of day, when all the East was flushed with red and -gold, he stood leaning against the top-mast shrouds, and stretching his -bold hand over the sea, exclaimed, “Here comes Aurora: top-mates, see!” -And, in a liquid, long-lingering tone, he recited the lines, - - “With gentle hand, as seeming oft to pause, - The purple curtains of the morn she draws.” - - -“Commodore Camoens, White-Jacket.—But bear a hand there; we must rig -out that stun’-sail boom—the wind is shifting.” - -From our lofty perch, of a moonlight night, the frigate itself was a -glorious sight. She was going large before the wind, her stun’-sails -set on both sides, so that the canvas on the main-mast and fore-mast -presented the appearance of majestic, tapering pyramids, more than a -hundred feet broad at the base, and terminating in the clouds with the -light copestone of the royals. That immense area of snow-white canvas -sliding along the sea was indeed a magnificent spectacle. The three -shrouded masts looked like the apparitions of three gigantic Turkish -Emirs striding over the ocean. - -Nor, at times, was the sound of music wanting, to augment the poetry of -the scene. The whole band would be assembled on the poop, regaling the -officers, and incidentally ourselves, with their fine old airs. To -these, some of us would occasionally dance in the _top_, which was -almost as large as an ordinary sized parlour. When the instrumental -melody of the band was not to be had, our nightingales mustered their -voices, and gave us a song. - -Upon these occasions Jack Chase was often called out, and regaled us, -in his own free and noble style, with the “_Spanish Ladies_”—a -favourite thing with British man-of-war’s-men—and many other salt-sea -ballads and ditties, including, - - “Sir Patrick Spens was the best sailor - That ever sailed the sea.” - - -also, - - “And three times around spun our gallant ship; - Three times around spun she; - Three times around spun our gallant ship, - And she went to the bottom of the sea— - The sea, the sea, the sea, - And she went to the bottom of the sea!” - - -These songs would be varied by sundry _yarns_ and _twisters_ of the -top-men. And it was at these times that I always endeavoured to draw -out the oldest Tritons into narratives of the war-service they had -seen. There were but few of them, it is true, who had been in action; -but that only made their narratives the more valuable. - -There was an old negro, who went by the name of Tawney, a -sheet-anchor-man, whom we often invited into our top of tranquil -nights, to hear him discourse. He was a staid and sober seaman, very -intelligent, with a fine, frank bearing, one of the best men in the -ship, and held in high estimation by every one. - -It seems that, during the last war between England and America, he had, -with several others, been “impressed” upon the high seas, out of a New -England merchantman. The ship that impressed him was an English -frigate, the Macedonian, afterward taken by the Neversink, the ship in -which we were sailing. - -It was the holy Sabbath, according to Tawney, and, as the Briton bore -down on the American—her men at their quarters—Tawney and his -countrymen, who happened to be stationed at the quarter-deck battery, -respectfully accosted the captain—an old man by the name of Cardan—as -he passed them, in his rapid promenade, his spy-glass under his arm. -Again they assured him that they were not Englishmen, and that it was a -most bitter thing to lift their hands against the flag of that country -which harboured the mothers that bore them. They conjured him to -release them from their guns, and allow them to remain neutral during -the conflict. But when a ship of any nation is running into action, it -is no time for argument, small time for justice, and not much time for -humanity. Snatching a pistol from the belt of a boarder standing by, -the Captain levelled it at the heads of the three sailors, and -commanded them instantly to their quarters, under penalty of being shot -on the spot. So, side by side with his country’s foes, Tawney and his -companions toiled at the guns, and fought out the fight to the last; -with the exception of one of them, who was killed at his post by one of -his own country’s balls. - -At length, having lost her fore and main-top-masts, and her mizzen-mast -having been shot away to the deck, and her fore-yard lying in two -pieces on her shattered forecastle, and in a hundred places having been -_hulled_ with round shot, the English frigate was reduced to the last -extremity. Captain Cardan ordered his signal quarter-master to strike -the flag. - -Tawney was one of those who, at last, helped pull him on board the -Neversink. As he touched the deck, Cardan saluted Decatur, the hostile -commander, and offered his sword; but it was courteously declined. -Perhaps the victor remembered the dinner parties that he and the -Englishman had enjoyed together in Norfolk, just previous to the -breaking out of hostilities—and while both were in command of the very -frigates now crippled on the sea. The Macedonian, it seems, had gone -into Norfolk with dispatches. _Then_ they had laughed and joked over -their wine, and a wager of a beaver hat was said to have been made -between them upon the event of the hostile meeting of their ships. - -Gazing upon the heavy batteries before him, Cardan said to Decatur, -“This is a seventy-four, not a frigate; no wonder the day is yours!” - -This remark was founded upon the Neversink’s superiority in guns. The -Neversink’s main-deck-batteries then consisted, as now, of -twenty-four-pounders; the Macedonian’s of only eighteens. In all, the -Neversink numbered fifty-four guns and four hundred and fifty men; the -Macedonian, forty-nine guns and three hundred men; a very great -disparity, which, united to the other circumstances of this action, -deprives the victory of all claims to glory beyond those that might be -set up by a river-horse getting the better of a seal. - -But if Tawney spoke truth—and he was a truth-telling man this fact -seemed counterbalanced by a circumstance he related. When the guns of -the Englishman were examined, after the engagement, in more than one -instance the wad was found rammed against the cartridge, without -intercepting the ball. And though, in a frantic sea-fight, such a thing -might be imputed to hurry and remissness, yet Tawney, a stickler for -his tribe, always ascribed it to quite a different and less honourable -cause. But, even granting the cause he assigned to have been the true -one, it does not involve anything inimical to the general valour -displayed by the British crew. Yet, from all that may be learned from -candid persons who have been in sea-fights, there can be but little -doubt that on board of all ships, of whatever nation, in time of -action, no very small number of the men are exceedingly nervous, to say -the least, at the guns; ramming and sponging at a venture. And what -special patriotic interest could an impressed man, for instance, take -in a fight, into which he had been dragged from the arms of his wife? -Or is it to be wondered at that impressed English seamen have not -scrupled, in time of war, to cripple the arm that has enslaved them? - -During the same general war which prevailed at and previous to the -period of the frigate-action here spoken of, a British flag-officer, in -writing to the Admiralty, said, “Everything appears to be quiet in the -fleet; but, in preparing for battle last week, several of the guns in -the after part of the ship were found to be spiked;” that is to say, -rendered useless. Who had spiked them? The dissatisfied seamen. Is it -altogether improbable, then, that the guns to which Tawney referred -were manned by men who purposely refrained from making them tell on the -foe; that, in this one action, the victory America gained was partly -won for her by the sulky insubordination of the enemy himself? - -During this same period of general war, it was frequently the case that -the guns of English armed ships were found in the mornings with their -breechings cut over night. This maiming of the guns, and for the time -incapacitating them, was only to be imputed to that secret spirit of -hatred to the service which induced the spiking above referred to. But -even in cases where no deep-seated dissatisfaction was presumed to -prevail among the crew, and where a seaman, in time of action, impelled -by pure fear, “shirked from his gun;” it seems but flying in the face -of Him who made such a seaman what he constitutionally was, to sew -_coward_ upon his back, and degrade and agonise the already trembling -wretch in numberless other ways. Nor seems it a practice warranted by -the Sermon on the Mount, for the officer of a battery, in time of -battle, to stand over the men with his drawn sword (as was done in the -Macedonian), and run through on the spot the first seaman who showed a -semblance of fear. Tawney told me that he distinctly heard this order -given by the English Captain to his officers of divisions. Were the -secret history of all sea-fights written, the laurels of sea-heroes -would turn to ashes on their brows. - -And how nationally disgraceful, in every conceivable point of view, is -the IV. of our American Articles of War: “If any person in the Navy -shall pusillanimously cry for quarter, he shall suffer death.” Thus, -with death before his face from the foe, and death behind his back from -his countrymen, the best valour of a man-of-war’s-man can never assume -the merit of a noble spontaneousness. In this, as in every other case, -the Articles of War hold out no reward for good conduct, but only -compel the sailor to fight, like a hired murderer, for his pay, by -digging his grave before his eyes if he hesitates. - -But this Article IV. is open to still graver objections. Courage is the -most common and vulgar of the virtues; the only one shared with us by -the beasts of the field; the one most apt, by excess, to run into -viciousness. And since Nature generally takes away with one hand to -counter-balance her gifts with the other, excessive animal courage, in -many cases, only finds room in a character vacated of loftier things. -But in a naval officer, animal courage is exalted to the loftiest -merit, and often procures him a distinguished command. - -Hence, if some brainless bravo be Captain of a frigate in action, he -may fight her against invincible odds, and seek to crown himself with -the glory of the shambles, by permitting his hopeless crew to be -butchered before his eyes, while at the same time that crew must -consent to be slaughtered by the foe, under penalty of being murdered -by the law. Look at the engagement between the American frigate Essex -with the two English cruisers, the Phoebe and Cherub, off the Bay of -Valparaiso, during the late war. It is admitted on all hands that the -American Captain continued to fight his crippled ship against a greatly -superior force; and when, at last, it became physically impossible that -he could ever be otherwise than vanquished in the end; and when, from -peculiarly unfortunate circumstances, his men merely stood up to their -nearly useless batteries to be dismembered and blown to pieces by the -incessant fire of the enemy’s long guns. Nor, by thus continuing to -fight, did this American frigate, one iota, promote the true interests -of her country. I seek not to underrate any reputation which the -American Captain may have gained by this battle. He was a brave man; -_that_ no sailor will deny. But the whole world is made up of brave -men. Yet I would not be at all understood as impugning his special good -name. Nevertheless, it is not to be doubted, that if there were any -common-sense sailors at the guns of the Essex, however valiant they may -have been, those common-sense sailors must have greatly preferred to -strike their flag, when they saw the day was fairly lost, than postpone -that inevitable act till there were few American arms left to assist in -hauling it down. Yet had these men, under these circumstances, -“pusillanimously cried for quarter,” by the IV. Article of War they -might have been legally hung. - -According to the negro, Tawney, when the Captain of the -Macedonian—seeing that the Neversink had his vessel completely in her -power—gave the word to strike the flag, one of his officers, a man -hated by the seamen for his tyranny, howled out the most terrific -remonstrances, swearing that, for his part, he would not give up, but -was for sinking the Macedonian alongside the enemy. Had he been -Captain, doubtless he would have done so; thereby gaining the name of a -hero in this world;—but what would they have called him in the next? - -But as the whole matter of war is a thing that smites common-sense and -Christianity in the face; so everything connected with it is utterly -foolish, unchristian, barbarous, brutal, and savouring of the Feejee -Islands, cannibalism, saltpetre, and the devil. - -It is generally the case in a man-of-war when she strikes her flag that -all discipline is at an end, and the men for a time are ungovernable. -This was so on board of the English frigate. The spirit-room was broken -open, and buckets of grog were passed along the decks, where many of -the wounded were lying between the guns. These mariners seized the -buckets, and, spite of all remonstrances, gulped down the burning -spirits, till, as Tawney said, the blood suddenly spirted out of their -wounds, and they fell dead to the deck. - -The negro had many more stories to tell of this fight; and frequently -he would escort me along our main-deck batteries—still mounting the -same guns used in the battle—pointing out their ineffaceable -indentations and scars. Coated over with the accumulated paint of more -than thirty years, they were almost invisible to a casual eye; but -Tawney knew them all by heart; for he had returned home in the -Neversink, and had beheld these scars shortly after the engagement. - -One afternoon, I was walking with him along the gun-deck, when he -paused abreast of the main-mast. “This part of the ship,” said he, “we -called the _slaughter-house_ on board the Macedonian. Here the men -fell, five and six at a time. An enemy always directs its shot here, in -order to hurl over the mast, if possible. The beams and carlines -overhead in the Macedonian _slaughter-house_ were spattered with blood -and brains. About the hatchways it looked like a butcher’s stall; bits -of human flesh sticking in the ring-bolts. A pig that ran about the -decks escaped unharmed, but his hide was so clotted with blood, from -rooting among the pools of gore, that when the ship struck the sailors -hove the animal overboard, swearing that it would be rank cannibalism -to eat him.” - -Another quadruped, a goat, lost its fore legs in this fight. - -The sailors who were killed—according to the usual custom—were ordered -to be thrown overboard as soon as they fell; no doubt, as the negro -said, that the sight of so many corpses lying around might not appall -the survivors at the guns. Among other instances, he related the -following. A shot entering one of the port-holes, dashed dead two -thirds of a gun’s crew. The captain of the next gun, dropping his -lock-string, which he had just pulled, turned over the heap of bodies -to see who they were; when, perceiving an old messmate, who had sailed -with him in many cruises, he burst into tears, and, taking the corpse -up in his arms, and going with it to the side, held it over the water a -moment, and eying it, cried, “Oh God! Tom!”—“D——n your prayers over -that thing! overboard with it, and down to your gun!” roared a wounded -Lieutenant. The order was obeyed, and the heart-stricken sailor -returned to his post. - -Tawney’s recitals were enough to snap this man-of-war world’s sword in -its scabbard. And thinking of all the cruel carnal glory wrought out by -naval heroes in scenes like these, I asked myself whether, indeed, that -was a glorious coffin in which Lord Nelson was entombed—a coffin -presented to him, during life, by Captain Hallowell; it had been dug -out of the main-most of the French line-of-battle ship L’Orient, which, -burning up with British fire, destroyed hundreds of Frenchmen at the -battle of the Nile. - -Peace to Lord Nelson where he sleeps in his mouldering mast! but rather -would I be urned in the trunk of some green tree, and even in death -have the vital sap circulating round me, giving of my dead body to the -living foliage that shaded my peaceful tomb. - - - - -CHAPTER LXXV. -“SINK, BURN, AND DESTROY.”—_Printed Admiralty orders in time of war_. - - -Among innumerable “_yarns and twisters_” reeled off in our main-top -during our pleasant run to the North, none could match those of Jack -Chase, our captain. - -Never was there better company than ever-glorious Jack. The things -which most men only read of, or dream about, he had seen and -experienced. He had been a dashing smuggler in his day, and could tell -of a long nine-pounder rammed home with wads of French silks; of -cartridges stuffed with the finest gunpowder tea; of cannister-shot -full of West India sweetmeats; of sailor frocks and trowsers, quilted -inside with costly laces; and table legs, hollow as musket barrels, -compactly stowed with rare drugs and spices. He could tell of a wicked -widow, too—a beautiful receiver of smuggled goods upon the English -coast—who smiled so sweetly upon the smugglers when they sold her silks -and laces, cheap as tape and ginghams. She called them gallant fellows, -hearts of game; and bade them bring her more. - -He could tell of desperate fights with his British majesty’s cutters, -in midnight coves upon a stormy coast; of the capture of a reckless -band, and their being drafted on board a man-of-war; of their swearing -that their chief was slain; of a writ of habeas corpus sent on board -for one of them for a debt—a reserved and handsome man—and his going -ashore, strongly suspected of being the slaughtered captain, and this a -successful scheme for his escape. - -But more than all, Jack could tell of the battle of Navarino, for he -had been a captain of one of the main-deck guns on board Admiral -Codrington’s flag-ship, the Asia. Were mine the style of stout old -Chapman’s Homer, even then I would scarce venture to give noble Jack’s -own version of this fight, wherein, on the 20th of October, A. D. 1827, -thirty-two sail of Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Russians, attacked and -vanquished in the Levant an Ottoman fleet of three ships-of-the line, -twenty-five frigates, and a swarm of fire ships and hornet craft. - -“We bayed to be at them,” said Jack; “and when we _did_ open fire, we -were like dolphin among the flying-fish. ‘Every man take his bird’ was -the cry, when we trained our guns. And those guns all smoked like rows -of Dutch pipe-bowls, my hearties! My gun’s crew carried small flags in -their bosoms, to nail to the mast in case the ship’s colours were shot -away. Stripped to the waistbands, we fought like skinned tigers, and -bowled down the Turkish frigates like nine-pins. Among their -shrouds—swarming thick with small-arm men, like flights of pigeons -lighted on pine-trees—our marines sent their leaden pease and -goose-berries, like a shower of hail-stones in Labrador. It was a -stormy time, my hearties! The blasted Turks pitched into the old Asia’s -hull a whole quarry of marble shot, each ball one hundred and fifty -pounds. They knocked three port-holes into one. But we gave them better -than they sent. ‘Up and at them, my bull-dog!’ said I, patting my gun -on the breech; ‘tear open hatchways in their Moslem sides! -White-Jacket, my lad, you ought to have been there. The bay was covered -with masts and yards, as I have seen a raft of snags in the Arkansas -River. Showers of burned rice and olives from the exploding foe fell -upon us like manna in the wilderness. ‘_Allah! Allah! Mohammed! -Mohammed!_’ split the air; some cried it out from the Turkish -port-holes; others shrieked it forth from the drowning waters, their -top-knots floating on their shaven skulls, like black snakes on -half-tide rocks. By those top-knots they believed that their Prophet -would drag them up to Paradise, but they sank fifty fathoms, my -hearties, to the bottom of the bay. ‘Ain’t the bloody ’Hometons going -to strike yet?’ cried my first loader, a Guernsey man, thrusting his -neck out of the port-hole, and looking at the Turkish -line-of-battle-ship near by. That instant his head blew by me like a -bursting Paixhan shot, and the flag of Neb Knowles himself was hauled -down for ever. We dragged his hull to one side, and avenged him with -the cooper’s anvil, which, endways, we rammed home; a mess-mate shoved -in the dead man’s bloody Scotch cap for the wad, and sent it flying -into the line-of-battle ship. By the god of war! boys, we hardly left -enough of that craft to boil a pot of water with. It was a hard day’s -work—a sad day’s work, my hearties. That night, when all was over, I -slept sound enough, with a box of cannister shot for my pillow! But you -ought to have seen the boat-load of Turkish flags one of our captains -carried home; he swore to dress his father’s orchard in colours with -them, just as our spars are dressed for a gala day.” - -“Though you tormented the Turks at Navarino, noble Jack, yet you came -off yourself with only the loss of a splinter, it seems,” said a -top-man, glancing at our captain’s maimed hand. - -“Yes; but I and one of the Lieutenants had a narrower escape than that. -A shot struck the side of my port-hole, and sent the splinters right -and left. One took off my hat rim clean to my brow; another _razed_ the -Lieutenant’s left boot, by slicing off the heel; a third shot killed my -powder-monkey without touching him.” - -“How, Jack?” - -“It _whizzed_ the poor babe dead. He was seated on a _cheese of wads_ -at the time, and after the dust of the powdered bulwarks had blown -away, I noticed he yet sat still, his eyes wide open. ‘_My little -hero!_’ cried I, and I clapped him on the back; but he fell on his face -at my feet. I touched his heart, and found he was dead. There was not a -little finger mark on him.” - -Silence now fell upon the listeners for a time, broken at last by the -Second Captain of the Top. - -“Noble Jack, I know you never brag, but tell us what you did yourself -that day?” - -“Why, my hearties, I did not do quite as much as my gun. But I flatter -myself it was that gun that brought clown the Turkish Admiral’s -main-mast; and the stump left wasn’t long enough to make a wooden leg -for Lord Nelson.” - -“How? but I thought, by the way you pull a lock-string on board here, -and look along the sight, that you can steer a shot about right—hey, -Jack?” - -“It was the Admiral of the fleet—God Almighty—who directed the shot -that dismasted the Turkish Admiral,” said Jack; “I only pointed the -gun.” - -“But how did you feel, Jack, when the musket-ball carried away one of -your hooks there?” - -“Feel! only a finger the lighter. I have seven more left, besides -thumbs; and they did good service, too, in the torn rigging the day -after the fight; for you must know, my hearties, that the hardest work -comes after the guns are run in. Three days I helped work, with one -hand, in the rigging, in the same trowsers that I wore in the action; -the blood had dried and stiffened; they looked like glazed red -morocco.” - -Now, this Jack Chase had a heart in him like a mastodon’s. I have seen -him weep when a man has been flogged at the gangway; yet, in relating -the story of the Battle of Navarino, he plainly showed that he held the -God of the blessed Bible to have been the British Commodore in the -Levant, on the bloody 20th of October, A. D. 1827. And thus it would -seem that war almost makes blasphemers of the best of men, and brings -them all down to the Feejee standard of humanity. Some man-of-war’s-men -have confessed to me, that as a battle has raged more and more, their -hearts have hardened in infernal harmony; and, like their own guns, -they have fought without a thought. - -Soldier or sailor, the fighting man is but a fiend; and the staff and -body-guard of the Devil musters many a baton. But war at times is -inevitable. Must the national honour be trampled under foot by an -insolent foe? - -Say on, say on; but know you this, and lay it to heart, war-voting -Bench of Bishops, that He on whom we believe _himself_ has enjoined us -to turn the left cheek if the right be smitten. Never mind what -follows. That passage you can not expunge from the Bible; that passage -is as binding upon us as any other; that passage embodies the soul and -substance of the Christian faith; without it, Christianity were like -any other faith. And that passage will yet, by the blessing of God, -turn the world. But in some things we must turn Quakers first. - -But though unlike most scenes of carnage, which have proved useless -murders of men, Admiral Codrington’s victory undoubtedly achieved the -emancipation of Greece, and terminated the Turkish atrocities in that -tomahawked state, yet who shall lift his hand and swear that a Divine -Providence led the van of the combined fleets of England, France, and -Russia at the battle of Navarino? For if this be so, then it led the -van against the Church’s own elect—the persecuted Waldenses in -Switzerland—and kindled the Smithfield fires in bloody Mary’s time. - -But all events are mixed in a fusion indistinguishable. What we call -Fate is even, heartless, and impartial; not a fiend to kindle bigot -flames, nor a philanthropist to espouse the cause of Greece. We may -fret, fume, and fight; but the thing called Fate everlastingly sustains -an armed neutrality. - -Yet though all this be so, nevertheless, in our own hearts, we mould -the whole world’s hereafters; and in our own hearts we fashion our own -gods. Each mortal casts his vote for whom he will to rule the worlds; I -have a voice that helps to shape eternity; and my volitions stir the -orbits of the furthest suns. In two senses, we are precisely what we -worship. Ourselves are Fate. - - - - -CHAPTER LXXVI. -THE CHAINS. - - -When wearied with the tumult and occasional contention of the gun-deck -of our frigate, I have often retreated to a port-hole, and calmed -myself down by gazing broad off upon a placid sea. After the battle-din -of the last two chapters, let us now do the like, and, in the -sequestered fore-chains of the Neversink, tranquillise ourselves, if we -may. - -Notwithstanding the domestic communism to which the seamen in a -man-of-war are condemned, and the publicity in which actions the most -diffident and retiring in their nature must be performed, there is yet -an odd corner or two where you may sometimes steal away, and, for a few -moments, almost be private. - -Chief among these places is the _chains_, to which I would sometimes -hie during our pleasant homeward-bound glide over those pensive -tropical latitudes. After hearing my fill of the wild yarns of our top, -here would I recline—if not disturbed—serenely concocting information -into wisdom. - -The chains designates the small platform outside of the hull, at the -base of the large shrouds leading down from the three mast-heads to the -bulwarks. At present they seem to be getting out of vogue among -merchant-vessels, along with the fine, old-fashioned quarter-galleries, -little turret-like ap-purtenances, which, in the days of the old -Admirals, set off the angles of an armed ship’s stern. Here a naval -officer might lounge away an hour after action, smoking a cigar, to -drive out of his whiskers the villainous smoke of the gun-powder. The -picturesque, delightful stern-gallery, also, a broad balcony -overhanging the sea, and entered from the Captain’s cabin, much as you -might enter a bower from a lady’s chamber; this charming balcony, -where, sailing over summer seas in the days of the old Peruvian -viceroys, the Spanish cavalier Mendanna, of Lima, made love to the Lady -Isabella, as they voyaged in quest of the Solomon Islands, the fabulous -Ophir, the Grand Cyclades; and the Lady Isabella, at sunset, blushed -like the Orient, and gazed down to the gold-fish and silver-hued -flying-fish, that wove the woof and warp of their wakes in bright, -scaly tartans and plaids underneath where the Lady reclined; this -charming balcony—exquisite retreat—has been cut away by Vandalic -innovations. Ay, that claw-footed old gallery is no longer in fashion; -in Commodore’s eyes, is no longer genteel. - -Out on all furniture fashions but those that are past! Give me my -grandfather’s old arm-chair, planted upon four carved frogs, as the -Hindoos fabled the world to be supported upon four tortoises; give me -his cane, with the gold-loaded top—a cane that, like the musket of -General Washington’s father and the broadsword of William Wallace, -would break down the back of the switch-carrying dandies of these -spindle-shank days; give me his broad-breasted vest, coming bravely -down over the hips, and furnished with two strong-boxes of pockets to -keep guineas in; toss this toppling cylinder of a beaver overboard, and -give me my grandfather’s gallant, gable-ended, cocked hat. - -But though the quarter-galleries and the stern-gallery of a man-of-war -are departed, yet the _chains_ still linger; nor can there be imagined -a more agreeable retreat. The huge blocks and lanyards forming the -pedestals of the shrouds divide the chains into numerous little -chapels, alcoves, niches, and altars, where you lazily lounge—outside -of the ship, though on board. But there are plenty to divide a good -thing with you in this man-of-war world. Often, when snugly seated in -one of these little alcoves, gazing off to the horizon, and thinking of -Cathay, I have been startled from my repose by some old quarter-gunner, -who, having newly painted a parcel of match-tubs, wanted to set them to -dry. - -At other times, one of the tattooing artists would crawl over the -bulwarks, followed by his sitter; and then a bare arm or leg would be -extended, and the disagreeable business of “_pricking_” commence, right -under my eyes; or an irruption of tars, with ditty-bags or -sea-reticules, and piles of old trowsers to mend, would break in upon -my seclusion, and, forming a sewing-circle, drive me off with their -chatter. - -But once—it was a Sunday afternoon—I was pleasantly reclining in a -particularly shady and secluded little niche between two lanyards, when -I heard a low, supplicating voice. Peeping through the narrow space -between the ropes, I perceived an aged seaman on his knees, his face -turned seaward, with closed eyes, buried in prayer. Softly rising, I -stole through a port-hole, and left the venerable worshipper alone. - -He was a sheet-anchor-man, an earnest Baptist, and was well known, in -his own part of the ship, to be constant in his solitary devotions in -the _chains_. He reminded me of St. Anthony going out into the -wilderness to pray. - -This man was captain of the starboard bow-chaser, one of the two long -twenty-four-pounders on the forecastle. In time of action, the command -of that iron Thalaba the Destroyer would devolve upon _him_. It would -be his business to “train” it properly; to see it well loaded; the -grape and cannister rammed home; also, to “prick the cartridge,” “take -the sight,” and give the word for the match-man to apply his wand; -bidding a sudden hell to flash forth from the muzzle, in wide -combustion and death. - -Now, this captain of the bow-chaser was an upright old man, a sincere, -humble believer, and he but earned his bread in being captain of that -gun; but how, with those hands of his begrimed with powder, could he -break that _other_ and most peaceful and penitent bread of the Supper? -though in that hallowed sacrament, it seemed, he had often partaken -ashore. The omission of this rite in a man-of-war—though there is a -chaplain to preside over it, and at least a few communicants to -partake—must be ascribed to a sense of religious propriety, in the last -degree to be commended. - -Ah! the best righteousness of our man-of-war world seems but an -unrealised ideal, after all; and those maxims which, in the hope of -bringing about a Millennium, we busily teach to the heathen, we -Christians ourselves disregard. In view of the whole present social -frame-work of our world, so ill adapted to the practical adoption of -the meekness of Christianity, there seems almost some ground for the -thought, that although our blessed Saviour was full of the wisdom of -heaven, yet his gospel seems lacking in the practical wisdom of -earth—in a due appreciation of the necessities of nations at times -demanding bloody massacres and wars; in a proper estimation of the -value of rank, title, and money. But all this only the more crowns the -divine consistency of Jesus; since Burnet and the best theologians -demonstrate, that his nature was not merely human—was not that of a -mere man of the world. - - - - -CHAPTER LXXVII. -THE HOSPITAL IN A MAN-OF-WAR. - - -After running with a fine steady breeze up to the Line, it fell calm, -and there we lay, three days enchanted on the sea. We were a most -puissant man-of-war, no doubt, with our five hundred men, Commodore and -Captain, backed by our long batteries of thirty-two and twenty-four -pounders; yet, for all that, there we lay rocking, helpless as an -infant in the cradle. Had it only been a gale instead of a calm, gladly -would we have charged upon it with our gallant bowsprit, as with a -stout lance in rest; but, as with man-kind, this serene, passive -foe—unresisting and irresistible—lived it out, unconquered to the last. - -All these three days the heat was excessive; the sun drew the tar from -the seams of the ship; the awnings were spread fore and aft; the decks -were kept constantly sprinkled with water. It was during this period -that a sad event occurred, though not an unusual one on shipboard. But -in order to prepare for its narration, some account of a part of the -ship called the “_sick-bay_” must needs be presented. - -The “_sick-bay_” is that part of a man-of-war where the invalid seamen -are placed; in many respects it answers to a public hospital ashore. As -with most frigates, the sick-bay of the Neversink was on the -berth-deck—the third deck from above. It was in the extreme forward -part of that deck, embracing the triangular area in the bows of the -ship. It was, therefore, a subterranean vault, into which scarce a ray -of heaven’s glad light ever penetrated, even at noon. - -In a sea-going frigate that has all her armament and stores on board, -the floor of the berth-deck is partly below the surface of the water. -But in a smooth harbour, some circulation of air is maintained by -opening large auger-holes in the upper portion of the sides, called -“air-ports,” not much above the water level. Before going to sea, -however, these air-ports must be closed, caulked, and the seams -hermetically sealed with pitch. These places for ventilation being -shut, the sick-bay is entirely barred against the free, natural -admission of fresh air. In the Neversink a few lungsful were forced -down by artificial means. But as the ordinary _wind-sail_ was the only -method adopted, the quantity of fresh air sent down was regulated by -the force of the wind. In a calm there was none to be had, while in a -severe gale the wind-sail had to be hauled up, on account of the -violent draught flowing full upon the cots of the sick. An open-work -partition divided our sick-bay from the rest of the deck, where the -hammocks of the watch were slung; it, therefore, was exposed to all the -uproar that ensued upon the watches being relieved. - -An official, called the surgeon’s steward, assisted by subordinates, -presided over the place. He was the same individual alluded to as -officiating at the amputation of the top-man. He was always to be found -at his post, by night and by day. - -This surgeon’s steward deserves a description. He was a small, pale, -hollow-eyed young man, with that peculiar Lazarus-like expression so -often noticed in hospital attendants. Seldom or never did you see him -on deck, and when he _did_ emerge into the light of the sun, it was -with an abashed look, and an uneasy, winking eye. The sun was not made -for _him_. His nervous organization was confounded by the sight of the -robust old sea-dogs on the forecastle and the general tumult of the -spar-deck, and he mostly buried himself below in an atmosphere which -long habit had made congenial. - -This young man never indulged in frivolous conversation; he only talked -of the surgeon’s prescriptions; his every word was a bolus. He never -was known to smile; nor did he even look sober in the ordinary way; but -his countenance ever wore an aspect of cadaverous resignation to his -fate. Strange! that so many of those who would fain minister to our own -health should look so much like invalids themselves. - -Connected with the sick-bay, over which the surgeon’s steward -presided—but removed from it in place, being next door to the -counting-room of the purser’s steward—was a regular apothecary’s shop, -of which he kept the key. It was fitted up precisely like an -apothecary’s on shore, displaying tiers of shelves on all four sides -filled with green bottles and gallipots; beneath were multitudinous -drawers bearing incomprehensible gilded inscriptions in abbreviated -Latin. - -He generally opened his shop for an hour or two every morning and -evening. There was a Venetian blind in the upper part of the door, -which he threw up when inside so as to admit a little air. And there -you would see him, with a green shade over his eyes, seated on a stool, -and pounding his pestle in a great iron mortar that looked like a -howitzer, mixing some jallapy compound. A smoky lamp shed a flickering, -yellow-fever tinge upon his pallid face and the closely-packed -regiments of gallipots. - -Several times when I felt in need of a little medicine, but was not ill -enough to report myself to the surgeon at his levees, I would call of a -morning upon his steward at the Sign of the Mortar, and beg him to give -me what I wanted; when, without speaking a word, this cadaverous young -man would mix me my potion in a tin cup, and hand it out through the -little opening in his door, like the boxed-up treasurer giving you your -change at the ticket-office of a theatre. - -But there was a little shelf against the wall of the door, and upon -this I would set the tin cup for a while, and survey it; for I never -was a Julius Caesar at taking medicine; and to take it in this way, -without a single attempt at disguising it; with no counteracting little -morsel to hurry down after it; in short to go to the very apothecary’s -in person, and there, at the counter, swallow down your dose, as if it -were a nice mint-julep taken at the bar of a hotel—_this_ was a bitter -bolus indeed. But, then, this pallid young apothecary charged nothing -for it, and _that_ was no small satisfaction; for is it not remarkable, -to say the least, that a shore apothecary should actually charge you -money—round dollars and cents—for giving you a horrible nausea? - -My tin cup would wait a long time on that little shelf; yet “Pills,” as -the sailors called him, never heeded my lingering, but in sober, silent -sadness continued pounding his mortar or folding up his powders; until -at last some other customer would appear, and then in a sudden frenzy -of resolution, I would gulp down my sherry-cobbler, and carry its -unspeakable flavour with me far up into the frigate’s main-top. I do -not know whether it was the wide roll of the ship, as felt in that -giddy perch, that occasioned it, but I always got sea-sick after taking -medicine and going aloft with it. Seldom or never did it do me any -lasting good. - -Now the Surgeon’s steward was only a subordinate of Surgeon Cuticle -himself, who lived in the ward-room among the Lieutenants, -Sailing-master, Chaplain, and Purser. - -The Surgeon is, by law, charged with the business of overlooking the -general sanitary affairs of the ship. If anything is going on in any of -its departments which he judges to be detrimental to the healthfulness -of the crew, he has a right to protest against it formally to the -Captain. When a man is being scourged at the gangway, the Surgeon -stands by; and if he thinks that the punishment is becoming more than -the culprit’s constitution can well bear, he has a right to interfere -and demand its cessation for the time. - -But though the Navy regulations nominally vest him with this high -discretionary authority over the very Commodore himself, how seldom -does he exercise it in cases where humanity demands it? Three years is -a long time to spend in one ship, and to be at swords’ points with its -Captain and Lieutenants during such a period, must be very unsocial and -every way irksome. No otherwise than thus, at least, can the remissness -of some surgeons in remonstrating against cruelty be accounted for. - -Not to speak again of the continual dampness of the decks consequent -upon flooding them with salt water, when we were driving near to Cape -Horn, it needs only to be mentioned that, on board of the Neversink, -men known to be in consumptions gasped under the scourge of the -boatswain’s mate, when the Surgeon and his two attendants stood by and -never interposed. But where the unscrupulousness of martial discipline -is maintained, it is in vain to attempt softening its rigour by the -ordaining of humanitarian laws. Sooner might you tame the grizzly bear -of Missouri than humanise a thing so essentially cruel and heartless. - -But the Surgeon has yet other duties to perform. Not a seaman enters -the Navy without undergoing a corporal examination, to test his -soundness in wind and limb. - -One of the first places into which I was introduced when I first -entered on board the Neversink was the sick-bay, where I found one of -the Assistant Surgeons seated at a green-baize table. It was his turn -for visiting the apartment. Having been commanded by the deck officer -to report my business to the functionary before me, I accordingly -hemmed, to attract his attention, and then catching his eye, politely -intimated that I called upon him for the purpose of being accurately -laid out and surveyed. - -“Strip!” was the answer, and, rolling up his gold-laced cuff, he -proceeded to manipulate me. He punched me in the ribs, smote me across -the chest, commanded me to stand on one leg and hold out the other -horizontally. He asked me whether any of my family were consumptive; -whether I ever felt a tendency to a rush of blood to the head; whether -I was gouty; how often I had been bled during my life; how long I had -been ashore; how long I had been afloat; with several other questions -which have altogether slipped my memory. He concluded his -interrogatories with this extraordinary and unwarranted one—“Are you -pious?” - -It was a leading question which somewhat staggered me, but I said not a -word; when, feeling of my calves, he looked up and incomprehensibly -said, “I am afraid you are not.” - -At length he declared me a sound animal, and wrote a certificate to -that effect, with which I returned to the deck. - -This Assistant Surgeon turned out to be a very singular character, and -when I became more acquainted with him, I ceased to marvel at the -curious question with which he had concluded his examination of my -person. - -He was a thin, knock-kneed man, with a sour, saturnine expression, -rendered the more peculiar from his shaving his beard so remorselessly, -that his chin and cheeks always looked blue, as if pinched with cold. -His long familiarity with nautical invalids seemed to have filled him -full of theological hypoes concerning the state of their souls. He was -at once the physician and priest of the sick, washing down his boluses -with ghostly consolation, and among the sailors went by the name of The -Pelican, a fowl whose hanging pouch imparts to it a most chop-fallen, -lugubrious expression. - -The privilege of going off duty and lying by when you are sick, is one -of the few points in which a man-of-war is far better for the sailor -than a merchantman. But, as with every other matter in the Navy, the -whole thing is subject to the general discipline of the vessel, and is -conducted with a severe, unyielding method and regularity, making no -allowances for exceptions to rules. - -During the half-hour preceding morning quarters, the Surgeon of a -frigate is to be found in the sick-bay, where, after going his rounds -among the invalids, he holds a levee for the benefit of all new -candidates for the sick-list. If, after looking at your tongue, and -feeling of your pulse, he pronounces you a proper candidate, his -secretary puts you down on his books, and you are thenceforth relieved -from all duty, and have abundant leisure in which to recover your -health. Let the boatswain blow; let the deck officer bellow; let the -captain of your gun hunt you up; yet, if it can be answered by your -mess-mates that you are “_down on the list_,” you ride it all out with -impunity. The Commodore himself has then no authority over you. But you -must not be too much elated, for your immunities are only secure while -you are immured in the dark hospital below. Should you venture to get a -mouthful of fresh air on the spar-deck, and be there discovered by an -officer, you will in vain plead your illness; for it is quite -impossible, it seems, that any true man-of-war invalid can be hearty -enough to crawl up the ladders. Besides, the raw sea air, as they will -tell you, is not good for the sick. - -But, notwithstanding all this, notwithstanding the darkness and -closeness of the sick-bay, in which an alleged invalid must be content -to shut himself up till the Surgeon pronounces him cured, many -instances occur, especially in protracted bad weather, where pretended -invalids will submit to this dismal hospital durance, in order to -escape hard work and wet jackets. - -There is a story told somewhere of the Devil taking down the -confessions of a woman on a strip of parchment, and being obliged to -stretch it longer and longer with his teeth, in order to find room for -all the lady had to say. Much thus was it with our Purser’s steward, -who had to lengthen out his manuscript sick-list, in order to -accommodate all the names which were presented to him while we were off -the pitch of Cape Horn. What sailors call the “_Cape Horn fever_,” -alarmingly prevailed; though it disappeared altogether when we got into -the weather, which, as with many other invalids, was solely to be -imputed to the wonder-working effects of an entire change of climate. - -It seems very strange, but it is really true, that off Cape Horn some -“_sogers_” of sailors will stand cupping, and bleeding, and blistering, -before they will budge. On the other hand, there are cases where a man -actually sick and in need of medicine will refuse to go on the -sick-list, because in that case his allowance of _grog_ must be -stopped. - -On board of every American man-of-war, bound for sea, there is a goodly -supply of wines and various delicacies put on board—according to -law—for the benefit of the sick, whether officers or sailors. And one -of the chicken-coops is always reserved for the Government chickens, -destined for a similar purpose. But, on board of the Neversink, the -only delicacies given to invalid sailors was a little sago or -arrow-root, and they did not get _that_ unless severely ill; but, so -far as I could learn, no wine, in any quantity, was ever prescribed for -them, though the Government bottles often went into the ward-room, for -the benefit of indisposed officers. - -And though the Government chicken-coop was replenished at every port, -yet not four pair of drum-sticks were ever boiled into broth for sick -sailors. Where the chickens went, some one must have known; but, as I -cannot vouch for it myself, I will not here back the hardy assertion of -the men, which was that the pious Pelican—true to his name—was -extremely fond of poultry. I am the still less disposed to believe this -scandal, from the continued leanness of the Pelican, which could hardly -have been the case did he nourish himself by so nutritious a dish as -the drum-sticks of fowls, a diet prescribed to pugilists in training. -But who can avoid being suspicious of a very suspicious person? -Pelican! I rather suspect you still. - - - - -CHAPTER LXXVIII. -DISMAL TIMES IN THE MESS. - - -It was on the first day of the long, hot calm which we had on the -Equator, that a mess-mate of mine, by the name of Shenly, who had been -for some weeks complaining, at length went on the sick-list. - -An old gunner’s mate of the mess—Priming, the man with the hare-lip, -who, true to his tribe, was charged to the muzzle with bile, and, -moreover, rammed home on top of it a wad of sailor superstition—this -gunner’s mate indulged in some gloomy and savage remarks—strangely -tinged with genuine feeling and grief—at the announcement of the -sickness of Shenly, coming as it did not long after the almost fatal -accident befalling poor Baldy, captain of the mizzen-top, another -mess-mate of ours, and the dreadful fate of the amputated fore-top-man -whom we buried in Rio, also our mess-mate. - -We were cross-legged seated at dinner, between the guns, when the sad -news concerning Shenly was first communicated. - -“I know’d it, I know’d it,” said Priming, through his nose. “Blast ye, -I told ye so; poor fellow! But dam’me, I know’d it. This comes of -having _thirteen_ in the mess. I hope he arn’t dangerous, men? Poor -Shenly! But, blast it, it warn’t till White-Jacket there comed into the -mess that these here things began. I don’t believe there’ll be more nor -three of us left by the time we strike soundings, men. But how is he -now? Have you been down to see him, any on ye? Damn you, you Jonah! I -don’t see how you can sleep in your hammock, knowing as you do that by -making an odd number in the mess you have been the death of one poor -fellow, and ruined Baldy for life, and here’s poor Shenly keeled up. -Blast you, and your jacket, say I.” - -“My dear mess-mate,” I cried, “don’t blast me any more, for Heaven’s -sale. Blast my jacket you may, and I’ll join you in _that;_ but don’t -blast _me;_ for if you do, I shouldn’t wonder if I myself was the next -man to keel up.” - -“Gunner’s mate!” said Jack Chase, helping himself to a slice of beef, -and sandwiching it between two large biscuits—“Gunner’s mate! -White-Jacket there is my particular friend, and I would take it as a -particular favour if you would _knock off_ blasting him. It’s in bad -taste, rude, and unworthy a gentleman.” - -“Take your back away from that ’ere gun-carriage, will ye now, Jack -Chase?” cried Priming, in reply, just then Jack happening to lean up -against it. “Must I be all the time cleaning after you fellows? Blast -ye! I spent an hour on that ’ere gun-carriage this very mornin’. But it -all comes of White-Jacket there. If it warn’t for having one too many, -there wouldn’t be any crowding and jamming in the mess. I’m blessed if -we ar’n’t about chock a’ block here! Move further up there, I’m sitting -on my leg!” - -“For God’s sake, gunner’s mate,” cried I, “if it will content you, I -and my jacket will leave the mess.” - -“I wish you would, and be —— to you!” he replied. - -“And if he does, you will mess alone, gunner’s mate,” said Jack Chase. - -“That you will,” cried all. - -“And I wish to the Lord you’d let me!” growled Priming, irritably -rubbing his head with the handle of his sheath-knife. - -“You are an old bear, gunner’s mate,” said Jack Chase. - -“I am an old Turk,” he replied, drawing the flat blade of his knife -between his teeth, thereby producing a whetting, grating sound. - -“Let him alone, let him alone, men,” said Jack Chase. “Only keep off -the tail of a rattlesnake, and he’ll not rattle.” - -“Look out he don’t bite, though,” said Priming, snapping his teeth; and -with that he rolled off, growling as he went. - -Though I did my best to carry off my vexation with an air of -indifference, need I say how I cursed my jacket, that it thus seemed -the means of fastening on me the murder of one of my shipmates, and the -probable murder of two more. For, had it not been for my jacket, -doubtless, I had yet been a member of my old mess, and so have escaped -making the luckless odd number among my present companions. - -All I could say in private to Priming had no effect; though I often -took him aside, to convince him of the philosophical impossibility of -my having been accessary to the misfortunes of Baldy, the buried sailor -in Rio, and Shenly. But Priming knew better; nothing could move him; -and he ever afterward eyed me as virtuous citizens do some notorious -underhand villain going unhung of justice. - -Jacket! jacket! thou hast much to answer for, jacket! - - - - -CHAPTER LXXIX. -HOW MAN-OF-WAR’S-MEN DIE AT SEA. - - -Shenly, my sick mess-mate, was a middle-aged, handsome, intelligent -seaman, whom some hard calamity, or perhaps some unfortunate excess, -must have driven into the Navy. He told me he had a wife and two -children in Portsmouth, in the state of New Hampshire. Upon being -examined by Cuticle, the surgeon, he was, on purely scientific grounds, -reprimanded by that functionary for not having previously appeared -before him. He was immediately consigned to one of the invalid cots as -a serious case. His complaint was of long standing; a pulmonary one, -now attended with general prostration. - -The same evening he grew so much worse, that according to man-of-war -usage, we, his mess-mates, were officially notified that we must take -turns at sitting up with him through the night. We at once made our -arrangements, allotting two hours for a watch. Not till the third night -did my own turn come round. During the day preceding, it was stated at -the mess that our poor mess-mate was run down completely; the surgeon -had given him up. - -At four bells (two o’clock in the morning), I went down to relieve one -of my mess-mates at the sick man’s cot. The profound quietude of the -calm pervaded the entire frigate through all her decks. The watch on -duty were dozing on the carronade-slides, far above the sick-bay; and -the watch below were fast asleep in their hammocks, on the same deck -with the invalid. - -Groping my way under these two hundred sleepers, I entered the -hospital. A dim lamp was burning on the table, which was screwed down -to the floor. This light shed dreary shadows over the white-washed -walls of the place, making it look look a whited sepulchre underground. -The wind-sail had collapsed, and lay motionless on the deck. The low -groans of the sick were the only sounds to be heard; and as I advanced, -some of them rolled upon me their sleepless, silent, tormented eyes. - -“Fan him, and keep his forehead wet with this sponge,” whispered my -mess-mate, whom I came to relieve, as I drew near to Shenly’s cot, “and -wash the foam from his mouth; nothing more can be done for him. If he -dies before your watch is out, call the Surgeon’s steward; he sleeps in -that hammock,” pointing it out. “Good-bye, good-bye, mess-mate,” he -then whispered, stooping over the sick man; and so saying, he left the -place. - -Shenly was lying on his back. His eyes were closed, forming two -dark-blue pits in his face; his breath was coming and going with a -slow, long-drawn, mechanical precision. It was the mere foundering hull -of a man that was before me; and though it presented the well-known -features of my mess-mate, yet I knew that the living soul of Shenly -never more would look out of those eyes. - -So warm had it been during the day, that the Surgeon himself, when -visiting the sick-bay, had entered it in his shirt-sleeves; and so warm -was now the night that even in the lofty top I had worn but a loose -linen frock and trowsers. But in this subterranean sick-bay, buried in -the very bowels of the ship, and at sea cut off from all ventilation, -the heat of the night calm was intense. The sweat dripped from me as if -I had just emerged from a bath; and stripping myself naked to the -waist, I sat by the side of the cot, and with a bit of crumpled -paper—put into my hand by the sailor I had relieved—kept fanning the -motionless white face before me. - -I could not help thinking, as I gazed, whether this man’s fate had not -been accelerated by his confinement in this heated furnace below; and -whether many a sick man round me might not soon improve, if but -permitted to swing his hammock in the airy vacancies of the half-deck -above, open to the port-holes, but reserved for the promenade of the -officers. - -At last the heavy breathing grew more and more irregular, and gradually -dying away, left forever the unstirring form of Shenly. - -Calling the Surgeon’s steward, he at once told me to rouse the -master-at-arms, and four or five of my mess-mates. The master-at-arms -approached, and immediately demanded the dead man’s bag, which was -accordingly dragged into the bay. Having been laid on the floor, and -washed with a bucket of water which I drew from the ocean, the body was -then dressed in a white frock, trowsers, and neckerchief, taken out of -the bag. While this was going on, the master-at-arms—standing over the -operation with his rattan, and directing myself and mess-mates—indulged -in much discursive levity, intended to manifest his fearlessness of -death. - -Pierre, who had been a “_chummy_” of Shenly’s, spent much time in tying -the neckerchief in an elaborate bow, and affectionately adjusting the -white frock and trowsers; but the master-at-arms put an end to this by -ordering us to carry the body up to the gun-deck. It was placed on the -death-board (used for that purpose), and we proceeded with it toward -the main hatchway, awkwardly crawling under the tiers of hammocks, -where the entire watch-below was sleeping. As, unavoidably, we rocked -their pallets, the man-of-war’s-men would cry out against us; through -the mutterings of curses, the corpse reached the hatchway. Here the -board slipped, and some time was spent in readjusting the body. At -length we deposited it on the gun-deck, between two guns, and a -union-jack being thrown over it for a pall, I was left again to watch -by its side. - -I had not been seated on my shot-box three minutes, when the -messenger-boy passed me on his way forward; presently the slow, regular -stroke of the ship’s great bell was heard, proclaiming through the calm -the expiration of the watch; it was four o’clock in the morning. - -Poor Shenly! thought I, that sounds like your knell! and here you lie -becalmed, in the last calm of all! - -Hardly had the brazen din died away, when the Boatswain and his mates -mustered round the hatchway, within a yard or two of the corpse, and -the usual thundering call was given for the watch below to turn out. - -“All the starboard-watch, ahoy! On deck there, below! Wide awake there, -sleepers!” - -But the dreamless sleeper by my side, who had so often sprung from his -hammock at that summons, moved not a limb; the blue sheet over him lay -unwrinkled. - -A mess-mate of the other watch now came to relieve me; but I told him I -chose to remain where I was till daylight came. - - - - -CHAPTER LXXX. -THE LAST STITCH. - - -Just before daybreak, two of the sail-maker’s gang drew near, each with -a lantern, carrying some canvas, two large shot, needles, and twine. I -knew their errand; for in men-of-war the sail-maker is the undertaker. - -They laid the body on deck, and, after fitting the canvas to it, seated -themselves, cross-legged like tailors, one on each side, and, with -their lanterns before them, went to stitching away, as if mending an -old sail. Both were old men, with grizzled hair and beard, and shrunken -faces. They belonged to that small class of aged seamen who, for their -previous long and faithful services, are retained in the Navy more as -pensioners upon its merited bounty than anything else. They are set to -light and easy duties. - -“Ar’n’t this the fore-top-man, Shenly?” asked the foremost, looking -full at the frozen face before him. - -“Ay, ay, old Ringrope,” said the other, drawing his hand far back with -a long thread, “I thinks it’s him; and he’s further aloft now, I hope, -than ever he was at the fore-truck. But I only hopes; I’m afeard this -ar’n’t the last on him!” - -“His hull here will soon be going out of sight below hatches, though, -old Thrummings,” replied Ringrope, placing two heavy cannon-balls in -the foot of the canvas shroud. - -“I don’t know that, old man; I never yet sewed up a ship-mate but he -spooked me arterward. I tell ye, Ring-rope, these ’ere corpses is -cunning. You think they sinks deep, but they comes up again as soon as -you sails over ’em. They lose the number of their mess, and their -mess-mates sticks the spoons in the rack; but no good—no good, old -Ringrope; they ar’n’t dead yet. I tell ye, now, ten best—bower-anchors -wouldn’t sink this ’ere top-man. He’ll be soon coming in the wake of -the thirty-nine spooks what spooks me every night in my hammock—jist -afore the mid-watch is called. Small thanks I gets for my pains; and -every one on ’em looks so ’proachful-like, with a sail-maker’s needle -through his nose. I’ve been thinkin’, old Ringrope, it’s all wrong that -’ere last stitch we takes. Depend on’t, they don’t like it—none on -’em.” - -I was standing leaning over a gun, gazing at the two old men. The last -remark reminded me of a superstitious custom generally practised by -most sea-undertakers upon these occasions. I resolved that, if I could -help it, it should not take place upon the remains of Shenly. - -“Thrummings,” said I, advancing to the last speaker, “you are right. -That last thing you do to the canvas is the very reason, be sure of it, -that brings the ghosts after you, as you say. So don’t do it to this -poor fellow, I entreat. Try once, now, how it goes not to do it.” - -“What do you say to the youngster, old man?” said Thrummings, holding -up his lantern into his comrade’s wrinkled face, as if deciphering some -ancient parchment. - -“I’m agin all innowations,” said Ringrope; “it’s a good old fashion, -that last stitch; it keeps ’em snug, d’ye see, youngster. I’m blest if -they could sleep sound, if it wa’n’t for that. No, no, Thrummings! no -innowations; I won’t hear on’t. I goes for the last stitch!” - -“S’pose you was going to be sewed up yourself, old Ringrope, would you -like the last stitch then! You are an old, gun, Ringrope; you can’t -stand looking out at your port-hole much longer,” said Thrummings, as -his own palsied hands were quivering over the canvas. - -“Better say that to yourself, old man,” replied Ringrope, stooping -close to the light to thread his coarse needle, which trembled in his -withered hands like the needle, in a compass of a Greenland ship near -the Pole. “You ain’t long for the sarvice. I wish I could give you some -o’ the blood in my veins, old man!” - -“Ye ain’t got ne’er a teaspoonful to spare,” said Thrummings. “It will -go hard, and I wouldn’t want to do it; but I’m afeard I’ll have the -sewing on ye up afore long!” - -“Sew me up? Me dead and you alive, old man?” shrieked Ringrope. “Well, -I’ve he’rd the parson of the old Independence say as how old age was -deceitful; but I never seed it so true afore this blessed night. I’m -sorry for ye, old man—to see you so innocent-like, and Death all the -while turning in and out with you in your hammock, for all the world -like a hammock-mate.” - -“You lie! old man,” cried Thrummings, shaking with rage. “It’s _you_ -that have Death for a hammock-mate; it’s _you_ that will make a hole in -the shot-locker soon.” - -“Take that back!” cried Ringrope, huskily, leaning far over the corpse, -and, needle in hand, menacing his companion with his aguish fist. “Take -that back, or I’ll throttle your lean bag of wind fer ye!” - -“Blast ye! old chaps, ain’t ye any more manners than to be fighting -over a dead man?” cried one of the sail-maker’s mates, coming down from -the spar-deck. “Bear a hand!—bear a hand! and get through with that -job!” - -“Only one more stitch to take,” muttered Ringrope, creeping near the -face. - -“Drop your ‘_palm_,’ then and let Thrummings take it; follow me—the -foot of the main-sail wants mending—must do it afore a breeze springs -up. D’ye hear, old chap! I say, drop your _palm_, and follow me.” - -At the reiterated command of his superior, Ringrope rose, and, turning -to his comrade, said, “I take it all back, Thrummings, and I’m sorry -for it, too. But mind ye, take that ’ere last stitch, now; if ye don’t, -there’s no tellin’ the consekenses.” - -As the mate and his man departed, I stole up to Thrummings. “Don’t do -it—don’t do it, now, Thrummings—depend on it, it’s wrong!” - -“Well, youngster, I’ll try this here one without it for jist this here -once; and if, arter that, he don’t spook me, I’ll be dead agin the last -stitch as long as my name is Thrummings.” - -So, without mutilation, the remains were replaced between the guns, the -union jack again thrown over them, and I reseated myself on the -shot-box. - - - - -CHAPTER LXXXI. -HOW THEY BURY A MAN-OF-WAR’S-MAN AT SEA. - - -Quarters over in the morning, the boatswain and his four mates stood -round the main hatchway, and after giving the usual whistle, made the -customary announcement—“_All hands bury the dead, ahoy!_” - -In a man-of-war, every thing, even to a man’s funeral and burial, -proceeds with the unrelenting promptitude of the martial code. And -whether it is _all hands bury the dead!_ or _all hands splice the -main-brace_, the order is given in the same hoarse tones. - -Both officers and men assembled in the lee waist, and through that -bareheaded crowd the mess-mates of Shenly brought his body to the same -gangway where it had thrice winced under the scourge. But there is -something in death that ennobles even a pauper’s corpse; and the -Captain himself stood bareheaded before the remains of a man whom, with -his hat on, he had sentenced to the ignominious gratings when alive. - -“_I am the resurrection and the life!_” solemnly began the Chaplain, in -full canonicals, the prayer-book in his hand. - -“Damn you! off those booms!” roared a boatswain’s mate to a crowd of -top-men, who had elevated themselves to gain a better view of the -scene. - -“_We commit this body to the deep!_” At the word, Shenly’s mess-mates -tilted the board, and the dead sailor sank in the sea. - -“Look aloft,” whispered Jack Chase. “See that bird! it is the spirit of -Shenly.” - -Gazing upward, all beheld a snow-white, solitary fowl, which—whence -coming no one could tell—had been hovering over the main-mast during -the service, and was now sailing far up into the depths of the sky. - - - - -CHAPTER LXXXII. -WHAT REMAINS OF A MAN-OF-WAR’S-MAN AFTER HIS BURIAL AT SEA. - - -Upon examining Shenly’s bag, a will was found, scratched in pencil, -upon a blank leaf in the middle of his Bible; or, to use the phrase of -one of the seamen, in the midships, atween the Bible and Testament, -where the Pothecary (Apocrypha) uses to be. - -The will was comprised in one solitary sentence, exclusive of the dates -and signatures: “_In case I die on the voyage, the Purser will please -pay over my wages to my wife, who lives in Portsmouth, New Hampshire_.” - -Besides the testator’s, there were two signatures of witnesses. - -This last will and testament being shown to the Purser, who, it seems, -had been a notary, or surrogate, or some sort of cosy chamber -practitioner in his time, he declared that it must be “proved.” So the -witnesses were called, and after recognising their hands to the paper; -for the purpose of additionally testing their honesty, they were -interrogated concerning the day on which they had signed—whether it was -_Banyan Day_, or _Duff Day_, or _Swampseed Day_; for among the sailors -on board a man-of-war, the land terms, _Monday_, _Tuesday_, -_Wednesday_, are almost unknown. In place of these they substitute -nautical names, some of which are significant of the daily bill of fare -at dinner for the week. - -The two witnesses were somewhat puzzled by the attorney-like questions -of the Purser, till a third party came along, one of the ship’s -barbers, and declared, of his own knowledge, that Shenly executed the -instrument on a _Shaving Day_; for the deceased seaman had informed him -of the circumstance, when he came to have his beard reaped on the -morning of the event. - -In the Purser’s opinion, this settled the question; and it is to be -hoped that the widow duly received her husband’s death-earned wages. - -Shenly was dead and gone; and what was Shenly’s epitaph? - -—“D. D.”— - -opposite his name in the Purser’s books, in “_Black’s best Writing -Fluid_”—funereal name and funereal hue—meaning “Discharged, Dead.” - - - - -CHAPTER LXXXIII. -A MAN-OF-WAR COLLEGE. - - -In our man-of-war world, Life comes in at one gangway and Death goes -overboard at the other. Under the man-of-war scourge, curses mix with -tears; and the sigh and the sob furnish the bass to the shrill octave -of those who laugh to drown buried griefs of their own. Checkers were -played in the waist at the time of Shenly’s burial; and as the body -plunged, a player swept the board. The bubbles had hardly burst, when -all hands were _piped down_ by the Boatswain, and the old jests were -heard again, as if Shenly himself were there to hear. - -This man-of-war life has not left me unhardened. I cannot stop to weep -over Shenly now; that would be false to the life I depict; wearing no -mourning weeds, I resume the task of portraying our man-of-war world. - -Among the various other vocations, all driven abreast on board of the -Neversink, was that of the schoolmaster. There were two academies in -the frigate. One comprised the apprentice boys, who, upon certain days -of the week, were indoctrinated in the mysteries of the primer by an -invalid corporal of marines, a slender, wizzen-cheeked man, who had -received a liberal infant-school education. - -The other school was a far more pretentious affair—a sort of army and -navy seminary combined, where mystical mathematical problems were -solved by the midshipmen, and great ships-of-the-line were navigated -over imaginary shoals by unimaginable observations of the moon and the -stars, and learned lectures were delivered upon great guns, small arms, -and the curvilinear lines described by bombs in the air. - -“_The Professor_” was the title bestowed upon the erudite gentleman who -conducted this seminary, and by that title alone was he known -throughout the ship. He was domiciled in the Ward-room, and circulated -there on a social par with the Purser, Surgeon, and other -_non-combatants_ and Quakers. By being advanced to the dignity of a -peerage in the Ward-room, Science and Learning were ennobled in the -person of this Professor, even as divinity was honoured in the Chaplain -enjoying the rank of a spiritual peer. - -Every other afternoon, while at sea, the Professor assembled his pupils -on the half-deck, near the long twenty-four pounders. A bass drum-head -was his desk, his pupils forming a semicircle around him, seated on -shot-boxes and match-tubs. - -They were in the jelly of youth, and this learned Professor poured into -their susceptible hearts all the gentle gunpowder maxims of war. -Presidents of Peace Societies and Superintendents of Sabbath-schools, -must it not have been a most interesting sight? - -But the Professor himself was a noteworthy person. A tall, thin, -spectacled man, about forty years old, with a student’s stoop in his -shoulders, and wearing uncommonly scanty pantaloons, exhibiting an -undue proportion of his boots. In early life he had been a cadet in the -military academy of West Point; but, becoming very weak-sighted, and -thereby in a good manner disqualified for active service in the field, -he had declined entering the army, and accepted the office of Professor -in the Navy. - -His studies at West Point had thoroughly grounded him in a knowledge of -gunnery; and, as he was not a little of a pedant, it was sometimes -amusing, when the sailors were at quarters, to hear him criticise their -evolutions at the batteries. He would quote Dr. Hutton’s Tracts on the -subject, also, in the original, “_The French Bombardier_,” and wind up -by Italian passages from the “_Prattica Manuale dell’ Artiglieria_.” - -Though not required by the Navy regulations to instruct his scholars in -aught but the application of mathematics to navigation, yet besides -this, and besides instructing them in the theory of gunnery, he also -sought to root them in the theory of frigate and fleet tactics. To be -sure, he himself did not know how to splice a rope or furl a sail; and, -owing to his partiality for strong coffee, he was apt to be nervous -when we fired salutes; yet all this did not prevent him from delivering -lectures on cannonading and “breaking the enemy’s line.” - -He had arrived at his knowledge of tactics by silent, solitary study, -and earnest meditation in the sequestered retreat of his state-room. -His case was somewhat parallel to the Scotchman’s—John Clerk, Esq., of -Eldin—who, though he had never been to sea, composed a quarto treatise -on fleet-fighting, which to this day remains a text-book; and he also -originated a nautical manoeuvre, which has given to England many a -victory over her foes. - -Now there was a large black-board, something like a great-gun -target—only it was square—which during the professor’s lectures was -placed upright on the gun-deck, supported behind by three -boarding-pikes. And here he would chalk out diagrams of great fleet -engagements; making marks, like the soles of shoes, for the ships, and -drawing a dog-vane in one corner to denote the assumed direction of the -wind. This done, with a cutlass he would point out every spot of -interest. - -“Now, young gentlemen, the board before you exhibits the disposition of -the British West Indian squadron under Rodney, when, early on the -morning of the 9th of April, in the year of our blessed Lord 1782, he -discovered part of the French fleet, commanded by the Count de Grasse, -lying under the north end of the Island of Dominica. It was at this -juncture that the Admiral gave the signal for the British line to -prepare for battle, and stand on. D’ye understand, young gentlemen? -Well, the British van having nearly fetched up with the centre of the -enemy—who, be it remembered, were then on the starboard tack—and -Rodney’s centre and rear being yet becalmed under the lee of the -land—the question I ask you is, What should Rodney now do?” - -“Blaze away, by all means!” responded a rather confident reefer, who -had zealously been observing the diagram. - -“But, sir, his centre and rear are still becalmed, and his van has not -yet closed with the enemy.” - -“Wait till he _does_ come in range, and _then_ blaze away,” said the -reefer. - -“Permit me to remark, Mr. Pert, that ‘_blaze away_’ is not a strictly -technical term; and also permit me to hint, Mr. Pert, that you should -consider the subject rather more deeply before you hurry forward your -opinion.” - -This rebuke not only abashed Mr. Pert, but for a time intimidated the -rest; and the professor was obliged to proceed, and extricate the -British fleet by himself. He concluded by awarding Admiral Rodney the -victory, which must have been exceedingly gratifying to the family -pride of the surviving relatives and connections of that distinguished -hero. - -“Shall I clean the board, sir?” now asked Mr. Pert, brightening up. - -“No, sir; not till you have saved that crippled French ship in the -corner. That ship, young gentlemen, is the Glorieuse: you perceive she -is cut off from her consorts, and the whole British fleet is giving -chase to her. Her bowsprit is gone; her rudder is torn away; she has -one hundred round shot in her hull, and two thirds of her men are dead -or dying. What’s to be done? the wind being at northeast by north?” - -“Well, sir,” said Mr. Dash, a chivalric young gentleman from Virginia, -“I wouldn’t strike yet; I’d nail my colours to the main-royal-mast! I -would, by Jove!” - -“That would not save your ship, sir; besides, your main-mast has gone -by the board.” - -“I think, sir,” said Mr. Slim, a diffident youth, “I think, sir, I -would haul back the fore-top-sail.” - -“And why so? of what service would _that_ be, I should like to know, -Mr. Slim?” - -“I can’t tell exactly; but I think it would help her a little,” was the -timid reply. - -“Not a whit, sir—not one particle; besides, you can’t haul back your -fore-top-sail—your fore-mast is lying across your forecastle.” - -“Haul back the main-top-sail, then,” suggested another. - -“Can’t be done; your main-mast, also, has gone by the board!” - -“Mizzen-top-sail?” meekly suggested little Boat-Plug. - -“Your mizzen-top-mast, let me inform you, sir, was shot down in the -first of the fight!” - -“Well, sir,” cried Mr. Dash, “I’d tack ship, anyway; bid ’em good-by -with a broadside; nail my flag to the keel, if there was no other -place; and blow my brains out on the poop!” - -“Idle, idle, sir! worse than idle! you are carried away, Mr. Dash, by -your ardent Southern temperament! Let me inform you, young gentlemen, -that this ship,” touching it with his cutlass, “_cannot_ be saved.” - -Then, throwing down his cutlass, “Mr. Pert, have the goodness to hand -me one of those cannon-balls from the rack.” - -Balancing the iron sphere in one hand, the learned professor began -fingering it with the other, like Columbus illustrating the rotundity -of the globe before the Royal Commission of Castilian Ecclesiastics. - -“Young gentlemen, I resume my remarks on the passage of a shot _in -vacuo_, which remarks were interrupted yesterday by general quarters. -After quoting that admirable passage in ‘Spearman’s British Gunner,’ I -then laid it down, you remember, that the path of a shot _in vacuo_ -describes a parabolic curve. I now add that, agreeably to the method -pursued by the illustrious Newton in treating the subject of -curvilinear motion, I consider the _trajectory_ or curve described by a -moving body in space as consisting of a series of right lines, -described in successive intervals of time, and constituting the -diagonals of parallelograms formed in a vertical plane between the -vertical deflections caused by gravity and the production of the line -of motion which has been described in each preceding interval of time. -This must be obvious; for, if you say that the passage _in vacuo_ of -this cannon-ball, now held in my hand, would describe otherwise than a -series of right lines, etc., then you are brought to the _Reductio ad -Absurdum_, that the diagonals of parallelograms are——” - -“All hands reef top-sail!” was now thundered forth by the boatswain’s -mates. The shot fell from the professor’s palm; his spectacles dropped -on his nose, and the school tumultuously broke up, the pupils -scrambling up the ladders with the sailors, who had been overhearing -the lecture. - - - - -CHAPTER LXXXIV. -MAN-OF-WAR BARBERS. - - -The allusion to one of the ship’s barbers in a previous chapter, -together with the recollection of how conspicuous a part they enacted -in a tragical drama soon to be related, leads me now to introduce them -to the reader. - -Among the numerous artists and professors of polite trades in the Navy, -none are held in higher estimation or drive a more profitable business -than these barbers. And it may well be imagined that the five hundred -heads of hair and five hundred beards of a frigate should furnish no -small employment for those to whose faithful care they may be -intrusted. As everything connected with the domestic affairs of a -man-of-war comes under the supervision of the martial executive, so -certain barbers are formally licensed by the First Lieutenant. The -better to attend to the profitable duties of their calling, they are -exempted from all ship’s duty except that of standing night-watches at -sea, mustering at quarters, and coming on deck when all hands are -called. They are rated as _able seamen_ or _ordinary seamen_, and -receive their wages as such; but in addition to this, they are -liberally recompensed for their professional services. Herein their -rate of pay is fixed for every sailor manipulated—so much per quarter, -which is charged to the sailor, and credited to his barber on the books -of the Purser. - -It has been seen that while a man-of-war barber is shaving his -customers at so much per chin, his wages as a seaman are still running -on, which makes him a sort of _sleeping partner_ of a sailor; nor are -the sailor wages he receives altogether to be reckoned as earnings. -Considering the circumstances, however, not much objection can be made -to the barbers on this score. But there were instances of men in the -Neversink receiving government money in part pay for work done for -private individuals. Among these were several accomplished tailors, who -nearly the whole cruise sat cross-legged on the half deck, making -coats, pantaloons, and vests for the quarter-deck officers. Some of -these men, though knowing little or nothing about sailor duties, and -seldom or never performing them, stood upon the ship’s books as -ordinary seamen, entitled to ten dollars a month. Why was this? -Previous to shipping they had divulged the fact of their being tailors. -True, the officers who employed them upon their wardrobes paid them for -their work, but some of them in such a way as to elicit much grumbling -from the tailors. At any rate, these makers and menders of clothes did -not receive from some of these officers an amount equal to what they -could have fairly earned ashore by doing the same work. It was a -considerable saving to the officers to have their clothes made on -board. - -The men belonging to the carpenter’s gang furnished another case in -point. There were some six or eight allotted to this department. All -the cruise they were hard at work. At what? Mostly making chests of -drawers, canes, little ships and schooners, swifts, and other -elaborated trifles, chiefly for the Captain. What did the Captain pay -them for their trouble? Nothing. But the United States government paid -them; two of them (the mates) at nineteen dollars a month, and the rest -receiving the pay of able seamen, twelve dollars. - -To return. - -The regular days upon which the barbers shall exercise their vocation -are set down on the ship’s calendar, and known as _shaving days_. On -board of the Neversink these days are Wednesdays and Saturdays; when, -immediately after breakfast, the barbers’ shops were opened to -customers. They were in different parts of the gun-deck, between the -long twenty-four pounders. Their furniture, however, was not very -elaborate, hardly equal to the sumptuous appointments of metropolitan -barbers. Indeed, it merely consisted of a match-tub, elevated upon a -shot-box, as a barber’s chair for the patient. No Psyche glasses; no -hand-mirror; no ewer and basin; no comfortable padded footstool; -nothing, in short, that makes a shore “_shave_” such a luxury. - -Nor are the implements of these man-of-war barbers out of keeping with -the rude appearance of their shops. Their razors are of the simplest -patterns, and, from their jagged-ness, would seem better fitted for the -preparing and harrowing of the soil than for the ultimate reaping of -the crop. But this is no matter for wonder, since so many chins are to -be shaven, and a razor-case holds but two razors. For only two razors -does a man-of-war barber have, and, like the marine sentries at the -gangway in port, these razors go off and on duty in rotation. One -brush, too, brushes every chin, and one lather lathers them all. No -private brushes and boxes; no reservations whatever. - -As it would be altogether too much trouble for a man-of-war’s-man to -keep his own shaving-tools and shave himself at sea, and since, -therefore, nearly the whole ship’s company patronise the ship’s -barbers, and as the seamen must be shaven by evening quarters of the -days appointed for the business, it may be readily imagined what a -scene of bustle and confusion there is when the razors are being -applied. First come, first served, is the motto; and often you have to -wait for hours together, sticking to your position (like one of an -Indian file of merchants’ clerks getting letters out of the -post-office), ere you have a chance to occupy the pedestal of the -match-tub. Often the crowd of quarrelsome candidates wrangle and fight -for precedency, while at all times the interval is employed by the -garrulous in every variety of ship-gossip. - -As the shaving days are unalterable, they often fall upon days of high -seas and tempestuous winds, when the vessel pitches and rolls in a -frightful manner. In consequence, many valuable lives are jeopardised -from the razor being plied under such untoward circumstances. But these -sea-barbers pride themselves upon their sea-legs, and often you will -see them standing over their patients with their feet wide apart, and -scientifically swaying their bodies to the motion of the ship, as they -flourish their edge-tools about the lips, nostrils, and jugular. - -As I looked upon the practitioner and patient at such times, I could -not help thinking that, if the sailor had any insurance on his life, it -would certainly be deemed forfeited should the president of the company -chance to lounge by and behold him in that imminent peril. For myself, -I accounted it an excellent preparation for going into a sea-fight, -where fortitude in standing up to your gun and running the risk of all -splinters, comprise part of the practical qualities that make up an -efficient man-of-war’s man. - -It remains to be related, that these barbers of ours had their labours -considerably abridged by a fashion prevailing among many of the crew, -of wearing very large whiskers; so that, in most cases, the only parts -needing a shave were the upper lip and suburbs of the chin. This had -been more or less the custom during the whole three years’ cruise; but -for some time previous to our weathering Cape Horn, very many of the -seamen had redoubled their assiduity in cultivating their beards -preparatory to their return to America. There they anticipated creating -no small impression by their immense and magnificent -_homeward-bounders_—so they called the long fly-brushes at their chins. -In particular, the more aged sailors, embracing the Old Guard of sea -grenadiers on the forecastle, and the begrimed gunner’s mates and -quarter-gunners, sported most venerable beards of an exceeding length -and hoariness, like long, trailing moss hanging from the bough of some -aged oak. Above all, the Captain of the Forecastle, old Ushant—a fine -specimen of a sea sexagenarian—wore a wide, spreading beard, gizzled -and grey, that flowed over his breast and often became tangled and -knotted with tar. This Ushant, in all weathers, was ever alert at his -duty; intrepidly mounting the fore-yard in a gale, his long beard -streaming like Neptune’s. Off Cape Horn it looked like a miller’s, -being all over powdered with frost; sometimes it glittered with minute -icicles in the pale, cold, moonlit Patagonian nights. But though he was -so active in time of tempest, yet when his duty did not call for -exertion, he was a remarkably staid, reserved, silent, and majestic old -man, holding himself aloof from noisy revelry, and never participating -in the boisterous sports of the crew. He resolutely set his beard -against their boyish frolickings, and often held forth like an oracle -concerning the vanity thereof. Indeed, at times he was wont to talk -philosophy to his ancient companions—the old sheet-anchor-men around -him—as well as to the hare-brained tenants of the fore-top, and the -giddy lads in the mizzen. - -Nor was his philosophy to be despised; it abounded in wisdom. For this -Ushant was an old man, of strong natural sense, who had seen nearly the -whole terraqueous globe, and could reason of civilized and savage, of -Gentile and Jew, of Christian and Moslem. The long night-watches of the -sailor are eminently adapted to draw out the reflective faculties of -any serious-minded man, however humble or uneducated. Judge, then, what -half a century of battling out watches on the ocean must have done for -this fine old tar. He was a sort of a sea-Socrates, in his old age -“pouring out his last philosophy and life,” as sweet Spenser has it; -and I never could look at him, and survey his right reverend beard, -without bestowing upon him that title which, in one of his satires, -Persius gives to the immortal quaffer of the hemlock—_Magister -Barbatus_—the bearded master. - -Not a few of the ship’s company had also bestowed great pains upon -their hair, which some of them—especially the genteel young sailor -bucks of the After-guard—wore over their shoulders like the ringleted -Cavaliers. Many sailors, with naturally tendril locks, prided -themselves upon what they call _love curls_, worn at the side of the -head, just before the ear—a custom peculiar to tars, and which seems to -have filled the vacated place of the old-fashioned Lord Rodney cue, -which they used to wear some fifty years ago. - -But there were others of the crew labouring under the misfortune of -long, lank, Winnebago locks, carroty bunches of hair, or rebellious -bristles of a sandy hue. Ambitious of redundant mops, these still -suffered their carrots to grow, spite of all ridicule. They looked like -Huns and Scandinavians; and one of them, a young Down Easter, the -unenvied proprietor of a thick crop of inflexible yellow bamboos, went -by the name of _Peter the Wild Boy_; for, like Peter the Wild Boy in -France, it was supposed that he must have been caught like a catamount -in the pine woods of Maine. But there were many fine, flowing heads of -hair to counter-balance such sorry exhibitions as Peter’s. - -What with long whiskers and venerable beards, then, of every variety of -cut—Charles the Fifth’s and Aurelian’s—and endless _goatees_ and -_imperials;_ and what with abounding locks, our crew seemed a company -of Merovingians or Long-haired kings, mixed with savage Lombards or -Longobardi, so called from their lengthy beards. - - - - -CHAPTER LXXXV. -THE GREAT MASSACRE OF THE BEARDS. - - -The preceding chapter fitly paves the way for the present, wherein it -sadly befalls White-Jacket to chronicle a calamitous event, which -filled the Neversink with long lamentations, that echo through all her -decks and tops. After dwelling upon our redundant locks and -thrice-noble beards, fain would I cease, and let the sequel remain -undisclosed, but truth and fidelity forbid. - -As I now deviously hover and lingeringly skirmish about the frontiers -of this melancholy recital, a feeling of sadness comes over me that I -cannot withstand. Such a heartless massacre of hair! Such a -Bartholomew’s Day and Sicilian Vespers of assassinated beards! Ah! who -would believe it! With intuitive sympathy I feel of my own brown beard -while I write, and thank my kind stars that each precious hair is for -ever beyond the reach of the ruthless barbers of a man-of-war! - -It needs that this sad and most serious matter should be faithfully -detailed. Throughout the cruise, many of the officers had expressed -their abhorrence of the impunity with which the most extensive -plantations of hair were cultivated under their very noses; and they -frowned upon every beard with even greater dislike. They said it was -unseamanlike; not _ship-shape;_ in short, it was disgraceful to the -Navy. But as Captain Claret said nothing, and as the officers, of -themselves, had no authority to preach a crusade against whiskerandoes, -the Old Guard on the forecastle still complacently stroked their -beards, and the sweet youths of the After-guard still lovingly threaded -their fingers through their curls. - -Perhaps the Captain’s generosity in thus far permitting our beards -sprung from the fact that he himself wore a small speck of a beard upon -his own imperial cheek; which if rumour said true, was to hide -something, as Plutarch relates of the Emperor Adrian. But, to do him -justice—as I always have done—the Captain’s beard did not exceed the -limits prescribed by the Navy Department. - -According to a then recent ordinance at Washington, the beards of both -officers and seamen were to be accurately laid out and surveyed, and on -no account must come lower than the mouth, so as to correspond with the -Army standard—a regulation directly opposed to the theocratical law -laid down in the nineteenth chapter and twenty-seventh verse of -Leviticus, where it is expressly ordained, “_Thou shalt not mar the -corners of thy beard_.” But legislators do not always square their -statutes by those of the Bible. - -At last, when we had crossed the Northern Tropic, and were standing up -to our guns at evening quarters, and when the setting sun, streaming in -at the port-holes, lit up every hair, till to an observer on the -quarter-deck, the two long, even lines of beards seemed one dense -grove; in that evil hour it must have been, that a cruel thought -entered into the heart of our Captain. - -A pretty set of savages, thought he, am I taking home to America; -people will think them all catamounts and Turks. Besides, now that I -think of it, it’s against the law. It will never do. They must be -shaven and shorn—that’s flat. - -There is no knowing, indeed, whether these were the very words in which -the Captain meditated that night; for it is yet a mooted point among -metaphysicians, whether we think in words or whether we think in -thoughts. But something like the above must have been the Captain’s -cogitations. At any rate, that very evening the ship’s company were -astounded by an extraordinary announcement made at the main-hatch-way -of the gun-deck, by the Boat-swain’s mate there stationed. He was -afterwards discovered to have been tipsy at the time. - -“D’ye hear there, fore and aft? All you that have hair on your heads, -shave them off; and all you that have beards, trim ’em small!” - -Shave off our Christian heads! And then, placing them between our -knees, trim small our worshipped beards! The Captain was mad. - -But directly the Boatswain came rushing to the hatchway, and, after -soundly rating his tipsy mate, thundered forth a true version of the -order that had issued from the quarter-deck. As amended, it ran thus: - -“D’ye hear there, fore and aft? All you that have long hair, cut it -short; and all you that have large whiskers, trim them down, according -to the Navy regulations.” - -This was an amendment, to be sure; but what barbarity, after all! What! -not thirty days’ run from home, and lose our magnificent -homeward-bounders! The homeward-bounders we had been cultivating so -long! Lose them at one fell swoop? Were the vile barbers of the -gun-deck to reap our long, nodding harvests, and expose our innocent -chins to the chill air of the Yankee coast! And our viny locks! were -they also to be shorn? Was a grand sheep-shearing, such as they -annually have at Nantucket, to take place; and our ignoble barbers to -carry off the fleece? - -Captain Claret! in cutting our beards and our hair, you cut us the -unkindest cut of all! Were we going into action, Captain Claret—going -to fight the foe with our hearts of flame and our arms of steel, then -would we gladly offer up our beards to the terrific God of War, and -_that_ we would account but a wise precaution against having them -tweaked by the foe. _Then_, Captain Claret, you would but be imitating -the example of Alexander, who had his Macedonians all shaven, that in -the hour of battle their beards might not be handles to the Persians. -But _now_, Captain Claret! when after our long, long cruise, we are -returning to our homes, tenderly stroking the fine tassels on our -chins; and thinking of father or mother, or sister or brother, or -daughter or son; to cut off our beards now—the very beards that were -frosted white off the pitch of Patagonia—_this_ is too bitterly bad, -Captain Claret! and, by Heaven, we will not submit. Train your guns -inboard, let the marines fix their bayonets, let the officers draw -their swords; we _will not_ let our beards be reaped—the last insult -inflicted upon a vanquished foe in the East! - -Where are you, sheet-anchor-men! Captains of the tops! gunner’s mates! -mariners, all! Muster round the capstan your venerable beards, and -while you braid them together in token of brotherhood, cross hands and -swear that we will enact over again the mutiny of the Nore, and sooner -perish than yield up a hair! - -The excitement was intense throughout that whole evening. Groups of -tens and twenties were scattered about all the decks, discussing the -mandate, and inveighing against its barbarous author. The long area of -the gun-deck was something like a populous street of brokers, when some -terrible commercial tidings have newly arrived. One and all, they -resolved not to succumb, and every man swore to stand by his beard and -his neighbour. - -Twenty-four hours after—at the next evening quarters—the Captain’s eye -was observed to wander along the men at their guns—not a beard was -shaven! - -When the drum beat the retreat, the Boatswain—now attended by all four -of his mates, to give additional solemnity to the announcement—repeated -the previous day’s order, and concluded by saying, that twenty-four -hours would be given for all to acquiesce. - -But the second day passed, and at quarters, untouched, every beard -bristled on its chin. Forthwith Captain Claret summoned the midshipmen, -who, receiving his orders, hurried to the various divisions of the -guns, and communicated them to the Lieutenants respectively stationed -over divisions. - -The officer commanding mine turned upon us, and said, “Men, if tomorrow -night I find any of you with long hair, or whiskers of a standard -violating the Navy regulations, the names of such offenders shall be -put down on the report.” - -The affair had now assumed a most serious aspect. The Captain was in -earnest. The excitement increased ten-fold; and a great many of the -older seamen, exasperated to the uttermost, talked about _knocking of -duty_ till the obnoxious mandate was revoked. I thought it impossible -that they would seriously think of such a folly; but there is no -knowing what man-of-war’s-men will sometimes do, under -provocation—witness Parker and the Nore. - -That same night, when the first watch was set, the men in a body drove -the two boatswain’s mates from their stations at the fore and main -hatchways, and unshipped the ladders; thus cutting off all -communication between the gun and spar decks, forward of the main-mast. - -Mad Jack had the trumpet; and no sooner was this incipient mutiny -reported to him, than he jumped right down among the mob, and -fearlessly mingling with them, exclaimed, “What do you mean, men? don’t -be fools! This is no way to get what you want. Turn to, my lads, turn -to! Boatswain’s mate, ship that ladder! So! up you tumble, now, my -hearties! away you go!” - -His gallant, off-handed, confident manner, recognising no attempt at -mutiny, operated upon the sailors like magic. - -They _tumbled up_, as commanded; and for the rest of that night -contented themselves with privately fulminating their displeasure -against the Captain, and publicly emblazoning every anchor-button on -the coat of admired Mad jack. - -Captain Claret happened to be taking a nap in his cabin at the moment -of the disturbance; and it was quelled so soon that he knew nothing of -it till it was officially reported to him. It was afterward rumoured -through the ship that he reprimanded Mad Jack for acting as he did. He -maintained that he should at once have summoned the marines, and -charged upon the “mutineers.” But if the sayings imputed to the Captain -were true, he nevertheless refrained from subsequently noticing the -disturbance, or attempting to seek out and punish the ringleaders. This -was but wise; for there are times when even the most potent governor -must wink at transgression in order to preserve the laws inviolate for -the future. And great care is to be taken, by timely management, to -avert an incontestable act of mutiny, and so prevent men from being -roused, by their own consciousness of transgression, into all the fury -of an unbounded insurrection. _Then_ for the time, both soldiers and -sailors are irresistible; as even the valour of Caesar was made to -know, and the prudence of Germanicus, when their legions rebelled. And -not all the concessions of Earl Spencer, as First lord of the -Admiralty, nor the threats and entreaties of Lord Bridport, the Admiral -of the Fleet—no, nor his gracious Majesty’s plenary pardon in -prospective, could prevail upon the Spithead mutineers (when at last -fairly lashed up to the mark) to succumb, until deserted by their own -mess-mates, and a handful was left in the breach. - -Therefore, Mad Jack! you did right, and no one else could have -acquitted himself better. By your crafty simplicity, good-natured -daring, and off-handed air (as if nothing was happening) you perhaps -quelled a very serious affair in the bud, and prevented the disgrace to -the American Navy of a tragical mutiny, growing out of whiskers, -soap-suds, and razors. Think of it, if future historians should devote -a long chapter to the great _Rebellion of the Beards_ on board the -United States ship Neversink. Why, through all time thereafter, barbers -would cut down their spiralised poles, and substitute miniature -main-masts for the emblems of their calling. - -And here is ample scope for some pregnant instruction, how that events -of vast magnitude in our man-of-war world may originate in the pettiest -of trifles. But that is an old theme; we waive it, and proceed. - -On the morning following, though it was not a regular shaving day, the -gun-deck barbers were observed to have their shops open, their -match-tub accommodations in readiness, and their razors displayed. With -their brushes, raising a mighty lather in their tin pots, they stood -eyeing the passing throng of seamen, silently inviting them to walk in -and be served. In addition to their usual implements, they now -flourished at intervals a huge pair of sheep-shears, by way of more -forcibly reminding the men of the edict which that day must be obeyed, -or woe betide them. - -For some hours the seamen paced to and fro in no very good humour, -vowing not to sacrifice a hair. Beforehand, they denounced that man who -should abase himself by compliance. But habituation to discipline is -magical; and ere long an old forecastle-man was discovered elevated -upon a match-tub, while, with a malicious grin, his barber—a fellow -who, from his merciless rasping, was called Blue-Skin—seized him by his -long beard, and at one fell stroke cut it off and tossed it out of the -port-hole behind him. This forecastle-man was ever afterwards known by -a significant title—in the main equivalent to that name of reproach -fastened upon that Athenian who, in Alexander’s time, previous to which -all the Greeks sported beards, first submitted to the deprivation of -his own. But, spite of all the contempt hurled on our forecastle-man, -so prudent an example was soon followed; presently all the barbers were -busy. - -Sad sight! at which any one but a barber or a Tartar would have wept! -Beards three years old; _goatees_ that would have graced a Chamois of -the Alps; _imperials_ that Count D’Orsay would have envied; and -_love-curls_ and man-of-war ringlets that would have measured, inch for -inch, with the longest tresses of The Fair One with the Golden -Locks—all went by the board! Captain Claret! how can you rest in your -hammock! by this brown beard which now waves from my chin—the -illustrious successor to that first, young, vigorous beard I yielded to -your tyranny—by this manly beard, I swear, it was barbarous! - -My noble captain, Jack Chase, was indignant. Not even all the special -favours he had received from Captain Claret, and the plenary pardon -extended to him for his desertion into the Peruvian service, could -restrain the expression of his feelings. But in his cooler moments, -Jack was a wise man; he at last deemed it but wisdom to succumb. - -When he went to the barber he almost drew tears from his eyes. Seating -himself mournfully on the match-tub, he looked sideways, and said to -the barber, who was _slithering_ his sheep-shears in readiness to -begin: “My friend, I trust your scissors are consecrated. Let them not -touch this beard if they have yet to be dipped in holy water; beards -are sacred things, barber. Have you no feeling for beards, my friend? -think of it;” and mournfully he laid his deep-dyed, russet cheek upon -his hand. “Two summers have gone by since my chin has been reaped. I -was in Coquimbo then, on the Spanish Main; and when the husband-man was -sowing his Autumnal grain on the Vega, I started this blessed beard; -and when the vine-dressers were trimming their vines in the vineyards, -I first trimmed it to the sound of a flute. Ah! barber, have you no -heart? This beard has been caressed by the snow-white hand of the -lovely Tomasita of Tombez—the Castilian belle of all lower Peru. Think -of _that_, barber! I have worn it as an officer on the quarter-deck of -a Peruvian man-of-war. I have sported it at brilliant fandangoes in -Lima. I have been alow and aloft with it at sea. Yea, barber! it has -streamed like an Admiral’s pennant at the mast-head of this same -gallant frigate, the Neversink! Oh! barber, barber! it stabs me to the -heart.—Talk not of hauling down your ensigns and standards when -vanquished—what is _that_, barber! to striking the flag that Nature -herself has nailed to the mast!” - -Here noble Jack’s feelings overcame him: he dropped from the animated -attitude into which his enthusiasm had momentarily transported him; his -proud head sunk upon his chest, and his long, sad beard almost grazed -the deck. - -“Ay! trail your beards in grief and dishonour, oh crew of the -Neversink!” sighed Jack. “Barber, come closer—now, tell me, my friend, -have you obtained absolution for this deed you are about to commit? You -have not? Then, barber, I will absolve you; your hands shall be washed -of this sin; it is not you, but another; and though you are about to -shear off my manhood, yet, barber, I freely forgive you; kneel, kneel, -barber! that I may bless you, in token that I cherish no malice!” - -So when this barber, who was the only tender-hearted one of his tribe, -had kneeled, been absolved, and then blessed, Jack gave up his beard -into his hands, and the barber, clipping it off with a sigh, held it -high aloft, and, parodying the style of the boatswain’s mates, cried -aloud, “D’ye hear, fore and aft? This is the beard of our matchless -Jack Chase, the noble captain of this frigate’s main-top!” - - - - -CHAPTER LXXXVI. -THE REBELS BROUGHT TO THE MAST. - - -Though many heads of hair were shorn, and many fine beards reaped that -day, yet several still held out, and vowed to defend their sacred hair -to the last gasp of their breath. These were chiefly old sailors—some -of them petty officers—who, presuming upon their age or rank, doubtless -thought that, after so many had complied with the Captain’s commands, -_they_, being but a handful, would be exempted from compliance, and -remain a monument of our master’s clemency. - -That same evening, when the drum beat to quarters, the sailors went -sullenly to their guns, and the old tars who still sported their beards -stood up, grim, defying, and motionless, as the rows of sculptured -Assyrian kings, who, with their magnificent beards, have recently been -exhumed by Layard. - -When the proper time arrived, their names were taken down by the -officers of divisions, and they were afterward summoned in a body to -the mast, where the Captain stood ready to receive them. The whole -ship’s company crowded to the spot, and, amid the breathless multitude, -the venerable rebels advanced and unhatted. - -It was an imposing display. They were old and venerable mariners; their -cheeks had been burned brown in all latitudes, wherever the sun sends a -tropical ray. Reverend old tars, one and all; some of them might have -been grandsires, with grandchildren in every port round the world. They -ought to have commanded the veneration of the most frivolous or -magisterial beholder. Even Captain Claret they ought to have humiliated -into deference. But a Scythian is touched with no reverential -promptings; and, as the Roman student well knows, the august Senators -themselves, seated in the Senate-house, on the majestic hill of the -Capitol, had their holy beards tweaked by the insolent chief of the -Goths. - -Such an array of beards! spade-shaped, hammer-shaped, dagger-shaped, -triangular, square, peaked, round, hemispherical, and forked. But chief -among them all, was old Ushant’s, the ancient Captain of the -Forecastle. Of a Gothic venerableness, it fell upon his breast like a -continual iron-gray storm. - -Ah! old Ushant, Nestor of the crew! it promoted my longevity to behold -you. - -He was a man-of-war’s-man of the old Benbow school. He wore a short -cue, which the wags of the mizzen-top called his “_plug of pig-tail_.” -About his waist was a broad boarder’s belt, which he wore, he said, to -brace his main-mast, meaning his backbone; for at times he complained -of rheumatic twinges in the spine, consequent upon sleeping on deck, -now and then, during the night-watches of upward of half a century. His -sheath-knife was an antique—a sort of old-fashioned pruning-hook; its -handle—a sperm whale’s tooth—was carved all over with ships, cannon, -and anchors. It was attached to his neck by a _lanyard_, elaborately -worked into “rose-knots” and “Turks’ heads” by his own venerable -fingers. - -Of all the crew, this Ushant was most beloved by my glorious captain, -Jack Chase, who one day pointed him out to me as the old man was slowly -coming down the rigging from the fore-top. - -“There, White-Jacket! isn’t that old Chaucer’s shipman? - - “‘A dagger hanging by a las hadde he, - About his nekke, under his arm adown; - The hote sommer hadde made his beard all brown. - Hardy he is, and wise; I undertake - With many a tempest has his beard be shake.’ - - -From the Canterbury Tales, White-Jacket! and must not old Ushant have -been living in Chaucer’s time, that Chaucer could draw his portrait so -well?” - - - - -CHAPTER LXXXVII. -OLD USHANT AT THE GANGWAY. - - -The rebel beards, headed by old Ushant’s, streaming like a Commodore’s -_bougee_, now stood in silence at the mast. - -“You knew the order!” said the Captain, eyeing them severely; “what -does that hair on your chins?” - -“Sir,” said the Captain of the Forecastle, “did old Ushant ever refuse -doing his duty? did he ever yet miss his muster? But, sir, old Ushant’s -beard is his own!” - -“What’s that, sir? Master-at-arms, put that man into the brig.” - -“Sir,” said the old man, respectfully, “the three years for which I -shipped are expired; and though I am perhaps bound to work the ship -home, yet, as matters are, I think my beard might be allowed me. It is -but a few days, Captain Claret.” - -“Put him into the brig!” cried the Captain; “and now, you old rascals!” -he added, turning round upon the rest, “I give you fifteen minutes to -have those beards taken off; if they then remain on your chins, I’ll -flog you—every mother’s son of you—though you were all my own -god-fathers!” - -The band of beards went forward, summoned their barbers, and their -glorious pennants were no more. In obedience to orders, they then -paraded themselves at the mast, and, addressing the Captain, said, -“Sir, our _muzzle-lashings_ are cast off!” - -Nor is it unworthy of being chronicled, that not a single sailor who -complied with the general order but refused to sport the vile -_regulation-whiskers_ prescribed by the Navy Department. No! like -heroes they cried, “Shave me clean! I will not wear a hair, since I -cannot wear all!” - -On the morrow, after breakfast, Ushant was taken out of irons, and, -with the master-at-arms on one side and an armed sentry on the other, -was escorted along the gun-deck and up the ladder to the main-mast. -There the Captain stood, firm as before. They must have guarded the old -man thus to prevent his escape to the shore, something less than a -thousand miles distant at the time. - -“Well, sir, will you have that beard taken off? you have slept over it -a whole night now; what do you say? I don’t want to flog an old man -like you, Ushant!” - -“My beard is my own, sir!” said the old man, lowly. - -“Will you take it off?” - -“It is mine, sir?” said the old man, tremulously. - -“Rig the gratings?” roared the Captain. “Master-at-arms, strip him! -quarter-masters, seize him up! boatswain’s mates, do your duty!” - -While these executioners were employed, the Captain’s excitement had a -little time to abate; and when, at last, old Ushant was tied up by the -arms and legs and his venerable back was exposed—that back which had -bowed at the guns of the frigate Constitution when she captured the -Guerriere—the Captain seemed to relent. - -“You are a very old man,” he said, “and I am sorry to flog you; but my -orders must be obeyed. I will give you one more chance; will you have -that beard taken off?” - -“Captain Claret,” said the old man, turning round painfully in his -bonds, “you may flog me if you will; but, sir, in this one thing I -_cannot_ obey you.” - -“Lay on! I’ll see his backbone!” roared the Captain in a sudden fury. - -“By Heaven!” thrillingly whispered Jack Chase, who stood by, “it’s only -a halter; I’ll strike him!” - -“Better not,” said a top-mate; “it’s death, or worse punishment, -remember.” - -“There goes the lash!” cried Jack. “Look at the old man! By G—-d, I -can’t stand it! Let me go, men!” and with moist eyes Jack forced his -way to one side. - -“You, boatswain’s mate,” cried the Captain, “you are favouring that -man! Lay on soundly, sir, or I’ll have your own _cat_ laid soundly on -you.” - -One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, -twelve lashes were laid on the back of that heroic old man. He only -bowed over his head, and stood as the Dying Gladiator lies. - -“Cut him down,” said the Captain. - -“And now go and cut your own throat,” hoarsely whispered an old -sheet-anchor-man, a mess-mate of Ushant’s. - -When the master-at-arms advanced with the prisoner’s shirt, Ushant -waved him off with the dignified air of a Brahim, saying, “Do you -think, master-at-arms, that I am hurt? I will put on my own garment. I -am never the worse for it, man; and ’tis no dishonour when he who would -dishonour you, only dishonours himself.” - -“What says he?” cried the Captain; “what says that tarry old -philosopher with the smoking back? Tell it to me, sir, if you dare! -Sentry, take that man back to the brig. Stop! John Ushant, you have -been Captain of the Forecastle; I break you. And now you go into the -brig, there to remain till you consent to have that beard taken off.” - -“My beard is my own,” said the old man, quietly. “Sentry, I am ready.” - -And back he went into durance between the guns; but after lying some -four or five days in irons, an order came to remove them; but he was -still kept confined. - -Books were allowed him, and he spent much time in reading. But he also -spent many hours in braiding his beard, and interweaving with it strips -of red bunting, as if he desired to dress out and adorn the thing which -had triumphed over all opposition. - -He remained a prisoner till we arrived in America; but the very moment -he heard the chain rattle out of the hawse-hole, and the ship swing to -her anchor, he started to his feet, dashed the sentry aside, and -gaining the deck, exclaimed, “At home, with my beard!” - -His term of service having some months previous expired, and the ship -being now in harbour, he was beyond the reach of naval law, and the -officers durst not molest him. But without unduly availing himself of -these circumstances, the old man merely got his bag and hammock -together, hired a boat, and throwing himself into the stern, was rowed -ashore, amid the unsuppressible cheers of all hands. It was a glorious -conquest over the Conqueror himself, as well worthy to be celebrated as -the Battle of the Nile. - -Though, as I afterward learned, Ushant was earnestly entreated to put -the case into some lawyer’s hands, he firmly declined, saying, “I have -won the battle, my friends, and I do not care for the prize-money.” But -even had he complied with these entreaties, from precedents in similar -cases, it is almost certain that not a sou’s worth of satisfaction -would have been received. - -I know not in what frigate you sail now, old Ushant; but Heaven protect -your storied old beard, in whatever Typhoon it may blow. And if ever it -must be shorn, old man, may it fare like the royal beard of Henry I., -of England, and be clipped by the right reverend hand of some -Archbishop of Sees. - -As for Captain Claret, let it not be supposed that it is here sought to -impale him before the world as a cruel, black-hearted man. Such he was -not. Nor was he, upon the whole, regarded by his crew with anything -like the feelings which man-of-war’s-men sometimes cherish toward -signally tyrannical commanders. In truth, the majority of the -Neversink’s crew—in previous cruises habituated to flagrant -misusage—deemed Captain Claret a lenient officer. In many things he -certainly refrained from oppressing them. It has been related what -privileges he accorded to the seamen respecting the free playing of -checkers—a thing almost unheard of in most American men-of-war. In the -matter of overseeing the men’s clothing, also, he was remarkably -indulgent, compared with the conduct of other Navy captains, who, by -sumptuary regulations, oblige their sailors to run up large bills with -the Purser for clothes. In a word, of whatever acts Captain Claret -might have been guilty in the Neversink, perhaps none of them proceeded -from any personal, organic hard-heartedness. What he was, the usages of -the Navy had made him. Had he been a mere landsman—a merchant, say—he -would no doubt have been considered a kind-hearted man. - -There may be some who shall read of this Bartholomew Massacre of beards -who will yet marvel, perhaps, that the loss of a few hairs, more or -less, should provoke such hostility from the sailors, lash them into so -frothing a rage; indeed, come near breeding a mutiny. - -But these circumstances are not without precedent. Not to speak of the -riots, attended with the loss of life, which once occurred in Madrid, -in resistance to an arbitrary edict of the king’s, seeking to suppress -the cloaks of the Cavaliers; and, not to make mention of other -instances that might be quoted, it needs only to point out the rage of -the Saxons in the time of William the Conqueror, when that despot -commanded the hair on their upper lips to be shaven off—the hereditary -mustaches which whole generations had sported. The multitude of the -dispirited vanquished were obliged to acquiesce; but many Saxon -Franklins and gentlemen of spirit, choosing rather to lose their -castles than their mustaches, voluntarily deserted their firesides, and -went into exile. All this is indignantly related by the stout Saxon -friar, Matthew Paris, in his _Historia Major_, beginning with the -Norman Conquest. - -And that our man-of-war’s-men were right in desiring to perpetuate -their beards, as martial appurtenances, must seem very plain, when it -is considered that, as the beard is the token of manhood, so, in some -shape or other, has it ever been held the true badge of a warrior. -Bonaparte’s grenadiers were stout whiskerandoes; and perhaps, in a -charge, those fierce whiskers of theirs did as much to appall the foe -as the sheen of their bayonets. Most all fighting creatures sport -either whiskers or beards; it seems a law of Dame Nature. Witness the -boar, the tiger, the cougar, man, the leopard, the ram, the cat—all -warriors, and all whiskerandoes. Whereas, the peace-loving tribes have -mostly enameled chins. - - - - -CHAPTER LXXXVIII. -FLOGGING THROUGH THE FLEET. - - -The flogging of an old man like Ushant, most landsmen will probably -regard with abhorrence. But though, from peculiar circumstances, his -case occasioned a good deal of indignation among the people of the -Neversink, yet, upon its own proper grounds, they did not denounce it. -Man-of-war’s-men are so habituated to what landsmen would deem -excessive cruelties, that they are almost reconciled to inferior -severities. - -And here, though the subject of punishment in the Navy has been -canvassed in previous chapters, and though the thing is every way a -most unpleasant and grievous one to enlarge upon, and though I -painfully nerve myself to it while I write, a feeling of duty compels -me to enter upon a branch of the subject till now undiscussed. I would -not be like the man, who, seeing an outcast perishing by the roadside, -turned about to his friend, saying, “Let us cross the way; my soul so -sickens at this sight, that I cannot endure it.” - -There are certain enormities in this man-of-war world that often secure -impunity by their very excessiveness. Some ignorant people will refrain -from permanently removing the cause of a deadly malaria, for fear of -the temporary spread of its offensiveness. Let us not be of such. The -more repugnant and repelling, the greater the evil. Leaving our women -and children behind, let us freely enter this Golgotha. - -Years ago there was a punishment inflicted in the English, and I -believe in the American Navy, called _keel-hauling_—a phrase still -employed by man-of-war’s-men when they would express some signal -vengeance upon a personal foe. The practice still remains in the French -national marine, though it is by no means resorted to so frequently as -in times past. It consists of attaching tackles to the two extremities -of the main-yard, and passing the rope under the ship’s bottom. To one -end of this rope the culprit is secured; his own shipmates are then -made to run him up and down, first on this side, then on that—now -scraping the ship’s hull under water—anon, hoisted, stunned and -breathless, into the air. - -But though this barbarity is now abolished from the English and -American navies, there still remains another practice which, if -anything, is even worse than _keel-hauling_. This remnant of the Middle -Ages is known in the Navy as “_flogging through the fleet_.” It is -never inflicted except by authority of a court-martial upon some -trespasser deemed guilty of a flagrant offence. Never, that I know of, -has it been inflicted by an American man-of-war on the home station. -The reason, probably, is, that the officers well know that such a -spectacle would raise a mob in any American seaport. - -By XLI. of the Articles of War, a court-martial shall not “for any one -offence not capital,” inflict a punishment beyond one hundred lashes. -In cases “not capital” this law may be, and has been, quoted in -judicial justification of the infliction of more than one hundred -lashes. Indeed, it would cover a thousand. Thus: One act of a sailor -may be construed into the commission of ten different transgressions, -for each of which he may be legally condemned to a hundred lashes, to -be inflicted without intermission. It will be perceived, that in any -case deemed “capital,” a sailor under the above Article, may legally be -flogged to the death. - -But neither by the Articles of War, nor by any other enactment of -Congress, is there any direct warrant for the extraordinary cruelty of -the mode in which punishment is inflicted, in cases of flogging through -the fleet. But as in numerous other instances, the incidental -aggravations of this penalty are indirectly covered by other clauses in -the Articles of War: one of which authorises the authorities of a -ship—in certain indefinite cases—to correct the guilty “_according to -the usages of the sea-service_.” - -One of these “usages” is the following: - -All hands being called “to witness punishment” in the ship to which the -culprit belongs, the sentence of the court-martial condemning him is -read, when, with the usual solemnities, a portion of the punishment is -inflicted. In order that it shall not lose in severity by the slightest -exhaustion in the arm of the executioner, a fresh boatswain’s mate is -called out at every dozen. - -As the leading idea is to strike terror into the beholders, the -greatest number of lashes is inflicted on board the culprit’s own ship, -in order to render him the more shocking spectacle to the crews of the -other vessels. - -The first infliction being concluded, the culprit’s shirt is thrown -over him; he is put into a boat—the Rogue’s March being played -meanwhile—and rowed to the next ship of the squadron. All hands of that -ship are then called to man the rigging, and another portion of the -punishment is inflicted by the boatswain’s mates of that ship. The -bloody shirt is again thrown over the seaman; and thus he is carried -through the fleet or squadron till the whole sentence is inflicted. - -In other cases, the launch—the largest of the boats—is rigged with a -platform (like a headsman’s scaffold), upon which halberds, something -like those used in the English army, are erected. They consist of two -stout poles, planted upright. Upon the platform stand a Lieutenant, a -Surgeon a Master-at-arms, and the executioners with their “cats.” They -are rowed through the fleet, stopping at each ship, till the whole -sentence is inflicted, as before. - -In some cases, the attending surgeon has professionally interfered -before the last lash has been given, alleging that immediate death must -ensue if the remainder should be administered without a respite. But -instead of humanely remitting the remaining lashes, in a case like -this, the man is generally consigned to his cot for ten or twelve days; -and when the surgeon officially reports him capable of undergoing the -rest of the sentence, it is forthwith inflicted. Shylock must have his -pound of flesh. - -To say, that after being flogged through the fleet, the prisoner’s back -is sometimes puffed up like a pillow; or to say that in other cases it -looks as if burned black before a roasting fire; or to say that you may -track him through the squadron by the blood on the bulwarks of every -ship, would only be saying what many seamen have seen. - -Several weeks, sometimes whole months, elapse before the sailor is -sufficiently recovered to resume his duties. During the greater part of -that interval he lies in the sick-bay, groaning out his days and -nights; and unless he has the hide and constitution of a rhinoceros, he -never is the man he was before, but, broken and shattered to the marrow -of his bones, sinks into death before his time. Instances have occurred -where he has expired the day after the punishment. No wonder that the -Englishman, Dr. Granville—himself once a surgeon in the Navy—declares, -in his work on Russia, that the barbarian “knout” itself is not a -greater torture to undergo than the Navy cat-o’-nine-tails. - -Some years ago a fire broke out near the powder magazine in an American -national ship, one of the squadron at anchor in the Bay of Naples. The -utmost alarm prevailed. A cry went fore and aft that the ship was about -to blow up. One of the seamen sprang overboard in affright. At length -the fire was got under, and the man was picked up. He was tried before -a court-martial, found guilty of cowardice, and condemned to be flogged -through the fleet, In due time the squadron made sail for Algiers, and -in that harbour, once haunted by pirates, the punishment was -inflicted—the Bay of Naples, though washing the shores of an absolute -king, not being deemed a fit place for such an exhibition of American -naval law. - -While the Neversink was in the Pacific, an American sailor, who had -deposited a vote for General Harrison for President of the United -States, was flogged through the fleet. - - - - -CHAPTER LXXXIX. -THE SOCIAL STATE IN A MAN-OF-WAR. - - -Bur the floggings at the gangway and the floggings through the fleet, -the stealings, highway robberies, swearings, gamblings, blasphemings, -thimble-riggings, smugglings, and tipplings of a man-of-war, which -throughout this narrative have been here and there sketched from the -life, by no means comprise the whole catalogue of evil. One single -feature is full of significance. - -All large ships of war carry soldiers, called marines. In the Neversink -there was something less than fifty, two thirds of whom were Irishmen. -They were officered by a Lieutenant, an Orderly Sergeant, two -Sergeants, and two Corporals, with a drummer and fifer. The custom, -generally, is to have a marine to each gun; which rule usually -furnishes the scale for distributing the soldiers in vessels of -different force. - -Our marines had no other than martial duty to perform; excepting that, -at sea, they stood watches like the sailors, and now and then lazily -assisted in pulling the ropes. But they never put foot in rigging or -hand in tar-bucket. - -On the quarter-bills, these men were stationed at none of the great -guns; on the station-bills, they had no posts at the ropes. What, then, -were they for? To serve their country in time of battle? Let us see. -When a ship is running into action, her marines generally lie flat on -their faces behind the bulwarks (the sailors are sometimes ordered to -do the same), and when the vessel is fairly engaged, they are usually -drawn up in the ship’s waist—like a company reviewing in the Park. At -close quarters, their muskets may pick off a seaman or two in the -rigging, but at long-gun distance they must passively stand in their -ranks and be decimated at the enemy’s leisure. Only in one case in -ten—that is, when their vessel is attempted to be boarded by a large -party, are these marines of any essential service as fighting men; with -their bayonets they are then called upon to “repel!” - -If comparatively so useless as soldiers, why have marines at all in the -Navy? Know, then, that what standing armies are to nations, what -turnkeys are to jails, these marines are to the seamen in all large -men-of-war. Their muskets are their keys. With those muskets they stand -guard over the fresh water; over the grog, when doled; over the -provisions, when being served out by the Master’s mate; over the “brig” -or jail; at the Commodore’s and Captain’s cabin doors; and, in port, at -both gangways and forecastle. - -Surely, the crowd of sailors, who besides having so many sea-officers -over them, are thus additionally guarded by soldiers, even when they -quench their thirst—surely these man-of-war’s-men must be desperadoes -indeed; or else the naval service must be so tyrannical that the worst -is feared from their possible insubordination. Either reason holds -good, or both, according to the character of the officers and crew. - -It must be evident that the man-of-war’s-man casts but an evil eye on a -marine. To call a man a “horse-marine,” is, among seamen, one of the -greatest terms of contempt. - -But the mutual contempt, and even hatred, subsisting between these two -bodies of men—both clinging to one keel, both lodged in one -household—is held by most Navy officers as the height of the perfection -of Navy discipline. It is regarded as the button that caps the -uttermost point on their main-mast. - -Thus they reason: Secure of this antagonism between the marine and the -sailor, we can always rely upon it, that if the sailor mutinies, it -needs no great incitement for the marine to thrust his bayonet through -his heart; if the marine revolts, the pike of the sailor is impatient -to charge. Checks and balances, blood against blood, _that_ is the cry -and the argument. - -What applies to the relation in which the marine and sailor stand -toward each other—the mutual repulsion implied by a system of -checks—will, in degree, apply to nearly the entire interior of a -man-of-war’s discipline. The whole body of this discipline is -emphatically a system of cruel cogs and wheels, systematically grinding -up in one common hopper all that might minister to the moral well-being -of the crew. - -It is the same with both officers and men. If a Captain have a grudge -against a Lieutenant, or a Lieutenant against a midshipman, how easy to -torture him by official treatment, which shall not lay open the -superior officer to legal rebuke. And if a midshipman bears a grudge -against a sailor, how easy for him, by cunning practices, born of a -boyish spite, to have him degraded at the gangway. Through all the -endless ramifications of rank and station, in most men-of-war there -runs a sinister vein of bitterness, not exceeded by the fireside -hatreds in a family of stepsons ashore. It were sickening to detail all -the paltry irritabilities, jealousies, and cabals, the spiteful -detractions and animosities, that lurk far down, and cling to the very -kelson of the ship. It is unmanning to think of. The immutable -ceremonies and iron etiquette of a man-of-war; the spiked barriers -separating the various grades of rank; the delegated absolutism of -authority on all hands; the impossibility, on the part of the common -seaman, of appeal from incidental abuses, and many more things that -might be enumerated, all tend to beget in most armed ships a general -social condition which is the precise reverse of what any Christian -could desire. And though there are vessels, that in some measure -furnish exceptions to this; and though, in other ships, the thing may -be glazed over by a guarded, punctilious exterior, almost completely -hiding the truth from casual visitors, while the worst facts touching -the common sailor are systematically kept in the background, yet it is -certain that what has here been said of the domestic interior of a -man-of-war will, in a greater or less degree, apply to most vessels in -the Navy. It is not that the officers are so malevolent, nor, -altogether, that the man-of-war’s-man is so vicious. Some of these -evils are unavoidably generated through the operation of the Naval -code; others are absolutely organic to a Navy establishment, and, like -other organic evils, are incurable, except when they dissolve with the -body they live in. - - - - -CHAPTER XC. -THE MANNING OF NAVIES. - - -“The gallows and the sea refuse nothing,” is a very old sea saying; -and, among all the wondrous prints of Hogarth, there is none remaining -more true at the present day than that dramatic boat-scene, where after -consorting with harlots and gambling on tomb-stones, the Idle -Apprentice, with the villainous low forehead, is at last represented as -being pushed off to sea, with a ship and a gallows in the distance. But -Hogarth should have converted the ship’s masts themselves into -Tyburn-trees, and thus, with the ocean for a background, closed the -career of his hero. It would then have had all the dramatic force of -the opera of Don Juan, who, after running his impious courses, is swept -from our sight in a tornado of devils. - -For the sea is the true Tophet and bottomless pit of many workers of -iniquity; and, as the German mystics feign Gehennas within Gehennas, -even so are men-of-war familiarly known among sailors as “Floating -Hells.” And as the sea, according to old Fuller, is the stable of brute -monsters, gliding hither and thither in unspeakable swarms, even so is -it the home of many moral monsters, who fitly divide its empire with -the snake, the shark, and the worm. - -Nor are sailors, and man-of-war’s-men especially, at all blind to a -true sense of these things. “_Purser rigged and parish damned_,” is the -sailor saying in the American Navy, when the tyro first mounts the -lined frock and blue jacket, aptly manufactured for him in a State -Prison ashore. - -No wonder, that lured by some _crimp_ into a service so galling, and, -perhaps, persecuted by a vindictive lieutenant, some repentant sailors -have actually jumped into the sea to escape from their fate, or set -themselves adrift on the wide ocean on the gratings without compass or -rudder. - -In one case, a young man, after being nearly cut into dog’s meat at the -gangway, loaded his pockets with shot and walked overboard. - -Some years ago, I was in a whaling ship lying in a harbour of the -Pacific, with three French men-of-war alongside. One dark, moody night, -a suppressed cry was heard from the face of the waters, and, thinking -it was some one drowning, a boat was lowered, when two French sailors -were picked up, half dead from exhaustion, and nearly throttled by a -bundle of their clothes tied fast to their shoulders. In this manner -they had attempted their escape from their vessel. When the French -officers came in pursuit, these sailors, rallying from their -exhaustion, fought like tigers to resist being captured. Though this -story concerns a French armed ship, it is not the less applicable, in -degree, to those of other nations. - -Mix with the men in an American armed ship, mark how many foreigners -there are, though it is against the law to enlist them. Nearly one -third of the petty officers of the Neversink were born east of the -Atlantic. Why is this? Because the same principle that operates in -hindering Americans from hiring themselves out as menial domestics also -restrains them, in a great measure, from voluntarily assuming a far -worse servitude in the Navy. “_Sailors wanted for the Navy_” is a -common announcement along the wharves of our sea-ports. They are always -“_wanted_.” It may have been, in part, owing to this scarcity -man-of-war’s men, that not many years ago, black slaves were frequently -to be found regularly enlisted with the crew of an American frigate, -their masters receiving their pay. This was in the teeth of a law of -Congress expressly prohibiting slaves in the Navy. This law, -indirectly, means black slaves, nothing being said concerning white -ones. But in view of what John Randolph of Roanoke said about the -frigate that carried him to Russia, and in view of what most armed -vessels actually are at present, the American Navy is not altogether an -inappropriate place for hereditary bondmen. Still, the circumstance of -their being found in it is of such a nature, that to some it may hardly -appear credible. The incredulity of such persons, nevertheless, must -yield to the fact, that on board of the United States ship Neversink, -during the present cruise, there was a Virginian slave regularly -shipped as a seaman, his owner receiving his wages. Guinea—such was his -name among the crew—belonged to the Purser, who was a Southern -gentleman; he was employed as his body servant. Never did I feel my -condition as a man-of-war’s-man so keenly as when seeing this Guinea -freely circulating about the decks in citizen’s clothes, and through -the influence of his master, almost entirely exempted from the -disciplinary degradation of the Caucasian crew. Faring sumptuously in -the ward-room; sleek and round, his ebon face fairly polished with -content: ever gay and hilarious; ever ready to laugh and joke, that -African slave was actually envied by many of the seamen. There were -times when I almost envied him myself. Lemsford once envied him -outright, “Ah, Guinea!” he sighed, “you have peaceful times; you never -opened the book I read in.” - -One morning, when all hands were called to witness punishment, the -Purser’s slave, as usual, was observed to be hurrying down the ladders -toward the ward-room, his face wearing that peculiar, pinched blueness, -which, in the negro, answers to the paleness caused by nervous -agitation in the white. “Where are you going, Guinea?” cried the -deck-officer, a humorous gentleman, who sometimes diverted himself with -the Purser’s slave, and well knew what answer he would now receive from -him. “Where are you going, Guinea?” said this officer; “turn about; -don’t you hear the call, sir?” “’_Scuse_ me, massa!” said the slave, -with a low salutation; “I can’t ’tand it; I can’t, indeed, massa!” and, -so saying, he disappeared beyond the hatchway. He was the only person -on board, except the hospital-steward and the invalids of the sick-bay, -who was exempted from being present at the administering of the -scourge. Accustomed to light and easy duties from his birth, and so -fortunate as to meet with none but gentle masters, Guinea, though a -bondman, liable to be saddled with a mortgage, like a horse—Guinea, in -India-rubber manacles, enjoyed the liberties of the world. - -Though his body-and-soul proprietor, the Purser, never in any way -individualised me while I served on board the frigate, and never did me -a good office of any kind (it was hardly in his power), yet, from his -pleasant, kind, indulgent manner toward his slave, I always imputed to -him a generous heart, and cherished an involuntary friendliness toward -him. Upon our arrival home, his treatment of Guinea, under -circumstances peculiarly calculated to stir up the resentment of a -slave-owner, still more augmented my estimation of the Purser’s good -heart. - -Mention has been made of the number of foreigners in the American Navy; -but it is not in the American Navy alone that foreigners bear so large -a proportion to the rest of the crew, though in no navy, perhaps, have -they ever borne so large a proportion as in our own. According to an -English estimate, the foreigners serving in the King’s ships at one -time amounted to one eighth of the entire body of seamen. How it is in -the French Navy, I cannot with certainty say; but I have repeatedly -sailed with English seamen who have served in it. - -One of the effects of the free introduction of foreigners into any Navy -cannot be sufficiently deplored. During the period I lived in the -Neversink, I was repeatedly struck by the lack of patriotism in many of -my shipmates. True, they were mostly foreigners who unblushingly -avowed, that were it not for the difference of pay, they would as lief -man the guns of an English ship as those of an American or Frenchman. -Nevertheless, it was evident, that as for any high-toned patriotic -feeling, there was comparatively very little—hardly any of it—evinced -by our sailors as a body. Upon reflection, this was not to be wondered -at. From their roving career, and the sundering of all domestic ties, -many sailors, all the world over, are like the “Free Companions,” who -some centuries ago wandered over Europe, ready to fight the battles of -any prince who could purchase their swords. The only patriotism is born -and nurtured in a stationary home, and upon an immovable hearth-stone; -but the man-of-war’s-man, though in his voyagings he weds the two Poles -and brings both Indies together, yet, let him wander where he will, he -carries his one only home along with him: that home is his hammock. -“_Born under a gun, and educated on the bowsprit_,” according to a -phrase of his own, the man-of-war-man rolls round the world like a -billow, ready to mix with any sea, or be sucked down to death in the -maelstrom of any war. - -Yet more. The dread of the general discipline of a man-of-war; the -special obnoxiousness of the gangway; the protracted confinement on -board ship, with so few “liberty days;” and the pittance of pay (much -less than what can always be had in the Merchant Service), these things -contrive to deter from the navies of all countries by far the majority -of their best seamen. This will be obvious, when the following -statistical facts, taken from Macpherson’s Annals of Commerce, are -considered. At one period, upon the Peace Establishment, the number of -men employed in the English Navy was 25,000; at the same time, the -English Merchant Service was employing 118,952. But while the -necessities of a merchantman render it indispensable that the greater -part of her crew be able seamen, the circumstances of a man-of-war -admit of her mustering a crowd of landsmen, soldiers, and boys in her -service. By a statement of Captain Marryat’s, in his pamphlet (A. D. -1822) “On the Abolition of Impressment,” it appears that, at the close -of the Bonaparte wars, a full third of all the crews of his Majesty’s -fleets consisted of landsmen and boys. - -Far from entering with enthusiasm into the king’s ships when their -country were menaced, the great body of English seamen, appalled at the -discipline of the Navy, adopted unheard-of devices to escape its -press-gangs. Some even hid themselves in caves, and lonely places -inland, fearing to run the risk of seeking a berth in an outward-bound -merchantman, that might have carried them beyond sea. In the true -narrative of “John Nichol, Mariner,” published in 1822 by Blackwood in -Edinburgh, and Cadell in London, and which everywhere bears the -spontaneous impress of truth, the old sailor, in the most artless, -touching, and almost uncomplaining manner, tells of his “skulking like -a thief” for whole years in the country round about Edinburgh, to avoid -the press-gangs, prowling through the land like bandits and Burkers. At -this time (Bonaparte’s wars), according to “Steel’s List,” there were -forty-five regular press-gang stations in Great Britain.[6] - - [6] Besides this domestic kidnapping, British frigates, in friendly or - neutral harbours, in some instances pressed into their service foreign - sailors of all nations from the public wharves. In certain cases, - where Americans were concerned, when “_protections_” were found upon - their persons, these were destroyed; and to prevent the American - consul from claiming his sailor countrymen, the press-gang generally - went on shore the night previous to the sailing of the frigate, so - that the kidnapped seamen were far out to sea before they could be - missed by their friends. These things should be known; for in case the - English government again goes to war with its fleets, and should again - resort to indiscriminate impressment to man them, it is well that both - Englishmen and Americans, that all the world be prepared to put down - an iniquity outrageous and insulting to God and man. - - -In a later instance, a large body of British seamen solemnly assembled -upon the eve of an anticipated war, and together determined, that in -case of its breaking out, they would at once flee to America, to avoid -being pressed into the service of their country—a service which -degraded her own guardians at the gangway. - -At another time, long previous to this, according to an English Navy -officer, Lieutenant Tomlinson, three thousand seamen, impelled by the -same motive, fled ashore in a panic from the colliers between Yarmouth -Roads and the Nore. Elsewhere, he says, in speaking of some of the men -on board the king’s ships, that “they were most miserable objects.” -This remark is perfectly corroborated by other testimony referring to -another period. In alluding to the lamented scarcity of good English -seamen during the wars of 1808, etc., the author of a pamphlet on -“Naval Subjects” says, that all the best seamen, the steadiest and -best-behaved men, generally succeeded in avoiding the impress. This -writer was, or had been, himself a Captain in the British fleet. - -Now it may be easily imagined who are the men, and of what moral -character they are, who, even at the present day, are willing to enlist -as full-grown adults in a service so galling to all shore-manhood as -the Navy. Hence it comes that the skulkers and scoundrels of all sorts -in a man-of-war are chiefly composed not of regular seamen, but of -these “dock-lopers” of landsmen, men who enter the Navy to draw their -grog and murder their time in the notorious idleness of a frigate. But -if so idle, why not reduce the number of a man-of-war’s crew, and -reasonably keep employed the rest? It cannot be done. In the first -place, the magnitude of most of these ships requires a large number of -hands to brace the heavy yards, hoist the enormous top-sails, and weigh -the ponderous anchor. And though the occasion for the employment of so -many men comes but seldom, it is true, yet when that occasion _does_ -come—and come it may at any moment—this multitude of men are -indispensable. - -But besides this, and to crown all, the batteries must be manned. There -must be enough men to work all the guns at one time. And thus, in order -to have a sufficiency of mortals at hand to “sink, burn and destroy;” a -man-of-war, through her vices, hopelessly depraving the volunteer -landsmen and ordinary seamen of good habits, who occasionally -enlist—must feed at the public cost a multitude of persons, who, if -they did not find a home in the Navy, would probably fall on the -parish, or linger out their days in a prison. - -Among others, these are the men into whose mouths Dibdin puts his -patriotic verses, full of sea-chivalry and romance. With an exception -in the last line, they might be sung with equal propriety by both -English and American man-of-war’s-men. - - “As for me, in all weathers, all times, tides, and ends, - Naught’s a trouble from duty that springs; - For my heart is my Poll’s, and my rhino’s my friends, - And as for my life, it’s the king’s. - - - To rancour unknown, to no passion a slave, - Nor unmanly, nor mean, nor a railer,” etc. - - -I do not unite with a high critical authority in considering Dibdin’s -ditties as “slang songs,” for most of them breathe the very poetry of -the ocean. But it is remarkable that those songs—which would lead one -to think that man-of-war’s-men are the most care-free, contented, -virtuous, and patriotic of mankind—were composed at a time when the -English Navy was principally manned by felons and paupers, as mentioned -in a former chapter. Still more, these songs are pervaded by a true -Mohammedan sensualism; a reckless acquiescence in fate, and an -implicit, unquestioning, dog-like devotion to whoever may be lord and -master. Dibdin was a man of genius; but no wonder Dibdin was a -government pensioner at £200 per annum. - -But notwithstanding the iniquities of a man-of-war, men are to be found -in them, at times, so used to a hard life; so drilled and disciplined -to servitude, that, with an incomprehensible philosophy, they seem -cheerfully to resign themselves to their fate. They have plenty to eat; -spirits to drink; clothing to keep them warm; a hammock to sleep in; -tobacco to chew; a doctor to medicine them; a parson to pray for them; -and, to a penniless castaway, must not all this seem as a luxurious -Bill of Fare? - -There was on board of the Neversink a fore-top-man by the name of -Landless, who, though his back was cross-barred, and plaided with the -ineffaceable scars of all the floggings accumulated by a reckless tar -during a ten years’ service in the Navy, yet he perpetually wore a -hilarious face, and at joke and repartee was a very Joe Miller. - -That man, though a sea-vagabond, was not created in vain. He enjoyed -life with the zest of everlasting adolescence; and, though cribbed in -an oaken prison, with the turnkey sentries all round him, yet he paced -the gun-deck as if it were broad as a prairie, and diversified in -landscape as the hills and valleys of the Tyrol. Nothing ever -disconcerted him; nothing could transmute his laugh into anything like -a sigh. Those glandular secretions, which in other captives sometimes -go to the formation of tears, in _him_ were expectorated from the -mouth, tinged with the golden juice of a weed, wherewith he solaced and -comforted his ignominious days. - -“Rum and tobacco!” said Landless, “what more does a sailor want?” - -His favourite song was “_Dibdin’s True English Sailor_,” beginning, - - “Jack dances and sings, and is always content, - In his vows to his lass he’ll ne’er fail her; - His anchor’s atrip when his money’s all spent, - And this is the life of a sailor.” - - -But poor Landless danced quite as often at the gangway, under the lash, -as in the sailor dance-houses ashore. - -Another of his songs, also set to the significant tune of _The King, -God bless him!_ mustered the following lines among many similar ones: - - “Oh, when safely landed in Boston or ’York, - Oh how I will tipple and jig it; - And toss off my glass while my rhino holds out, - In drinking success to our frigate!” - - -During the many idle hours when our frigate was lying in harbour, this -man was either merrily playing at checkers, or mending his clothes, or -snoring like a trumpeter under the lee of the booms. When fast asleep, -a national salute from our batteries could hardly move him. Whether -ordered to the main-truck in a gale; or rolled by the drum to the -grog-tub; or commanded to walk up to the gratings and be lashed, -Landess always obeyed with the same invincible indifference. - -His advice to a young lad, who shipped with us at Valparaiso, embodies -the pith and marrow of that philosophy which enables some -man-of-war’s-men to wax jolly in the service. - -“_Shippy!_” said Landless, taking the pale lad by his neckerchief, as -if he had him by the halter; “Shippy, I’ve seen sarvice with Uncle -Sam—I’ve sailed in many _Andrew Millers_. Now take my advice, and steer -clear of all trouble. D’ye see, touch your tile whenever a swob -(officer) speaks to you. And never mind how much they rope’s-end you, -keep your red-rag belayed; for you must know as how they don’t fancy -sea-lawyers; and when the sarving out of slops comes round, stand up to -it stiffly; it’s only an oh Lord! Or two, and a few oh my Gods!—that’s -all. And what then? Why, you sleeps it off in a few nights, and turn -out at last all ready for your grog.” - -This Landless was a favourite with the officers, among whom he went by -the name of “_Happy Jack_.” And it is just such Happy Jacks as Landless -that most sea-officers profess to admire; a fellow without shame, -without a soul, so dead to the least dignity of manhood that he could -hardly be called a man. Whereas, a seaman who exhibits traits of moral -sensitiveness, whose demeanour shows some dignity within; this is the -man they, in many cases, instinctively dislike. The reason is, they -feel such a man to be a continual reproach to them, as being mentally -superior to their power. He has no business in a man-of-war; they do -not want such men. To them there is an insolence in his manly freedom, -contempt in his very carriage. He is unendurable, as an erect, -lofty-minded African would be to some slave-driving planter. - -Let it not be supposed, however, that the remarks in this and the -preceding chapter apply to _all_ men-of-war. There are some vessels -blessed with patriarchal, intellectual Captains, gentlemanly and -brotherly officers, and docile and Christianised crews. The peculiar -usages of such vessels insensibly softens the tyrannical rigour of the -Articles of War; in them, scourging is unknown. To sail in such ships -is hardly to realise that you live under the martial law, or that the -evils above mentioned can anywhere exist. - -And Jack Chase, old Ushant, and several more fine tars that might be -added, sufficiently attest, that in the Neversink at least, there was -more than one noble man-of-war’s-man who almost redeemed all the rest. - -Wherever, throughout this narrative, the American Navy, in any of its -bearings, has formed the theme of a general discussion, hardly one -syllable of admiration for what is accounted illustrious in its -achievements has been permitted to escape me. The reason is this: I -consider, that so far as what is called military renown is concerned, -the American Navy needs no eulogist but History. It were superfluous -for White-Jacket to tell the world what it knows already. The office -imposed upon me is of another cast; and, though I foresee and feel that -it may subject me to the pillory in the hard thoughts of some men, yet, -supported by what God has given me, I tranquilly abide the event, -whatever it may prove. - - - - -CHAPTER XCI. -SMOKING-CLUB IN A MAN-OF-WAR, WITH SCENES ON THE GUN-DECK DRAWING NEAR -HOME. - - -There is a fable about a painter moved by Jove to the painting of the -head of Medusa. Though the picture was true to the life, yet the poor -artist sickened at the sight of what his forced pencil had drawn. Thus, -borne through my task toward the end, my own soul now sinks at what I -myself have portrayed. But let us forget past chapters, if we may, -while we paint less repugnant things. - -Metropolitan gentlemen have their club; provincial gossipers their -news-room; village quidnuncs their barber’s shop; the Chinese their -opium-houses; American Indians their council-fire; and even cannibals -their _Noojona_, or Talk-Stone, where they assemble at times to discuss -the affairs of the day. Nor is there any government, however despotic, -that ventures to deny to the least of its subjects the privilege of a -sociable chat. Not the Thirty Tyrants even—the clubbed post-captains of -old Athens—could stop the wagging tongues at the street-corners. For -chat man must; and by our immortal Bill of Rights, that guarantees to -us liberty of speech, chat we Yankees will, whether on board a frigate, -or on board our own terra-firma plantations. - -In men-of-war, the Galley, or Cookery, on the gun-deck, is the grand -centre of gossip and news among the sailors. Here crowds assemble to -chat away the half-hour elapsing after every meal. The reason why this -place and these hours are selected rather than others is this: in the -neighbourhood of the galley alone, and only after meals, is the -man-of-war’s-man permitted to regale himself with a smoke. - -A sumptuary edict, truly, that deprived White-Jacket, for one, of a -luxury to which he had long been attached. For how can the mystical -motives, the capricious impulses of a luxurious smoker go and come at -the beck of a Commodore’s command? No! when I smoke, be it because of -my sovereign good pleasure I choose so to do, though at so unseasonable -an hour that I send round the town for a brasier of coals. What! smoke -by a sun-dial? Smoke on compulsion? Make a trade, a business, a vile -recurring calling of smoking? And, perhaps, when those sedative fumes -have steeped you in the grandest of reveries, and, circle over circle, -solemnly rises some immeasurable dome in your soul—far away, swelling -and heaving into the vapour you raise—as if from one Mozart’s grandest -marches of a temple were rising, like Venus from the sea—at such a -time, to have your whole Parthenon tumbled about your ears by the knell -of the ship’s bell announcing the expiration of the half-hour for -smoking! Whip me, ye Furies! toast me in saltpetre! smite me, some -thunderbolt! charge upon me, endless squadrons of Mamalukes! devour me, -Feejees! but preserve me from a tyranny like this! - -No! though I smoked like an Indian summer ere I entered the Neversink, -so abhorrent was this sumptuary law that I altogether abandoned the -luxury rather than enslave it to a time and a place. Herein did I not -right, Ancient and Honourable Old Guard of Smokers all round the world? - -But there were others of the crew not so fastidious as myself. After -every meal, they hied to the galley and solaced their souls with a -whiff. - -Now a bunch of cigars, all banded together, is a type and a symbol of -the brotherly love between smokers. Likewise, for the time, in a -community of pipes is a community of hearts! Nor was it an ill thing -for the Indian Sachems to circulate their calumet tobacco-bowl—even as -our own forefathers circulated their punch-bowl—in token of peace, -charity, and good-will, friendly feelings, and sympathising souls. And -this it was that made the gossipers of the galley so loving a club, so -long as the vapoury bond united them. - -It was a pleasant sight to behold them. Grouped in the recesses between -the guns, they chatted and laughed like rows of convivialists in the -boxes of some vast dining-saloon. Take a Flemish kitchen full of good -fellows from Teniers; add a fireside group from Wilkie; throw in a -naval sketch from Cruickshank; and then stick a short pipe into every -mother’s son’s mouth, and you have the smoking scene at the galley of -the Neversink. - -Not a few were politicians; and, as there were some thoughts of a war -with England at the time, their discussions waxed warm. - -“I tell you what it is, _shippies!_” cried the old captain of gun No. 1 -on the forecastle, “if that ’ere President of ourn don’t luff up into -the wind, by the Battle of the Nile! he’ll be getting us into a grand -fleet engagement afore the Yankee nation has rammed home her -cartridges—let alone blowing the match!” - -“Who talks of luffing?” roared a roystering fore-top-man. “Keep our -Yankee nation large before the wind, say I, till you come plump on the -enemy’s bows, and then board him in the smoke,” and with that, there -came forth a mighty blast from his pipe. - -“Who says the old man at the helm of the Yankee nation can’t steer his -_trick_ as well as George Washington himself?” cried a -sheet-anchor-man. - -“But they say he’s a cold-water customer, Bill,” cried another; “and -sometimes o’ nights I somehow has a presentation that he’s goin’ to -stop our grog.” - -“D’ye hear there, fore and aft!” roared the boatswain’s mate at the -gangway, “all hands tumble up, and ’bout ship!” - -“That’s the talk!” cried the captain of gun No. 1, as, in obedience to -the summons, all hands dropped their pipes and crowded toward the -ladders, “and that’s what the President must do—go in stays, my lads, -and put the Yankee nation on the other tack.” - -But these political discussions by no means supplied the staple of -conversation for the gossiping smokers of the galley. The interior -affairs of the frigate itself formed their principal theme. Rumours -about the private life of the Commodore in his cabin; about the -Captain, in his; about the various officers in the ward-room; about the -_reefers_ in the steerage, and their madcap frolickings, and about a -thousand other matters touching the crew themselves; all these—forming -the eternally shifting, domestic by-play of a man-of-war—proved -inexhaustible topics for our quidnuncs. - -The animation of these scenes was very much heightened as we drew -nearer and nearer our port; it rose to a climax when the frigate was -reported to be only twenty-four hours’ sail from the land. What they -should do when they landed; how they should invest their wages; what -they should eat; what they should drink; and what lass they should -marry—these were the topics which absorbed them. - -“Sink the sea!” cried a forecastle man. “Once more ashore, and you’ll -never again catch old Boombolt afloat. I mean to settle down in a -sail-loft.” - -“Cable-tier pinchers blister all tarpaulin hats!” cried a young -after-guard’s-man; “I mean to go back to the counter.” - -“Shipmates! take me by the arms, and swab up the lee-scuppers with me, -but I mean to steer a clam-cart before I go again to a ship’s wheel. -Let the Navy go by the board—to sea again, I won’t!” - -“Start my soul-bolts, maties, if any more Blue Peters and sailing -signals fly at my fore!” cried the Captain of the Head. “My wages will -buy a wheelbarrow, if nothing more.” - -“I have taken my last dose of salts,” said the Captain of the Waist, -“and after this mean to stick to fresh water. Ay, maties, ten of us -Waisters mean to club together and buy a _serving-mallet boat_, d’ye -see; and if ever we drown, it will be in the ‘raging canal!’ Blast the -sea, shipmates! say I.” - -“Profane not the holy element!” said Lemsford, the poet of the -gun-deck, leaning over a cannon. “Know ye not, man-of-war’s-men! that -by the Parthian magi the ocean was held sacred? Did not Tiridates, the -Eastern monarch, take an immense land circuit to avoid desecrating the -Mediterranean, in order to reach his imperial master, Nero, and do -homage for his crown?” - -“What lingo is that?” cried the Captain of the Waist. - -“Who’s Commodore Tiddery-eye?” cried the forecastle-man. - -“Hear me out,” resumed Lemsford. “Like Tiridates, I venerate the sea, -and venerate it so highly, shipmates, that evermore I shall abstain -from crossing it. In _that_ sense, Captain of the Waist, I echo your -cry.” - -It was, indeed, a remarkable fact, that nine men out of every ten of -the Neversink’s crew had formed some plan or other to keep themselves -ashore for life, or, at least, on fresh water, after the expiration of -the present cruise. With all the experiences of that cruise accumulated -in one intense recollection of a moment; with the smell of tar in their -nostrils; out of sight of land; with a stout ship under foot, and -snuffing the ocean air; with all the things of the sea surrounding -them; in their cool, sober moments of reflection; in the silence and -solitude of the deep, during the long night-watches, when all their -holy home associations were thronging round their hearts; in the -spontaneous piety and devotion of the last hours of so long a voyage; -in the fullness and the frankness of their souls; when there was naught -to jar the well-poised equilibrium of their judgment—under all these -circumstances, at least nine tenths of a crew of five hundred -man-of-war’s-men resolved for ever to turn their backs on the sea. But -do men ever hate the thing they love? Do men forswear the hearth and -the homestead? What, then, must the Navy be? - -But, alas for the man-of-war’s-man, who, though he may take a Hannibal -oath against the service; yet, cruise after cruise, and after -forswearing it again and again, he is driven back to the spirit-tub and -the gun-deck by his old hereditary foe, the ever-devilish god of grog. - -On this point, let some of the crew of the Neversink be called to the -stand. - -You, Captain of the Waist! and you, seamen of the fore-top! and you, -after-guard’s-men and others! how came you here at the guns of the -North Carolina, after registering your solemn vows at the galley of the -Neversink? - -They all hang their heads. I know the cause; poor fellows! perjure -yourselves not again; swear not at all hereafter. - -Ay, these very tars—the foremost in denouncing the Navy; who had bound -themselves by the most tremendous oaths—these very men, not three days -after getting ashore, were rolling round the streets in penniless -drunkenness; and next day many of them were to be found on board of the -_guardo_ or receiving-ship. Thus, in part, is the Navy manned. - -But what was still more surprising, and tended to impart a new and -strange insight into the character of sailors, and overthrow some -long-established ideas concerning them as a class, was this: numbers of -men who, during the cruise, had passed for exceedingly prudent, nay, -parsimonious persons, who would even refuse you a patch, or a needleful -of thread, and, from their stinginess, procured the name of -_Ravelings_—no sooner were these men fairly adrift in harbour, and -under the influence of frequent quaffings, than their -three-years’-earned wages flew right and left; they summoned whole -boarding-houses of sailors to the bar, and treated them over and over -again. Fine fellows! generous-hearted tars! Seeing this sight, I -thought to myself, Well, these generous-hearted tars on shore were the -greatest curmudgeons afloat! it’s the bottle that’s generous, not they! -Yet the popular conceit concerning a sailor is derived from his -behaviour ashore; whereas, ashore he is no longer a sailor, but a -landsman for the time. A man-of-war’s-man is only a man-of-war’s-man at -sea; and the sea is the place to learn what he is. But we have seen -that a man-of-war is but this old-fashioned world of ours afloat, full -of all manner of characters—full of strange contradictions; and though -boasting some fine fellows here and there, yet, upon the whole, charged -to the combings of her hatchways with the spirit of Belial and all -unrighteousness. - - - - -CHAPTER XCII. -THE LAST OF THE JACKET. - - -Already has White-Jacket chronicled the mishaps and inconveniences, -troubles and tribulations of all sorts brought upon him by that -unfortunate but indispensable garment of his. But now it befalls him to -record how this jacket, for the second and last time, came near proving -his shroud. - -Of a pleasant midnight, our good frigate, now somewhere off the Capes -of Virginia, was running on bravely, when the breeze, gradually dying, -left us slowly gliding toward our still invisible port. - -Headed by Jack Chase, the quarter-watch were reclining in the top, -talking about the shore delights into which they intended to plunge, -while our captain often broke in with allusions to similar -conversations when he was on board the English line-of-battle ship, the -Asia, drawing nigh to Portsmouth, in England, after the battle of -Navarino. - -Suddenly an order was given to set the main-top-gallant-stun’-sail, and -the halyards not being rove, Jack Chase assigned to me that duty. Now -this reeving of the halyards of a main-top-gallant-stun’-sail is a -business that eminently demands sharpsightedness, skill, and celerity. - -Consider that the end of a line, some two hundred feet long, is to be -carried aloft, in your teeth, if you please, and dragged far out on the -giddiest of yards, and after being wormed and twisted about through all -sorts of intricacies—turning abrupt corners at the abruptest of -angles—is to be dropped, clear of all obstructions, in a straight -plumb-line right down to the deck. In the course of this business, -there is a multitude of sheeve-holes and blocks, through which you must -pass it; often the rope is a very tight fit, so as to make it like -threading a fine cambric needle with rather coarse thread. Indeed, it -is a thing only deftly to be done, even by day. Judge, then, what it -must be to be threading cambric needles by night, and at sea, upward of -a hundred feet aloft in the air. - -With the end of the line in one hand, I was mounting the top-mast -shrouds, when our Captain of the Top told me that I had better off -jacket; but though it was not a very cold night, I had been reclining -so long in the top, that I had become somewhat chilly, so I thought -best not to comply with the hint. - -Having reeved the line through all the inferior blocks, I went out with -it to the end of the weather-top-gallant-yard-arm, and was in the act -of leaning over and passing it through the suspended jewel-block there, -when the ship gave a plunge in the sudden swells of the calm sea, and -pitching me still further over the yard, threw the heavy skirts of my -jacket right over my head, completely muffling me. Somehow I thought it -was the sail that had flapped, and, under that impression, threw up my -hands to drag it from my head, relying upon the sail itself to support -me meanwhile. Just then the ship gave another sudden jerk, and, -head-foremost, I pitched from the yard. I knew where I was, from the -rush of the air by my ears, but all else was a nightmare. A bloody film -was before my eyes, through which, ghost-like, passed and repassed my -father, mother, and sisters. An utterable nausea oppressed me; I was -conscious of gasping; there seemed no breath in my body. It was over -one hundred feet that I fell—down, down, with lungs collapsed as in -death. Ten thousand pounds of shot seemed tied to my head, as the -irresistible law of gravitation dragged me, head foremost and straight -as a die, toward the infallible centre of this terraqueous globe. All I -had seen, and read, and heard, and all I had thought and felt in my -life, seemed intensified in one fixed idea in my soul. But dense as -this idea was, it was made up of atoms. Having fallen from the -projecting yard-arm end, I was conscious of a collected satisfaction in -feeling, that I should not be dashed on the deck, but would sink into -the speechless profound of the sea. - -With the bloody, blind film before my eyes, there was a still stranger -hum in my head, as if a hornet were there; and I thought to myself, -Great God! this is Death! Yet these thoughts were unmixed with alarm. -Like frost-work that flashes and shifts its scared hues in the sun, all -my braided, blended emotions were in themselves icy cold and calm. - -So protracted did my fall seem, that I can even now recall the feeling -of wondering how much longer it would be, ere all was over and I -struck. Time seemed to stand still, and all the worlds seemed poised on -their poles, as I fell, soul-becalmed, through the eddying whirl and -swirl of the maelstrom air. - -At first, as I have said, I must have been precipitated head-foremost; -but I was conscious, at length, of a swift, flinging motion of my -limbs, which involuntarily threw themselves out, so that at last I must -have fallen in a heap. This is more likely, from the circumstance, that -when I struck the sea, I felt as if some one had smote me slantingly -across the shoulder and along part of my right side. - -As I gushed into the sea, a thunder-boom sounded in my ear; my soul -seemed flying from my mouth. The feeling of death flooded over me with -the billows. The blow from the sea must have turned me, so that I sank -almost feet foremost through a soft, seething foamy lull. Some current -seemed hurrying me away; in a trance I yielded, and sank deeper down -with a glide. Purple and pathless was the deep calm now around me, -flecked by summer lightnings in an azure afar. The horrible nausea was -gone; the bloody, blind film turned a pale green; I wondered whether I -was yet dead, or still dying. But of a sudden some fashionless form -brushed my side—some inert, coiled fish of the sea; the thrill of being -alive again tingled in my nerves, and the strong shunning of death -shocked me through. - -For one instant an agonising revulsion came over me as I found myself -utterly sinking. Next moment the force of my fall was expanded; and -there I hung, vibrating in the mid-deep. What wild sounds then rang in -my ear! One was a soft moaning, as of low waves on the beach; the other -wild and heartlessly jubilant, as of the sea in the height of a -tempest. Oh soul! thou then heardest life and death: as he who stands -upon the Corinthian shore hears both the Ionian and the Aegean waves. -The life-and-death poise soon passed; and then I found myself slowly -ascending, and caught a dim glimmering of light. - -Quicker and quicker I mounted; till at last I bounded up like a buoy, -and my whole head was bathed in the blessed air. - -I had fallen in a line with the main-mast; I now found myself nearly -abreast of the mizzen-mast, the frigate slowly gliding by like a black -world in the water. Her vast hull loomed out of the night, showing -hundreds of seamen in the hammock-nettings, some tossing over ropes, -others madly flinging overboard the hammocks; but I was too far out -from them immediately to reach what they threw. I essayed to swim -toward the ship; but instantly I was conscious of a feeling like being -pinioned in a feather-bed, and, moving my hands, felt my jacket puffed -out above my tight girdle with water. I strove to tear it off; but it -was looped together here and there, and the strings were not then to be -sundered by hand. I whipped out my knife, that was tucked at my belt, -and ripped my jacket straight up and down, as if I were ripping open -myself. With a violent struggle I then burst out of it, and was free. -Heavily soaked, it slowly sank before my eyes. - -Sink! sink! oh shroud! thought I; sink forever! accursed jacket that -thou art! - -“See that white shark!” cried a horrified voice from the taffrail; -“he’ll have that man down his hatchway! Quick! the _grains!_ the -_grains!_” - -The next instant that barbed bunch of harpoons pierced through and -through the unfortunate jacket, and swiftly sped down with it out of -sight. - -Being now astern of the frigate, I struck out boldly toward the -elevated pole of one of the life-buoys which had been cut away. Soon -after, one of the cutters picked me up. As they dragged me out of the -water into the air, the sudden transition of elements made my every -limb feel like lead, and I helplessly sunk into the bottom of the boat. - -Ten minutes after, I was safe on board, and, springing aloft, was -ordered to reeve anew the stun’-sail-halyards, which, slipping through -the blocks when I had let go the end, had unrove and fallen to the -deck. - -The sail was soon set; and, as if purposely to salute it, a gentle -breeze soon came, and the Neversink once more glided over the water, a -soft ripple at her bows, and leaving a tranquil wake behind. - - - - -CHAPTER XCIII. -CABLE AND ANCHOR ALL CLEAR. - - -And now that the white jacket has sunk to the bottom of the sea, and -the blessed Capes of Virginia are believed to be broad on our -bow—though still out of sight—our five hundred souls are fondly -dreaming of home, and the iron throats of the guns round the galley -re-echo with their songs and hurras—what more remains? - -Shall I tell what conflicting and almost crazy surmisings prevailed -concerning the precise harbour for which we were bound? For, according -to rumour, our Commodore had received sealed orders touching that -matter, which were not to be broken open till we gained a precise -latitude of the coast. Shall I tell how, at last, all this uncertainty -departed, and many a foolish prophecy was proved false, when our noble -frigate—her longest pennant at her main—wound her stately way into the -innermost harbour of Norfolk, like a plumed Spanish Grandee threading -the corridors of the Escurial toward the throne-room within? Shall I -tell how we kneeled upon the holy soil? How I begged a blessing of old -Ushant, and one precious hair of his beard for a keepsake? How -Lemsford, the gun-deck bard, offered up a devout ode as a prayer of -thanksgiving? How saturnine Nord, the magnifico in disguise, refusing -all companionship, stalked off into the woods, like the ghost of an old -Calif of Bagdad? How I swayed and swung the hearty hand of Jack Chase, -and nipped it to mine with a Carrick bend; yea, and kissed that noble -hand of my liege lord and captain of my top, my sea-tutor and sire? - -Shall I tell how the grand Commodore and Captain drove off from the -pier-head? How the Lieutenants, in undress, sat down to their last -dinner in the ward-room, and the champagne, packed in ice, spirted and -sparkled like the Hot Springs out of a snow-drift in Iceland? How the -Chaplain went off in his cassock, without bidding the people adieu? How -shrunken Cuticle, the Surgeon, stalked over the side, the wired -skeleton carried in his wake by his cot-boy? How the Lieutenant of -Marines sheathed his sword on the poop, and, calling for wax and a -taper, sealed the end of the scabbard with his family crest and -motto—_Denique Coelum?_ How the Purser in due time mustered his -money-bags, and paid us all off on the quarter-deck—good and bad, sick -and well, all receiving their wages; though, truth to tell, some -reckless, improvident seamen, who had lived too fast during the cruise, -had little or nothing now standing on the credit side of their Purser’s -accounts? - -Shall I tell of the Retreat of the Five Hundred inland; not, alas! in -battle-array, as at quarters, but scattered broadcast over the land? - -Shall I tell how the Neversink was at last stripped of spars, shrouds, -and sails—had her guns hoisted out—her powder-magazine, shot-lockers, -and armouries discharged—till not one vestige of a fighting thing was -left in her, from furthest stem to uttermost stern? - -No! let all this go by; for our anchor still hangs from our bows, -though its eager flukes dip their points in the impatient waves. Let us -leave the ship on the sea—still with the land out of sight—still with -brooding darkness on the face of the deep. I love an indefinite, -infinite background—a vast, heaving, rolling, mysterious rear! - -It is night. The meagre moon is in her last quarter—that betokens the -end of a cruise that is passing. But the stars look forth in their -everlasting brightness—and _that_ is the everlasting, glorious Future, -for ever beyond us. - -We main-top-men are all aloft in the top; and round our mast we circle, -a brother-band, hand in hand, all spliced together. We have reefed the -last top-sail; trained the last gun; blown the last match; bowed to the -last blast; been tranced in the last calm. We have mustered our last -round the capstan; been rolled to grog the last time; for the last time -swung in our hammocks; for the last time turned out at the sea-gull -call of the watch. We have seen our last man scourged at the gangway; -our last man gasp out the ghost in the stifling Sick-bay; our last man -tossed to the sharks. Our last death-denouncing Article of War has been -read; and far inland, in that blessed clime whither-ward our frigate -now glides, the last wrong in our frigate will be remembered no more; -when down from our main-mast comes our Commodore’s pennant, when down -sinks its shooting stars from the sky. - -“By the mark, nine!” sings the hoary old leadsman, in the chains. And -thus, the mid-world Equator passed, our frigate strikes soundings at -last. - -Hand in hand we top-mates stand, rocked in our Pisgah top. And over the -starry waves, and broad out into the blandly blue and boundless night, -spiced with strange sweets from the long-sought land—the whole long -cruise predestinated ours, though often in tempest-time we almost -refused to believe in that far-distant shore—straight out into that -fragrant night, ever-noble Jack Chase, matchless and unmatchable Jack -Chase stretches forth his bannered hand, and, pointing shoreward, -cries: “For the last time, hear Camoens, boys!” - - “How calm the waves, how mild the balmy gale! - The Halcyons call, ye Lusians spread the sail! - Appeased, old Ocean now shall rage no more; - Haste, point our bowsprit for yon shadowy shore. - Soon shall the transports of your natal soil - O’erwhelm in bounding joy the thoughts of every toil.” - - -THE END. - - -As a man-of-war that sails through the sea, so this earth that sails -through the air. We mortals are all on board a fast-sailing, -never-sinking world-frigate, of which God was the shipwright; and she -is but one craft in a Milky-Way fleet, of which God is the Lord High -Admiral. The port we sail from is for ever astern. And though far out -of sight of land, for ages and ages we continue to sail with sealed -orders, and our last destination remains a secret to ourselves and our -officers; yet our final haven was predestinated ere we slipped from the -stocks at Creation. - -Thus sailing with sealed orders, we ourselves are the repositories of -the secret packet, whose mysterious contents we long to learn. There -are no mysteries out of ourselves. But let us not give ear to the -superstitious, gun-deck gossip about whither we may be gliding, for, as -yet, not a soul on board of us knows—not even the Commodore himself; -assuredly not the Chaplain; even our Professor’s scientific surmisings -are vain. On that point, the smallest cabin-boy is as wise as the -Captain. And believe not the hypochondriac dwellers below hatches, who -will tell you, with a sneer, that our world-frigate is bound to no -final harbour whatever; that our voyage will prove an endless -circumnavigation of space. Not so. For how can this world-frigate prove -our eventual abiding place, when upon our first embarkation, as infants -in arms, her violent rolling—in after life unperceived—makes every soul -of us sea-sick? Does not this show, too, that the very air we here -inhale is uncongenial, and only becomes endurable at last through -gradual habituation, and that some blessed, placid haven, however -remote at present, must be in store for us all? - -Glance fore and aft our flush decks. What a swarming crew! All told, -they muster hard upon eight hundred millions of souls. Over these we -have authoritative Lieutenants, a sword-belted Officer of Marines, a -Chaplain, a Professor, a Purser, a Doctor, a Cook, a Master-at-arms. - -Oppressed by illiberal laws, and partly oppressed by themselves, many -of our people are wicked, unhappy, inefficient. We have skulkers and -idlers all round, and brow-beaten waisters, who, for a pittance, do our -craft’s shabby work. Nevertheless, among our people we have gallant -fore, main, and mizzen top-men aloft, who, well treated or ill, still -trim our craft to the blast. - -We have a _brig_ for trespassers; a bar by our main-mast, at which they -are arraigned; a cat-o’-nine-tails and a gangway, to degrade them in -their own eyes and in ours. These are not always employed to convert -Sin to Virtue, but to divide them, and protect Virtue and legalised Sin -from unlegalised Vice. - -We have a Sick-bay for the smitten and helpless, whither we hurry them -out of sight, and however they may groan beneath hatches, we hear -little of their tribulations on deck; we still sport our gay streamer -aloft. Outwardly regarded, our craft is a lie; for all that is -outwardly seen of it is the clean-swept deck, and oft-painted planks -comprised above the waterline; whereas, the vast mass of our fabric, -with all its storerooms of secrets, for ever slides along far under the -surface. - -When a shipmate dies, straightway we sew him up, and overboard he goes; -our world-frigate rushes by, and never more do we behold him again; -though, sooner or later, the everlasting under-tow sweeps him toward -our own destination. - -We have both a quarter-deck to our craft and a gun-deck; subterranean -shot-lockers and gunpowder magazines; and the Articles of War form our -domineering code. - -Oh, shipmates and world-mates, all round! we the people suffer many -abuses. Our gun-deck is full of complaints. In vain from Lieutenants do -we appeal to the Captain; in vain—while on board our world-frigate—to -the indefinite Navy Commissioners, so far out of sight aloft. Yet the -worst of our evils we blindly inflict upon ourselves; our officers -cannot remove them, even if they would. From the last ills no being can -save another; therein each man must be his own saviour. For the rest, -whatever befall us, let us never train our murderous guns inboard; let -us not mutiny with bloody pikes in our hands. Our Lord High Admiral -will yet interpose; and though long ages should elapse, and leave our -wrongs unredressed, yet, shipmates and world-mates! let us never -forget, that, - - Whoever afflict us, whatever surround, - Life is a voyage that’s homeward-bound! - -THE END - - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHITE-JACKET *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where - you are located before using this eBook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that: - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without -widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - |