The Project Gutenberg EBook of White Jacket, by Herman Melville

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Title: White Jacket
or, the World on a Man-of-War

Author: Herman Melville

Posting Date: March 9, 2010 [EBook #10712]
Release Date: January 13, 2004

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHITE JACKET ***

Produced by Geoff Palmer. HTML version by Al Haines.

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.

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 A