White Jacket; Or, The World on a Man-of-War

by Herman Melville

  CHAPTER LIV.

  "THE PEOPLE" ARE GIVEN "LIBERTY."

  Whenever, in intervals of mild benevolence, or yielding to mere politicdictates, Kings and Commodores relax the yoke of servitude, they shouldsee 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 daycaptive in his audience at the mast, yet more than thirty-six hourselapsed ere anything official was heard of the "liberty" his shipmatesso 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'vestruck for liberty, and liberty we'll have! I'm your tribune, boys; I'myour Rienzi. The Commodore must keep his word."

  Next day, about breakfast-time, a mighty whistling and piping was heardat the main-hatchway, and presently the boatswain's voice was heard:"D'ye hear there, fore and aft! all you starboard-quarter watch! getready to go ashore on liberty!"

  In a paroxysm of delight, a young mizzen-top-man, standing by at thetime, whipped the tarpaulin from his head, and smashed it like apancake on the deck. "Liberty!" he shouted, leaping down into theberth-deck after his bag.

  At the appointed hour, the quarter-watch mustered round the capstan, atwhich stood our old First Lord of the Treasury and Pay-Master-General,the Purser, with several goodly buck-skin bags of dollars, piled up onthe capstan. He helped us all round to half a handful or so, and thenthe boats were manned, and, like so many Esterhazys, we were pulledashore by our shipmates. All their lives lords may live in listlessstate; but give the commoners a holiday, and they outlord the Commodorehimself.

  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 togarrison the frigate--the term of liberty for each being twenty-fourhours.

  With Jack Chase and a few other discreet and gentlemanly top-men, Iwent ashore on the first day, with the first quarter-watch. Our ownlittle party had a charming time; we saw many fine sights; fell in--asall sailors must--with dashing adventures. But, though not a few goodchapters might be written on this head, I must again forbear; for inthis book I have nothing to do with the shore further than to glance atit, now and then, from the water; my man-of-war world alone must supplyme with the staple of my matter; I have taken an oath to keep afloat tothe last letter of my narrative.

  Had they all been as punctual as Jack Chase's party, the wholequarter-watch of liberty-men had been safe on board the frigate at theexpiration of the twenty-four hours. But this was not the case; andduring the entire day succeeding, the midshipmen and others wereengaged in ferreting them out of their hiding-places on shore, andbringing them off in scattered detachments to the ship.

  They came in all imaginable stages of intoxication; some with blackenedeyes and broken heads; some still more severely injured, having beenstabbed in frays with the Portuguese soldiers. Others, unharmed, wereimmediately dropped on the gun-deck, between the guns, where they laysnoring for the rest of the day. As a considerable degree of license isinvariably permitted to man-of-war's-men just "off liberty," and asman-of-war's-men well know this to be the case, they occasionally availthemselves of the privilege to talk very frankly to the officers whenthey first cross the gangway, taking care, meanwhile, to reel aboutvery industriously, so that there shall be no doubt about their beingseriously intoxicated, and altogether _non compos_ for the time. Andthough but few of them have cause to feign intoxication, yet someindividuals may be suspected of enacting a studied part upon theseoccasions. Indeed--judging by certain symptoms--even when reallyinebriated, some of the sailors must have previously determined upontheir conduct; just as some persons who, before taking the exhilaratinggas, secretly make up their minds to perform certain mad feats whileunder its influence, which feats consequently come to pass precisely asif 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 thana frigate; the gun-deck resounded with frantic fights, shouts, andsongs. All visitors from shore were kept at a cable's length.

  These scenes, however, are nothing to those which have repeatedly beenenacted in American men-of-war upon other stations. But the custom ofintroducing women on board, in harbour, is now pretty muchdiscontinued, 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 ather anchors at Spithead, carried down three hundred English women amongthe 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. Themen looked jaded and wan, lethargic and lazy; and many an old mariner,with hand upon abdomen, called upon the Flag-staff to witness thatthere were more _hot coppers_ in the Neversink than those in the ship'sgalley.

  Such are the lamentable effects of suddenly and completely releasing"_the people_" of a man-of-war from arbitrary discipline. It showsthat, to such, "liberty," at first, must be administered in small andmoderate quantities, increasing with the patient's capacity to makegood use of it.

  Of course while we lay in Rio, our officers frequently went ashore forpleasure, and, as a general thing, conducted themselves with propriety.But it is a sad thing to say, that, as for Lieutenant Mad Jack, heenjoyed himself so delightfully for three consecutive days in the town,that, upon returning to the ship, he sent his card to the Surgeon, withhis compliments, begging him to drop into his state-room the first timehe happened to pass that way in the ward-room.

  But one of our Surgeon's mates, a young medico of fine family butslender fortune, must have created by far the strongest impressionamong the hidalgoes of Rio. He had read Don Quixote, and, instead ofcuring him of his Quixotism, as it ought to have done, it only made himstill more Quixotic. Indeed, there are some natures concerning whosemoral maladies the grand maxim of Mr. Similia Similibus CuranturHahneman does not hold true, since, with them, _like cures_ not _like_,but only aggravates _like_. Though, on the other hand, so incurable arethe 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 hisblue cloth boat-cloak, wearing it, with a gallant Spanish toss, overhis cavalier shoulder. By noon, he perspired very freely; but then hiscloak attracted all eyes, and that was huge satisfaction. Nevertheless,his being knock-kneed, and spavined of one leg, sorely impaired theeffect of this hidalgo cloak, which, by-the-way, was some-what rusty infront, where his chin rubbed against it, and a good deal bedraggled allover, from his having used it as a counterpane off Cape Horn.

  As for the midshipmen, there is no knowing what their mammas would havesaid 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 intheir hammocks, to cut short their obstreperous capers till sober.

  This shows how unwise it is to allow children yet in their teens towander so far from home. It more especially illustrates the folly ofgiving them long holidays in a foreign land, full of seductivedissipation. Port for men, claret for boys, cried Dr. Johnson. Even so,men only should drink the strong drink of travel; boys should still bekept on milk and water at home. Middies! you may despise your mother'sleading-strings, but they are the _man-ropes_ my lads, by which manyyoungsters have steadied the giddiness of youth, and saved themselvesfrom lamentable falls. And middies! know this, that as infants, beingtoo early put on their feet, grow up bandy-legged, and curtailed oftheir fair proportions, even so, my dear middies, does it morally provewith some of you, w
ho prematurely are sent off to sea.

  These admonitions are solely addressed to the more diminutive class ofmidshipmen--those under five feet high, and under seven stone in weight.

  Truly, the records of the steerages of men-of-war are full of mostmelancholy examples of early dissipation, disease, disgrace, and death.Answer, ye shades of fine boys, who in the soils of all climes, theround world over, far away sleep from your homes.

  Mothers of men! If your hearts have been cast down when your boys havefallen in the way of temptations ashore, how much more bursting yourgrief, did you know that those boys were far from your arms, cabinedand cribbed in by all manner of iniquities. But this some of you cannotbelieve. It is, perhaps, well that it is so.

  But hold them fast--all those who have not yet weighed their anchorsfor the Navy-round and round, hitch over hitch, bind yourleading-strings on them, and clinching a ring-bolt into yourchimmey-jam, moor your boys fast to that best of harbours, thehearth-stone.

  But if youth be giddy, old age is staid; even as young saplings, in thelitheness of their limbs, toss to their roots in the fresh morning air;but, stiff and unyielding with age, mossy trunks never bend. With prideand pleasure be it said, that, as for our old Commodore, though hemight treat himself to as many "_liberty days_" as he pleased, yetthroughout our stay in Rio he conducted himself with the utmostdiscretion.

  But he was an old, old man; physically, a very small man; his spine wasas an unloaded musket-barrel--not only attenuated, but destitute of asolitary cartridge, and his ribs were as the ribs of a weasel.

  Besides, he was Commodore of the fleet, supreme lord of the Commons inBlue. It beseemed him, therefore, to erect himself into an ensample ofvirtue, and show the gun-deck what virtue was. But alas! when Virtuesits high aloft on a frigate's poop, when Virtue is crowned in thecabin a Commodore, when Virtue rules by compulsion, and domineers overVice as a slave, then Virtue, though her mandates be outwardlyobserved, bears little interior sway. To be efficacious, Virtue mustcome down from aloft, even as our blessed Redeemer came down to redeemour whole man-of-war world; to that end, mixing with its sailors andsinners as equals.