- description
- # CHAPTER XV. CHIPS AND BUNGS
## Overview
"CHAPTER XV. CHIPS AND BUNGS" is a chapter from Herman Melville's novel, [Omoo: Adventures in the South Seas](arke:01KG8AJ7VM7B8YZ2568YF8PQ5J). It spans lines 1967 to 2028 of the source text and was extracted on January 30, 2026.
## Context
This chapter is part of the novel [Omoo: Adventures in the South Seas](arke:01KG8AJ7VM7B8YZ2568YF8PQ5J), which is included in the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. The text for this chapter was extracted from the digital file [omoo.txt](arke:01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ). It follows [CHAPTER XIV. ROPE YARN](arke:01KG8AJH07MQM35VETZATZ3R3R3G) and precedes [CHAPTER XVI. WE ENCOUNTER A GALE](arke:01KG8AJH07TJCJFETBWFNY1DEZ).
## Contents
The chapter details the drinking habits of two shipmates, Chips and Bungs, who are known as "the Partners." It describes their discreet method of obtaining Pisco from casks in the after-hatchway, involving the cooper's ingenuity to access the liquor. The narrative also highlights Bungs's particular state of "just about right" inebriation and his amusing, albeit erroneous, patriotic displays concerning Lord Nelson when interacting with Dunk, a Danish sailor.
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:49:09.772Z
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- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- CHAPTER XV. CHIPS AND BUNGS
- end_line
- 2028
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- 2026-01-30T20:47:33.380Z
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- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 1967
- text
- CHAPTER XV.
CHIPS AND BUNGS
Bound into port, Chips and Bungs increased their devotion to the
bottle; and, to the unspeakable envy of the rest, these jolly
companions—or “the Partners,” as the men called them—rolled about deck,
day after day, in the merriest mood imaginable.
But jolly as they were in the main, two more discreet tipplers it would
be hard to find. No one ever saw them take anything, except when the
regular allowance was served out by the steward; and to make them quite
sober and sensible, you had only to ask them how they contrived to keep
otherwise. Some time after, however, their secret leaked out.
The casks of Pisco were kept down the after-hatchway, which, for this
reason, was secured with bar and padlock. The cooper, nevertheless,
from time to time, effected a burglarious entry, by descending into the
fore-hold; and then, at the risk of being jammed to death, crawling
along over a thousand obstructions, to where the casks were stowed.
On the first expedition, the only one to be got at lay among others,
upon its bilge with the bung-hole well over. With a bit of iron hoop,
suitably bent, and a good deal of prying and punching, the bung was
forced in; and then the cooper’s neck-handkerchief, attached to the end
of the hoop, was drawn in and out—the absorbed liquor being
deliberately squeezed into a small bucket.
Bungs was a man after a barkeeper’s own heart. Drinking steadily, until
just manageably tipsy, he contrived to continue so; getting neither
more nor less inebriated, but, to use his own phrase, remaining “just
about right.” When in this interesting state, he had a free lurch in
his gait, a queer way of hitching up his waistbands, looked
unnecessarily steady at you when speaking, and for the rest, was in
very tolerable spirits. At these times, moreover, he was exceedingly
patriotic; and in a most amusing way, frequently showed his patriotism
whenever he happened to encounter Dunk, a good-natured, square-faced
Dane, aboard.
It must be known here, by the bye, that the cooper had a true sailor
admiration for Lord Nelson. But he entertained a very erroneous idea of
the personal appearance of the hero. Not content with depriving him of
an eye and an arm, he stoutly maintained that he had also lost a leg in
one of his battles. Under this impression, he sometimes hopped up to
Dunk with one leg curiously locked behind him into his right arm, at
the same time closing an eye.
In this attitude he would call upon him to look up, and behold the man
who gave his countrymen such a thrashing at Copenhagen. “Look you,
Dunk,” says he, staggering about, and winking hard with one eye to keep
the other shut, “Look you; one man—hang me, half a man—with one leg,
one arm, one eye—hang me, with only a piece of a carcase, flogged your
whole shabby nation. Do you deny it you lubber?”
The Dane was a mule of a man, and understanding but little English,
seldom made anything of a reply; so the cooper generally dropped his
leg, and marched off, with the air of a man who despised saying
anything further.
- title
- CHAPTER XV. CHIPS AND BUNGS