- description
- # CHAPTER XVII. AWAY! SECOND, THIRD, AND FOURTH CUTTERS, AWAY!
## Overview - What this is (type, form, dates, scope)
This is a chapter from the novel *White-Jacket* by Herman Melville. It is a text file extracted from the larger novel and is labeled "CHAPTER XVII. AWAY! SECOND, THIRD, AND FOURTH CUTTERS, AWAY!". The chapter was extracted on January 30, 2026, as part of the "Melville Complete Works" collection.
## Context - Background and provenance from related entities
This chapter is part of the novel [White-Jacket](arke:01KG8AJ89Z18FKVJV5H0488ZAZ), which is contained within the text file [white_jacket.txt](arke:01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY). The text file is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. The chapter follows [CHAPTER XVI. GENERAL TRAINING IN A MAN-OF-WAR.](arke:01KG8AJQ3RR4R8SYRASCT3K24X) and precedes [CHAPTER XVIII. A MAN-OF-WAR FULL AS A NUT.](arke:01KG8AJQ3R1WNFTSHSRDX7EZ4H).
## Contents - What it contains, key subjects and details
The chapter opens with sailors discussing the fate of a man who has died at sea. The chapter then describes the recall signal and the return of the boats to the ship. The chapter concludes with the order to "Muster all hands!" and the discovery that the cooper is missing.
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:49:52.224Z
- description_model
- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- CHAPTER XVII. AWAY! SECOND, THIRD, AND FOURTH CUTTERS, AWAY!
- end_line
- 2911
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:47:39.667Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 2883
- text
-
“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!”
- title
- CHAPTER XVII. AWAY! SECOND, THIRD, AND FOURTH CUTTERS, AWAY!