- description
- # CHAPTER XLII. KILLING TIME IN A MAN-OF-WAR IN HARBOUR.
## Overview
[CHAPTER XLII. KILLING TIME IN A MAN-OF-WAR IN HARBOUR.](arke:01KG8AJS2XNNYG8VJ0DMZ113C3) is a chapter within the novel [White-Jacket](arke:01KG8AJ89Z18FKVJV5H0488ZAZ) by Herman Melville. The chapter, extracted from the source file [white_jacket.txt](arke:01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY), explores the various ways sailors aboard a man-of-war occupy their time while the ship is in port. It is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection.
## Context
This chapter follows [CHAPTER XLI. A MAN-OF-WAR LIBRARY.](arke:01KG8AJS32H2J9X8WMRT4J4EQ2) and precedes [CHAPTER XLIII. SMUGGLING IN A MAN-OF-WAR.](arke:01KG8AJS3273YPPET2Q8S3ZWFQ) in the narrative sequence of [White-Jacket](arke:01KG8AJ89Z18FKVJV5H0488ZAZ). The chapter provides insight into the daily lives and routines of sailors when they are not actively engaged in naval duties, offering a glimpse into their methods of coping with boredom and confinement.
## Contents
The chapter includes an [Introduction](arke:01KG8AKV4ZF8EWWGYYZHBB3R91) describing how sailors pass time in port through activities like needlework. It further details specific pastimes in sections:
- Tattooing or "pricking" is discussed in [Others excelled in _tattooing_ or _pricking_, as it is called in a man-of-war.](arke:01KG8AKV4ZZ0WFRQY0SF6GY61W), including the practice of Catholic sailors getting crucifixes tattooed for burial rites.
- Polishing "bright-work" (brass and steel) is described in [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.](arke:01KG8AKV4ZQ4M6CRV6XD7Q9ZY9), where the narrator details his dedication to polishing his share of the ship's bright-work.
- Promenade on the gun-deck is mentioned in [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.](arke:01KG8AKVR30T2RHK4SM0J2N7XZ), particularly favored by the marines.
- Playing checkers is covered in [One other way of killing time while in port is playing checkers](arke:01KG8AKVR1SQTM87WN14JH4SFA), noting that it's not always permitted by the captain.
- Speculating on the future is described in [Still another way of killing time in harbour, is to lean over the bulwarks, and speculate](arke:01KG8AKVR3NV87YRM9YHT3B43P).
- Sleeping is mentioned in [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.](arke:01KG8AKVR1EE1A0GG541CY37T2) as a common method to pass time.
- The chapter concludes with a story from an acquaintance named "Shakings," a former convict, in [The truth of this was curiously corroborated by a rather equivocal acquaintance of mine, who, among the men, went by the name of “_Shakings_.”](arke:01KG8AKVR3MNFD15JGRMFDQ3H8) and [01KG8AKVR662Z7JGM1JWD4BR7Y](arke:01KG8AKVR662Z7JGM1JWD4BR7Y), who compares life on a man-of-war to being in prison.
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- CHAPTER XLII. KILLING TIME IN A MAN-OF-WAR IN HARBOUR.
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- CHAPTER XLII. KILLING TIME IN A MAN-OF-WAR IN HARBOUR.