- description
- # CHAPTER LXXXI. HOW THEY BURY A MAN-OF-WAR’S-MAN AT SEA.
## Overview
This is a chapter from the novel [White-Jacket](arke:01KG8AJ89Z18FKVJV5H0488ZAZ) by Herman Melville, titled "CHAPTER LXXXI. HOW THEY BURY A MAN-OF-WAR’S-MAN AT SEA." It describes the burial at sea of a man-of-war sailor named Shenly. The chapter spans lines 13075-13114 of the source file, `white_jacket.txt`.
## Context
This chapter is part of the larger work, [White-Jacket](arke:01KG8AJ89Z18FKVJV5H0488ZAZ), which is included in the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. It is preceded by [CHAPTER LXXX. THE LAST STITCH.](arke:01KG8AJVA0FZM38W2EYZDE9FV8) and followed by [CHAPTER LXXXII. WHAT REMAINS OF A MAN-OF-WAR’S-MAN AFTER HIS BURIAL AT SEA.](arke:01KG8AJVWWVDQ6QHE55RMVH5DP). The chapter was extracted from the text file [white_jacket.txt](arke:01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY) as part of a structure extraction process.
## Contents
The chapter details the somber ceremony of a burial at sea aboard a man-of-war. It recounts the announcement made by the boatswain, the assembly of officers and men, and the chaplain's recitation. The scene includes the presence of the Captain, bareheaded, and a boatswain's mate maintaining order. As Shenly's mess-mates commit the body to the deep, Jack Chase observes a white bird, interpreting it as Shenly's spirit ascending into the sky.
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- 2026-01-30T20:50:01.775Z
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- CHAPTER LXXXI. HOW THEY BURY A MAN-OF-WAR’S-MAN AT SEA.
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- 13114
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- 2026-01-30T20:47:39.667Z
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- 13075
- text
- CHAPTER LXXXI.
HOW THEY BURY A MAN-OF-WAR’S-MAN AT SEA.
Quarters over in the morning, the boatswain and his four mates stood
round the main hatchway, and after giving the usual whistle, made the
customary announcement—“_All hands bury the dead, ahoy!_”
In a man-of-war, every thing, even to a man’s funeral and burial,
proceeds with the unrelenting promptitude of the martial code. And
whether it is _all hands bury the dead!_ or _all hands splice the
main-brace_, the order is given in the same hoarse tones.
Both officers and men assembled in the lee waist, and through that
bareheaded crowd the mess-mates of Shenly brought his body to the same
gangway where it had thrice winced under the scourge. But there is
something in death that ennobles even a pauper’s corpse; and the
Captain himself stood bareheaded before the remains of a man whom, with
his hat on, he had sentenced to the ignominious gratings when alive.
“_I am the resurrection and the life!_” solemnly began the Chaplain, in
full canonicals, the prayer-book in his hand.
“Damn you! off those booms!” roared a boatswain’s mate to a crowd of
top-men, who had elevated themselves to gain a better view of the
scene.
“_We commit this body to the deep!_” At the word, Shenly’s mess-mates
tilted the board, and the dead sailor sank in the sea.
“Look aloft,” whispered Jack Chase. “See that bird! it is the spirit of
Shenly.”
Gazing upward, all beheld a snow-white, solitary fowl, which—whence
coming no one could tell—had been hovering over the main-mast during
the service, and was now sailing far up into the depths of the sky.
- title
- CHAPTER LXXXI. HOW THEY BURY A MAN-OF-WAR’S-MAN AT SEA.