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.

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description

# 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. ## Overview This is a section from the novel *White-Jacket* by Herman Melville, discussing how sailors spent their time in port by cleaning and polishing the "bright-work" (brass and steel) on the ship. It was extracted on January 30, 2026. ## Context This section is part of [Chapter XLII](arke:01KG8AJS2XNNYG8VJ0DMZ113C3), titled "Killing Time in a Man-of-War in Harbour," within the larger work [White-Jacket](arke:01KG8AJ89Z18FKVJV5H0488ZAZ). The novel is included in the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. The section is preceded by a discussion of tattooing among sailors ([Others excelled in _tattooing_ or _pricking_, as it is called in a man-of-war.](arke:01KG8AKV4ZZ0WFRQY0SF6GY61W)) and followed by a description of promenading on the gun-deck ([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)). The source text was extracted from the file [white_jacket.txt](arke:01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY). ## Contents The section describes the practice of sailors cleaning and polishing brass and steel, referred to as "bright-work," while in port. It details the types of items that required polishing, such as "monkey-tails" of the carronades, screws, and other small iron parts of the guns. The narrator recounts his own dedication to polishing his assigned portion of bright-work, even sacrificing parts of his clothing and using dentifrice as substitutes for rags and brick. He humorously compares the shine of his carronade screw to "a set of false teeth in an eager heiress-hunter’s mouth."

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2026-01-30T20:49:52.318Z

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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.

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2026-01-30T20:48:16.646Z

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text

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. Excepting the ring-bolts, eye-bolts, and belaying-pins scattered about the decks, this bright-work, as it is called, is principally about the guns, embracing the “_monkey-tails_” of the carronades, the screws, _prickers_, little irons, and other things. The portion that fell to my own share I kept in superior order, quite equal in polish to Rogers’s best cutlery. I received the most extravagant encomiums from the officers; one of whom offered to match me against any brazier or brass-polisher in her British Majesty’s Navy. Indeed, I devoted myself to the work body and soul, and thought no pains too painful, and no labour too laborious, to achieve the highest attainable polish possible for us poor lost sons of Adam to reach. Upon one occasion, even, when woollen rags were scarce, and no burned-brick was to be had from the ship’s Yeoman, I sacrificed the corners of my woollen shirt, and used some dentrifice I had, as substitutes for the rags and burned-brick. The dentrifice operated delightfully, and made the threading of my carronade screw shine and grin again, like a set of false teeth in an eager heiress-hunter’s mouth.

title

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.