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.

Properties

description

# 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. ## Overview - What this is (type, form, dates, scope) This is a section of text extracted from a larger work. It is a portion of a chapter from a novel, likely written in the 19th century, as indicated by the language and subject matter. The text is a descriptive passage discussing ways to pass time while in harbor. ## Context - Background and provenance from related entities This section is part of [Chapter XLII. KILLING TIME IN A MAN-OF-WAR IN HARBOUR.](arke:01KG8AJS2XNNYG8VJ0DMZ113C3) within the novel *White-Jacket*, which is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. The text was extracted from the file [white_jacket.txt](arke:01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY). The section follows [Still another way of killing time in harbour, is to lean over the bulwarks, and speculate](arke:01KG8AKVR3NV87YRM9YHT3B43P) and precedes [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). ## Contents - What it contains, key subjects and details The section begins with a suggestion for passing time: "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." It then describes the common experience of shipmates in harbor, highlighting feelings of camaraderie. The author reflects on his initial aloofness from the crew but acknowledges the shared experience and the development of a sense of sympathy.

description_generated_at

2026-01-30T20:49:50.845Z

description_model

gemini-2.5-flash-lite

description_title

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.

end_line

6696

extracted_at

2026-01-30T20:48:16.646Z

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structure-extraction-lambda

source_file

01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY

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6673

text

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. A fine specific, which seldom fails, unless, to be sure, you have been sleeping all the twenty-four hours beforehand. Whenever employed in killing time in harbour, I have lifted myself up on my elbow and looked around me, and seen so many of my shipmates all employed at the same common business; all under lock and key; all hopeless prisoners like myself; all under martial law; all dieting on salt beef and biscuit; all in one uniform; all yawning, gaping, and stretching in concert, it was then that I used to feel a certain love and affection for them, grounded, doubtless, on a fellow-feeling. And though, in a previous part of this narrative, I have mentioned that I used to hold myself somewhat aloof from the mass of seamen on board the Neversink; and though this was true, and my real acquaintances were comparatively few, and my intimates still fewer, yet, to tell the truth, it is quite impossible to live so long with five hundred of your fellow-beings, even if not of the best families in the land, and with morals that would not be spoiled by further cultivation; it is quite impossible, I say, to live with five hundred of your fellow-beings, be they who they may, without feeling a common sympathy with them at the time, and ever after cherishing some sort of interest in their welfare.

title

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.