- description
- # One other way of killing time while in port is playing checkers
## Overview
This is a section extracted from the text file [white_jacket.txt](arke:01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY), discussing the game of checkers as a way to pass time on a man-of-war. It is part of Chapter XLII, titled [CHAPTER XLII. KILLING TIME IN A MAN-OF-WAR IN HARBOUR.](arke:01KG8AJS2XNNYG8VJ0DMZ113C3) within the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. This section discusses the sailors' fondness for checkers, the captain's leniency towards the game after an incident involving belaying-pins, and the sailors' particularity about their checker-cloths.
## Context
The section is part of a larger chapter exploring various methods sailors employ to alleviate boredom while their ship is in port. It follows a section describing promenading on the gun-deck to admire the scenery [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) and precedes a section about leaning over the bulwarks and speculating about the future [Still another way of killing time in harbour, is to lean over the bulwarks, and speculate](arke:01KG8AKVR3NV87YRM9YHT3B43P).
## Contents
The section describes the sailors' fondness for playing checkers as a pastime while in port, subject to the captain's approval. It recounts a specific incident where the captain, Captain Claret, initially prohibited checkers, leading to sailors throwing belaying-pins at him in the dark. Subsequently, the captain indirectly allowed the game again, demonstrating his understanding of the sailors' needs. The text also mentions the sailors' fastidiousness regarding their checker-cloths, even to the point of requiring clean hands before playing. The section concludes by mentioning other ways of passing time, such as finding a comfortable spot for reverie or contemplating home.
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- One other way of killing time while in port is playing checkers
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- One other way of killing time while in port is playing checkers; that
is, when it is permitted; for it is not every navy captain who will
allow such a scandalous proceeding, But, as for Captain Claret, though
he _did_ like his glass of Madeira uncommonly well, and was an
undoubted descendant from the hero of the Battle of the Brandywine, and
though he sometimes showed a suspiciously flushed face when
superintending in person the flogging of a sailor for getting
intoxicated against his particular orders, yet I will say for Captain
Claret that, upon the whole, he was rather indulgent to his crew, so
long as they were perfectly docile. He allowed them to play checkers as
much as they pleased. More than once I have known him, when going
forward to the forecastle, pick his way carefully among scores of
canvas checker-cloths spread upon the deck, so as not to tread upon the
men—the checker-men and man-of-war’s-men included; but, in a certain
sense, they were both one; for, as the sailors used their checker-men,
so, at quarters, their officers used these man-of-war’s men.
But Captain Claret’s leniency in permitting checkers on board his ship
might have arisen from the following little circumstance,
confidentially communicated to me. Soon after the ship had sailed from
home, checkers were prohibited; whereupon the sailors were exasperated
against the Captain, and one night, when he was walking round the
forecastle, bim! came an iron belaying-pin past his ears; and while he
was dodging that, bim! came another, from the other side; so that, it
being a very dark night, and nobody to be seen, and it being impossible
to find out the trespassers, he thought it best to get back into his
cabin as soon as possible. Some time after—just as if the belaying-pins
had nothing to do with it—it was indirectly rumoured that the
checker-boards might be brought out again, which—as a philosophical
shipmate observed—showed that Captain Claret was a man of a ready
understanding, and could understand a hint as well as any other man,
even when conveyed by several pounds of iron.
Some of the sailors were very precise about their checker-cloths, and
even went so far that they would not let you play with them unless you
first washed your hands, especially if so be you had just come from
tarring down the rigging.
Another way of beguiling the tedious hours, is to get a cosy seat
somewhere, and fall into as snug a little reverie as you can. Or if a
seat is not to be had—which is frequently the case—then get a tolerably
comfortable _stand-up_ against the bulwarks, and begin to think about
home and bread and butter—always inseparably connected to a
wanderer—which will very soon bring delicious tears into your eyes; for
every one knows what a luxury is grief, when you can get a private
closet to enjoy it in, and no Paul Prys intrude. Several of my shore
friends, indeed, when suddenly overwhelmed by some disaster, always
make a point of flying to the first oyster-cellar, and shutting
themselves up in a box with nothing but a plate of stewed oysters, some
crackers, the castor, and a decanter of old port.
- title
- One other way of killing time while in port is playing checkers