The truth of this was curiously corroborated by a rather equivocal acquaintance of mine, who, among the men, went by the name of “_Shakings_.”

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description

# The truth of this was curiously corroborated by a rather equivocal acquaintance of mine, who, among the men, went by the name of “_Shakings_.” ## Overview This section of text, titled "The truth of this was curiously corroborated by a rather equivocal acquaintance of mine, who, among the men, went by the name of “_Shakings_.”", was extracted on January 30, 2026. It comprises lines 6697-6708 of its source file. ## Context This section is part of [CHAPTER XLII. KILLING TIME IN A MAN-OF-WAR IN HARBOUR.](arke:01KG8AJS2XNNYG8VJ0DMZ113C3), which is itself a chapter within a larger work. The text was extracted from the file [white_jacket.txt](arke:01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY), and is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. It follows the section titled [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) and precedes another section that continues the narrative. ## Contents The section introduces a character known as "Shakings," an acquaintance of the narrator who belongs to the fore-hold of the ship. The narrator expresses a dislike for Shakings' appearance and generally tries to avoid him. Despite this, the narrator notes that an anecdote told by Shakings, a "holder," is "well worth preserving," particularly due to the "extraordinary frankness" with which it was shared with a "comparative stranger." The section sets up the forthcoming story from Shakings.

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2026-01-30T20:49:49.579Z

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gemini-2.5-flash-lite

description_title

The truth of this was curiously corroborated by a rather equivocal acquaintance of mine, who, among the men, went by the name of “_Shakings_.”

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6708

extracted_at

2026-01-30T20:48:16.646Z

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structure-extraction-lambda

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01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY

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6697

text

The truth of this was curiously corroborated by a rather equivocal acquaintance of mine, who, among the men, went by the name of “_Shakings_.” He belonged to the fore-hold, whence, of a dark night, he would sometimes emerge to chat with the sailors on deck. I never liked the man’s looks; I protest it was a mere accident that gave me the honour of his acquaintance, and generally I did my best to avoid him, when he would come skulking, like a jail-bird, out of his den into the liberal, open air of the sky. Nevertheless, the anecdote this _holder_ told me is well worth preserving, more especially the extraordinary frankness evinced in his narrating such a thing to a comparative stranger.

title

The truth of this was curiously corroborated by a rather equivocal acquaintance of mine, who, among the men, went by the name of “_Shakings_.”