White-Jacket

or,

the World on a Man-of-War

1850

Herman Melville


“Conceive him now in a man-of-war; with his letters of mart, well armed, victualed, and appointed, and see how he acquits himself.” —FULLER’SGood Sea-Captain.


NOTE.

In the year 1843 I shipped as “ordinary seaman” on board of a United States frigate then lying in a harbor of the Pacific Ocean. After remaining in this frigate for more than a year, I was discharged from the service upon the vessel’s arrival home. My man-of-war experiences and observations have been incorporated in the present volume.


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