Chapter 70

MONTHLY MUSTER ROUND THE CAPSTAN.

Besides general quarters, and the regular morning and evening
quarters for prayers on board the Neversink, on the first Sunday
of every month we had a grand "_muster round the capstan_," when
we passed in solemn review before the Captain and officers, who
closely scanned our frocks and trowsers, to see whether they were
according to the Navy cut. In some ships, every man is required
to bring his bag and hammock along for inspection.

This ceremony acquires its chief solemnity, and, to a novice, is
rendered even terrible, by the reading of the Articles of War by
the Captain's clerk before the assembled ship's company, who in
testimony of their enforced reverence for the code, stand
bareheaded till the last sentence is pronounced.

To a mere amateur reader the quiet perusal of these Articles of
War would be attended with some nervous emotions. Imagine, then,
what _my_ feelings must have been, when, with my hat deferentially
in my hand, I stood before my lord and master, Captain Claret, and
heard these Articles read as the law and gospel, the infallible,
unappealable dispensation and code, whereby I lived, and moved,
and had my being on board of the United States ship Neversink.

Of some twenty offences--made penal--that a seaman may commit, and
which are specified in this code, thirteen are punishable by death.

"_Shall suffer death!_" This was the burden of nearly every
Article read by the Captain's clerk; for he seemed to have been
instructed to omit the longer Articles, and only present those
which were brief and to the point.

"_Shall suffer death!_" The repeated announcement falls on your
ear like the intermitting discharge of artillery. After it has
been repeated again and again, you listen to the reader as he
deliberately begins a new paragraph; you hear him reciting the
involved, but comprehensive and clear arrangement of the
sentence, detailing all possible particulars of the offence
described, and you breathlessly await, whether _that_ clause also
is going to be concluded by the discharge of the terrible minute-
gun. When, lo! it again booms on your ear--_shall suffer death!_
No reservations, no contingencies; not the remotest promise of
pardon or reprieve; not a glimpse of commutation of the sentence;
all hope and consolation is shut out--_shall suffer death!_ that
is the simple fact for you to digest; and it is a tougher morsel,
believe White-Jacket when he says it, than a forty-two-pound
cannon-ball.

But there is a glimmering of an alternative to the sailor who
infringes these Articles. Some of them thus terminates: "_Shall
suffer death, or such punishment as a court-martial shall