The daily routine—Sunday—Ship visiting
The day of a man-of-war’s man began at midnight, or at four in the
morning, according to the alternation of the watches. If he had the
middle-watch, from 12 P.M. till 4 A.M., he came on deck at midnight
and remained there till 4 A.M., doing any duty which appeared
necessary. The work at night in fine weather was easy. The men had
but to trim the sails, and be ready for a call. The boatswain’s
mates, with a midshipman or two, kept watch on the forecastle.
Lookouts were placed in the tops and cross-trees. The sentries,
helmsmen, officer of the watch, midshipmen, and master’s mates, went
to their posts on the poop and quarter-deck. The remainder of the
watch were supposed by the Articles of War to keep awake on pain of
death. Some captains and lieutenants allowed those not actually on
watch as look-out men to sleep during their night-watches, if the
weather was very fine. The act of sleeping during a night-watch in
the tropics was known as “taking a caulk,” because by lying on the
plank-seams the sailors’ jackets were marked with lines of tar. In
those ships aboard which the sailors were expected to keep awake, the
boatswain’s mates walked round with their starters, or kept buckets
of water ready to wake anyone who fell asleep. In wet weather there
was no sleeping in any ship during the night-watch on deck, because
the men were put to collecting rain water for washing clothes. In
foul weather they were too busily employed in other ways.
A few minutes before eight bells, or 4 A.M., the quarter-masters
stole down the after-ladders to call the midshipmen, mates, and
lieutenant of the other watch. The boatswain’s mates took their pipes
to the fore and main hatchways, and blew the prolonged, shrill call
“All Hands,” following it up by a shout of “Starboard (or Larboard)
Watch Ahoy. Rouse out there, you sleepers. Hey. Out or down here.”
At this order, the watch below, who were snugly sleeping in their
hammocks, turned out at once without waiting till they were properly
awake. When they had turned out they put on their clothes (if they
had taken them off) and bustled up on deck with the starters after
them. At eight bells they were mustered, and sent to their stations.
The wheel and look-outs were relieved. The log was hove, and the rate
of sailing marked on the board. The men of the other watch, who had
kept the deck since midnight, were then allowed to go below to their
hammocks.
[Illustration: LIEUTENANT BLOCKHEAD KEEPING THE MORNING WATCH]
Shortly after four o’clock the idlers were called up. The cook lit
his fires in the galley, and began to boil the abominable burgoo
for breakfast. The carpenter and carpenter’s mates came on deck and
began their work. The boatswain came up, and the watch on deck
began active duty. Before 5 A.M. the watch took off their shoes and
stockings, rolled up their trousers to the thigh, rigged the pumps,
got out the scrubbers and buckets, and began to wash her down. First
of all the decks were wetted by means of the head-pump and buckets.
After the bucket men came a couple of hands sprinkling sand on the
wetted planks. When the sand had been sprinkled the main body of the
seamen took their holystones, and went upon their hands and knees
to whiten the deck to its usual spotless whiteness. The gangways
and main-deck could be holystoned by a large stone, a block of
holystone weighing many pounds, with rings at each end. The sailors
rove ropes through the rings, and ran the block to and fro on the
wet and sanded planking. All the out-of-the-way places, under guns,
carronade slides, bitts, etc. etc., were scrubbed by the handstones,
or “prayer-books.” It was hard, and often unpleasant, work, scrubbing
the decks in all weathers, some fourteen hours after the last meal.
The upper and main decks were thus whitened every morning. It was a
real hardship to kneel for an hour or two on sanded planks, in frosty
Channel weather. Many sailors developed sore knees from the practice.
After the holystoners came the broom and bucket men, who swilled
and swept the dirty sand into the waterways, and so overboard
through the scuppers. After these came the swabbers, who flogged
the damp decks with swabs till they had dried them. The little
brasswork about the rails and bitts was then brightened. The ropes
were coiled, flaked, or flemished down, and the wash-deck gear, of
holystones, buckets, and brooms, was returned to the lockers and
hooks. By seven o’clock the work was practically finished, and the
decks nearly dry. The first lieutenant came on deck at about this
time to begin his long day’s supervision. At about half-past seven
the boatswain’s mates went below to the berth-deck and piped “All
hands. Up hammocks,” a pipe which brought up the sleepers and filled
the decks with scurrying figures carrying their lashed-up hammocks to
the nettings, where they were stowed in order by the quarter-masters
and midshipmen. By 8 A.M. the captain had come on deck, the last
of the hammocks had been stowed, the mess tables had been lowered
into position between the guns, and the cook had wreaked his worst
upon the burgoo, or Scotch coffee. At a word from the captain the
boatswain piped to breakfast, eight bells was struck upon the
ship’s bell, and nearly every man except the helmsman, lookout men,
and officers on duty, slipped down to breakfast. Half-an-hour was
allowed for this meal on weekdays. At half-past eight the watch was
called, and those who had slept from 4 till 7.30 A.M. came upon deck,
bringing with them the bags and chests from the berths. These were
stowed on the booms, while the lower deck was cleaned (by the watch
below) with the dry holystone and sand. The lower-deck was never
washed down with water save in fine, dry weather, when the ports
could be opened, and port-fires burned to dry the wet planking. At
other times it was sanded, scraped and holystoned, then swept with
dry brooms, and perhaps swabbed over. The lower-deck beams were often
sponged over with vinegar as a disinfectant.
The cooks of the different messes passed the forenoon watch in
cooking in the galley, cleaning up the mess utensils, and getting
dinner ready. Those who had the watch below were often free to
do as they wished.[25] They could sleep, or yarn, or mend their
clothes. Their hammocks were stowed in the nettings, but if lucky
they could sleep in between the guns, on the bare deck, provided
the space was not wanted by one of the ship’s artificers, such as
the carpenter. Those who had the watch on deck were employed in
the work of the ship, in the rigging, or about the guns, doing the
never-finished duties of sailormen. Some captains preferred to send
their watch below to exercise at the guns directly they had cleaned
the lower-deck. At six bells, or eleven o’clock, the captain, who
had finished breakfast, seen the young gentlemen’s logs, examined
the boatswain’s, purser’s, and carpenter’s accounts, and had a
talk with the first lieutenant, came on deck with the black list,
and called all hands to witness punishment. The master-at-arms
brought up his men in irons from the bilboes under the half-deck.
The gratings were rigged, the hands mustered, and the poor fellows
flogged according to the captain’s pleasure and the Articles of War.
By the time the execution had been done and the blood swabbed up it
was time to take the sun’s altitude. The master, master’s mates,
and midshipmen brought out their sextants and quadrants. Noon was
reported when the sun reached the meridian. The clock was put back or
put forward; eight bells was struck; the boatswain’s mate piped his
long, cheery “pipe to dinner,” all hands ran below with a song, and
then began “the pleasantest part of the day.” Dinner generally took
about half-an-hour, from twelve till half-past. It was a merry meal,
eaten cheerily, with a great buzz of talk all along the gun-deck.
At half-past twelve there came a great clink of cans and banging of
tin plates on the tables. The fifer took his flute to the main or
upper deck, where the master’s mate stood by the tub to dispense sea
ambrosia to the ship’s company. At the sound of one bell the fifer
struck up “Nancy Dawson,” or some other lively tune, such as “Drops
of Brandy,” and immediately the ship’s company took up the tune. The
mess cooks seized their black-jacks and hurried to the tub where
the grog was served out. They then carried it below to the messes,
where it was drunken down, with many songs and toasts. The debts
were discharged, bets settled, and purchases effected. Grog time was
the one happy hour of the day. With grog and an occasional battle a
sailor was often almost contented.
At half-past one o’clock, when the last oozings of the black jack
had been drained, the watch on deck was called to duty. The watch
below were sometimes allowed to keep below, to sleep if they could,
or to amuse themselves as they pleased, as soon as they had swept
away the crumbs of dinner. More frequently they were called on
deck with the rest, to be drilled into smartness. Top-sails were
reefed, and upper spars sent down, the ship was tacked and wore,
the fire bell was rung, the men were sent to stations for letting
go anchor. Landsmen and raw hands were taken below by the gunner’s
mates, and trained at the heavy guns. Other squads were drilled in
the use of the musket or cutlass. Boarding parties were stationed
at their respective guns and suddenly called away, when they were
expected to snatch up pistols, cutlasses, and boarding pikes, and to
run on deck to hack the air furiously beside the hammock nettings.
Some captains who drilled the crew thus allowed their complements
to take an occasional afternoon watch below, especially in heavy
weather. Once or twice on each cruise they turned them up in the
afternoon “to dance and skylark,” with the ship’s fiddler to play
their dance tunes. At 4 P.M. the boatswain piped to supper, which
lasted half-an-hour, and was made pleasant by the second serving
out of grog. Shortly after supper, but before sunset, the drummer
beat to quarters. All hands had to repair to their stations. The
guns were cast loose. The midshipmen and lieutenants had to make a
minute inspection of the men and gun gear. The pumps were rigged,
the lifebuoys were placed in position, and the ship reported to the
captain as being in good order. It was at this evening muster that
the master-at-arms made most of his arrests. Many poor fellows,
who had saved up their dinner grog and taken a “long swig at the
halliards” before quarters, were then put in irons for the next
day’s black list. A little thickness or gaiety in the voice, or a
little unsteadiness in the walk, was always inquired into. He was a
happy sailor who had the first watch below and a head so strong that
nothing showed till a couple of hours after taking.
When the company had finished their exercise and secured the guns for
the night it was time for the hammocks to be piped down. The men ran
on deck, received their hammocks from the nettings, slung them in
their places, and then stood by till eight bells. At eight o’clock
the first night-watch was called and set, and the watch below went
down to their hammocks until midnight. The lights were extinguished,
or covered over, so that they would not show from a distance. The
master-at-arms, or ship’s corporals, began their policeman’s rounds.
The first lieutenant turned in for the night. Quiet settled down upon
the ship to be broken only by the creaking of the tiller-ropes, the
patting of the reef-points, and the occasional “All’s Well” cry of
the sentries, showing that they had not fallen asleep.
The watch and watch system, four hours on and four hours off, with
the four hours off constantly broken in upon by the ship’s routine,
was severe and harassing. It meant that the sailor had but four hours
of sleep one night, and a bare seven hours’ the night following. The
little naps they managed to take in the forenoons and afternoons
were hardly worth mentioning; they were too uncertain, too liable to
interruption. Even in their watches below at night they were liable
to be called on deck to tack, to wear, to shorten sail, or to go
to their stations. Once a month, at least, they were drummed up to
general quarters in the middle of their dreams. Every Thursday the
hammocks were called up at 4 A.M., and the morning-watch was passed
by the men in washing clothes. Every Monday the day-watches were
fully occupied by gun drill, target practice, and musket exercise.
Every Thursday afternoon all hands were sent to mend their clothes.
They were at all times liable to be called upon for works of
supererogation, such as sweeping or coiling down.
On Saturdays the men slung clean hammocks. They passed the afternoon
in holystoning the decks, ready for Sunday, as the daily routine on
Sunday was always rather lighter than on week-days. The Saturday
cleaning made it unnecessary to holystone the decks on Sunday
morning. The men merely sprinkled the planks and swabbed them down,
instead of scrubbing them. The hammocks were piped up half-an-hour
earlier than usual, and stowed with more than usual care, “numbers
out,” so that the clean white cloths made a brave show all down
the nettings. Breakfast was piped half-an-hour earlier than usual,
so that the forenoon-watch should be long enough both for divisions
and Divine Service. While breakfast was in progress, the boatswain’s
mates passed the word for the company to shave and put on clean
shirts, before coming on deck for morning muster. After breakfast
the bags were carried on deck, and the gun-decks were swiftly
dry-holystoned, and carefully swept by the ship’s sweepers. Every
scrap of dust and dirt was removed. The rags and brick-dust for the
polishing of the little bright work in the ships were brought out,
and used till the brass and steel were shining like gold. The cook
polished his coppers. The armourer put a shine upon his cutlasses,
muskets, and pistols. The cooper got his casks in order. The
boatswain, sailmaker, carpenter, and purser saw to the ordering of
their respective store-rooms. The quarter-gunners made the round of
their guns, and in fine weather traversed them, in order to clean the
plank covered by the carriages, and to remove any shakings or mess
clouts stowed beneath them by idle sweepers. The gunner down in the
magazine saw that the sea cocks which flooded the magazine in case
of fire were ready for use, that the right proportion of cartridges
was filled, and that the bands of the copper-bound powder casks were
polished, with a little soft rag. Every petty officer and man aboard
was busy polishing, cleaning, and arranging. The time for preparation
was limited. Much had to be done, yet two hours and a half, at
most, was the time allowed for the duty. Before half-past ten the
men contrived to “shave and shift” themselves, using the head and
forecastle and the berths between the guns for their toilet-rooms.
The barbers plied their business in the head, while all about the
forward parts of the ship one might have seen the old sailors,
sitting on inverted mess kids, having their queues dressed by their
mates. Others feverishly mended their shirts and trousers, curled
their ringlets, cleaned their shoes, or shaved their three-day beards.
A few minutes before half-past ten the sweepers again took their
brooms over the speckless decks, while the first lieutenant made a
hurried examination of the whole ship, to see that nothing was amiss.
Then, at half-past ten, the bell struck, and the drummer took his
drum and beat to muster. The men, in their clean blue trousers and
white shirts, or clean white trousers and blue shirts, fell in on
the gangways, main-deck, and quarter-deck. The ship’s boys fell in
on the forecastle. When they had all fallen in, with their toes on
an indicated seam or line of tar, the midshipmen called them over.
The lieutenants then inspected them, to send down any man improperly
or dirtily dressed. The surgeon took the opportunity to examine the
men for traces of scurvy. After these preliminary examinations the
captain came round to inspect the men, and to receive the reports
of the junior officers. The captain then examined every part of the
ship, from the forecastle to the lower hold. He was accompanied on
his rounds by the first lieutenant, to whom he made any necessary
complaint. The lower parts of the ship were lighted up during the
inspection by the petty and warrant officers in charge of them. It
was the custom of many officers to wear a white glove while going
round the ship, so that a light touch inside a cook’s copper, or on a
beam, would betray the presence of any dirt or dust.
As soon as the inspection had come to an end the sailors were
released from the misery of toeing the deck seam, and driven aft
to Divine Service,[26] which was held on the quarter-deck, in the
open air. They sat on buckets and mess kids, and on inverted match
tubs, or on the slides of the after-carronades. A bell was tolled
to call them aft, and a “church pendant” was hoisted at the peak as
soon as they were in their places. The chaplain then came forward to
the after-hatchway gratings, and read the prayers prescribed by the
Liturgy, afterwards giving a short address. If there were no chaplain
the captain was expected to officiate, but the captains generally got
out of the difficulty by reading the Articles of War. After church
the men were piped to dinner. They were then free (as far as the work
of the ship allowed it) to do as they wished till supper time, at
four or four-thirty. The free Sunday afternoons were passed in rest
and quietness on the various decks. The watch on deck slept on the
forecastle, or walked to and fro on the gangways, or spun their yarns
between the forward-carronades. The watch below generally kept on the
lower-deck, or on one side of the main-deck (the other being reserved
for a promenade for the lieutenants). They formed into little parties
between the guns, at the mess tables, where they yarned, or read,
or played chequers (draughts) for the entire afternoon. Some slept
on the deck, with a rolled-up coat for a pillow. Others stole away
to some quiet nook, where they could “rattle the bones,” using
their tarry fists for dice-boxes. Cards and dice were forbidden,
but the ships were manned so indiscriminately that every complement
contained card-sharpers, gamblers, and professional rooks. These men
indulged in their favourite games, keeping a smart look-out for the
master-at-arms and ship’s corporal.
In port and in the fleets at sea it was the custom to allow “ship
visiting” on Sunday afternoons if the weather were fine. The sailors
were not allowed to go ashore, save in exceptional circumstances;
but to make amends for this restriction they were allowed to visit
the other ships of war in company. The boats were kept busy all the
afternoon conveying the “liberty men” from one ship to the other. It
seems that the ships vied with each other in hospitality; many of
the men being well content to give up half their Sunday grog if,
by doing so, they might make their visitors drunk. “Ship visiting”
was subversive of all good discipline, though in conception it was
humane, and kindly meant. The men often got very drunk, and often
quarrelled with their hosts. If they agreed with their hosts they
returned to their own ships discontented, and eager to find fault
with their officers and shipmates.
After supper on Sundays the weekly muster was held, at which the men
had to pass one by one before the captain to answer to their names.
After muster, when the drunken men had been secured, the drummer
beat to quarters; the guns were examined and pronounced to be fit
for action; the hammocks were piped down, and the first watch was
set. After the setting of the watch the day was accounted over. The
lights were extinguished, and the watch below turned in. The ordinary
routine of the ship was again imposed upon all hands.
FOOTNOTES:
[25] As soon as the lower deck had been cleaned.
[26] Edward Thompson says: “You will find some little outward
appearance of religion and Sunday prayers, but the congregation is
generally driven together by the boatswain, who neither spares oaths
nor blows.”