Chapter 9

OF THE POCKETS THAT WERE IN THE JACKET.

I MUST make some further mention of that white jacket of mine.

And here be it known--by way of introduction to what is to
follow--that to a common sailor, the living on board a man-of-war
is like living in a market; where you dress on the door-steps,
and sleep in the cellar. No privacy can you have; hardly one
moment's seclusion. It is almost a physical impossibility, that
you can ever be alone. You dine at a vast _table d'hote_; sleep
in commons, and make your toilet where and when you can. There is
no calling for a mutton chop and a pint of claret by yourself; no
selecting of chambers for the night; no hanging of pantaloons
over the back of a chair; no ringing your bell of a rainy
morning, to take your coffee in bed. It is something like life in
a large manufactory. The bell strikes to dinner, and hungry or
not, you must dine.

Your clothes are stowed in a large canvas bag, generally painted
black, which you can get out of the "rack" only once in the
twenty-four hours; and then, during a time of the utmost
confusion; among five hundred other bags, with five hundred other
sailors diving into each, in the midst of the twilight of the
berth-deck. In some measure to obviate this inconvenience, many
sailors divide their wardrobes between their hammocks and their
bags; stowing a few frocks and trowsers in the former; so that
they can shift at night, if they wish, when the hammocks are
piped down. But they gain very little by this.

You have no place whatever but your bag or hammock, in which to
put anything in a man-of-war. If you lay anything down, and turn
your back for a moment, ten to one it is gone.

Now, in sketching the preliminary plan, and laying out the
foundation of that memorable white jacket of mine, I had had an
earnest eye to all these inconveniences, and re-solved to avoid
them. I proposed, that not only should my jacket keep me warm,
but that it should also be so constructed as to contain a shirt
or two, a pair of trowsers, and divers knick-knacks--sewing
utensils, books, biscuits, and the like. With this object, I had
accordingly provided it with a great variety of pockets,
pantries, clothes-presses, and cupboards.

The principal apartments, two in number, were placed in the
skirts, with a wide, hospitable entrance from the inside; two
more, of smaller capacity, were planted in each breast, with
folding-doors communicating, so that in case of emergency, to
accommodate any bulky articles, the two pockets in each breast
could be thrown into one. There were, also, several unseen
recesses behind the arras; insomuch, that my jacket, like an old
castle, was full of winding stairs, and mysterious closets,