Chapter 21

ONE REASON WHY MEN-OF-WAR'S MEN ARE, GENERALLY, SHORT-LIVED.

I cannot quit this matter of the hammocks without making mention
of a grievance among the sailors that ought to be redressed.

In a man-of-war at sea, the sailors have _watch and watch;_ that
is, through every twenty-four hours, they are on and off duty
every four hours. Now, the hammocks are piped down from the
nettings (the open space for stowing them, running round the top
of the bulwarks) a little after sunset, and piped up again when
the forenoon watch is called, at eight o'clock in the morning; so
that during the daytime they are inaccessible as pallets. This
would be all well enough, did the sailors have a complete night's
rest; but every other night at sea, one watch have only four
hours in their hammocks. Indeed, deducting the time allowed for
the other watch to turn out; for yourself to arrange your
hammock, get into it, and fairly get asleep; it maybe said that,
every other night, you have but three hours' sleep in your
hammock. Having then been on deck for twice four hours, at eight
o'clock in the morning your _watch-below_ comes round, and you
are not liable to duty until noon. Under like circumstances, a
merchant seaman goes to his _bunk_, and has the benefit of a good
long sleep. But in a man-of-war you can do no such thing; your
hammock is very neatly stowed in the nettings, and there it must
remain till nightfall.

But perhaps there is a corner for you somewhere along the batteries
on the gun-deck, where you may enjoy a snug nap. But as no one is
allowed to recline on the larboard side of the gun-deck (which is
reserved as a corridor for the officers when they go forward to
their smoking-room at the _bridle-port_), the starboard side only is
left to the seaman. But most of this side, also, is occupied by the
carpenters, sail-makers, barbers, and coopers. In short, so few are
the corners where you can snatch a nap during daytime in a frigate,
that not one in ten of the watch, who have been on deck eight hours,
can get a wink of sleep till the following night. Repeatedly, after
by good fortune securing a corner, I have been roused from it by some
functionary commissioned to keep it clear.

Off Cape Horn, what before had been very uncomfortable became a serious
hardship. Drenched through and through by the spray of the sea at night.
I have sometimes slept standing on the spar-deck--and shuddered as I
slept--for the want of sufficient sleep in my hammock.

During three days of the stormiest weather, we were given the privilege
of the _berth-deck_ (at other times strictly interdicted), where we were
permitted to spread our jackets, and take a nap in the morning after the
eight hours' night exposure. But