Chapter 21 - Page 2

this privilege was but a beggarly one,
indeed. Not to speak of our jackets--used for blankets--being soaking
wet, the spray, coming down the hatchways, kept the planks of the
berth-deck itself constantly wet; whereas, had we been permitted our
hammocks, we might have swung dry over all this deluge. But we
endeavoured to make ourselves as warm and comfortable as possible,
chiefly by close stowing, so as to generate a little steam, in the
absence of any fire-side warmth. You have seen, perhaps, the way in
which they box up subjects intended to illustrate the winter lectures
of a professor of surgery. Just so we laid; heel and point, face to
back, dove-tailed into each other at every ham and knee. The wet of our
jackets, thus densely packed, would soon begin to distill. But it was
like pouring hot water on you to keep you from freezing. It was like
being "packed" between the soaked sheets in a Water-cure Establishment.

Such a posture could not be preserved for any considerable period
without shifting side for side. Three or four times during the
four hours I would be startled from a wet doze by the hoarse cry
of a fellow who did the duty of a corporal at the after-end of my
file. "_Sleepers ahoy! stand by to slew round!_" and, with a
double shuffle, we all rolled in concert, and found ourselves
facing the taffrail instead of the bowsprit. But, however you
turned, your nose was sure to stick to one or other of the
steaming backs on your two flanks. There was some little relief
in the change of odour consequent upon this.

But what is the reason that, after battling out eight stormy hours
on deck at, night, men-of-war's-men are not allowed the poor boon
of a dry four hours' nap during the day following? What is the
reason? The Commodore, Captain, and first Lieutenant, Chaplain,
Purser, and scores of others, have _all night in_, just as if they
were staying at a hotel on shore. And the junior Lieutenants not only
have their cots to go to at any time: but as only one of them is
required to head the watch, and there are so many of them among
whom to divide that duty, they are only on deck four hours to twelve
hours below. In some eases the proportion is still greater. Whereas,
with _the people_ it is four hours in and four hours off continually.

What is the reason, then, that the common seamen should fare so
hard in this matter? It would seem but a simple thing to let them
get down their hammocks during the day for a nap. But no; such a
proceeding would mar the uniformity of daily events in a man-of-
war. It seems indispensable to the picturesque effect of the
spar-deck, that the hammocks should invariably remain stowed in
the nettings between sunrise and sundown. But the chief