see it properly cleaned, whitewashed, or painted, and furnished with every reasonable convenience for the crew.[1]consisted of twenty-one persons all told, comprising the master, or "captain," first and second mates, and steward, all of whom lived in the cabin. Besides these there were the carpenter, cooper, and cook—who with the steward were expected to assist in seaman's duties—ten seamen, and four apprentices. One of the latter lived with the carpenter and cooper in a place called the "steerage," that is, a small space temporarily separated by some rough stauncheons and boards from the cargo in the square of the after-*hatch. Here their tools, with various rope and sail stores, were also kept. The cook, ten seamen, and three apprentices had their abode in the forecastle. This place, which was in the "'tween decks" at the extremity of the bow, may have been about twenty-one feet in width at the after or widest part, tapering gradually away to a narrow point at the stem. The length in midships was somewhere about twenty feet, but much less as the sides of the vessel were approached. The height was five feet from deck to beam, or about five feet nine inches from deck to deck at the greatest elevation between the beams; the only approach to it being through a scuttle or hole in the main deck, about two and a half feet square. Beyond this hole there were no means of obtaining either light or ventilation, and in bad weather, when the sea washed over the deck, the crew had to do as best they could without either, or receive the air mixed with spray, and sometimes accompanied by the almost unbroken crest of a wave, which, in defiance of all the]*
- ↑ These duties were too frequently overlooked, and the accommodation for seamen when at sea, or in harbour abroad, is still far from being as comfortable as the ordinary run of cheap lodging-houses on shore, although it has been greatly improved of late years, more especially since the Merchant Shipping Act came into operation. Previously it was generally of a wretched description, and as the Author has the most vivid recollection of the forecastle of the ship in which he served his apprenticeship, a description of it may serve to illustrate an ordinary specimen of the sea homes of sailors forty years ago. The vessel in which he served was about four hundred and twenty tons register, and of North American build. She was ship-rigged, and had a flush deck, that is, there were no erections upon the deck except the galley or cook-house, which stood before the long-boat; on each side of both were lashed, to ring-bolts in the deck, the spare spars, and to these were again lashed a row of puncheons or butts filled with fresh water. This vessel was employed in the trade between Great Britain and Demerara, making occasionally a voyage to the Bay of Fundy (Nova Scotia) for lumber, a description of boards used for the heading of rum and molasses casks and sugar hogsheads. Her crew [she had more than the usual complement
