Cooking.—The ship has two galleys, two cooks and four assistants. The provisions used in the first cabin, house on deck and second cabin ’tween decks are cooked in the starboard galley; and those used by the third cabin or intermediate passengers and crew in the larboard galley. They also cook anything extra as ham for breakfast.
Loaves, oatmeal cakes, puddings, etc., must be taken up to the galley before a certain hour in the forenoon. Between meal times hot water is sometimes exchanged for cold water to old and delicate passengers.
Breakfast, Dinner, Supper.—The hour for breakfast is 8 o’clock, dinner at 1 and tea at 6. As all the messes cannot dine at once, they take it week about in rotation: for example, if messes 1, 3 and 5 mess first this week, they will be last in the week following.
The stewards in the cabins grind the coffee for their respective messes. The messmen in the intermediate grind their own coffee in the mill in the galley and carry water from the cook to infuse the coffee for their own mess. The stewards and intermediate messmen bring the dinners from the galley to their respective messes.
Tea is brought in the same way as coffee. Coffee is generally used for breakfast and tea for supper.
The floor of the intermediate saloon is scraped daily by the messes in rotation.
Washing Days.—Two days are set apart in each week for washing clothes. If those washing have not saved up fresh or collected rain water, they must wash them in salt water. Whether fresh or salt, it is always cold and the clothes are dried by tying them in the rigging.
Cleaning the Berths.—The stewards, besides scraping the floor, collect the slops of the mess every day.
Ventilation.—As regards this most important point, the Eagle must be classed A1.