The fleet paymaster is another non-combatant—so far as it is possible for anyone to be so classed on a ship-of-war—and has the responsible duty of looking after the pay, accountant, and clerical work of the ship, stores of all kinds, and many other matters of a like nature, including "slops" or clothes for the ship's company. The paymaster line has no curl on the sleeve and wears white cloth between the gold stripes of rank. The surgeons also have plain stripes, but with scarlet cloth between them. The engineers wear purple between their stripes, and the naval instructors sky-blue, but this is rarely seen, since most naval instructors are also chaplains and wear the ordinary clerical rig. Personally I have never set eyes on the sky-blue.
This about finishes the list of ward-room officers, but those in the gun-room are at least as numerous. The autocrat of the gun-room is the senior sub-lieutenant, who is supposed to rule his subjects with a rod of iron, or, to be more exact, a leather dirk scabbard, which at times forms a useful and effective instrument of justice. In the gun-room live the midshipmen, clerks, and assistant-engineer officers, and their duties have, generally speaking, been already indicated in describing those of the senior officers of the various branches to whom they are assistants and understudies. But a word or two about the midshipmen—the "young gentlemen" as they are generally called—will not be out of place. They have plenty to do. They have to keep watch like their seniors, and one important, though unofficial, part of a watch-keeping midshipman's duties used to be to brew and bring up a cup of cocoa to the officer on the bridge in the middle watch. But this is probably now an exploded custom. A midshipman generally has charge of one of the boats, and takes great pride in keeping it and its crew well up to the mark. The "young gentlemen" drill under the gunnery lieutenant before breakfast, work with the chaplain or naval instructor during the forenoon, and at any moment must be ready to go away in charge of their boats. Every midshipman is expected to keep a daily "log", which is periodically inspected by the captain. Some of them take the greatest pains not only to make their logs models of neatness, but to decorate them with sketches, drawings, and plans, often of considerable merit and interest. This is but a very partial and fragmentary account of the duties of the boys from whom our future admirals and commanders-in-chief will be recruited, but it is time this chapter was drawing to a close, and we cannot leave our ship without at least mentioning a few other people who, though not commissioned officers, are yet of very great importance in her interior economy.
Photo. Cribb, Southsea
First and foremost there are the warrant officers, pre-eminent among whom are the boatswain, gunner, and carpenter, three time-honoured titles. The first-named may be regarded as the commander's right-hand man, and has multifarious duties and responsibilities. The duties of the other two are sufficiently indicated by their titles. Then there are engineer warrant officers, and of late years marine warrant officers known as "Royal Marine gunners". The "sergeant-major" of marines, which is the courtesy title borne by the senior non-commissioned officer of the corps on board, is also a man of considerable importance on a man-of-war. Then there are the chief petty officers, and petty officers such as the yeoman of signals, the chief quartermaster, chief boatswain's mate, and many others, together with sailmaker, blacksmiths, armourers, electricians, coopers, cooks, bandsmen, plumbers, and all kinds of ratings whose presence on board His Majesty's ships and vessels of war is little suspected by the man in the street. Then there is the ship's police, headed by the master-at-arms or "jaundy".[80] These men are recruited from all branches of the navy, and perform much the same duties as the "bobby" on shore, look after the prisoners in cells, and are supposed to detect all irregularities that may take place on board and to bring the delinquents to justice.
If a ship is a flagship there is naturally a more important personage on board than any of the officers whose ranks and duties have been detailed—the admiral in command of the fleet or squadron. He may be a full admiral—the highest rank employed afloat—a vice-admiral, or a rear-admiral, the difference in rank being indicated by the number of stripes on the cuff of his coat, placed above the lower very wide stripe of gold lace. Thus a rear-admiral has one narrow stripe above it, with the executive curl, a vice-admiral two additional narrow ones, and an admiral three. The admiral lives in a regular suite of cabins, generally right aft, consisting of a dining-room or fore-cabin, a sitting-room or after-cabin, and two or three sleeping cabins. The captain of a flagship is known as the flag-captain, and he, with the flag-lieutenant, secretary, and sometimes an officer of marines, form the admiral's staff. All these officers are distinguished from the rest of the officers in the squadron by wearing aiguillettes. The captain, of course, has to command his ship like other captains, but the secretary, who is a staff-paymaster or paymaster told off for this special duty, is the admiral's right-hand man as regards the tremendous amount of paper work connected with the command of a fleet or squadron. The flag-lieutenant is the admiral's personal aide-de-camp and so is specially to the fore, both in the big man's inspections of ships and naval establishments and in social duties and functions. He is also an authority in connection with signalling in its various branches, and necessarily and generally a smart young man all round. He and the secretary mess at the admiral's table and not in the ward-room. A man-of-war, it will be realized, even from this necessarily very brief attempt to describe those who make their "home on the rolling deep" on board her, is a little world in herself.
CHAPTER XVI
Beginning of the War Afloat