Of greater importance than the gunner and boatswain, and sometimes drawing more money for his services, was the carpenter, or “wooden artist.” No man could aspire to be a ship’s carpenter till he had faithfully served his indentures with a shipwright, and been a voyage to sea as a carpenter’s mate. To get an appointment a carpenter had to pass an examination at Shipwrights’ Hall before a quorum of master-shipwrights. A ship’s carpenter had to know his trade. He could not get his place by jobbery or influence. On getting aboard a ship he was expected to examine her with great care and to report any defective timbers, and to have them removed. He had to keep the pumps in good order, and the boats ready for launching. He was to go aloft every day, to examine the state of the masts and yards, particularly after heavy weather. He was to keep the ventilator rigged whenever the weather was sufficiently fair. He was to sound the well each day, and to take care that it never contained more than 15 inches, and that those 15 inches were frequently changed, lest the water should putrify. He was to have a variety of shot plugs prepared, of different sizes and varying material—as lead, oakum, felt, rolled rope, canvas, etc. In battle he was to walk along the orlop-deck with his mates to repair any shot holes as they were made. At sunset each night he had to report to the first lieutenant that his stores, such as shot, plugs, axes, etc., were ready for action, and that the masts and spars were in good order. He had to take especial care that the decks and topsides were kept well caulked, lest water should leak in and drip from deck to deck, to the misery of all hands. To enable him to do all these duties properly he was granted an assistant, in large ships two assistants, known as the carpenter’s mate or mates. These men received two and a half guineas a month, and slung their hammocks in favourable places on the lower gun-deck. In addition to the mates, all ships above the fourth-rate carried an officer called the caulker, who likewise drew two guineas and a half a month. This officer was directly under the carpenter, and had standing orders to search out and caulk all defective seams in the deck and topsides. In addition to the duties indicated above, a carpenter was always to see that the port-lids were in good trim. In foul weather it was his duty to close those on the lower-deck, and to make them watertight with oakum. While at sea he had the power to discharge, or cause to be discharged, any caulker or carpenter’s mate not worth his salt. His subordinates were always stationed on the main-yard in furling sails. As a rule, they stood no night watch, but were expected to come on deck for any important duty, such as tacking ship, shortening sail, sending down spars, etc.
A carpenter’s pay aboard a first-rate ship was £5, 16s. a month. Aboard a third-rate he drew about £1 a month less. In fourth, fifth, and sixth rates, he drew exactly the same pay as the boatswain, gunner, and purser. He slept in his cabin in the fore cockpit, or in some den in the steerage. He had a boy to wait on him, or shared one with the boatswain. In fine weather he rigged his carpenter’s shop on the second or upper gun-deck, in the clear, well-lit space between the tiers of guns. In foul weather his work was done below, in his workshop in the fore cockpit.
THE HEAD OF A 74 GUN SHIP, WITH DRAWING OF SPRITSAIL YARD
Ranking with the boatswain’s mates, in first and second rates, were the quarter-masters, the assistants of the master, and master’s mates. The quartermaster was a petty officer, drawing £2, 5s. 6d. a month for his services. He was generally an old and trusty seaman, who was not sufficiently active to be employed as a boatswain’s mate. His duties were to superintend the helmsman; to assist in the stowage of provisions or ballast; to coil away the cables in the cable-tiers; to keep the time, and to cause the ship’s bell to be struck at each half-hour. When the purser served out provisions in the morning and evening a quartermaster always attended, to watch the weighing, etc. He wore no distinctive uniform, but he had the privilege of sleeping below the berth-deck, in the cable-tiers, on the orlop-deck.
The sailmaker, who drew the same pay as the quartermaster, received his appointment by warrant from the Navy Office. He was helped by a mate or assistant, drawing some 7s. a month less money, and by a “crew” of two men, who were clever with needle and palm. His duty was to keep the sails in good repair, and in order, so that they could be readily brought on deck from the sail-room in the orlop or hold. In fine weather he worked on the second or upper gun-deck, repairing old sails, putting in patches or new roping, etc. He stood no watch, and slept in a favoured place, abreast of the fore hatchway on the lower-deck.
The chief of the ship’s police, the man responsible, under the first lieutenant, for the preservation of peace and quietness below-decks, was the master-at-arms. At the end of the eighteenth century he had lost much of his old authority, and his ancient duty of instructing the seamen in the use of the musket was usually performed by the junior lieutenant. A master-at-arms was appointed by a warrant from the Board of Admiralty. His pay varied from £2, 15s. 6d. in a first-rate to £2, 0s. 6d. in a sixth-rate. When at sea he sometimes drilled the sailors in the use of the musket, and had special orders to see that they took good aim before firing. His chief duty was to keep a strict lookout for unauthorised lights or fires, extinguishing all lights and fires at the setting of the watch, and reporting all those who presumed to re-light them. He had to walk round the ship at intervals, to make sure that no purser’s glim was burning in any of the store-rooms, or in the cable-tiers. He had to prevent any smoking outside the galley, and he had to report any person found using a naked candle below-decks. These duties were comparatively harmless. They saved the ship from being burnt, while at no time did they interfere much with the comfort of the ship’s company. Even the restriction of the smokers to the narrow space of the galley, where but few bluejackets could take tobacco at a time, was not reckoned a hardship. Smoking was not so popular at that time. Comparatively few men smoked. Nearly all of those who used tobacco chewed it, “like Christians.” But the master-at-arms made himself very objectionable in another way. He was the head of the ship’s police, continually on the lookout for the petty criminal. He passed his days ferreting out the privy drunkards, the quarrelsome, riotous, gambling, and sportive persons, so that the captain might punish them at the gangway with a couple of dozen. When a man or woman came on board from the shore it was the duty of the master-at-arms to examine him (or her), to annex any spirits which might be concealed in the person’s clothes. When a boat came alongside he had to report that she contained no intoxicants, before her lading was allowed to be hoisted in-board. Any man found drunk, or fighting, or playing at cards, or dicing, or using a candle, or otherwise transgressing the iron laws of the fleet, was promptly arrested by the master-at-arms, and placed in irons, and chained to an iron bar by the main-mast, till the captain could judge and sentence him. At evening muster, the master-at-arms stood in a prominent position, to spy out any man who walked a shade unsteadily or answered to his name with a thick intonation. He was armed with a cane, with which he was entitled to deal out punishment to those whom he suspected of playing the spy upon him. Those who wanted a little quiet fuddle in between the guns, or wished to play a game of cards, or to dice each other for their tots of grog, would send out spies, and post sentinels, to warn them of this officer’s approach. To checkmate these outposts the master-at-arms encouraged the meaner sort to act as his “narkers” or informers, to let him know when, and by whom, and where, unlawful pleasures were being enjoyed. These police spies, or ship’s traitors, were known as white mice. They lived uneasy lives aboard a man-of-war. Sometimes the crew fell upon them privily, and man-handled them. A master-at-arms was not altogether safe. In the dark night-watches, as he made the round of the lower-deck, with his lantern in his hand, those whom he had caused to be flogged would sometimes get revenged.
In all those ships which did not carry marines a master-at-arms was expected to post the sentinels, and to instruct them in their duty. He was assisted in his work by two or more satellites, known as ship’s corporals, who received about two guineas a month a-piece. One or more of these officers was continually walking about the ship after the setting of the watch at 8 P.M. They stood their watches, like the rest of the crew, but they had the privilege of sleeping near the ship’s side, with rather more space than their shipmates. In the daytime they pried up and down in search of delinquents, whom they might thrash with their rattans or drag to the bilboes. They were appointed to their positions for merit, but he who made the appointment saw to it that the men promoted to these particular posts were naturally fitted for them. The job was not popular among the sailors, for the increase of pay was slight, the responsibility heavy, and the duty unpleasant.
An important member of the ship’s crew was the cook. This warrant officer was appointed by the Commissioners of the Navy, who invariably chose him from the Greenwich pensioners. He was seldom blessed with all his limbs, and never rose beyond the making of pea-soup and the boiling of junk. “The composing of a minc’d Pye,” says Edward Ward, “is metaphysics to him.” He did not cook for the captain. His art was of the popular kind. Anyone could understand it. There was nothing intense or mysterious about it. His duty was very simple. He had to steep the salt junk served out to him in a barrel of salt water, known as a steep tub. When the meat had become a little soft and pliable, through the dissolution of the salt, he took it and boiled it for several hours, or until the boatswain piped to dinner. It was then served out to the different messes. Directly the last piece had been handed out the coppers were skimmed. The salt fat or slush, the cook’s perquisite,[21] was scraped out and placed in the slush tub. The coppers were then scoured, and made ready for the cooking of the next meal. A cook was not allowed to give his slush or melted fat to the men, as they used it in making their private duffs or puddings, and “scarcely anything more unwholesome, or more likely to produce the scurvy, can be eaten.” A cook was expected to be frugal with his firewood, except after a battle, when he had generally a stack of splinters to eke out his store. He was expected to keep his galley clean, and usually had a mate or assistant, with the full complement of limbs, to help him in this work. His pay was very small, being only about thirty-five shillings a month, but as he was always a Greenwich pensioner, in receipt of 11s. 8d. a month relief, and as he generally cleared a handsome sum from his slush, the pay was sufficient. He wore no uniform, kept no watch, seldom strayed very far from his galley, and slept at nights on the lower gun-deck, in a favoured place, with a ship’s corporal for his neighbour. The marines kept guard at the galley door while he cooked the dinner, lest the ship’s thieves should privily convey away his delicacies while his back was turned. He was expected to extinguish his fire after the meal of the day had been cooked, and at all times when the ship prepared to go into action. In port he was expected to keep a poker heated for the firing of salutes, etc. At sea he was allowed to cook little messes for those of the hands who were his cronies. In some ships he was also allowed to dry the clothes of those wetted by the sea in heavy weather. His coppers were examined every morning, by the mate of the watch, before the “cocoa,” or “oatmeal,” was put into them.