Read Ebook: Sea life in Nelson's time by Masefield John

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izzen-mast was distant from the bow about seventeen-twentieths of the length of the lower gun-deck. The heels of all three masts were stepped or fixed in strong wooden sockets, or mortises, known as tenons, at the bottom of the ship's hold. These mortises or tenons were of oak, and the timbers which formed them lay across the keelson, or inner part of the keel. The bowsprit "steeved" or raked upwards at an angle of about thirty-six degrees with the horizon. The masts, as a rule, raked or inclined slightly aft, but the rake of a ship's mast was sometimes altered to suit her sailing. Some ships sailed better with their masts stayed forward, or stayed plumb, without rake.

When the lower masts and bowsprit were stepped and secured the ship received her rigging from the rigging-loft. Her lower rigging was then set up by master-riggers, helped by the marines and standing officers. The shrouds and stays which secured the masts were made of hempen rope, "three-strand shroud laid," tarred on the outside, but not within the lay of the rope. Wire rope, which is now used for nearly all standing rigging, was then unknown. When the lower rigging was all set up, and the rigging of the bowsprit finished, the jibboom and top-masts were sent aloft and rigged. When these were finished the flying jibboom and topgallant and royal masts were sent up and rigged, after which the ship's standing rigging was complete. The stays, the strong ropes which supported the masts forward, were always doubled.

When the standing rigging was complete, the yards, on which the square-sails set, were crossed on their respective masts. The yards were of fir, the lower yards being "made," or built, of more than one piece of timber. The upper yards were fashioned from single trees. Some captains of Nelson's time slung their lower yards with chain, a custom which in time became general. As a rule, however, the lower yards were slung with stout rope. The rig was practically that in use at the time of the abolition of sailing ships in the Royal Navy in the early sixties. There were, however, various differences. The sprit-sail, a square-sail on the bowsprit, setting from a yard underneath that spar, was still in use. The sail was not abolished until about 1810, while the yard, or a relic of it, remained for many years later, though no sail was set upon it. On the mizzen-mast the spanker or driver was not set upon a gaff and boom, but on a great lateen yard, pointing fore and aft, its lower and forward arm reaching down to a little above the wheel. Ships with these lateen "cross-jacks" were to be seen almost at the end of the eighteenth century. No ships carried sails above their royals, the fourth square-sail from the deck. Stay-sails were set between the masts, and studding-sails at the extremities of the yards. Perhaps the last change in rigging which Nelson saw was the introduction of the flying jib, and its boom, at the extremity of the bowsprit.

Masts, spars, sails, and rigging for ships of every rate were always kept in stock at the royal yards. The ships of the navy were built according to the "Establishment," or Admiralty regulations, each ship of each rate being as like as possible, so that the gear of one 74 would fit every 74 in the service. The theory was excellent, but in practice it failed, because many of the ships in our navy in Nelson's time were not built according to the "Establishment" but were captured from the French and Spanish. Indeed, the only good ships in our fleets were built by French and Spanish hands. The French treated shipbuilding as an imaginative art. The very finest brains in the kingdom were exercised in the planning and creation of ships of beautiful model. Admirable workmen, and the best talents of France, produced, in the latter half of the eighteenth century, a number of sailing men-of-war which were more beautifully proportioned, faster on every point of sailing, stronger, and with larger batteries, than the ships built in this country at that time. A French 80-gun ship at the close of the eighteenth century was bigger, more roomy, faster, and a finer ship in every way, than our 98-gun ships. Our own men-of-war were so badly designed and proportioned that they were said to have been built by the mile, and cut off as required. They were very cramped between-decks, yet they were nearly always pierced for more guns than they could conveniently fight. They were very crank ships, and so "weak" that they could not fight their lower-deck guns in anything like weather. They were slow at all points of sailing, and slack in stays. In heavy weather they sometimes rolled their masts out, or sprung them by violent pitching. Had the French been able to improve their guns as they improved their ships our navy would have been destroyed. As it was, their superior sailing was to some extent neutralised by the fact that decisive naval engagements had to be fought at close range, within, say, a quarter of a mile of the enemy. The Spanish ships were but a little inferior to the French. A queer Irish genius named Mullins, who had settled in Spain, was the master-shipwright responsible for them. They were used as models by our English designers, but the English ships were not markedly improved till after the death of Nelson. The following table may help the readers to an understanding of the different rates in use. The figures are approximate.

Viewed from without, a first, second, or third-rate wooden man-of-war appeared ponderous and cumbersome. A modern sailor, accustomed to the keen iron-ships of the present day, would have called such a ship a sea-waggon, qualified or otherwise, before spitting and passing by. But when the great sails were set, and the hull began to move through the sea, the cumbrous hulk took on attributes of beauty and nobility. There has been, perhaps, no such beautiful thing on earth, the work of man's hands, as an old 74 under sail.

If one had taken a boat and rowed out to such a ship as she lay at anchor, fitted for the sea, towards the end of the eighteenth century, one would have been struck, first of all, by her bulk. The ships had bulging wooden sides, vast stern-works, and cumbrous wooden beakheads. They set one wondering how oak of such thickness could have been wrought to such curves. Till Nelson's time there was no uniformity in the painting of the exteriors of the ships. The captains used their own discretion, and followed their own tastes, in the selection and application of the colours. The most general colour-scheme was as follows:--Along the water-line, just above the ruddy gleam of the copper-sheathing, was a wide black streak, running right round the ship, and reaching as high as the level of the lower gun-deck. Above this the sides were yellow, of a yellow sometimes inclining to brown, like the colour of certain varnishes, and sometimes of a brighter tint, like the colour of lemon peel. The after upper-works above the gun-decks, and the outer sides of the poops above the quarter-deck guns, were painted a vivid red or blue. This band of bright colour gradually faded, till by the time of Trafalgar it had become a very deep and dull blue, of a dingy tint that was very nearly black. A band of scarlet or pale blue, edged with gold, ran round the forecastle, and continued down the beak to the figurehead. The outsides of the port-lids were of the same colour as the sides--that is, of a brownish yellow. The stern-works were generally elaborate with gilded carving, gilt cherubs, and the like, and with red, blue, green and gold devices, such as cornucopias, drums and banners, royal arms, wreaths, etc. Round the stern of each ship, outside the glazed cabin windows , ran a quarter gallery or stern walk, on which the captain could take his pleasure. The supports and rails of this walk were heavy with gold-leaf. First and second-rate ships had three and two stern walks respectively. At the bows, at the extremity of the great beakhead, was the ship's figurehead, either a ramping red lion or a plain white bust, or a shield, or some allegorical figure suggested by the name of the ship. The allegorical figure was, perhaps, the most popular among the sailors. They took great pride in keeping it in good repair, with bright gilt on its spear or helmet, red paint upon its cheeks, and pretty blue sashes wherever such appeared necessary.

The ships of Lord Howe's fleet, in 1794, appear to have been painted as follows:--The side of the ships above the line of the copper a dull brown tint; the tiers of ports a pale lemon yellow, chequered by the port-lids, the outsides of which were brown, like the sides of the ship. The gilded scroll-work, at bow and stern, was as usual. Lord Nelson is said to have painted the ships of his fleets after much the same pattern, only substituting black for the dull brown of the sides and outer port-lids. The arrangement used by him became popular. It was known as the "Nelson chequer": black sides and port-lids, and yellow streaks to mark each deck of guns. It was at first used only by those ships which had fought at Trafalgar or the Nile. In time it became the system adopted throughout the Navy. The captains of some ships preferred their own colour-schemes, and painted their vessels with red or orange streaks to mark the gun tiers. The "Nelson chequer" was, however, to become the colour arrangement generally employed. Some years after Trafalgar the lemon-yellow ribands gave place to white, which continued in use till wooden men-of-war became obsolete. Those which remain afloat are painted black and white in the manner in use in the early sixties, when such ships ceased to be built.

Internally, the sides of the ships were painted blood-red, in order that the blood, which so often and so liberally spattered them, might not appear. The inner sides of the port-lids were painted of this colour, so that when the port-lids were opened, the brown or black of the ship's sides was diversified agreeably with scarlet squares. After Trafalgar the interiors of the ships of war were sometimes painted in other colours, according to the whims of their commanders. Green was the most common variant, but the interior of some ships was painted yellow or brown. A favourite arrangement was the white and green--white for the ship's sides and beams, and green for the waterways and coamings. White became the rule about the year 1840. Many internal fittings, such as gun-carriages, and, in some cases, the guns themselves, were painted red or chocolate. Lower masts were sometimes painted a dull brownish yellow. Top-masts and upper spars were covered with a dark brown preserving varnish. Yards and gaffs were painted black. Blocks, chains, dead-eyes, and wooden and iron fittings for the rigging, were tarred black to match the yards. The projecting platforms known as the chains or channels at the side of the ships, to which the lower rigging was secured, were painted to match the sides of the ships. As the masts of French ships were generally painted black, the ships in our fleets painted their masts white before any general engagement, so that the ships might be distinguished in the smoke and confusion.

The visitor going aboard one of these ships, and entering her, not by the entry port to the main-deck, with its little brass rail and carved porch, but by the gangway to the upper-deck, would have climbed from his boat by a ladder of battens nailed to the timbers. At each side of this ladder was a side rope, extended by iron stanchions. The rope, as a rule, was a piece of ordinary 3-inch hemp, worn smooth and shiny by many hands. For important visitors, such as a captain or flag-officer, special side ropes were rove, either of white cord or of the ordinary rope covered with green or scarlet cloth. Both the gangway and the entry port were guarded by a marine sentry, in a red coat, pipeclayed belts, and white knee-breeches. A midshipman kept watch about the gangway to report to the lieutenant the arrival of all boats coming to the ship before they drew alongside.

On gaining the deck of an old 74 the visitor would have found himself upon the spar-deck, just abaft the main-mast, fronting the great timber bitts, with their coils of running rigging. Close beside him was the quarter-deck ladder, leading up to the quarter-deck. Above this again was the poop, a second raised platform or deck, reached by short, small ladders from the quarter-deck. Right at the stern of the ship, inclining outboard over the sea, was a flagstaff on which flew an ensign as large as a mizzen-topgallant-sail. If the visitor had clambered up the sloping deck to this point he would have been able to overlook the whole of the upper surface of the ship. Just beneath him, at his back, below the step of the flagstaff, he would have seen a heavy lantern, or stern light, with a ponderous and decorated case. To each side of the flagstaff were lifebuoys, by which a marine with a hatchet was always stationed when the ship was at sea. At the alarm of "man overboard" the marine hacked through the lanyard supporting one of the lifebuoys and let it drop into the water. At each side of the ship, along the poop and quarter-deck, were the after-guns, which, till 1779, when the carronade was adopted, were generally 9-pounders, in red wooden trucks or carriages, secured to the ship's side in the usual way. These guns pointed through square port-holes which were cut, without lids, through the thick wooden bulwarks. Forward of the mizzen-mast, under the break of the poop, or, in the later times, on the quarter-deck itself, was the great double steering wheel, placed in midships, abaft the binnacle which held the compass. The tiller ropes were made of raw-hide thongs, raw-hide being tougher than rope, and less dangerous to the crew when struck by a shot than chain would have been. Over the wheel hung the forward arm of the great lateen mizzen-yard, a relic of Drake's time, which was not abolished in favour of the spanker gaff and boom until the end of the eighteenth century. Along the sides of the quarter-deck, and along the ship's bulwarks as far forward as the beakhead, were the hammock nettings, or hammock cloths, within which the hammocks of the ship's company were stowed.

Forward of the quarter-deck, between that deck and the forecastle, was the waist, or, as a modern sailor would call it, the well. It was not decked over, nor were the wooden bulwarks of the quarter-deck continued along it, but to each side, in the place of bulwarks, were iron standards, supporting two thick canvas breastworks or stout nettings of rope about two feet apart, between which the hammocks of the crew were stowed. Directly within these breastworks were broad plank gangways, for the convenience of the sail-trimmers, small-arm parties, and marines. Between the main and fore masts, in midships, parallel with the decked-over gangways, were the booms, or spare spars, tightly lashed in position. On the top of these spars, or to each side of them, were the ship's boats, long-boat, barge and cutter, with their oars and sails inside them. Farther forward was the forecastle, upon which were more carronades, or 9-pounder cannon, and one or two heavy bow-chasers, or guns made to fire forward. On the forecastle was the great ship's bell, hanging from a heavy wooden or iron belfry, with a plaited lanyard on the clapper to help the timekeeper to strike it. In the centre of the forecastle was the galley-funnel, the chimney of the ship's kitchen. At the forward end were ladders leading into the beakhead, from which the sailors reached the bowsprit when occasion sent them thither.

Under the poop was the captain's cabin, extending from its forward limit to the gilded stern gallery. This part of the ship, extending outboard as it did, like a great gilt excrescence, was sometimes known as the coach or round house. Very frequently this cabin contained no guns. If it contained guns they were seldom or never fired. The ports of the cabin were glazed, and there was a couch or settee running under them for the ease of the captain. These settees were hollow, and formed convenient cupboards for the captain's gear. As the floor or deck of the cabin was laid upon the beams of the main or upper gun-deck, it followed that the cabin was loftier and roomier than any other place in the ship. The poop, the deck above it, was raised some feet above the quarter-deck, as we have seen, so that the captain's state apartment may have been some eight or nine feet high. A door from it opened into the stern walk, which opened by two little doors, one on each side, to the quarter galleries. The cabins were usually very bare. They were furnished with a large fixed table, a few heavy chairs, a fixed or swinging sleeping cot, and a wooden washhand stand containing a basin. It was shut off from the forward portion of the ship by a simple wooden bulkhead, made of elm, so fitted that it could be lifted from its place and shifted out of its way when the ship went into action. In early times, in the days of the Stuarts, this bulkhead and the interior of the cabin were made gay with carved work, or, as it was then called "gingerbread work." Great ships of the first and second rates then carried joiners, to repair and keep beautiful these decorations. In the latter half of the eighteenth century the cabins were without decorations of any kind. The only breaks to the bareness of the wood were the captain's foul-weather clothes, dangling from pegs, and his lamp swinging in its gimbals or hinges, his telescope in his bracket, and, perhaps, a trophy of swords and pistols, or a stand of the ship's arms, such as muskets and cutlasses, in a rack about the mizzen-mast. There were, of course, captains like Captain Whiffle in the novel, or the scented Captain Mizen in the play, who lived in great splendour, in carpeted cabins hung with Italian pictures. These worthies kept perfumes burning in silver censers to destroy the odour of the bilge. Such captains were, however, the exception, not the rule. A captain with a case of books and a pair of curtains to his windows was regarded as a sybarite. Any decorations beyond these were looked upon as Persian and soul-destroying.

The forward bulkhead of the cabin was pierced with a door in midships, which opened on to the half-deck, the space covered by the quarter-deck. The half-deck was also known as the steerage, from the fact that the steering wheels and binnacle were placed there, under the roof or shelter of the quarter-deck planks. The sides of the half-deck were pierced for guns, generally carronades. It must be remembered that the half-deck was, as its name implies, decked over, so that one could walk from side to side of the ship on a floor of planks. The waist, or space between the fore and main-masts, on the same plane, was not so decked. The forecastle was decked across, and the sides of the forecastle were pierced for carronades. But there were no guns on the plank gangways along the sides of the waist, partly because the position was exposed, and partly because the space was needed in action by the sail-trimmers and small-arm parties. The raised forecastle and high poop and quarter-deck, were survivals from old time. In the old ships of war, of the reign of Elizabeth, these superstructures had been built of great strength and height, "the more for their majesty to astonish the enemy." No ship could be carried by boarding until the men defending these castles had been overcome. No boarding party could enter such a ship without great danger, for the bulkheads of these castles were pierced for quick-firing guns, mounted so as to sweep the waist. Any troop of boarders clambering into the waist could be shot down by the gunners in the castles. The superstructures were excellent inventions for that time, when naval engagements were decided by hand-to-hand fighting, or by ramming. They were less useful when the improvements in ordnance made it possible to decide a sea-fight by the firing of guns at a distance. They lingered in our Navy until the third or fourth decade of the nineteenth century, when the raised or topgallant forecastle was abolished. Some twenty or thirty years before this happened the quarter-deck and poop were merged together, so that there was then but one deck above the spar-deck.

Passing forward from the steerage one came to the main hatchway in the open space of the waist, just forward of the main-mast. The ladders of this hatchway led from the waist to the deck below. This deck below the spar-deck was known in first and second rates as the main-deck. In third-rates, such as a 74-gun ship, it was called the second or upper deck. Right aft, on this deck, was the ward-room or officers' mess, where the lieutenants had their meals. The room was large and well-lit, for the stern of the ship was pierced with five or six windows, which were all glazed, like the windows of the captain's cabin. Part of the ward-room was used as an officer's store-room, and this part seems to have been shut away from the rest by means of wooden bulkheads, made of elm, as being less liable to splinter if struck by a shot than any other sort of wood. There was no stern walk outside the after windows on this deck, but there were quarter galleries to each side. These were generally fitted up as lavatories for the lieutenants. Forward of the ward-room, on each side of the deck, were the state-rooms of the lieutenants--little fenced-off cupboards, walled with elm wood, each of them just large enough to hold a cot, a writing-desk, a chest of clothes, and a few instruments. In some ships--as in fifth and sixth rates--the lieutenants slung their hammocks in the ward-room, there being no space for private cabins. Beyond the ward-room bulkhead was the open deck, clear of obstruction save for the capstans and the openings of the hatchways, almost as far forward as the fore-mast. Abaft the fore-mast, in midships, was the cook-room or galley, where the cook perspired over his coppers. The galley floor was paved with brick, to lessen the risk of fire. At each side of the deck, at their respective port-holes, were the lines of cannon. The general calibre for this deck, aboard a 74, was the 24-pounder. Of these there were usually some fifteen or sixteen at each side of the ship on this, the second or upper deck.

As a large portion of this deck was not decked over, but open to the sky, save for the boats and spare spars, the fighting space was comparatively light. In fine weather, and in moderately breezy weather, the gun ports on this tier could be kept open, at anyrate to leeward. In bad weather, when they were closed, when tarpaulins covered the hatchways and open spaces, the deck was lit by the bull's-eyes--the round and oval plates of thick glass, which were let into the centre of the port-lids. At night the only lights allowed were cased in the battle-lanterns of thick horn. If the ship went into action at night the sailors fought their guns by the light these lanterns afforded, one lantern being placed beside each gun.

Beneath the second or upper deck was the first or lower gun-deck, the principal deck of the ship. It was the broadest of the decks, and by far the strongest, and the most roomy. Here the heaviest cannon, the two long batteries of 32-pounder guns, were mounted; and here, in action, was the fiercest of the fighting. Right aft, on this deck, was the gun-room, in which the gunner and his mess lived. It was also the ship's armoury, where the muskets, cutlasses and pistols were stored. The younger midshipmen sometimes slung their hammocks in the gun-room, under the fatherly eye of the gunner. In some ships the gunner acted as caterer to the youngest of the midshipmen, and saw to it that their clothes were duly washed during the cruise. Forward of the gun-room bulkhead there was the open deck, with the lines of guns in their blood-red carriages. The heavy rope cables stretched along this deck, in midships, nearly as far aft as the main-mast. Right forward, in midships, stretching across the bows, was the manger, a sort of pen, some four feet high, over which the cables passed to the hawse-holes. The manger was designed as a breakwater to keep the water which splashed through the hawse-holes from pouring aft along the deck. The hawse-holes were firmly plugged with oakum and wooden shutters when the ship was at sea, but no contrivance that could be devised would keep the water from coming in in heavy weather. The manger also served as a sheep-pen or pigsty or cattle byre, if the ship carried live stock. This lower-deck was the berth or sleeping deck, where the men slung their hammocks at night. It was also the mess-deck, where they ate their meals. The place was very dark and noisome in foul weather, for a very moderate sea made it necessary to close the port-lids, so that, at times, the crew messed in semi-darkness for days together. It was also very wet on that deck in bad weather, for no matter how tightly the ports were closed, and no matter how much oakum was driven all round the edges of their lids, a certain amount of water would leak through, and accumulate, and slop about as the ship rolled, to the discomfort of all hands. In hot climates the discomfort was aggravated by the opening of the seams of the deck above, so that any water coming on to that deck would drip down upon the deck below. Often in its passage it dripped into the sailors' hammocks, and added yet another misery to their miserable lives. In midships on this deck, round the hatchway coamings, were shot racks, containing 32-lb round shot for the heavy batteries. The pump-dale, or pipe for conveying the water pumped from the hold, ran across the deck to the ship's side from "the well" by the main-mast. This was the sole obstruction to the run of the deck, from the gun-room to the manger, between the midship stanchions and the guns. There was a clear passage fore and aft, for the lieutenants in command of the batteries. In midships were the hatch-coamings, the capstans, the bitts and cables, and the stanchions supporting the beams. Between these obstructions and the breaches of the guns was a fairly spacious gangway, along which the officers could pass to control the fire.

Below the lower or first deck was a sort of "temporary deck," not wholly planked over, called the orlop or overlap-deck. It was practically below the water-line when the ship's guns and stores were aboard. It was therefore very dark and gloomy, being only lit by a few small scuttles, in the ship's sides, and by lanterns and candles in tin sconces. Right aft on this deck was the after cockpit, where the senior midshipmen, master's mates, and surgeon's mates, were berthed. This cockpit was of considerable size, for here, after an action, the wounded were brought, to suffer amputation and to have their wounds dressed. The mess table, at which the reefers and mates made merry, was fixed in the middle of the berth. After an action it was used as an operation table by the surgeons. Adjoining the after cockpit were cabins for the junior lieutenants; state-rooms for the surgeon, purser, and captain's steward; the ship's dispensary; a little cupboard for bottles and splints, and the purser's store-room. In small ships of the fifth and sixth rates the marines berthed on this deck, abreast of the main-mast, hanging the beams with their pipeclayed belts and cartridge boxes. The spirit-room, about which the imaginative writer has written so imaginatively, was sometimes placed on this deck, near the after cockpit. More generally it was below, in the after hold.

Further forward, on the orlop-deck, the line of battleships had racks for the bags of the men and the chests of the marines, to which access could be had at stated times. In midships was the sail-room, or sail-locker, where the spare suits of sails were stowed. Here, also, were the cable-tiers, or dark, capacious racks, in which the cables were coiled, by candlelight, when the ship weighed her anchor. It was the duty of the midshipmen to hold the candles while this stowing of the cables was performed by the quarter-masters. After a battle, when the after cockpit was filled with wounded men, the midshipmen and mates slung their hammocks in the cable tiers. To the sides of the cable tiers were other tiers for the stowage of spare rigging and hawsers. Beyond these again, stretching across the deck, was the fore cockpit, where the boatswain and carpenter had their cabins and store-rooms. The carpenter's store-room was filled with tools, and with the implements for stopping shot holes. Most of the actual carpentering was done above, in daylight, on the upper-deck. The boatswain's store-room contained blocks, fids, marline-spikes, rope yarn, etc., for the fitting and repairing of the rigging. In peace time, for some reason, the boatswain and carpenter slept on the lower-deck in cots or double hammocks slung in the most favoured places. In war time they kept their cabins.

Near the two cockpits were the entrances to the fore and after powder magazines, where the ship's ammunition lay. The hatches leading to the magazines were covered over by copper lids, secured by strong iron bars and padlocks. The magazines were only opened on very special occasions by the captain's order. A marine sentry stood at the hatch of each magazine with a loaded musket, to prevent any unauthorised person from tampering with the padlocks or trying to enter. In battle this sentry was reinforced by a corporal's guard with fixed bayonets, or by midshipmen with loaded pistols.

The magazines were situated in the fore and after parts of the ship's hold. They were far below water, and situated in midships, so that no shot could penetrate to them. They were lit by ingenious contrivances called light-rooms, small chambers built just forward of them, and separated from them by double windows of glass. Lanterns were lit in these light-rooms and placed behind the windows, so that their light should illuminate the magazines. The floors or decks of the magazines were covered with felt, or with a rough kind of frieze known as fearnought. The walls or sides were similarly covered. No man was allowed to enter them until he had covered his shoes with thick felt slippers, and emptied his pockets of any steel or other metal, the striking of which might make a spark. The after-magazine was the smaller of the two. It contained no powder casks, but only a store of filled cartridges for the supply of the upper-deck 18- and 24-pounders, and the forecastle and quarter-deck carronades. In the fore-magazine were the tiers of powder casks, one above the other, the lowest tier having copper hoops about them. This place was protected even more carefully than the after-magazine, for here the loose powder was handled and placed in cartridge; and here the hand grenades and musket cartridges were stored. Here, too, were the cartridges ready filled for the batteries of 32-pounders on the lower or first gun-deck. This magazine was not reached by direct descent from a ladder. To reach it one had to pass along a little passage protected by a copper door and guarded by a marine. The cartridges for the cannon were stored in cylindrical wooden tubs or boxes, arranged in racks and covered with movable wooden lids. Forward of the fore-magazine was a lift or hoist, by which the cartridges could be passed from the magazine to the orlop, so that the boys employed in passing powder should not have to descend into the magazine. In some ships there was no such hoist, but a thick, wet, woollen screen with a hole in it, through which the cartridges were handed. The boys employed in carrying powder had to cover the cartridges with their jackets as they ran from the magazine to the gun they supplied. All magazines were fitted with a water tank and pipes, by which the chamber could be swamped in the event of fire.

Between the magazines was the vast round belly of the ship, known as the hold. Here the ballast, provision casks, and water casks were stowed. In the space forward of the after-magazine was a chamber known as the fish-room, for the storage of the ship's salt fish. Beside it was the spirit-room, full of wine, brandy, and rum casks. Farther forward was the bread-room, a large apartment lined with tin, and artificially dried by hanging stoves. It contained an incredible quantity of ship's biscuit, of which a pound a day was allowed to each man on board. The water and beer casks, and the casks containing peas, oatmeal, and salt flesh were stowed forward of the bread-room, according to the rules of the service.

FOOTNOTES:

The quarter-decks of many ships were raised above the upper deck. In small ships of war, such as frigates, the quarter-deck was the after part of the upper-deck, below the break of the poop.

Or under the break of the quarter-deck.

Or "cross-jack."

In some ships the space under the booms on this deck was fitted with a cattle-pen, in which the officers kept their live stock, if they had any. In fine weather the deck about the cattle-pen was used by the various craftsmen of the ship. The armourer and blacksmith worked at their anvils about the galley. The carpenters sawed and planed at their tables. The sailmakers spread their canvas, and stitched, and put in patches. In fine weather the sick were placed here for the benefit of the air and the sun.

The youngest midshipmen sometimes slung their hammocks just outside the gun-room, in a space cut off from the rest of the lower deck by a stand of muskets and cutlasses extending across the deck. A marine stood guard at the entrance to the railed-off portion. He was generally a recruit, good for nothing else. He seems to have beguiled his hours of sentry-go by blacking the boots of the ward-room officers .

Coamings are raised ridges round the hatchway openings, designed to keep the water from falling below in any quantity during foul weather. They also prevent the unwary from falling down the ladders.

The guns in use in our Navy--Their nature--How loaded and fired--Varieties--Carronades--Shot--Small-arms--Gun-ports

The cannon with which Nelson's ships were armed were made of brass or iron. The iron guns were cast in a mould, and then bored, or tubed by the insertion of a powerful cylindrical gouge. They do not appear to have been cast round a core. The brass guns were made of a proportion of "metal fit for casting" , to which was added a seventh part of copper, a rather smaller quantity of brass, and a few pounds of tin. The exact proportions were kept secret by the founders. German founders used more tin than brass, while the French used two formulae, in both of which more tin than brass was employed.

The guns in use in our service were distinguished and named by the weight of the balls they threw. The old names of demi-cannon, saker, curtal, cannon-perier, etc., had fallen out of use. The guns were spoken of as 6-, 12-, 18-, 24-, or 32-pounders. The 32-pounder was the largest gun in use. Until 1790 a ponderous gun, throwing a 42-pound round shot, had been mounted on ships of the line, but the gun was too unwieldy, and the shock of the discharge was too great to allow of its continued use. There were, however, 42-, and even 68-pounder carronade or "smasher" guns. These were mounted on improved carriages, the invention of Admiral Bertie.

At sea, where the ship was in continual motion, either rolling or pitching, the guns had to be secured with great care by means of tackles and breechings. These ropes enabled the gun's crews to work their guns in action. A breeching was made of stout hemp rope of the finest quality. It passed through a ring or "thimble," which was strapped to the round iron ball or pomelion of the gun. The ends of it were secured or "clinched" to strong iron ring-bolts in the ship's side, one at each side of the gun port. This breeching secured the gun from rolling backwards towards the inner part of the deck, while it checked the recoil of the piece when fired. A breeching was of such a length that, when the piece was fired, it checked the recoil directly the gun muzzle was immediately within the gun port. In this position the piece could be reloaded without difficulty. The gun or side-tackles were pulleys hooked to the sides of the carriages, and to ring-bolts in the ship's side, to enable the gun's crews to run the piece out when they had loaded it. The gun was kept from running out of itself with the roll of the ship by a tackle, called a train or preventer tackle, which was hooked to an iron ring-bolt in midships, and to a hook directly below the breech of the gun. When not in action the guns were hauled close up to the ship's side by means of the side-tackles. The two parts of the breeching were then lashed together, to allow no possible play to the piece. The coins were taken out, so that the muzzle of the gun just touched the upper part of the gun port, to which it was lashed with a length of cord. In very bad weather, when the ship's rolling caused the guns to strain their fastenings, the tackles and breechings were doubled, and small wooden wedges were screwed under their wheels. A gun broken loose was a very terrible engine of destruction, for the two tons of iron, flying across the deck with the roll of the ship, would strike with fearful force against the opposite side. Such a force was more than likely to tear through the timbers, carrying with it any other gun it happened to strike. If a gun broke loose it was "tripped" or upset by hammocks or spare sails flung in its path; but the task of tripping a loose gun on a deck awash with the sea, and foul with all manner of floating gear, such as rammers and buckets, was by no means an easy one. It was like playing leap-frog on a see-saw under a shower bath, with the certainty of a horrible death if you missed your leap.

When secured to the ship's side, and at all times when not in action, the muzzle of a gun was stopped with a circular plug of wood or cork, known as a tompion. This plug was carefully tallowed round its outer rim so that no water should pass by it into the bore of the piece. Over the touch-hole of the gun, when not in action, a thin sheet of lead was fixed. This sheet was about a foot square, and was known as the "apron," because it was tied to its place by two white cords. It kept the vent or touch-hole dry, and defended the priming from chance ignition.

Above the guns, hooked to the beams, so as to be out of the way when not in use, were the implements for loading and cleaning. A gun was loaded in the following manner:--The powder was inserted by means of a ladle--a sort of copper shovel--with a long wooden handle. The head of this shovel resembled a "cylindrical spoon." Into its cavity the cartridge fitted, so that the loader had but to thrust the ladle down and turn it over to deposit the cartridge in its place at the extremity of the bore. A wad of rope yarn was then driven home upon the charge by an implement known as the rammer. The shot was then rammed home, with a wad on top of it. The tightness or looseness of this, the containing wad, did not affect the velocity of the cannon ball. As a rule, therefore, the upper wad was driven in with force just sufficient to keep the shot in the gun while aim was taken. Tight wads were seldom used, as they took too long to drive down the muzzle.

When the piece was loaded the captain of the gun took out his priming-iron, an implement like a knitting-needle, with a few spirals at the end. This he thrust down the touch-hole into the cartridge, so that the iron not only cleared the vent, but also cut through the cartridge. He then opened his priming-box and took out a priming-tube, which was either of tin or of quill, and, in either case, of less than one-fifth of an inch in diameter. This he placed in the touch-hole, so that the sharp end of it entered into the cartridge. Priming-tubes were filled with the very best mealed powder, "mixed up stiff with spirits of wine." Their upper ends were frayed, so that the fire might reach them the more readily. If there were no priming-tubes the captain of the gun primed his piece from a powder-horn, by merely pouring good mealed powder down the touch-hole, and then laying a little train of the same along a channel cut in the gun for the purpose. This little groove led from the vent towards the breech of the piece. The powder placed in this groove was always slightly bruised with the end of the powder-horn. When the gun was primed and aimed, the captain of the piece watched his opportunity to fire, taking care to fire as his side of the ship rose slowly from a roll, so that his shot, if it missed the ship he aimed at, might yet cut her rigging. The piece was fired, as a rule, by means of a match, or length, of twisted cotton wicks soaked in lye, which burned very slowly, and remained alight when once lit for several hours. Matches in actual use were twisted about a forked staff some three feet long, which was known as the linstock. Immediately before a battle matches ready for use were placed between the guns in tubs, known as match tubs, which were half filled with sand or water. The matches were fixed in notches in the rim of each tub, so that their burning ends overhung the water or sand. Their loose ends lay upon the deck. When a man gave fire to a piece he held the burning match below the level of the vent, and blew on the lighted end to make it burn clearly. At the favourable instant he applied the red end to the train of powder leading to the touch-hole, and then smartly drew back the linstock to avoid the "huff" or spit of fire from the vent at the moment of explosion. The spirt of flame was sufficiently violent to blow the linstock out of a man's hand if he applied it carelessly. It also burnt pockmarks on the beams directly above the gun, so that in many old wooden men-of-war the beams were deeply pitted all along the deck. After 1780 the guns of some ships were fitted with flint-locks, by means of which a spark struck from a flint was thrown on to the pan or tube containing the priming powder. The triggers of these locks were released by a smart pull upon a lanyard. These flint-locks were safer than the old arrangement of match and powder train. They were also more certain and more easily managed. Their use enabled the gunners to fire more rapidly, but the sailors disliked them, and the captains looked upon them as dangerous innovations, opposed to the old traditions of the service. They were not generally adopted until after the battle of the Nile. A ship employing them in that engagement made such excellent and such rapid practice that the seamen were convinced of their merit. A flint-lock was, however, always liable to lose its flint, either by fracture or by being stricken from its place. Many guns were fitted with double or even treble flints so that the breaking or slipping of a single stone should not stop the fire. Until long after Nelson's death it was the rule for ships going into action to carry lighted matches in match tubs between the guns, for use if the flint-locks missed fire.

The gun when fired recoiled with great violence to the limit of the breeching. When a gun had become hot from continuous firing the violence of its recoil became so great that the carriage would be lifted from the deck, and the whole contrivance would leap to the beams above at each shot. The breechings used to snap like twine under the tremendous strain of such recoils, particularly on the lower-deck, where the ropes were frequently wetted and subject to rot. In general actions the guns were fitted with double-breechings to prevent such ruptures.

The recoil of the gun was very dangerous to the gun's crews, for no man, however experienced, could predict, from the direction in which the gun pointed and the motion of the ship, in what way the gun would run back. Numbers of men were killed or wounded by the recoil of guns, and no device checked the evil altogether, though several inventions modified it. The breeching always kept it within certain bounds, while it was checked naturally by the slope of the deck, from in midships, towards the ship's sides.

The guns were trained aft and forward by means of handspikes or wooden levers, which were sometimes fitted with iron claws. With these the carriage of a gun could be shifted, little by little, in the required direction. The handspikes were also used to raise the breech of the gun, when the gun captain adjusted the piece to the required height by means of the coins. In raising the breech, the sailor used as his fulcrum one of the steps cut in the cheek or side of the gun-carriage. The work of shifting one of these heavy guns by such a clumsy contrivance was very hard. In action the men stripped to their waists, yet a very few minutes of the work sufficed to make them hot. The exercise was so violent that in hot engagements the men sometimes fell exhausted beside their guns, and slept there in all the uproar of the fight.

The guns generally in use were cast in two lengths, "long" and "short," both varieties having about the same range, but with this difference. The long gun was more accurate, and could be laid point blank--that is, level or horizontal--to fire at an object at a distance, say, of 300 yards. To hit the same object at that distance a short gun had to be slightly elevated, and the more the gun was elevated the less accurate it became. The short gun was the more popular in the years of which we write, for it was more destructive at close quarters, and commanders preferred to come to close quarters before engaging. In the American War of 1812 this preference for the short gun lost us several frigates. The American frigates which captured them were armed with long guns. With these they were able to remain aloof, plying our ships with shot at long range; while the short guns aboard our ships replied inaccurately, their shot falling short or missing, owing to the great elevation necessary to make them carry the distance. The following table may help the reader to understand the sizes and qualifications of the guns in use:--

The guns at sea were invariably kept loaded, but the charges were frequently drawn, as the powder deteriorated if left too long in the gun. In action, when not in use, the crows, handspikes, rammers, etc., were laid on the deck near the ship's side. After an engagement the sponges and rammers were hooked to the ship's beams, above the gun. The other implements were stowed under the gun. In action, the priming-horn was hung to the beams between shots. After action it was returned to the gunner and stored away in one of the magazines. Each gun was fought by a gun's crew of from eight to four men according to the size of the piece.

The guns were generally painted a sort of grey-blue steel colour, with a scarlet band round the muzzle. Some captains merely blackened their guns. Others blackened them, and kept the brass sights and steel cap-squares polished. These were, however, in the minority until 1811. One or two captains painted their guns a pure white. After 1811 the custom of "spit and polish" began, to the great misery of the sailors. Until that time the bright work of the guns was generally painted over.

The carronade guns, which were mounted on all ships in addition to their regulation iron ordnance, were the invention of a Mr Gascoine. They were named after the town in Scotland where they were first cast. They first came into use in 1779. They were short, squat guns, ranging from about five to two feet in length, and flinging balls of from 6 to 12 lbs. in weight. They were lighter than the ordinary guns, and were therefore useful for the quarter-deck, and spar-deck batteries. They were easily managed, and a crew of four men could work the heaviest of them. They were mounted on sliding wooden carriages traversing on a wheel, while the gun was so fixed upon the carriage that it would slide in or out as desired. They were not elevated by handspikes, like the iron main-batteries, for a screw which passed through the iron pomelion gave them their elevation or depression. The coins could be used to give extraordinary depression if such were needed.

Being very short, the point-blank range of a carronade was small, varying from 450 to 230 yards, according to the size of the gun. At an elevation of 4?, at which a 32-pounder gun would carry nearly a mile, the 32-pounder carronade carried less than 1000 yards. But at close quarters the carronade was a much more terrible weapon than any gun mounted on the lower-deck. At a short distance it made such fearful havoc of a ship's side that it was called the "smasher" or "devil-gun." It had several very serious defects. It was so short a piece that, when run out, it barely cleared the sill of its port. To fire it in that position endangered the rigging and ship's side, though no case has been reported of a ship having been set on fire by the discharge of a carronade. Another serious defect was the violence of the recoil, which sometimes split the carriage and dismounted the gun. Admiral Bertie's invention modified this evil, but never overcame it. Carronades were loaded and fired in precisely the same way as iron guns of the lower batteries.

The shot fired by guns and carronades was usually spherical or "round-shot," made of cast iron. Leaden round-shot was sometimes used, apparently with great effect, but the cost was too great to admit of its general use. A store of round-shot, scraped very clean, was always carried in the shot racks on the gun-decks. These shot were kept free from rust by paint or grease. Shot were sometimes so thickly coated with rust, when brought from the hold, that they would not enter the muzzles of the guns for which they were cast. The officers generally endeavoured to keep fifteen or twenty rounds of shot scraped clean in order to avoid the use of rusty balls until the brunt of the fight was over. In close action another kind of shot was used as a scourer or murderer. This was grape shot, "a combination of balls," weighing each 2 lbs., which were packed up in cylindrical canvas bags, of the size of the cannon ball generally used for the gun. A bag of 16 iron balls was used for a 32-pounder, of 12 for a 24-pounder, and of 9 for an 18-pounder. The bags were strongly corded into their cylindrical shape. These 2-lb. iron balls could cut through chain, so that a discharge of them often helped to bring down an enemy's mast, by cutting the stays and standing rigging. In hot actions, when the ships lay "yard-arm to yard-arm," close alongside each other, every second gun was loaded with bags of grape-shot, because "in any close action they are capable of committing infinite ravages against both men and material." To clear an enemy's decks at close range, a kind of shot called case or canister was sometimes used. This was made of leaden musket and pistol bullets, or of shot of half-a-pound weight, packed up tightly in tin cylinders. At very close range this sort of shot committed most ghastly massacre, but it could not be used at a distance of more than 200 yards, as the shot scattered over a wide area, and so lost its effect. Chain shot, or two balls linked together by an iron chain, was used to bring down masts and spars. Bar shot, or two half-round shot joined by a bar was sometimes used, particularly by the French. Bar shot were often frapped about with combustibles, which ignited when the gun was fired, and so set fire to the sails or hull of the opposing ship. Langrel, or langridge, was a collection of old iron, nuts, bolts, bars, and scraps of chain, tied by rope yarns into "a sort of a cylinder," and so fired at masts and rigging. Dismantling shot or shot made of half-a-dozen iron bars, "each about two feet long, fastened by ring-heads to a strong ring," was most efficacious in tearing off sails, and bringing down masts and spars. In close action, and when the guns grew hot, the charges of powder were always reduced by at least a third. When the ships lay close together, the charges were made very small, because shot which barely penetrated a ship's timber occasioned "the greatest shake," and tore off "the greatest number of, and largest, splinters." As splinters were nearly always more terrible than shot, the gunners did their best to produce them. In some ships the opening broadsides were fired with light charges in order that the bullets might shatter the enemy's timber and send the splinters flying.

The small-arms in general use in the Navy were the musket, the musketoon, the pistol, the cutlass, the boarding-pike, the axe or tomahawk, the bayonet, the sailor's knife, and the midshipman's dirk. The musket was the weapon of the marines. It was a flint-lock, muzzle-loading, smooth-bore, firing a ball of from 1 to 2 ounces, with a charge of 4 1/2 drachms of powder. It could be fired with comparative certainty at any object within 100 yards. Its extreme range may have been a quarter of a mile. It sometimes killed at 200 yards. Its barrel was 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Its length, from muzzle to pan, was 3 feet 6 inches. The musketeer carried his cartridges in a box. In loading he had to bite off the bullet from the top of the cartridge, so as to expose the powder. He then sprinkled a little of the powder into the pan of the gun, snapped the pan to, dropped the cartridge down the muzzle, rammed it home, with the bullet on top, and then took aim and fired. The sailors were drilled in the use of the musket whenever opportunity offered.

The musketoon was a short heavy musket with a big bore. It threw a ball weighing from 5 to 7 1/2 ounces. It was only used at close quarters. Some musketoons had bell mouths, like blunderbusses. They kicked very dangerously, but were most effective in repelling boarders.

There were various kinds of pistols in use, some of them of more than one barrel. The boarders, or men told off from each gun to board an enemy's ship, if occasion served, were always supplied with at least two pistols for use at close-quarters. They were loaded with cartridges, which had to be bitten like the cartridges of the muskets. A boarder, in the rush and hurry of the hand-to-hand fighting, had never time to reload after he had emptied his pistol barrels. He flung the weapons away immediately he had burned his cartridges, and laid about him with his cutlass, boarding-axe, or boarding-pike. As a last resource he had always his sailor's knife. The cutlass was a curved heavy cutting sword, about 3 feet long, with a black japanned hilt and basket-guard. The axe was a small heavy axe, with a short steel head and a projecting spike. It was used less as a weapon than as a tool for cutting the lanyards of stays and shrouds, the running rigging, etc. etc. The boarding-pike or half-pike was a spike of steel fixed on a staff of ash. It was a very useful tool for the driving back of boarders. Rows of them, diversified with tomahawks, were sometimes placed along the poop and forecastle, with the hafts scraped clean, and the steels blackened. The other small-arms, such as pistols and cutlasses, were stored in arm-chests in different parts of the ship, and in stands about the masts below decks. Sergeants of marines still carried halberds or whole pikes, about 8 feet long, with heads which combined the spear and axe, "so that they serve equally to cut down or push withal." With these instruments the sergeants aligned their files at muster or inspection. As supplementary weapons some ships carried small swivel guns in the tops aloft, to scour the upper-decks and tops of the enemy at close range. A gun of this kind threw a shot of half-a-pound weight. It mounted on an iron crotch, and had a long iron handle in place of a cascabel, by which it could be turned and pointed.

Before closing this description of the naval armaments in use we must give some short account of the gun ports. A gun port was a square opening in the ship's side, fitted with a heavy, hinged wooden lid, opening outward. When closed, this lid was hooked to an iron bar to keep it from swinging outward as the ship rolled. To open a port one had to haul upon a rope, called a port-tackle, which led from the inside of the ship through a round hole above the port, and thence down to a ring on the outside of the lid. When the ports were open to admit the air the guns were sometimes fitted with "half-ports" or wooden screens, through which their muzzles pointed, but which kept out most of the spray which dashed against the sides. The hinges of the port-lids were protected from wet by little semicircular slips of wood arched just above them. These slips were known as port-riggles. The carpenters were expected to attend to the opening and lowering of the ports, so that the lids, when opened, might all make the same angle from the ship's side.

In some ships the centres of the port-lids were fitted with thick glass bull's-eyes, which admitted light when the ports were battened in.

FOOTNOTES:

This ring or thimble was sometimes cast on the piece above the pomelion.

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