White Jacket; Or, The World on a Man-of-War

by Herman Melville

  CHAPTER III.

  A GLANCE AT THE PRINCIPAL DIVISIONS, INTO WHICH A MAN-OF-WAR'S CREW ISDIVIDED.

  Having just designated the place where White-Jacket belonged, it mustneeds be related how White-Jacket came to belong there.

  Every one knows that in merchantmen the seamen are divided intowatches--starboard and larboard--taking their turn at the ship's dutyby night. This plan is followed in all men-of-war. But in all men-ofwar, besides this division, there are others, rendered indispensablefrom the great number of men, and the necessity of precision anddiscipline. Not only are particular bands assigned to the three _tops_,but in getting under weigh, or any other proceeding requiring allhands, particular men of these bands are assigned to each yard of thetops. Thus, when the order is given to loose the main-royal,White-Jacket flies to obey it; and no one but him.

  And not only are particular bands stationed on the three decks of theship at such times, but particular men of those bands are also assignedto particular duties. Also, in tacking ship, reefing top-sails, or"coming to," every man of a frigate's five-hundred-strong, knows hisown special place, and is infallibly found there. He sees nothing else,attends to nothing else, and will stay there till grim death or anepaulette orders him away. Yet there are times when, through thenegligence of the officers, some exceptions are found to this rule. Arather serious circumstance growing out of such a case will be relatedin some future chapter.

  Were it not for these regulations a man-of-war's crew would be nothingbut a mob, more ungovernable stripping the canvas in a gale than LordGeorge Gordon's tearing down the lofty house of Lord Mansfield.

  But this is not all. Besides White-Jacket's office as looser of themain-royal, when all hands were called to make sail; and besides hisspecial offices, in tacking ship, coming to anchor, etc.; hepermanently belonged to the Starboard Watch, one of the two primary,grand divisions of the ship's company. And in this watch he was amaintop-man; that is, was stationed in the main-top, with a number ofother seamen, always in readiness to execute any orders pertaining tothe main-mast, from above the main-yard. For, including the main-yard,and below it to the deck, the main-mast belongs to another detachment.

  Now the fore, main, and mizen-top-men of each watch--Starboard andLarboard--are at sea respectively subdivided into Quarter Watches;which regularly relieve each other in the tops to which they maybelong; while, collectively, they relieve the whole Larboard Watch oftop-men.

  Besides these topmen, who are always made up of active sailors, thereare Sheet-Anchor-men--old veterans all--whose place is on theforecastle; the fore-yard, anchors, and all the sails on the bowspritbeing under their care.

  They are an old weather-beaten set, culled from the most experiencedseamen on board. These are the fellows that sing you "_The Bay ofBiscay Oh!_" and "_Here a sheer hulk lies poor Torn Bowling!_" "_Cease,rude Boreas, blustering railer!_" who, when ashore, at an eating-house,call for a bowl of tar and a biscuit. These are the fellows who spininterminable yarns about Decatur, Hull, and Bainbridge; and carry abouttheir persons bits of "Old Ironsides," as Catholics do the wood of thetrue cross. These are the fellows that some officers never pretend todamn, however much they may anathematize others. These are the fellowsthat it does your soul good to look at;---hearty old members of the OldGuard; grim sea grenadiers, who, in tempest time, have lost many atarpaulin overboard. These are the fellows whose society some of theyoungster midshipmen much affect; from whom they learn their bestseamanship; and to whom they look up as veterans; if so be, that theyhave any reverence in their souls, which is not the case with allmidshipmen.

  Then, there is the _After-guard_, stationed on the Quarterdeck; who,under the Quarter-Masters and Quarter-Gunners, attend to the main-sailand spanker, and help haul the main-brace, and other ropes in the sternof the vessel.

  The duties assigned to the After-Guard's-Men being comparatively lightand easy, and but little seamanship being expected from them, they arecomposed chiefly of landsmen; the least robust, least hardy, and leastsailor-like of the crew; and being stationed on the Quarter-deck, theyare generally selected with some eye to their personal appearance.Hence, they are mostly slender young fellows, of a genteel figure andgentlemanly address; not weighing much on a rope, but weighingconsiderably in the estimation of all foreign ladies who may chance tovisit the ship. They lounge away the most part of their time, inreading novels and romances; talking over their lover affairs ashore;and comparing notes concerning the melancholy and sentimental careerwhich drove them--poor young gentlemen--into the hard-hearted navy.Indeed, many of them show tokens of having moved in very respectablesociety. They always maintain a tidy exterior; and express anabhorrence of the tar-bucket, into which they are seldom or nevercalled to dip their digits. And pluming themselves upon the cut oftheir trowsers, and the glossiness of their tarpaulins, from the restof the ship's company, they acquire the name of "_sea-dandies_" and"_silk-sock-gentry_."

  Then, there are the _Waisters_, always stationed on the gun-deck. Thesehaul aft the fore and main-sheets, besides being subject to ignobleduties; attending to the drainage and sewerage below hatches. Thesefellows are all Jimmy Duxes--sorry chaps, who never put foot in ratlin,or venture above the bulwarks. Inveterate "_sons of farmers_," with thehayseed yet in their hair, they are consigned to the congenialsuperintendence of the chicken-coops, pig-pens, and potato-lockers.These are generally placed amidships, on the gun-deck of a frigate,between the fore and main hatches; and comprise so extensive an area,that it much resembles the market place of a small town. The melodioussounds thence issuing, continually draw tears from the eyes of theWaisters; reminding them of their old paternal pig-pens andpotato-patches. They are the tag-rag and bob-tail of the crew; and hewho is good for nothing else is good enough for a _Waister_.

  Three decks down--spar-deck, gun-deck, and berth-deck--and we come to aparcel of Troglodytes or "_holders_," who burrow, like rabbits inwarrens, among the water-tanks, casks, and cables. Like Cornwallminers, wash off the soot from their skins, and they are all pale asghosts. Unless upon rare occasions, they seldom come on deck to sunthemselves. They may circumnavigate the world fifty times, and they seeabout as much of it as Jonah did in the whale's belly. They are a lazy,lumpish, torpid set; and when going ashore after a long cruise, comeout into the day like terrapins from their caves, or bears in thespring, from tree-trunks. No one ever knows the names of these fellows;after a three years' voyage, they still remain strangers to you. Intime of tempests, when all hands are called to save ship, they issueforth into the gale, like the mysterious old men of Paris, during themassacre of the Three Days of September: every one marvels who theyare, and whence they come; they disappear as mysteriously; and are seenno more, until another general commotion.

  Such are the principal divisions into which a man-of-war's crew isdivided; but the inferior allotments of duties are endless, and wouldrequire a German commentator to chronicle.

  We say nothing here of Boatswain's mates, Gunner's mates, Carpenter'smates, Sail-maker's mates, Armorer's mates, Master-at-Arms, Ship'scorporals, Cockswains, Quarter-masters, Quarter-gunners, Captains ofthe Forecastle, Captains of the Fore-top, Captains of the Main-top,Captains of the Mizen-top, Captains of the After-Guard, Captains of theMain-Hold, Captains of the Fore-Hold, Captains of the Head, Coopers,Painters, Tinkers, Commodore's Steward, Captain's Steward, Ward-RoomSteward, Steerage Steward, Commodore's cook, Captain's cook, Officers'cook, Cooks of the range, Mess-cooks, hammock-boys, messenger boys,cot-boys, loblolly-boys and numberless others, whose functions arefixed and peculiar.

  It is from this endless subdivision of duties in a man-of-war, that,upon first entering one, a sailor has need of a good memory, and themore of an arithmetician he is, the better.

  White-Jacket, for one, was a long time rapt in calculations, concerningthe various "numbers" allotted him by the _First Luff_, otherwise knownas the First Lieutenant. In the first place, White-Jacket was given the_number of his mess_; then, his _ship's number_, or the number to whichhe must
answer when the watch-roll is called; then, the number of hishammock; then, the number of the gun to which he was assigned; besidesa variety of other numbers; all of which would have taken JedediahBuxton himself some time to arrange in battalions, previous to addingup. All these numbers, moreover, must be well remembered, or woe betideyou.

  Consider, now, a sailor altogether unused to the tumult of aman-of-war, for the first time stepping on board, and given all thesenumbers to recollect. Already, before hearing them, his head is halfstunned with the unaccustomed sounds ringing in his ears; which earsseem to him like belfries full of tocsins. On the gun-deck, a thousandscythed chariots seem passing; he hears the tread of armed marines; theclash of cutlasses and curses. The Boatswain's mates whistle round him,like hawks screaming in a gale, and the strange noises under decks arelike volcanic rumblings in a mountain. He dodges sudden sounds, as araw recruit falling bombs.

  Well-nigh useless to him, now, all previous circumnavigations of thisterraqueous globe; of no account his arctic, antarctic, or equinoctialexperiences; his gales off Beachy Head, or his dismastings offHatteras. He must begin anew; he knows nothing; Greek and Hebrew couldnot help him, for the language he must learn has neither grammar norlexicon.

  Mark him, as he advances along the files of old ocean-warriors; markhis debased attitude, his deprecating gestures, his Sawney stare, likea Scotchman in London; his--"_cry your merry, noble seignors!_" He iswholly nonplussed, and confounded. And when, to crown all, the FirstLieutenant, whose business it is to welcome all new-corners, and assignthem their quarters: when this officer--none of the most bland oramiable either--gives him number after number torecollect--246--139--478--351--the poor fellow feels like decamping.

  Study, then, your mathematics, and cultivate all your memories, oh ye!who think of cruising in men-of-war.