The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 7, July 1903 - April, 1904 Page: 224

224 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
of 20,000 lbs. of sea biscuit. The bulwarks of this ship, from the
deck to the top of the hammock rail, were eight feet high, the top
of the hammock rail coming flush with the top of the poop chain,
and forward with the deck of the to'gallant forecastle. The sleep-
ing arrangements of the commodore's cabin consisted of two
swinging cots. The ward room furnished eight staterooms for the
lieutenants, surgeon, and purser. All the other occupants of the
ship slept in hammocks, which were swung at night and taken
down to be stowed in the hammock sails in the morning.
The warrant officers in all navies are the boatswain, the gunner,
the sail-maker, and the carpenter, who are not officers in line of
promotion. The petty officers are numerous. They are the
quarter-m.7:1 > -gunnets, captains of the tops, captains
of the forecastle, master-at-arms, armorer, purser's steward, boat-
swain's yeoman, and the cook, who outranks all the others. The
rules and regulations of the service were precisely the same as
those in the United States navy, and copied from them, as the
latter were from the English. In fact, the incidents described
in the nautical tales by Capt. Marryat seventy or eighty years ago
might have happened as naturally on the Austin as on an English
sloop-of-war. The daily routine was as follows: a few minutes
before eight bells in the midwatch-or in land phraseology-a few
minutes before 4 a. m., the drum and fife rouse up the sleepers
with the "reveille" immediately after which, eight bells having
been struck, the pipes of the boatswain and his mates are heard,
followed by the cry of "All hands"-then the call, "Up all ham-
mocks." The midshipman of the watch reports eight bells at the
ward room, and then drops down into the steerage, shakes his
sleeping successor and bawls into his ear "Eight bells! I'll thank
you to relieve me." The sailors straggle up from the berth deck,
each one shouldering a hammock, which is rolled and lashed.
These hammocks are handed up to the hammock rail, where they
are stowed "rip rap" by one of the quarter-masters. Now pails
of water, buckets of white sand, and holy-stones appear, and the
holy-stoning of the decks is commenced. On this thoroughly
scrubbed deck water is thrown and squilgeed out of the scuppers.
The squilgee is a nautical hoe with two blades of strong sole
leather. It is pushed. After this process the deck is laboriously
swabbed. When dry, the running rigging is carefully "flemished"