HMS Warrior (1860) - the Main Deck
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The main deck - a seamen's mess for 18 men: Photo © Peter Milford
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For the majority of Warrior's crew, the maindeck was their world - where they ate, slept, worked and played amongst
the ship's main armament. At the after end was 'officer territory', the Captain's cabin and those of the
Commander and the Master, forward were the Petty Officers and the ship's manger.
In the centre of the ship was the galley where the food for all the crew was prepared. Food was plentiful
if sometimes of variable quality. The galley itself was run by former seamen, disabled or retired from more active work, who were
employed as the ship's cooks - although there knowledge of cookery was likely to be scanty!
The main crew were organised into messes, with each mess occupying the space between two of the main guns. A table and bench
seats were lowered from the deckhead and provided seating for some 18 men. Racks on the ships side contained all the plates,
mugs, cutlery and other equipment for the men at that table. Each mess organised one member to act as duty cook. It was the
duty of the mess cook to draw supplies from the ship's stores and prepare the food for all the men in his mess. This might mean that
he drew the appropriate quantities of meat, flour, raisins etc. and the prepared the meat for cooking and mixed the flour and raisins
with water to create a plum duff. The prepared food was then marked with a tag for the mess and taken along to the galley to
be cooked in the communal stove.
At night, the crew unrolled their hammocks and slung them from the iron hooks set into the cross-members of deckhead above. Hammocks
were spaced to allow each man a regulation 18 inches of space.
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Hammocks slung above a mess table: Photo: © Peter Milford
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Wakey wakey, rise and shine!
Lash up and stow!
Hammocks provided a comfortable sleeping position for the crew, swinging gently from the hooks as the ship rolled at sea. Each morning the
crew would roll out of their hammocks, then lash up and stow, rolling the hammocks into a tight cylindrical shape, secured by
rope lashings. In action, the rolled hammocks would be taken up to the main deck and stacked along the sides of the bulwarks to act as
additional protection against flying bullets and shrapnel.
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Ship's routine: daily working
'Six days shalt thou labour - and on the seventh work harder than ever'
The work in Warrior was hard and physical. The seamen worked together in teams to set and trim the sails, man the guns, raise
and lower the anchor (at 5.6 Tonnes, the heaviest anchors to be raised and lowered manually) and to generally keep the ship clean and
tidy - shipshape and Bristol fashion!. The stokers had even more arduous physical labour - shovelling coal from the bunkers
to the furnaces to keep the steam engine turning.
Daily routines
| Crew called - Rise and shine! |
03:00
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At sea, the ship's routine was organised into watches with each member of the crew placed into either the
Port or Starboard watch. Each watch worked four hours on duty and then
had four hours off. At 4pm the 4 hour watches changed to 2 hour - the dog watches which had the effect of making sure that each
watch routine changed from day to day - if a man worked the first watch one day he would work the middle watch the next.
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| Coil up - (fake down) - ropes |
03:30
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| Scrub decks (holystones!) |
04:00 |
| Re-set sails |
05:45 |
| Stow hammocks |
06:00
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| Breakfast |
06:30
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| Ship cleaning tasks |
07.15
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| Prayers |
09:00
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| Drills and evolutions |
09:30
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| Dinner |
12:00
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| Roll call |
13:25
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| Drills and evolutions |
13:30
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| Supper |
16:15
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| To quarters |
17:00
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| Stand by hammocks |
19:30
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| Rounds - lights out |
20:00
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Holystones was the name given by sailors to the large blocks of stone used to scrub the ships decks. The stones, about the shape
and size of a Bible (hence the name - holystones!) were placed on the deck - the deck was sprinkled with sand and water and then
the holystones were rubbed backwards and forwards to produce a clean, smooth deck surface.
Warrior's cells: Photo © Peter Milford |
By the 1860s, the navy was very different to that that had gone before. The seamen were now properly trained for their duties (and with the
advent of steam some on board duties had become far more technical), were paid monthly and regularly and were volunteers, choosing to sign
up with the Royal Navy for at least 10 years. The navy had now become a proper career path for a man with training leading to advancement
(promotion) and a proper structure. Sailors were more likely to be quiet family men with relatives and dependents to care for at home, often
around the great naval ports of Plymouth (Devonport), Portsmouth and Chatham. The changing pattern of sailors and working conditions meant
that the old style punishments and beatings were far less used - on the Warrior's first commission only 2 men were flogged (both
for theft). In general, the cat remained firmly in the bag!. The cells were used for serious offences - sleeping on watch, drunkeness,
absence without leave etc. Typically, a man under punishment would be given a length of old rope to pick it to pieces to make oakum,
the strands of fibre used, with tar, to caulk the deck seams
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The maindeck at work
The maindeck was the accommodation and recreation space for the majority of the ship's company. It was also part of the working space of the ship - in a
warship, all space is working space! Most of the main deck was taken up with the armament, but the forward
section and parts of the after section were very much used for working the ship.
The maindeck capstan: Photo © Peter Milford
The capstan provided the means for working heavy objects - and in particular for raising and lowering the ship's anchors. Chain
from the anchor was taken along the deck and lowered into the chain locker amidships (where the heavy chain would not upset the stability of the
ship.
The maindeck forward - iron bitts and ship's manger: Photo © Peter Milford
At the forward end (bow) of the main deck the great iron bitts provided strong anchorage for mooring ropes and chains
securing the anchor cable. A quick release shackle is placed around the anchor cable to hold it in place - when released the cable drops free allowing the
anchor to fall.
Between the anchor cables, and out of the general way of the ship, lies the ship's manger. Here a small quantity of live animals could be carried,
either to provide fresh milk or to provide fresh meat at a later stage. With much of England still very much a rural community, looking after the animals
would have provided no problems for the crew and would have been something they were well used to.
The main deck forward - looking aft to the citadel and main gun deck: Photo © Peter Milford
Page creation: July 1998
© Copyright St Vincent College
Prepared by staff and students at St Vincent College for HMS Warrior (1860)
