are observed. But during the dog-watches, as already noticed, and when the men are together on the forecastle at night, and no work going forward, smoking, singing, spinning yarns (telling stories), and so forth are allowed; and, in fact, a considerable degree of noise and skylarking is permitted, unless it amounts to positive disorder and disturbance.
It is a good rule to enforce, that whenever a man aloft wishes anything to be done on deck, he should hail the officer of the deck, and not call out, as is sometimes done, to any one whom he sees about the deck. The proper place for the seamen when they are on deck, and are not at work, is on the forecastle, which comprises so much of the upper deck as is forward of the after fore-shroud. There the crew may have their meals, if they choose, in fine weather. Their food is cooked in the galley. It is placed in wooden tubs, or "kids," by the cook and taken away by the men. Tea or coffee is also served out to the men, each of whom provides his own eating utensils, usually consisting of a tin pot, an iron spoon, and his "jack-knife," which serves alike for fork and carver, and numerous other purposes. Such was, and still is to a large extent, the internal economy of the ordinary merchant sailing vessels of all nations.
Before closing our remarks on the vessels of other days, there is one class which ought to receive more than a passing notice, and that is the English collier. Mr. Cooke furnishes an admirable illustration of one of these vessels, now being fast superseded by steam, in the following sketch.
The average size of the regular collier has long been about 230 tons register, with a capacity of from
