tense sense of his own personal
consequence, as the captain of a man-of-war at sea.

Next in rank comes the First or Senior Lieutenant, the chief executive
officer. I have no reason to love the particular gentleman who filled
that post aboard our frigate, for it was he who refused my petition for
as much black paint as would render water-proof that white-jacket of
mine. All my soakings and drenchings lie at his state-room door. I
hardly think I shall ever forgive him; every twinge of the rheumatism,
which I still occasionally feel, is directly referable to him. The
Immortals have a reputation for clemency; and _they_ may pardon him;
but he must not dun me to be merciful. But my personal feelings toward
the man shall not prevent me from here doing him justice. In most
things he was an excellent seaman; prompt, loud, and to the point; and
as such was well fitted for his station. The First Lieutenancy of a
frigate demands a good disciplinarian, and, every way, an energetic
man. By the captain he is held responsible for everything; by that
magnate, indeed, he is supposed to be omnipresent; down in the hold,
and up aloft, at one and the same time.

He presides at the head of the Ward-room officers' table, who are so
called from their messing together in a part of the ship thus
designated. In a frigate it comprises the after part of the berth-deck.
Sometimes it goes by the name of the Gun-room, but oftener is called
the Ward-room. Within, this Ward-room much resembles a long, wide
corridor in a large hotel; numerous doors opening on both hands to the
private apartments of the officers. I never had a good interior look at
it but once; and then the Chaplain was seated at the table in the
centre, playing chess with the Lieutenant of Marines. It was mid-day,
but the place was lighted by lamps.

Besides the First Lieutenant, the Ward-room officers include the junior
lieutenants, in a frigate six or seven in number, the Sailing-master,
Purser, Chaplain, Surgeon, Marine officers, and Midshipmen's
Schoolmaster, or "the Professor." They generally form a very agreeable
club of good fellows; from their diversity of character, admirably
calculated to form an agreeable social whole. The Lieutenants discuss
sea-fights, and tell anecdotes of Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton; the
Marine officers talk of storming fortresses, and the siege of
Gibraltar; the Purser steadies this wild conversation by occasional
allusions to the rule of three; th