nsequence that every article they contain should not only have an
assigned and well-known place, but that it should actually be kept in
that place. It is, indeed, quite wonderful how much may be done in the
way of stowage by dint of good management. In a well-regulated ship,
there is not a bolt or a bar, nor any kind of tool belonging to the
carpenter, nor a single rope great or small; canvas fine as duck, or
coarse as No. 1, belonging to the boatswain; nor any description of
warlike store in charge of the gunner, which cannot instantly be laid
hold of, and conveyed in half-a-minute to any part of the ship, alow
or aloft.

At length, when every square inch of the holds, tiers, sail-rooms, and
all the cabins and berths below, have been examined, the visitation
party return to the quarter-deck, after a full half-hour's ramble. As
the captain re-ascends to the different decks in succession, the men,
who have never budged from their divisions, again pluck off their
hats, the marines carry arms the moment his head shows above the
coamings, and all the officers stop instantaneously in the middle of
their walk to salute their commander, as he once more treads the
quarter-deck.

"And now, sir," says the captain, turning to the first lieutenant, "if
you please we will rig the church."

CHAPTER XI.

THE SHIP CHURCH.

The carpenters and the watch on deck soon carry aft their benches and
mess-stools; but these not being sufficient to afford accommodation
for all hands, as many capstan-bars as may be required are likewise
brought up and placed athwart the quarter-deck, with their ends
resting on match-tubs and fire-buckets, or on the carronade-slides.
These seats occupy the whole of the space from the break of the
quarter-deck and the belaying bits round the mainmast, as far as the
companion-hatchway. Chairs from the cabin and gun-room are also placed
abaft all, for the captain and officers, and on the lee side for the
warrant-officers and mids; for it need scarcely be mentioned that due
subordination is made to keep its place even in our church.

The pulpit stands amidships, either on the after-gratings, or on the
deck immediately before the hatchway. In some ships, this part of the
nautical church establishment consists of a moveable reading-desk,
made expressly for the occasion, but brought up from the carpenter's
store-room only when wanted; sometimes one of the binnacles is used
for this purpose; and I remember