Smaller
hand-stones, which the sailors call "prayer-books," are used to
scrub in among the crevices and narrow places, where the large
holystone will not go. An hour or two, we were kept at this work, when
the head-pump was manned, and all the sand washed off the decks and
sides. Then came swabs and squilgees; and after the decks were dry,
each one went to his particular morning job. There were five boats
belonging to the ship,- launch, pinnace, jolly-boat, larboard
quarter-boat, and gig,- each of which had a coxswain, who had charge
of it, and was answerable for the order and cleanness of it. The
rest of the cleaning was divided among the crew; one having the
brass and composition work about the capstan; another the bell,
which was of brass, and kept as bright as a gilt button; a third,
the harness-cask; another, the man-rope stanchions; others, the
steps of the forecastle and hatchways, which were hauled up and
holystoned. Each of these jobs must be finished before breakfast; and,
in the meantime, the rest of the crew filled the scuttle-butt, and the
cook scraped his kids (wooden tubs out of which the sailors eat) and
polished the hoops, and placed them before the galley, to await
inspection.
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