Quarterdeck and Forecastle Details

Forecastle:  "Jack moved up to the forecastle as the ship turned and studied the Turk intently. She was built in the European manner, probably in a French or Venetian yard, and although the people on her deck wore turbans or scarlet skullcaps she was sailed in the European manner too."  A short deck in the fore-part of the ship, above the upper deck.  Return to deckplan

Cathead:  "In the open sea the Surprise folded her wings again, dropped the anchor from her cathead, veered away a reasonable scope and rode easy. "  A short timber projecting out from the bow, used for hoisting the anchor.  The ends were frequently decorated with carved or cast lions' heads.  Return to deckplan

Boomkin or Bumkin or Bumpkin:  "'These boomkin knottings, Jack: just where may they be?'"  A short boom projecting from the bow, used to extend the lower corner of the foresail to windward.  Return to deckplan

Head:  "'But what do the other men do? Have they chamber-pots?'     'Oh no, sir, Heavens above! They go up the hatch there and along to the heads - little places on either side of the stem.'     'Out of doors?'     'Yes, sir.'     'But what happens in inclement weather?'     'They still go to the heads, sir.'"  That area alongside the bowsprit used for the seamen's lavatory.  Return to deckplan

9-pound Chaser:  "Here there stood Jack's own brass nine-pounders …  They were part of the spoils of Mauritius, light, beautiful guns, and he had had them carefully rebored to take English nine-pound shot."  The bow-chasers were selected for accuracy and were situated to fire directly ahead while chasing an enemy vessel.  This pair of brass long guns traveled far with Jack Aubrey, until one of them was lost in the wreck of the Diana in The Thirteen Gun Salute.  The lost gun was subsequently replaced with a similar piece.  Return to deckplan

32-pound Carronade:  "At one time the Surprise, apart from her chasers, had been armed entirely with carronades, those stumpy little objects, more like a mortar than a gun, which were light (a carronade throwing a thirty-two pound ball weighed only seventeen hundredweight as opposed to the twelve-pounder long gun's thirty-four) and easily managed … these were short-range weapons. Yet a carronade did not require great skill in the handling; and although its massive balls had a terrible smashing effect, liable to ruin or even sink a prize, the same weapon loaded with case-shot cut up the enemy's rigging and cleared his open decks most efficiently, above all if they were crowded with men intending to board."  Although these guns were too short to be accurate at any great range, they packed a powerful punch in close quarters.  Because they were lightweight, they could be carried safely on the forecastle and quarterdeck.  Return to deckplan

Chains or Channels:  "Stephen's confidence in Captain Aubrey's seamanship was as entire, as blind, as Jack's in the medical omniscience of Dr Maturin; and untroubled by the cares that now oppressed his friend he sat in the mainchains, as naked as Adam and much the same colour, trailing a purse-net in the sea. The chains, broad planks jutting horizontally from the outside of the ship to spread the shrouds wider than her extreme breadth, provided the most comfortable seat imaginable; he had all the advantage of the sun, of solitude (for the chains were well below the rail), and of the sea, which ran curving past under his feet, sometimes touching them with a warm caress, sometimes sending an agreeable shower of spray over his person."  There were three pairs of such chains, one pair associated with each mast.  Return to deckplan

Foremast:  The most forward of the three masts.  Return to deckplan

Galley Stove Cowl:  The chimney of the galley stove located on the upper deck penetrated up through the forecastle.  The top was protected from wind and water by a metal cowl.  Return to deckplan

Belfrey:  "The Marine turned the half-hour glass, which he had been privately nudging from time to time to persuade the grains of sand to run faster, thus shortening his spell, and ran forward to the belfrey, helped by the wind. He struck the four double strokes and at the last Richardson said to Crown the bosun, 'Pipe to dinner.'"  The bell located on the forecastle was the regulator of the ship's routine.  It was struck every half-hour, one bell marking one half-hour into the watch, two bells an hour, three bells an hour-and-a-half, and so forth.  Eight bells marks the end of a four-hour watch.  Return to deckplan

Gangways:  The walkways connecting the quarterdeck to the forecastle.  Return to deckplan

Skid-Beams:  "Getting boats over the side, first hoisting them up from the skid-beams, heaving them outboard, and then lowering them down by tackles on the fore and main yardarms had always been a laborious business, accompanied time out of mind by a great deal of shouting, rumbling and splashing."  Lateral beams crossing the open space between the gangways.  Used for the storage of boats (when not being towed behind the ship) and of booms.  Return to deckplan

Main Hatch:  "... the Surprise was a busy ship: the great water-casks were already coming aboard, rising up from the launch, swaying in over the deck with many a cry of Ail together - way-oh - handsomely, there - God damn your eyes and limbs, Joe - half an inch, half an inch, half an inch forward, mate and vanishing down the main hatchway to muffled but sometimes more passionate cries far below."  A hatch is the cover over a hatchway, and the main hatchway was the stack of deck openings in the middle of the ship, allowing direct access to the hold for loading heavy stores and barrels.  Return to deckplan

Accommodation-Ladder:  "Some time after this, an aged, shabby gentleman wearing the clothes of another age and followed by two porters carrying a copper tube wandered hesitantly towards the accommodation-ladder."  Steps up the side of the ship from the waterline to the gangway.  The starboard accomodation-ladder was used for formal occasions, the larboard ladder when no ceremony was desired.  Return to deckplan

Mainmast:  "... she still had that towering thirty-six-gun frigate's mainmast and the doubled travelling-backstays that Jack had endowed her with."  The center, and tallest, of the ship's three masts.  Aubrey had installed a mainmast usually designated for a 36-gun frigate (89 feet long) in place of that normally used on a 28-gun ship (81 feet and 4 inches).  This tall mainmast made Surprise instantly recognizable at long distance.  Return to deckplan

Capstan:  "Jack strode across the great cabin, through the fore-cabin, and whipped up the quarterdeck ladder in the darkness: he was strongly tempted to slip the cable, but the notion of putting to sea with almost nothing to hold him to the sea-bed was so abhorrent, so against all his feelings of what was right, so nearly impious, that he changed his order to 'All hands to weigh", and by the time he left the deck the capstan-bars were already being swifted and the barrel had already made a preliminary turn or so, with the musical click of the pawls."  A cylindrical rotating mechanism mounted vertically so that a cable may be wound around its barrel, principally used in weighing anchor.  The Surprise's capstan was double-height so that crew members on both the quarterdeck and upper deck could push on the capstan-bars to apply force.  Return to deckplan

Binnacle:  "In the dead hour of the middle watch he appeared on deck in his night-shirt, looked attentively at the log-board by the binnacle-light, and desired Pullings to shorten sail at eight bells."  A case which contains a compass and a light, so the compass may be seen at night.  Return to deckplan

Wheel:  "The deck sloped like the roof of a house and he stood there with his right arm hooked round the aftermost mizen shroud. Mowett was at his side, and a midshipman for messages: two solid quartermasters, Devlin and Harper, at the wheel and the master behind them, conning the ship: the gun-crews, less the sail-trimmers, at their stations with their officers and midshipmen: the Marines and the small-arms men in their places: and all gazing steadfastly at the close-packed roaring battle, the dark smoke and the perpetual orange flashes."  The device with barrel and spokes, attached by ropes to the tiller and rudder, so that the ship may be steered.  Also known as the "helm".  Return to deckplan

Stern Lantern:  "Jack took in the state of the weather, the trim of the sails and the likelihood of a fair forenoon, he drew deep gusts of the clean air, after the dense fug of his cabin. He turned to the rail, unencumbered by hammocks at this time of day, and looked at the merchantmen they were all there, straggling over not too vast an area of sea, and what be had taken for a far stern lantern or an uncommonly big top-light was old Saturn, low on the horizon and tangled in their rigging."  A pair of lanterns were hung from the stern.  They were useful in convoying vessels so that the ship could be seen and followed at night.  Return to deckplan

Quarterdeck:  "Thoughtful and silent again on this quarterdeck at dawn, with Marga almost vanishing on the starboard quarter: he levelled his telescope, took a last look at the rock-built citadel, the great Venetian mole, and resumed his pacing. Silent: partly because it had long been his habit to go up and down the windward side of whatever vessel he commanded as long as he could without disturbing the ship's routine, and partly because neither of his advisers was awake."  The uppermost deck, behind the mainmast.  Usually, the sailing of the ship is controlled by officers here.  The quarterdeck was reserved for the use of officers and guests, with the windward portion of the quarterdeck for the exclusive use of the captain when he was present.  Return to deckplan

Mizzenmast:  The aftmost and smallest of the three masts of the ship.  Return to deckplan

Quarterdeck and Forecastle Deckplan