Upper Deck Details Description

Manger:  "'Much of the wet comes through the hawse-holes and the manger, sir,' said Pullings ...   'The bosun has a party there with extra hawse-bags. But upon the whole, sir, she is pretty tight."  A small area at the bow used to prevent water entering through the hawse-holes from washing back along the deck.  This space is also used to keep animals.  Return to deckplan

Bitts:  "'Watch, now. He makes it fast to the cable - he reeves the jeer-fall through it - the jeer-fall is brought to its capstan, with the standing part belayed to the bitts. So you get a direct runner-purchase instead of a dead nip, do you understand?'"  An oak frame to which to secure the cables when at anchor.  Return to deckplan

Foremast:  The forwardmost of the three masts.  Return to deckplan

Galley Stove:  "The heat in the galley brought him up all standing. It had been gasping hot on deck, even with the blessed breeze: here it was like walking straight into a baker's oven. But the three-legged cook - three-legged because both his own had been shot away on the Glorious First of June, and he had supplemented the two provided by the hospital with a third, ingeniously seized to his bottom, to prevent him from plunging into his cauldrons or his range in a heavy sea. The range was now cherry-pink in the gloom, and the cook's face shone with sweat."  The kitchen of the ship, where the main stove for cooking victuals sat.  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 All 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

12-pounder Guns:  "... she carried twelve-pounders (and if her knees had not been specially strengthened to bear them she would have been happier with nines)."  The main battery of the Surprise under Jack Aubrey normally consisted of long cannons firing a 12-pound ball.  In French service and as initially designated in the Royal Navy, lighter-weight 9-pound guns were used.  Return to deckplan

Mainmast:  The center and tallest of the three masts.  Return to deckplan

Pumps:  "And all the while the pumps turned like fury, flinging out tons of water that the sea or the sky flung right back again. Yet even so it was the hands at the pumps who were the least harassed; although they had to work until they could hardly stand, often up to their middles in water, often half-choked with flying spray or still more rain, immeasurable quantities of rain, at least they knew exactly what to do."  There were numerous pumps aboard the ship, but the largest ones were clustered about the mainmast where they ran down to the bottom of the hold.  Return to deckplan

Capstan:  "'What you see is the upper capstan,' said Stephen with some complacency. 'The messenger is twined about the lower part, under the quarterdeck. But both the lower and the upper part are equipped with bars: both turn: both heave, as we say. See, they undo the deck-stoppers, or dog-stoppers as some superficial observers call them - they loosen the starboard cable, the cable on the right-hand side - they throw off the turn about the riding-bitts! What force and dexterity!'"  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

Coach:  "Stephen tried to leap to his feet, but the roll of the ship pressed him back: and when he made a second attempt on the larboard heave it flung him forward with shocking force. Both the captain and the captain's steward had the same notion of Stephen's seamanship, however: between them they held him steady, and Jack, grasping his windward elbow, guided him through the coach - the anteroom, as it were, to the great cabin - and so out on to the deck, where the blast, the utter darkness, thick with racing spindrift, rain, and even solid bodies of sea-water, took his breath away, used though he was to the extremities of weather."  A cabin just in front of the Great Cabin.  It could be used for the captain's dining when alone or with only a guest or two.  Return to deckplan

Captain's Bed Place:  "At four bells in the afternoon watch, or two by the clocks in the town, Jack was sitting in front of a small looking-glass in his sleeping cabin with a freshly-laundered cravat the size of a topgallant studdingsail spread out ready to be folded about his neck when he heard a confused thumping, bundling sound on deck, followed by Killick's shrill, indignant, shrewish voice, a cross between that of a much-tried longsoured nursemaid and of an uncommonly rough tarpaulin hatted tobacco-chewing foremast-hand, and by some indistinct oaths."  The captain's sleeping quarters.  Return to deckplan

Great Cabin:  "... the noble great cabin, stretching clean across the ship and lit by the splendid, curved, inward-sloping, seven-light sternwindow, the airiest, lightest, most desirable place in the ship, Killick's kingdom, perpetually scoured, swabbed, scraped and polished, smelling of beeswax, fresh sea-water, and clean paint."  The captain's main cabin.  If an important guest was being carried aboard, the captain would usually relinquish use of the great cabin to the visitor for the duration of the voyage.

John Aubrey:  "Captain Aubrey moved over to the starboard rail, his telescope still trained on Portsmouth. His face, his naturally good-tempered, cheerful face, was set, dark, and stern: the wind still served, but only just, and once the tide began to make his ship might as well return to her moorings - she would never get out against the tide. He loathed unpunctuality; and unpunctuality it was, gross unpunctuality, that was keeping him here ..."  Return to deckplan

Quarter-Gallery:  "'I shall put you on a course of physic and a low diet for a week, during which you must keep your cabin. Fortunately you have your quarter-gallery, your privy, just at hand,' he said."  A small closed-in balcony serving as the captain's privy.  Also useful for keeping bees when necessary.  Return to deckplan

Rudderhead Cover:  The head of the ship's rudder ended in the great cabin, and it was usually enclosed with a decorative cover to preserve the compartment's appearance.  Return to deckplan

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

Upper Deck Plan