Note 5 — Chapter I

The youngest midshipmen sometimes slung their hammocks just outside the gun-room, in a space cut off from the rest of the lower deck by a stand of muskets and cutlasses extending across the deck. A marine stood guard at the entrance to the railed-off portion. He was generally a recruit, good for nothing else. He seems to have beguiled his hours of sentry-go by blacking the boots of the ward-room officers (Vide The Navy at Home).