Shipboard Routine

Two old salts on the forecastle of USS Ohio, c. 1870s, (U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command, NH 44588)

Time on board was punctuated by the striking of a bell every half hour, and the changing of the watch every four hours (or two hours in the case of the two ‘dog watches’ at the end of the sea day).

The convict day also followed a routine, albeit somewhat less rigorous. Breakfast was served around 8am; dinner, the principal meal of the day, around 1pm; and supper, an informal meal, was eaten between 5 and 8pm. The mess cooks and convict supervisors would be released from the prison early in the morning to light the stoves and prepare the breakfasts.

The men and women would be on deck at some point throughout the day for exercise, either as a whole or in divisions. On a well-managed ship, the bedding was brought up in the morning to be aired, and with the prisoners (or at least some of them) out of their quarters, the lower deck could be cleaned and fumigated. The afternoon was a time for recreation, sometimes organised by the ship’s officers, sometimes by the convicts themselves. They would be mustered down around 6pm and the prison secured with lights out at 8pm.

Several days a week, the convicts would spend time bathing, washing their clothes and scrubbing the prison. There was understandable resistance to performing these chores, but it became apparent over time that the key to preventing an outbreak of typhus or dysentery lay in unfailing attention to cleanliness.

On most merchant ships, Sunday was a day of rest, the only time the crew were permitted to sit around on the foredeck and just smoke and talk. The seamen would dress in their best duck trousers and check shirts, and it was the only day of the week when they would routinely be served pudding with their dinner.

On convict ships, Saturday was one of the washing days, so they had clean clothes for Sunday, and they would wash and be shaved ahead of the ‘divine service’. When it was held, this service took place on the quarter deck, but even when there were no prayers, the convicts would dress in their finest. Sunday was also one of the days when the convicts were served plum pudding with dinner (see Catspaw ‘Sunday Morning Coming Down’)