Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/520

 watch claims the odd "hand," since the chief mate does not go aloft, or do other duty on his watch, as the second mate does on his. The cook always musters with the larboard watch, and the steward with the starboard. If there is a carpenter, and the larboard watch is the larger of the two, he generally goes aloft when required with the starboard watch, otherwise with the larboard; and, as soon as the division is made, if the day's work is over, one watch is set, and the other sent below.

Among many customs prevailing at sea which are difficult to trace to their origin, we may notice that, on the first night of the outward passage, the starboard watch takes the first four hours on deck, and on the first night of the homeward passage the larboard does the same. The sailors explain this by the old phrase, that the master takes the ship out, and the mate takes her home. The dog watches, as already explained in the case of the ships of the East India Company, are the two reliefs which take place between four and eight o'clock,, each of which being only two hours on deck instead of four. The intention of these watches is to change the turn of the night watch every twenty-four hours; so that the party watching from eight to twelve one night shall succeed on the following one from midnight till four in the morning.

The master takes the bearing and distance of the last point of departure from the land; from that point the ship's reckoning begins, and is regularly entered in the log-book, which is kept by the chief mate, the master examining and correcting the reckoning every day. The master also attends to