Outward Bound | Page 8

place of honor on board a ship, Mr.
Lowington had selected the ward room for himself and the teachers, in
preference to the after cabin, because it was next to the steerage, which
was occupied by the larger portion of the pupils, and because the form
of the ship did not contract the dimensions of the state rooms. This
cabin was twenty-two feet long and fifteen feet wide, with no waste
room, as in the after cabin, caused by the rounding in of the ship's
counter. On the sides were five state rooms, besides a pantry for the
steward, and a dispensary for the surgeon.
The forward room on the starboard side was occupied by Mr.
Lowington alone; the next on the same side by the chaplain and doctor;
and each of the three on the port side by two of the teachers. This cabin
was elegantly finished and furnished, and the professors were delighted
with its cheerful and pleasant aspect.
From the main cabin, as that of the "faculty" was called, were two
doors, opening into the steerage, fifty-two feet in length by fifteen feet
in width of clear space between the berths, which diminished to nine
feet abreast of the foremast. This apartment was eight feet high, and
was lighted in part by a large skylight midway between the fore and
main mast, and partly by bull's eyes in the side of the ship. There were
seventy-two berths, placed in twelve rooms, opening from
passage-ways, which extended athwartships from the main steerage,
and were lighted by the bull's eyes. There were no doors to these
dormitories, each of which contained six berths, in two tiers of three
each. It was intended that the six boys occupying one of these rooms
should form a mess. Between the gangways, or passages, were mess
tables, which could be swung up against the partition when not in use.
The steerage was neatly and tastefully fitted up, and furnished, though
not so elegantly as the cabins. It was to be the school room, as well as
the parlor and dining room of the boys, and it would compare favorably
with such apartments in well-ordered academies on shore. There was
plenty of shelves, pouches, and lockers, under the lower berths, and
beneath the bull's eyes at the head of the main gangways, for clothing
and books, and each boy had a place for every article which regulations

allowed him to possess.
Forward of the foremast there were two large state rooms; that on the
starboard side having four berths, for the boatswain, carpenter,
sailmaker, and head steward; and the one on the port side with six, for
the two cooks and the four under stewards, all of whom were men
skilful and experienced in their several departments. Forward of these
was the kitchen, from which opened the lamp room, a triangular closet
in the bow of the ship. Mr. Lowington had taken the idea of locating
the cooking apartment in the extreme forward part of the vessel from
the Victoria and Albert, the steam yacht of the Queen of England.
The hold beneath the berth deck contained the water tanks, bread room,
chain lockers, and a multitude of store rooms for provisions, clothing,
and supplies of every description needed on board during a long
voyage.
The Young America was to be officered and manned by the students.
They were to work the ship, to make and take in sail, to reef, steer, and
wash down decks, as well as study and recite their lessons. They were
to go aloft, stand watch, man the capstan, pull the boats; in short, to do
everything required of seamen on board a ship. Mr. Lowington was to
lure them into the belief, while they were hauling tacks and sheets,
halyards and braces, that they were not at work, but at play. The labor
required of them was an essential element in the plan, by which the
boys were to obtain, the necessary physical exercise, and the discipline
they so much needed.
By the first of April the last of the students had reported to the principal
on board, and the professors, as the boys insisted upon calling them,
had taken possession of their state rooms. Though some of the pupils
had been on board nearly a month, the organization of the ship had not
been commenced; but classes had been formed in some of the studies,
by the teachers, and the pupils recited every day. The boatswain had
instructed the boys in rowing, and some temporary regulations had
been adopted for the eating and sleeping departments. But not a boy
had been allowed to go aloft, and nothing more than ordinary school
discipline had been attempted.

The boys, as boys always are, were impatient at this delay. They
wanted to