Among the many interesting features of life at sea, few afford studies more fruitful in valuable thought than the internal economy of that latest development of human ingenuity—a modern battleship. It is not by any means easy for a visitor from the shore, upon coming alongside one of these gigantic , to realise its bulk; the first effect is one of disappointment. Everything on board is upon a scale so massive, while the space whereon she floats is so capacious that the mind refuses to take in her proportions. And a hurried around the various points of chief interest on board leaves the mind like a palimpsest where one impression is superimposed upon another so swiftly that the general effect is but a and no detail is clear. Besides, in such a flying visit the guide naturally makes the most of those wonders with which he himself is associated in his official capacity, and thus the visitor is apt to get a very one-sided view of things. Again, in the course of a hurried visit in harbour the mind gets so with wonders of and design, that the human side, always apt to keep itself in the background, receives no portion of that attention which is its due. From all of which causes it naturally follows that the only way in which to obtain anything[277] like a comprehensive notion of the polity of a battleship is to spend at least a month on board, both at sea and in harbour, and waste no opportunity of observation of every part of the ship’s daily life that may be presented. Such opportunities, naturally, fall to the lot of but few outside the Service, and from the well-known of sailors, it is next to hopeless to expect them to enlighten the public upon the most interesting details of their daily lives.  
The statement of the figures which belong to a modern battleship like the Mars, for instance, is apt to have a benumbing effect upon the mind. She displaces 14,900 tons at load , is 391 ft. long, 75 ft. wide, and nearly 50 ft. deep from the upper deck to the bottom. She is divided into 232 by means of water-tight bulkheads, is protected by 1802 tons of , is lit by 900 electric lights, steams 16½ knots, carries 82 independent sets of engines, mounts 54 different and 5 tubes, and is manned by 759 men.
 
Now it is only fair to say that such a hurried recapitulation of statistics like these gives no real hint as to the magnitude of the ship as she reveals herself to one after a few days’ intimate acquaintance. And that being so, what is to be said of the men, the population of this floating , the 759 British ruled over by the Captain with a completeness of knowledge and a freedom from difficulty that an Emperor might well envy? As in a town, we have here men of all sorts and[278] professions, we find all manner of human interests cropping up here in times of leisure, and yet the whole company have one feeling, one interest in common—their ship, and through her their Navy.
 
First of all, of course, comes the Captain, who, in spite of the dignity and of his position, must at times feel very lonely. He lives in awful state, a (of Marines) continually guarding his door, and although he does unbend at stated times as far as a few officers to dine with him, or accepting the officers’ invitation to dine in the ward-room, this must not come too often. The Commander, who is the chief executive officer, is in a far better position as regards comfort. He comes between the Captain and the actual direction of affairs, he has a cabin to himself, but he takes his meals at the ward-room table among all the officers above the rank of Sub-Lieutenant, and shares their merriment; the only subtle distinction made between him and everybody else at such times being in the little word “Sir,” which is dropped in when he is being addressed. For the rest, nous is so keen that amidst the wildest fun when off duty no officer can feel that his dignity is with, and they pass from to cast-iron discipline and back again with an ease that is amazing to a landsman. The ward-room of a battleship is a pleasant place. It is a spacious apartment, taking in the whole width of the ship, handsomely decorated, and lit by electricity. There is usually a piano, a good library, and some handsome plate for the table. It is[279] available not only for meals, but as a drawing-room, a common meeting-ground for , officers, surgeons, chaplain, and senior engineers, where they may unbend and exchange views, as well as enjoy one another’s society free from the grip of the collar. A little lower down in the scale of authority, as well as actually in the of the ship, comes the gun-room, the being a survival, and having no actual significance now. In this respect both ward-room and gun-room have the advantage over the Captain’s cabin, in which there are a couple of quick-firing guns, causing those sacred precincts to be invaded by a small host of men at “general quarters,” who manipulate those guns as if they were on deck. The gun-room is the ward-room over again, only more so—that is, more wildly , more given to outbursts of melody and rough play. Here meet the Sub-Lieutenants, the assistant-engineers and other junior officers, and the midshipmen. With these latter Admirals in we find a state of things existing that is of the highest service to them in after life. Taking their meals as gentlemen, with a senior at the head of the table, meeting round that same table at other times for social , once they are outside of the gun-room door they have no more privacy than the humblest bluejacket. They s............