Regulations for the government of the United States Navy (1865)

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ARTICLE XII.

Apartments and Messes.

678 Apartments to be occupied by officers of different grades will be arranged on such decks of a vessel of such size and in such way as the Navy Department may direct ; and the officers of a vessel are to mess in the apartments provided for them for the purpose, and none are to be permitted to mess elsewhere on board, except as hereafter provided for ; nor shall separate messes be formed in the same apartment. Cabin officers in ships with two cabins, if they prefer it, may form one mess. A Commander-in-Chief may have the Fleet Lieutenant and Secretary, or either of them, in his mess, and a Commanding Officer may have his clerk ; but in such cases, those officers shall be accommodated permanently in the cabin, and shall not occupy the apartments provided for them elsewhere on board.

679 A Commander-in-Chief, a Commander of a squadron or division, a Commodore, a Commanding Officer of the vessel, a Fleet Captain, or any Captain or Commander doing duty on board, is to be regarded as a cabin officer, and as entitled to mess therein, and also accommodated in other respects agreeably to these instructions.

680 A Lieutenant Commander, when the Executive Officer, or when a passenger on board a vessel commanded by an officer of higher grade than his own, a Lieutenant, a Master, an Ensign, a Surgeon, a Paymaster, a Chief Engineer, or an Engineer of any grade when placed on board to take charge of engines, an Assistant Surgeon, whether passed or otherwise ; an Assistant Paymaster, a Marine Officer, a Secretary to a Commander-in-Chief, or to the Commander of a squadron or division, a Chaplain, or a Professor of Mathematics, is to be regarded as a ward-room officer, and as entitled to mess therein, to occupy it in common with his messmates, and to have the state-room connected therewith prescribed for his own accommodation, if any such there be.

681 An Assistant Engineer of any grade, when not placed on board to be in charge of engines ; a Midshipman, a Master's mate, when warranted, or when not warranted, if judged expedient by the Navy Department, or the Commander of a fleet or squadron, a clerk to a Commanding Officer, or a clerk to a Paymaster, is to be regarded as a Steerage Officer, and as entitled to mess and be otherwise accommodated therein. Assistant Engineers are to mess in the port steerage, and the other Steerage Officers in the starboard steerage. In a sailing vessel the Steerage Officers may, if expedient, be divided as equally as necessary into two messes, one to occupy the port and the other the starboard steerage.

682 A boatswain, a gunner, a carpenter, or a sailmaker, is to be regarded as a Forward Officer, and as entitled to mess in the place allotted on the berth deck, and to occupy the apartment arranged for his accommodation.

683 Officers as passengers are to mess with those with whom they are associated above as to the occupation of apartments ; but no such officer is to be entitled to the accommodation of a state-room to the exclusion of any officer regularly attached to the vessel who is entitled to such accommodation.

684 The Commander-in-Chief or Commanding Officer of a squadron or division, when embarked, shall be entitled, where there are two cabins on different decks, to select one of them as the apartment to be occupied by himself; and the other is to be occupied by the Commanding Officer of the vessel, Fleet Captain, and such passengers as are cabin officers.

685 The Commanding Officer of a vessel, where there is no Commander-in-Chief or Commanding Officer of a squadron or division embarked on board, and where there are two cabins on different decks, shall be entitled to select one of them as the apartment to be occupied by himself, and where there is but one cabin provided, he is to occupy it.

686 In case of there being but one cabin to a vessel having on board a Commander-in-Chief, or Commander of a division or squadron, the officer commanding her shall be entitled to one-third of the space allotted for the cabin apartment, divided off by a fore and aft bulkhead, provided such space is sufficient for the purpose, without interfering with efficiency and comfort.

687 When one of the two cabins on different decks of a vessel is vacant, and, in the judgment of her Commanding Officer, not required for other public purposes, he may permit its state rooms to be occupied by the ward-room officers in accordance with their rank, that is to say, those on the starboard side by the line officers, and those on the port side by the Staff Officers, with the exception, however, of the senior Engineer, who, from the nature of his duties, is not to quit his regular state-room to occupy any other.

688 A Fleet Captain or principal aid to a Rear-Admiral appointed as a Commander-in-Chief of a fleet or squadron, serving on board a vessel provided with two cabins on different decks, is to mess with her Commanding Officer, and be otherwise accommodated in the same cabin in which they are to mess. If there be two state-rooms in it, said Commanding Officer is to have the first choice, and the Fleet Captain the second choice with regard to them. And in any arrangement of cabin accommodations whereby there may be two state-rooms in the apartment assigned to the Commanding Officer of the vessel, the Fleet Captain shall be entitled to occupy one of them ; but in other cases, although always entitled to mess with such Commanding Officer, he will be accommodated in the cabin assigned to the Commander-in-Chief.

689 When no other arrangement is prescribed or feasible, the Commander-in-Chief, Commanding Officer of the vessel, and Fleet Captain are to occupy the cabin jointly, the choice of accommodations to be made in the order in which they are here mentioned.

690 The state-rooms of ward-rooms as ordinarily arranged on board ships of our Navy are appropriated to the proper officers by paragraphs 30 and 31 ; but in those ships where the ward-rooms are forward of the berth deck, while the respective sides appropriated to line and staff officers remain as provided in the above referred to paragraph, the relative positions of the state-rooms of the different officers are to be reversed, so that the Executive Officer will occupy the after state-room, and the other line officers will come next to him according to rank ; a similar change of position, from forward to aft, will take place in the state-rooms of Staff Officers, on the port side of the wardroom.

691 In all vessels of the first class, and in those of the second class having a covered gun deck, the Boatswain and Gunner will each have a separate room on the starboard side, forward of the steerage, and the carpenter and sailmaker will also each have a separate room on the port side ; but in vessels below the above, the Boatswain and Gunner will occupy one room jointly, fitted with two berths, on the starboard side, and the carpenter and sailmaker a similar room on the port side.

692 State-rooms in the cockpit, or on the orlop or berth deck of a vessel, remaining vacant, are to be assigned by the Commanding Officer to such officers entitled to the accommodation of rooms as have not been provided with them, agreeably to their rank or seniority, giving preference, in all cases, to the watch officers, in the regular order of rank.

693 In all messes of officers the senior Line Officer shall preside, and the senior Line Officer present will be held responsible for the order and decorum of the mess. In messes of engineers the senior one shall preside, and the senior one present will be held responsible for the order and decorum of the mess.

694 Wines, ales, and other liquors not prohibited by law on board vessels of the Navy, shall be regarded as private stores, belonging to individuals only, and shall not be brought on board without the sanction of the Commanding Officer. In no case shall they form a part of the outfit or stores of any mess, and no member thereof shall be required to pay any share towards their purchase.

695 Petty Officers will be messed by themselves, and shall not be required to perform the duty of mess cooks.

696 The boys will not be distributed amongst the messes, but shall be berthed by themselves, under the charge of the schoolmaster or one of the Petty Officers.

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