In peaceable times, cabins are ordinarily constructed of wooden partitions, and have a door, with lock, &c. very complete; but, during war time, it is usual to make them of canvass, fixed to the beams above, and rolling up thereto, whenever the vessel may be cleared for action. Some cabins include a port-hole, which, in large ships, is peculiarly comfortable; especially under the Line, when a current of air is invaluable; but, in bad weather, when the port is shut, those cabins that have only skuttles, about one-fourth the size of a port-hole, become preferable; especially when they are provided with glass shutters; which can be at any time made by the ship’s carpenter, if not previously attached. The skuttles being higher up in the side of the vessel, and nearer to the deck above the cabin, are well calculated for allowing rarefied air, which would float above the level of a port-hole, to escape. They are usually placed at intervals between the ports. When a cabin is built so as to include a port, the gun appertaining thereto is commonly sent forward, and lashed up to the ship’s side, the muzzle pointing forward; but, on emergency, the cabin is knocked down, and the gun is run into its place. Hence, each kind of cabin has its advantages, and disadvantages. The right side of the ship, from stem to stern is called the _starboard_; the left side is called the _larboard_: the line on which the mast stands, _i.e._ straight over the keel, divides them. The starboard, in most modes of applying the term, implies superiority over the larboard. Thus the chief mate has his cabin, which is usually 12 or 14 feet long, by 10 or 12 in breadth, next to the great cabin, on the starboard side of the gun-deck. The second mate has one rather smaller, on the opposite, or larboard side. Then, again, the third mate on the starboard side, immediately before the chief mate’s; next before him the fourth mate; while the surgeon and purser usually have their cabins on the larboard side, next before the second mate’s. What is called the ‘great-cabin,’ is a slip taken off across the stern of a ship, on the gun-deck, about 14 feet deep, leaving a passage on the larboard side that the passengers and officers may have access to the quarter-gallery, or privy, on that quarter. The great-cabin includes all the stern windows, therefore, is extremely light and airy; but, on the other hand, its situation is rather disadvantageous to those who are troubled with habitual sea-sickness. The bows and the stern partake, in an accumulated ratio, of the ship’s motion, as she pitches; that is, as she rises and sinks, alternately, at the head and stern; consequently, the centre of every vessel is the part least subject to agitation.