CHAPTER IV. THE "BRITANNIA" IN THE 'SIXTIES. A "Three-decker"--Arrangements on Board--The Morning Drum--Persuasive Corporals--"Cockpit Mess"--"Cheeky New Fellows"--Important Modifications--Sea-going Training-ship--A Dead Letter--The Question of Locality--Portland Selected--Its Numerous Drawbacks--Preparing for Sea--Voyage of the _Britannia_--She Asserts Herself Under Sail--Arrival at Portland--Great Monotony--A Sad Accident--Good Education--French and Drawing--Sample of a French Lesson--Messroom Songs--"The King of Otaheité"--Going Aloft--A Foolhardy Feat--A Swift Descent--Fatal to Clothes--Reading at the Yard-arm--Captain Powell Appointed--Departure of Commander Nares--Corporal Punishment--A Cool Young Hand--The Royal Marriage--Another Change Decided Upon--Voyage to Dartmouth--A Busy Time--Sailors as Navvies--The _Hindostan_--Captain Randolph Appointed--A Futile Complaint--Stern Measures--Parliamentary Interference--Humanitarian Fads--Flogging Abolished--Cadets' Sailing Cutters--Gymnasium Built--The _Bristol_--Competition on Entry-- Reduction of Numbers--A New _Britannia_--Statistical Results. The new decade starts under the most favourable auspices, with a new and roomy ship, well suited for the purpose (according to the ideas of the time), and with the encouraging results of the first two or three years to incite the captain and his staff to fresh exertions. The _Britannia_--it may be explained to the uninitiated who may read this book--differed from the _Illustrious_ in that she was a "three-decker," while the latter was a "two-decker"; and in case this does not convey a sufficiently clear impression to the non-nautical mind, it is advisable to point out that a two-decker has actually four decks, while a three-decker has five; and this without reckoning in either case the poop, or raised deck at the after end, large enough to afford a considerable amount of accommodation. The designation of the ship went, in fact, by her gun decks, which in a three-decker were termed the main, middle, and lower decks; the upper deck and orlop deck, or cockpit, completing the number. The orlop, though a complete deck, was in a sea-going ship somewhat dark, being lit only by small round "scuttles," and the actual deck was, when the vessel was down to her load-line, below water. On the _Britannia_, however, the scuttles were enlarged to the dignity of small ports. The head room was less than on the other decks, so that a person of ordinary stature had to be wary, while a tall man had a wretched time, the corners of oak beams being cruelly hard. The orlop deck was in these early days used as the dormitory; all the cadets' chests were there, and shortly after the ship went to Portland a sort of open bathing-place was formed at one end, with large roses overhead for shower-baths.