Other duties may be intermitted on the day of rest, but not that of the guns, which are minutely examined, and all their appendages got ready every evening with as much earnest care as if the ship were that instant sailing into action.

A moment's reflection, indeed, will show that there can, of course, be no difference in this respect between Sunday and any other evening.

Then come in succession the following routine orders, and their correspondent evolutions:--"Reef topsails!" "Stand by the hammocks!" "Pipe down!" "Roll up the cloths!" "Call the watch!" "Pipe the sweepers!" And thus, at last, the first day of the week at sea, in a man-of-war, is at an end.
In old times, I recollect, the fashion was for the men to press aft in a disorganised crowd; but of late years the following more appropriate and orderly arrangement has been universally adopted.

The men are distributed in a close double row round the quarter-deck gangways and forecastle, each standing in his place according to the order of his name on the Open List.

A small table is then brought up, on which are spread the muster-books; and the captain's clerk, who is the only person seated, begins calling over the names.