Plate 2 of 8 (with two additional plates):
Finally aboard, Master B is shown below deck by an older sailor. It is dirty and dingy in contrast to the light and comfortable surroundings of the family parlour in the preceding plate. Master B is dressed smartly, as are other new recruits, in a red jacket with gold edging. He looks on in horror as the sailors eat, drink and sing jovially. This is all happening by candle light, and Master B looks horrified at the thought of joining such an unruly crew. Below the others, two figures who are loitering where the barrels are kept – perhaps hoping to open one of them and drink its contents, or, in the light of the merriment above, to check all the barrels present and correct.

Inscribed below are lines from William Falconer's poem, 'The Shipwreck':
‘A cavern lies unknown to cheering day / Where one small taper lends a feeble ray / Where wild disorder hold her wanton reign / and careless mortals frolic in her train – Falconer’

Image related to: BM Reg number 1891, 1117.25 'The Life of a Midshipman' by Captain Frederick Marryat, (1820)

Other versions of this image in the collection are: PAD4722, PAD0163, PAI5980, PAJ1830 and PAJ3916.