Plate 4 of 8 (with two additional plates):
Cruikshank continues to show the harshness of a life at sea. Master Blockhead sits ‘enjoying the fresh air’; that is, freezing in the wind, after being ordered up to the mast head to look out for attacking ships. He clings to a beam and, nearly falling off the spar asleep, has tied his right thigh to the spar. Around his wrist is tied a book that is open and reads ‘Wilt thou upon ye high & giddy mast scale the ship bays, O yes & rock his brain’. In the background the mast slants across the picture giving an unusual close-up view of the rigging, with the sail bellowing in the wind. The reference in the title to ‘the 304th time’ suggests that, like the rest of Master B’s shipboard routine, sitting in the rigging has become a monotonous chore.

Inscribed below the print, the following dialogue:
Lieutenant: Pray Mr B, did you call the Master?
Blockhead: No, Sir, I thought –
Lieu: You thought sir! How dare you think, Have you mark’d the Board?
B: No, Sir, I didn’t think
Lieu: Didn’t think, why didn’t you think Sir?!!! – up to the masthead directly –

Image related to: BM Reg number 1891, 1117.27 The Life of a Midshipman' by Captain Frederick Marryat, (1820) Master B mastheaded. Sailor sitting on a spar near the top of a mast.

Other versions of this image in the collection are: PAD4724, PAD4809, PAI5982, PAI6568, PAJ1832.