Ten o'clock
Here , on a raised portion of the deck abutting on the stern gallery , three gentlemen in clerical garb were seated behind a semi-circular green baize table , in front of which we stood , respectively , like so many prisoners on trial , while answering various questions appertaining to our Christian and surnames , age and so on . We also handed in at the same time our baptismal and medical and character certificates , all of which were duly inspected , docketed and filed , in regular official style . These preliminaries gone through , we were then directed to take our seats on either side of a long table that ran fore and aft the cabin , whose normal purpose was for the messing of the officers of the ship , but which on the present occasion was supplied with folios of foolscap paper and bundles of quill pens and bottles of ink , systematically distributed along its length , instead of the more palatable viands it more generally and generously displayed . We were immediately under the eyes of the senior chaplain of the trio forming the board of examiners , a gentleman whose position at the centre of the cross table at the top of the room enabled him to command a full view of the double line of boys and detect at once any attempt at cribbing or unfair assistance given by one to the other ; and our ordeal began punctually on the ship 's bell striking Ten o'clock , dictation being the first subject set us `` to test our spelling and handwriting , '' as my Lords of the Admiralty were good enough to inform us . Thanks to my mother 's persistency in keeping me up to the mark with regard to my lessons , long before I had recourse to the crammer , this introductory stage of the examination presented no difficulties to me ; and I was able not only to keep pace with the gentleman who dictated a portion of one of Macaulay 's Essays to us , but also found time to look round me occasionally to see how my companions fared with the big words , the faces of some of them presenting quite a study when a portentous polysyllable was given them to spell . The little chap with the curly hair who had smiled at me on coming in , I observed , did not smile now . His whilom merry countenance , on the contrary , was all puckered up in the most comical way ; while his brows were knit as he chewed the feather end of his quill pen trying to get inspiration from that source how to properly write some long word -- I think it was `` Mesopotamia ! ''