7:20
During warm weather it is delightful to splash around a water-soaked deck , but there are mornings when a biting wind comes from the north , and the keenness of winter is in the air , and then Jackie , compelled to labor up to his knees in water , casts longing glances toward the glow of the galley fire , and makes his semi-yearly vow that he will leave the `` blooming '' service for good and go on a farm . This scrubbing of decks and scouring of ladders put an extra edge on our appetites , so we agreed with `` Stump '' when he said , `` I feel as if I could put a whole bumboat load of stuff out of commission all by my lonely . '' `` Stump 's '' appetite was out of proportion to his size . When the boatswain 's mate gave his peculiar long , quavering pipe and the order `` spread mess gear for the watch below , '' at 7:20 , we of the watch on deck realized that there was still forty minutes to wait . Every man 's hunger seemed to increase tenfold , so that even the odor of boiling `` salt-horse '' from the galley did not trouble us . Finally the order came , `` on deck all the starboard watch '' ; followed by the boatswain 's mess call for the watch on deck . The scramble to get below and to work with knife , fork , and spoon resembled a fire panic at a theatre .