five o'clock
So too with the Captain ; and the Ward-room officers , warrant officers , midshipmen , the master-at-arms ' mess , and the common seamen ; -- all of them , respectively , dine together , because they are , respectively , on a footing of equality . Not only is the dinner-table a criterion of rank on board a man-of-war , but also the dinner hour . He who dines latest is the greatest man ; and he who dines earliest is accounted the least . In a flag-ship , the Commodore generally dines about four or five o'clock ; the Captain about three ; the Lieutenants about two ; while _ the people _ -LRB- by which phrase the common seamen are specially designated in the nomenclature of the quarter-deck -RRB- sit down to their salt beef exactly at noon . Thus it will be seen , that while the two estates of sea-kings and sea-lords dine at rather patrician hours -- and thereby , in the long run , impair their digestive functions -- the sea-commoners , or _ the people _ , keep up their constitutions , by keeping up the good old-fashioned , Elizabethan , Franklin-warranted dinner hour of twelve . Twelve o'clock ! It is the natural centre , key-stone , and very heart of the day .