On the left of the companion-way, descending the stairs, was the “old folks’ cabin,” as it was called by the students.  It was in the locality corresponding to that occupied by the ward room of a man-of-war.  Though the after cabin is the place of honor on board a ship, Mr. Lowington had selected the ward room for himself and the teachers, in preference to the after cabin, because it was next to the steerage, which was occupied by the larger portion of the pupils, and because the form of the ship did not contract the dimensions of the state rooms.  This cabin was twenty-two feet long and fifteen feet wide, with no waste room, as in the after cabin, caused by the rounding in of the ship’s counter.  On the sides were five state rooms, besides a pantry for the steward, and a dispensary for the surgeon.

The forward room on the starboard side was occupied by Mr. Lowington alone; the next on the same side by the chaplain and doctor; and each of the three on the port side by two of the teachers.  This cabin was elegantly finished and furnished, and the professors were delighted with its cheerful and pleasant aspect.

From the main cabin, as that of the “faculty” was called, were two doors, opening into the steerage, fifty-two feet in length by fifteen feet in width of clear space between the berths, which diminished to nine feet abreast of the foremast.  This apartment was eight feet high, and was lighted in part by a large skylight midway between the fore and main mast, and partly by bull’s eyes in the side of the ship.  There were seventy-two berths, placed in twelve rooms, opening from passage-ways, which extended athwartships from the main steerage, and were lighted by the bull’s eyes.  There were no doors to these dormitories, each of which contained six berths, in two tiers of three each.  It was intended that the six boys occupying one of these rooms should form a mess.  Between the gangways, or passages, were mess tables, which could be swung up against the partition when not in use.

The steerage was neatly and tastefully fitted up, and furnished, though not so elegantly as the cabins.  It was to be the school room, as well as the parlor and dining room of the boys, and it would compare favorably with such apartments in well-ordered academies on shore.  There was plenty of shelves, pouches, and lockers, under the lower berths, and beneath the bull’s eyes at the head of the main gangways, for clothing and books, and each boy had a place for every article which regulations allowed him to possess.

Forward of the foremast there were two large state rooms; that on the starboard side having four berths, for the boatswain, carpenter, sailmaker, and head steward; and the one on the port side with six, for the two cooks and the four under stewards, all of whom were men skilful and experienced in their several departments.  Forward of these was the kitchen, from which opened the lamp room, a triangular closet in the bow of the ship.  Mr. Lowington had taken the idea of locating the cooking apartment in the extreme forward part of the vessel from the Victoria and Albert, the steam yacht of the Queen of England.