Then Yarn, or Pipes, as leader of the orchestra, begins a peculiar call, in which his assistants join.

This over, the order, whatever it may be, is loudly sung out and prolonged, till the remotest corner echoes again.

The Boatswain and his mates are the town-criers of a man-of-war.
The calm had commenced in the afternoon: and the following morning the ship's company were electrified by a general order, thus set forth and declared: "_D'ye hear there, for and aft! all hands skylark!_" This mandate, nowadays never used except upon very rare occasions, produced the same effect upon the men that Exhilarating Gas would have done, or an extra allowance of "grog." For a time, the wonted discipline of the ship was broken through, and perfect license allowed.
It was a Babel here, a Bedlam there, and a Pandemonium everywhere.

The Theatricals were nothing compared with it.

Then the faint-hearted and timorous crawled to their hiding-places, and the lusty and bold shouted forth their glee.
Gangs of men, in all sorts of outlandish habiliments, wild as those worn at some crazy carnival, rushed to and fro, seizing upon whomsoever they pleased--warrant-officers and dangerous pugilists excepted--pulling and hauling the luckless tars about, till fairly baited into a genial warmth.