Duties of a Shipboard

~ Sergeant of the Guard ~

He will be held responsible for the conduct of sentinels, and must see they carry out their orders strictly ~ He will be stationed on the spar deck, and have a general supervision of all sentinels, and see the police regulations of the ship are carried out ~ He will correct any negligence in position, carriage or execution of orders on the part of sentinels and will assure himself that they understand their orders perfectly ~He will thouroughly inspect each Relief before it is posted and see that each man is in proper uniform, arms & accourtrements clean ~ He will at once report to the 1st Sergeant any new order received ~ In port, his post is habitually at the port gangway ~ When prisoners are confined or released, he will at once report the fact to the 1st Sergeant, stating in what manner they are confined, rations &c. ~ He will allow no one to hold conversation with prisoners unless by permission of Executive Officer, or Off. of deck ~

He will allow no scuffling, loud talking or noise about decks at any time ~Smoking will only be allowed at proper time & place ~ Shore boats approaching the ship will be reported to the Off. of deck and not allowed to come alongside unless by his permission ~ No shore boats to make fast at the booms except by permission from Officer of the deck ~ He will visit the sentinels, berth & gun deck, ward room & steerage and prisoners every half hour from 10 pm. & see that all but standing and authorized lights are extinguished and report the result of each visit to the Off. of the deck ~ He will always be present when any prisoners are confined or released or their irons removed for any purpose ~ At sea he will muster his watch and report any absentees to Off. of deck ~ On wash clothes mornings, he will see that the watch of Marines off post, scrub their soiled clothing. ~

He will carefully inspect all baskets, boxes, bundles & packages coming on board for the men and see that no liquor or improper articles is curtained therein ~ When the hands are turned to or piped down he will pass the word distinctly to "put out all pipes", and see that it is done, if the men are piped down he will require perfect silence to be observed on deck and will allow none of the ships company to loiter on deck unless on duty ~

When all hands are called to get up anchor, he will see that every stranger is out of the ship, visiting every part of the vessel for that purpose ~

He receives special orders from the Off. of deck, and reports the same to 1st Serg. ~ He will require the sentinels to turn all the orders over to their relief ~ He will not allow any enlisted man to leave the ship unless passed by proper authority ~ All reports against members of the guard, will be made to the 1st Sergt. and by him to the Commanding Marine Officer.

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