The Captain could only enter the wardroom by invitation of the other officers. The wardroom was their mess. It was on the lower deck, with their 14 cabins arranged around a central dining and leisure area.

With the Royal Navy's new professional status some of the younger wardroom members would have graduated from the officer training school on Illustrious or later Britannia.

The ship's chaplain was often also the schoolmaster, teaching the ordinary crew and the junior ranks comprising 20 to 30 midshipmen and sub-lieutenants. These very young officers led a less formal life in the gunroom - their lower deck mess - where the chief gunner was in charge of the midshipmen. They slept in hammocks when there was space available.

Also sharing the lower deck were the lower ranked engineers, the boatswain, gunner, carpenter and chief petty officers, all of whom had cabins and messes.