The great Cabin
Unlike the regular Sailors and Officers, the Captain of a ship had more space at his disposal. This space was known as the Captains Cabin, or more commonly the Great Cabin, placed at the end of the upper deck with a large stern window gallery. This was not always the case, however, as the great cabin started out as a small shelter on the first ships with castles like the cogs of the 12th century. There, the cabin under the castle was without a door and was really no more than a shelter, which only later developed into a closed, albeit still very small cabin that often only had a few small windows and a gallery. In the 17th century it was already larger and had larger windows and a gallery as well.
The great cabin of the Vasa (1626), by Peter Isotalo
During the 18th century, with the advent of frigates and ships of the line, cabins became much larger and now had a side with stern windows and a gallery. The Great Cabin extended across the entire width of the ship and could reach up to the mizzen mast.
The great cabin of HMS Endeavour (1764), by Ceri Oakes (x)
Often the so-called day Cabin was located in front of the stern windows, the captain's working and living area with mostly two quarter galleries in which the toilet and washroom were located, and in front of that there were two rooms, the sleeping cabin and the dinner room.
The Dinning room with view to the day cabin of HMS Victory (1765) (x)
The day cabin of HMS Victory (x)
But it depended on the design of the ship, because there were also some that only had the day cabin with two small anterooms and the galleries that served as a toilet on one side and as a sleeping cabin on the other, in which case meals were eaten in the day cabin.
The great cabin of HMS Trincomalee (1817) (x)
The design with the two anterooms as sleeping and dining room was also to be found on the ship of the lines first rates. However, here the great cabin was reserved for the admiral and was located on the upper deck as usual. The captain's cabin was located under the poop deck on the main deck and the wardroom on the middle deck.
Day Cabin of HMS Warrior (1860), by John Durston
If there was a small admiral on board, the captain took his place and the first lieutenant took over the captain's cabin.
In the course of time, the cabin remained as it was, only the star gallery disappeared from the ships of the line.
