cabin

On a packet the long hallway running the length of the interior of the passenger quarters on the boiler deck, usually painted white and trimmed in gilt and adorned with fancifully turned wood columns and jig-saw work. Also known as the main cabin, or parlor, it served as both the social hall and dining room for the cabin passengers. On either side of the cabin are rows of stateroom doors, and over them the skylight glass panes. The forward end usually is designated the men's cabin and the ship's office and bar are located there. The aft end is the lathes' cabin and generally has a carpeting on the floor and terminates at a huge gilt-framed mirror. On larger boats, the barbershop, bar, and clerk's office were located in rooms at the forward end. On a towboat the cabin is the space aft of the officers' rooms on the boiler deck; a lounging area. On both packet and towboat the cabin serves the dual purpose of lounging area and dining hall. The individual passenger rooms are called staterooms: on river steamboats the term cabin is not used in connection with such staterooms as it is on the high seas and various lakes.