(1) We junior cadets were made to go down on our knees in rows and scrub the wooden decks with holystones in a to and fro motion.(2) The men holystoning the deck went at it with a will.(3) The only noises were the holystones being dragged back and forth, the wind in the rigging, the creaking of the ship, and Hornblower's footsteps across the quarter-deck.(4) The decks of this late Victorian Navy were holystoned white.(5) Alternatively, I also have a thing about random whippings such as might be done by a bosuns mate with a rope's end on board ship, as the men were holystoning the decks.(6) We junior cadets were made to go down on our knees in rows and scrub the wooden decks with holystones in a to and fro motion.
