Regulation 22 Mess rooms
Unless the circumstances are such that no members of the crew are required to mess on board, mess rooms shall be provided for the crew; each mess room shall be large enough to accommodate the greatest number of persons likely to use it at any one time.
Mess rooms shall be separate from sleeping rooms, provided that in ships of under 300 tons a mess room, if not combined with a galley, may be combined with sleeping accommodation if it is impracticable to provide a separate mess room.
In every ship of 500 tons or over, each of the following groups of persons shall be provided with a mess room separate from that provided for any other group—
officers;
ratings.
Unless the officers are accommodated in widely separated parts of the ship the mess room provided pursuant to paragraph (3) for officers shall be a single mess room for the use of all officers.
In every ship of 1,000 tons or over the mess rooms provided pursuant to paragraph (3) for the following groups of ratings, that is to say—
petty officers of the deck department;
petty officers of the engine room department;
other ratings of the deck department;
other ratings of the engine room department;
shall consist of—
four separate mess rooms, one for use by each group; or
a combined mess room to be shared by two groups and two separate mess rooms for use by the other two groups; or
two combined mess rooms, each to be shared by two groups; or
a single mess room for use by all four groups:
provided that a combined mess room for use by two groups shall not be shared by petty officers of one department and other ratings of the other department, but may be shared by any other two groups.
In every ship of 5,000 tons or over which either is a foreign going ship or is a home trade ship with a catering department of more than five persons, a separate mess room shall be provided for use by ratings of the catering department, except where the mess room provided for ratings of other departments is the single mess room referred to in paragraph (5)(d)(iv).
Where no separate mess room is provided for ratings of the catering department, messing accommodation shall be provided for them in the mess rooms provided for ratings of other departments.
Cadets shall be provided with a separate mess room or with messing accommodation in the officer’s mess room.
The floor area of every mess room shall be not less than 1 square metre per person for as many persons as are likely to use the room at any one time for messing.