This word is of Middle English in origin, Mes meaning a dish, hence the term, a mess of pottage. The word in English originally denoted four, and at large or formal dinners, the guests were seated in fours. The average gun crew size was eight men, 2 sets of four, and they worked, ate, stood watches, and slept together as a unit.

This is the true origin of mess decks, where the ship's crew took their meals. The other application of the word mess, or confusion, is derived from the German word mischen, meaning to mix.

The strange thing on mess decks today is people still sit according to the department they work in. Engineering, Ops, supply, and deck. For some odd reason engineering had the largest section on the mess deck onboard my ship. I guess we were just keeping up tradition and didn’t even know it.