At 0540, alarm clocks start going off and everyone assigned to scrub down slides out of his luxurious sleeping quarters. Finally, all muster with their fearless first class leader for the morning s chores. Some cadets grab a hose. Everyone else grabs a broom. Aye, I say.
Scuppers are drains.
So remember drains on the outside decks of ships are scuppers. Scrub down is often misunderstood as only another monotonous, menial job to keep the wee little cadets busy. As you may be able to tell, that s only half of the reason. Scrub down involves the whole ship. The Engineering Department works to keep us moving, and to do so must blow the stacks.