Holystone

St Vincent's successor, Admiral Keith, rescinded the order in 1801, finding that "the custom of washing the decks of ships of war in all climates in every temperature of the air, and on stated days let the weather be what it may" was so onerous as to be damaging the health and lives of the crews.

[7] Its lack of utility was evidenced in contemporary accounts including an 1875 British Medical Journal advice which warned against having patients "set to useless tasks simply to keep them employed, such as sailors have to do in holystoning the decks.

A 1952 graduate of the Naval Academy recalls of his Youngster (sophomore) cruise to England in the summer of 1949 aboard the USS Missouri: It was with a stick in the depression of what we were told was brick normally used as insulation in the boilers.

Holystoning was still done on occasion into the 1980s onboard oceangoing minesweepers of the US Navy, as they were constructed with wooden hulls and had teak decks on the forecastle and fantail of the ship that would require deep cleaning due to weathering.

John Barth's 1960 novel The Sot-Weed Factor (Chapter 14, Part II: Going to Malden)[14] features the main character and his valet performing "various simple chores like oakum-picking and holystoning" while aboard Captain Tom Pound's ship.