How’s the life up forrard?

[Coffee Break]

Hello everyone. I encountered this expression, "How’s the life up forrard?", and I am wondering what it means in the following sentences:

“Got your nickname on the lower deck yet?”
Smile in return, charming, diffident.
“’Fraid so, sir. Inevitably, I believe.”
“Like Dusty Miller and Nobby Clark.”
“Yes, sir.”
“How’s the life up forrard?”
“It’s—endurable, sir.”

- William Golding, Pincher Martin, Chapter 7

This is a novel published in the United Kingdom in 1956. The novel mainly follows the state of mind of Christopher "Pincher" Martin, a temporary naval lieutenant who was apparently fighting to survive in the Atlantic after his military ship had sunk. Here, he had arrived at an island. He is now ill, and remembering the conversation with his superior about how he was considering to recommend Christopher for commission.

Here, I wonder what "up forrard" would mean.
I learned in the dictionary that "forrard" can mean "forward," but I am not sure of its meaning here.
I somehow guess "up forrard" could be the concept opposite to "the lower deck" (where normal sailors live), but I am not sure.

I would very much appreciate your help.

 

[probus]

No. It's old-fashioned naval jargon that you won't find in some dictionaries. The ordinary seamen slept in hammocks in the forecastle, a structure on the deck towards the bow (up forrard), while the commissioned officers had more comfortable cabins nearer the stern, where the pitching motion caused by waves was less.

 

[emsr2d2]

forrard = forward
up forrard = towards the front of the ship

 

[Coffee Break]

@probus and @emsr2d2 ,

Thank you very much for the explanations.
So "up forrard" means "towards the bow", "towards the front of the ship," where the ordinary seamen slept in hammocks.
Then, I guess, the speaker is asking, "How are you doing living at the bow, where the ordinary seamen live?"
I sincerely appreciate your help.

 

[probus]

You've got it, CoffeeBreak.