"Oh no, sir, no,' said the [responding] marine. 'Breakfast only just carrying in this moment. Two hard-boiled eggs and one soft.'"(55) the breakfast scene of ship domesticity shows the hierarchy of the Captain, who is not only able to have eggs for breakfast, but even to order a "soft-boiled egg was for Miss Smith, to recruit her from her labors of the night, as both the marine and Mr. Dillon knew well; but the marine's knowing look met with a total lack of response. James Dillon's mouth tightened, and for a fleeting moment as he ran up the ladder to the sudden brilliance of the quarterdeck it wore a positively angry expression. This shows that the hierarchy of class at sea comes with soft-boiled eggs and the parceling...

The idealistic view of sea life as 'real life' is buffeted by showing that Captain Jack is still an ordinary man, with ordinary desires, and the hierarchies of life at sea is equally regimented as life on land, even if the luxuries are less ostentatiously observed.
Women, on board, become a kind of currency -- much like the eggs that are parceled out to the higher officers, the enjoying of female favors becomes one luxury among many, and how women earn their keep, essentially. Although Miss Smith enjoys a soft-boiled egg, she does so for a price, and not necessarily a savory one that is worth the giving.