George,
The sail room on a warship was usually situated on the orlop, the deck below the gun deck (and just below the waterline), right forward in the bows, where the sailmaker's cabin was also situated.
I'm sure some repairs were made here, which of course was a continuous job in itself but, since there was no natural light I would imagine that many repairs and the making of new sails would have been performed if not on the fo'c'sle, then on the upper gun deck in the natural daylight, if at all possible. The sails were also of some considerable size and weight, and they would need to be spread out, which I doubt would have been possible below. Very often many other men would also have been employed with repairs, and they would have needed space to work. This would be akin to a sail loft ashore, which was usually easy to spot because of the large windows in the roof to let in the daylight.
_________________ Kester.
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