From Covey Crump's collection of naval slang and miscellanea:

TRADITIONAL WARDROOM EVENING TOASTS

The following are quoted by Commander Beckett as the routine toasts drunk after dinner in wardrooms in Nelson's time:

Sunday ............... Absent friends.
Monday ............... Our ships at sea.
Tuesday .............. Our men.
Wednesday ............ Ourselves
...(as no one else is likely to concern themselves with our welfare).
Thursday ............. A bloody war or a sickly season.
Friday ............... A willing foe and sea room.
Saturday ............. Sweethearts and wives.

Of these, only Saturday's is regularly heard nowadays, probably because mess dinners are usually held on Saturday nights. It usually has the sotto voce addendum, "may they never meet".

The point of Thursday's was that these were the circumstances likely to lead to rapid promotion!

Steve