| Exams for Certificates | Second Mate | First Mate | Master | Officers of RMS Titanic |
EXAMINATIONS FOR CERTIFICATION
Master of a foreign-going ship
Examinations were conducted by local marine boards at major ports, or, where there was no local marine board, by the Board of Trade, and in all cases was subject to rules laid down by the Board of Trade. Most of Titanic's officers sat their examinations in British ports such as Liverpool, London or Hull. Lightoller, however, would take his Second Mate's examination in the port of Calcutta, India. A fee was paid to the examiner and, in addition to the theoretical and practical elements of the test, the applicant had to give "satisfactory evidence of his sobriety, experience, ability and general good conduct on board ship." (S. Cole ). This took the form of written testimonials from masters the candidate had served with, which could prove a difficulty if the candidate's relationship with the previous master had been less than congenial: "By a rule of the Board of Trade, every officer coming up for examination in order to take a certificate of a higher grade must produce written testimonials from the master he has served with. Wanting these, he is not allowed to enter for the examination at all. Now, as by the common law no master is bound to give his servant a character, it follows that a shipmaster need only withhold that essential scrap of paper before his rising any higher." (F. Bullen)
In order to obtain a Mate's rank, it was usual to have served a four-year apprenticeship, the last year of which counted as the service of Able Seaman. However, as the rules specify only that the candidate for a Second Mate's certificate should have been four years at sea, one year of which as an A. B., it was possible to have entered as Boy and worked up to A.B. and then to take the examination. The practice of entering as a Boy and working up to A.B. was standard in American and Canadian ships, which did not have apprenticeships.
Having served the necessary time and been given a recommendation from their last Masters, many aspiring candidates went to a navigation school to prepare for the examination. James Moody spent a brief period in London at the King Edward VII Nautical School brushing up on his education prior to examination, and Joseph Boxhall - who seems to have displayed impressive navigational abilities from an early age - spent an year at a nautical school in his home town of Hull. "Some young would-be officers are foolish enough to imagine that the master of a navigation school can also help them in their seamanship, but with lamentable results. For the navigation is in cut-and-dried exercises which any ordinarily capable scholar can learn with little difficulty, since all of them may be satisfactorily done without the slightest knowledge of higher mathematics." (F. Bullen). This was made possible by the introduction of nautical tables, which simplified navigational problems. Seamanship, however, required practical knowledge – "the handling of a ship under all circumstances of weather, the fitting and keeping in repair of her masts, rigging, sails, etc., and the stowage of her cargo, cannot be learned from books. The unhappy neophyte who has scrambled through his apprenticeship without attempting to learn the business, and comes at the last moment to his crammer for assistance, is in evil case when standing before the keen-eyed old shipmaster who is to examine him." (F. Bullen)
If the candidate failed, he had to spend a set amount of time back at sea before being allowed to re-sit the examination. He also forfeited the examination fee. If he passed, the prized certificate was sent to a nominated Board of Trade office. SECOND MATE
"What, then, is the young newly passed officer to do when, with his creamy new certificate in his pocket, he finds nothing before him in his old firm but a voyage before the mast as an able seaman? Well, if his folks have any acquaintances among shipowners – in other words, any influence in that direction – now is the time to use it. Or, if they have money to invest, they will not find it difficult to purchase a certain amount of interest, which should, and generally does, result in their son getting an opening for employment. But if neither of these levers are available, the aspirant is almost certainly in for a bad time. Probably the best thing will be to put his pride in his pocket, and take a berth before the mast, always keeping his eyes open when abroad for an opportunity of slipping into a vacant second mate's berth, where he will get the rough edges worn off his newness, and become accustomed to command." (F. Bullen)
While he might be qualified as a second mate, most young officers – Titanic's included – would find themselves working for a period as third or fourth mates on schooners, barques and other sailing ships, or on smaller steamers of a few thousand tons or less. By 1900 it was becoming increasingly evident that the future of shipping lay with steam, but even the youngest of the officers, James Moody, would spend a considerable amount of time in sail before exchanging canvas for funnels.
Some officers were able to establish themselves at the ground level of a larger and more prestigious line where, if they showed reasonable competence and talent, they could work gradually work their way up the line of promotion. Others found difficulty obtaining a berth. "I know of no more depressing occupation than that of a capable seaman looking for a ship as officer. It does not greatly matter whether he wanders around the docks or goes to the owner's offices, he is made to feel like a mendicant; and on board most ships he is also made to feel like a supplanter when he asks for employment." (F. Bullen)
There were other problems in the transition from apprentice or A.B. to officer that the new mate had to contend with. With a young man new to his position of authority, some masters and officers felt it beholden upon themselves to "treat the beginner who comes under their control with studied harshness; to comment upon his slightest mistakes – not due to ignorance, but to a nervous anxiety to do his best – as if they were indisputable proofs of his being a fool; to find out his tender spots and probe them, so that the hot flush of shame rises, and the tongue is almost bitten through in the endeavor to restrain the furious reply that would be fatal; more than all, and worse than all, to comment upon a beginner's shortcomings openly before the men and boys over whom that beginner is placed in authority, thereby laying him open to the covert sneer, the insolent retort, and the slackly-performed obedience." (F. Bullen)
The British Merchant Marine prior to 1900 also had disciplinary problems. The introduction in 1900-01 of certificates of continuous discharge would somewhat rectify the situation, as these required seamen to produce a record of their good character, but before this the situation was rather different. "In a British ship…a master may unwittingly ship a crew of scoundrels, who have made up their minds to do as little as they can as badly as possible, to refuse the most ordinary forms of respect to their officers, and to either desert or go to gaol at the first port, not because their ship is a bad one, but just by way of a change. And if the master or officers, worried beyond endurance, take the law into their own hands, their punishment and subsequent ruin is almost certain to ensue promptly. The rascals who have made the ship a hell afloat, confident in the tenderness of British law, and its severity towards all forms of oppression, pursue their rejoicing way, and if brought to court may be fined a trifle of wages, which, as they set no value on money, does not punish them in the least." (F. Bullen)
Another recurrent problem was the abuse of alcohol, from the Master on down. For teetotalers, "such a virtuous resolve should be often detrimental to a man's chances of doing his business in foreign ports, where that business is only carried on over drink." (F. Bullen). Masters and crew, isolated at sea for months at a time, often turned to alcohol for solace. Reaching port and being "paid off" could also lead to excessive indulgence by way of celebration. However by 1900 "sobriety is the rule among shipmasters of to-day, and not the exception, as it once was." (F. Bullen) Many lines, such as White Star, prohibited the consumption of alcohol amongst their crew. Most of Titanic's officers were temperate in their personal habits, as was established at the U.S. Senate Inquiry into the Titanic disaster – Harold Lowe was, famously, an adamant abstainer and Joseph Boxhall was a teetotaler. Charles Lightoller's biographer, Patrick Stenson, would mention that Lightoller was fond of the odd gin and tonic, and family tradition indicates that William Murdoch was fond, but not overly fond, of a good drink (he had lost a family member in 1906 when his uncle perished in the wreck of the schooner Mary. Both William's uncle and the master of the Mary had over-imbibed.). On the larger liners, it was rare to see intoxication among the crew (the White Star Line, for example, prohibited the consumption of alcohol by the crew) - as A. B. Frederick Clench put it, "As for any intemperance, you seldom saw anything on a boat like that. I mean to say you can not get anything to drink there, so you are bound to be a teetotaler there" (U.S. Senate Inquiry)
Health in general was an issue over long voyages, venereal disease and scurvy having long been associated with seafarers. The Merchant Shipping Act of 1844 introduced lime juice as an obligatory means of combating scurvy (giving rise to the popular term for English seafarers as "limeys"). Lime juice was cheaper than lemon juice, but not as effective. The amount to be supplied on British ships doubled with the 1894 Merchant Shipping Act. FIRST MATE
It is difficult to make generalizations as to how duties devolved upon certain officers. A tramp steamer, for example, might have only a Master, Mate, and Second Mate, whereas a large liner could have as many as eight deck officers (as did Titanic). The Chief or First Officer (depending on the size of the ship) was next in the hierarchy after the Master, and was responsible for most of the day to day running of vessel, under the Master's direction. Traditionally, navigational duties were the responsibility of the Second officer. Calculations were worked out independently by officers and checked against each other. The log was formerly kept by the First Officer, but by the time of the super liners most routine notations were entered by junior officers as directed by their seniors (following Titanic's collision with the iceberg, Murdoch directed Moody to enter the time and details in the log).
The profession of ship's officer was not a particularly lucrative one, although a junior officer on Titanic found himself earning twice the monthly salary of a junior wireless operator. While awaiting promotion it was common to say that "unless a man has a private income he must not only be very economical to live upon his pay while he is in a swagger line, he must forego all idea of getting married. That is, if he wishes his wife and children to get enough to eat." (F. Bullen)
In addition to duties aboard ship while at sea, the senior officer on smaller ships had to oversee the ship in port. While the Captain saw to business ashore, he would see to it that work went on. "Each one of his crew will probably be devoting all his energy to the endeavor to do as little as possible, and to getting drunk". (F. Bullen). If taking on cargo, it was the First Mate's duty to oversee the stowage, while keeping at bay those wishing to board the ship and take advantage of the crew. "And as if these things were not sufficient, he must compete with whatever personal abuse or violence a drunken seaman chooses to offer him, his only remedy to report the offender to the Master, when he can get hold of him." (F. Bullen). Most of Titanic's officers would work under these conditions at some point in their careers. Lightoller and Lowe, for example, would work in West Africa under conditions of extreme discomfort, steaming along the coast, visiting numerous small ports discharging and loading passengers and crew. Lightoller was nearly drowned in an incident with a capsized surfboat (surfboats were small boats used to transport cargo through the surf to the ship in locations where there was no dock). He also contracted a near-fatal dose of malaria. Lowe contracted malaria as well, and it was a contributing factor in his death at the age of 61.
Working aboard the smaller steamers, as all Titanic's officers did prior to joining the White Star Line, would have prepared them for whatever vagaries their occupation could throw at them. And, after the harassements of being in harbor, the senior officer could heave "a sigh of relief upon mounting the bridge to keep watch through four hours of a dark, dirty night. With keen eyes, smarting under the incessant pelting of driving rain and spray, he peers over the edge of the weather-cloth into the blackness ahead, heeding not at all the 'bucking beam sea roll' or the thumpity-thump-thump of the untiring engines below him. Now he can send his thoughts a-roaming. Such tender musings as of love and home and rest may be admitted while the almost invisible blackness of the hull beneath him is thrust into the hungry expanse of darkness ahead, the only sure point being the tiny circle of light in the binnacle." (F. Bullen) MASTER
This was the rank to which any ambitious officer entering the Merchant Marine aspired. As with other positions, there was a tremendous gulf between the duties of the master of the small brigatine and the master of the new super-liner. Both, however, were the ultimate authority aboard ship. They might delegate a considerable amount of responsibility to their officers, but the master still held responsibility for the vessel's course and all major decisions pertaining to life aboard ship. In practice, this could be delegated in some degree or another. At one extreme, the masters of sailing ships might hand the entire management of the ship over to the senior officer, even to the point of only appearing to take the noon bearings. Taking the other approach, the Captain might refuse to hand over any major responsibilities to his senior officers at all.
Bullen described the temptations to which the Captain of a passenger ship was subjected at the turn of the century when it was technically possible for the Master to hand over all significant duties to his subordinates:
"The love of holding the reins, jealousy of the slightest encroachment upon his prerogatives, will usually keep him from this, but the temptations to enjoy the charmingly varied society in the midst of which he moves as King is certainly very great. All honor to these capable gentlemen that so few of them succumb to it. Whenever stress of weather demands their presence on the high and lofty bridge (Mount Misery, the wise it call), they will be found there, cheery and confident, with apparently no sense of the weight of responsibility upon them, although they might well be excused if their brows were permanently furrowed with anxious thought. To know that upon you rests the charge of two thousand souls, to say nothing of from half to three-quarters of a million pounds' worth of property, from being hurled over the howling sea at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour, is surely enough to give even the most jovial heart pause. Yet these splendid men conceal with great ease any appearance of worry, and behave as though they had nothing more serious on their mind than the making of an Atlantic passage pleasant to their guests."
(F. Bullen)
These words, written in 1900, tragically foreshadow the role of Edward Smith, Captain of RMS Titanic
|
A four-masted barque.