I have been sailing as mate for more than a few years now and I’ve noticed a trend. There are a lot of mariners who have master’s licenses but do not sail as captain. Yet I’ve seen many guys who once they move shoreside in a management role begin to call themselves Captain this or Captain that. In m…

Personally, I held the license for many years before I got my shot at the “catbird seat” but never once considered myself a Captain until that point. I have further feelings on the respect shown to Captain’s I sailed for in not using their first name at any time. Captains like Doctors hold a traditi…

Captain (when ashore) was always an honorific for older, very experienced men, who had earned the title from respect of the local office workers/citizenry. It wasn’t something you bestowed on yourself. The local townspeople or coworkers did it. This applied to both military and merchant captains, in…

My time as master is very short and most of it was in shipyard yet sometimes I put Captain on things and someone from the peanut gallery always writes to bust my chops and claim I can’t use the title. I can say definitively that the entire thing is a loosing battle. Even if you have decades of seat…

I cringe when somebody calls me that even when sailing as Master, I have been on some boats where EVERYBODY wanted to be called Captain or Cap. I had enough titles in the military. I prefer Senior or Tim.

HA! I never really thought about it when I got “the” promotion - I sort of let people decide for themselves as long as what needed to get done got done. HOWEVER, these days in the job hunt? I would say that using the term “Captain”, when you’ve actually sailed captain, is more of a liability than…

[image] Slick_cam1: You hold a Master’s license and were employed as Captain. Nobody is a “Master Mariner”. Holding a master’s license is what designates that one is a Master Mariner. It’s a trade title like master blacksmith, master wheelwright, and for you fishermen, master baiter. In the…

Of course, you and John are correct. I’m familiar with the term. I’ve just always disliked it as a point of English language. Doesnt roll off the tongue. It seems redundant to me. Its never used outside of resumes, articles, etc. On top of that I dont know why but it sounds pretentious to me, wherea…

I cringe every time someone calls me Captain as well. To be perfectly honest, I don’t feel like my 1600 ton (limited) license qualifies me for that title. So for my crew, I’m just John too. If they really feel the need to call me by some title, I tell them to call me anything else and then let me kn…

One thing I noticed is the limited tonnage masters (under 100, more likely 25) use the title the most, as if calling themselves Captain makes the license more useable

Are you a Captain?

Professional Mariner Forum

Ctony July 20, 2017, 8:04pm 2

How many fully grasp the burden of responsibility, once they have the glory of being captain?

I always say the person makes the license/capacity, not visa versa.

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Are you a Captain?

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