My Grandfather was Karl G. Bendixen, Chief Engineer of an American States Line ship that broke up on the Columbia Bar in '36 or thereabouts. He was the main reason I became a Chief Engineer in the Navy. I mentioned him in another topic here as it related to poor maintenance by owners or some such.
My distant cousin was William Bendixen, an experienced and well qualified Captain in the US Merchant Marine. He reportedly had certification to sail any ship, any ocean. I personally am ignorant of any “papers” required by whomever to be held for Merchant Marine practice so please bear with me. “Billy” Bendixen was also a gifted amateur radio operator, CW and phone as well as a successful designer of electronic circuits and for a while a great inspiration to me as a kid pursuing several skills that interested me. That is until Billy told me about putting a deliberate mistake in a schematic “to weed out the numbskulls” who did not know what they were doing. He submitted this schematic and narrative to QST magazine which published the article sometime in about 1956-7 when single sideband was a new thing for hf comms.
I will bet my distant cousin could have been an arrogant nightmare on any ship he may have commanded. This included the Alaska ferry system he wound up in after he got tired of trans Pacific trips. Any of you ever hear stories about him or ever do duty with him? Would be interested to hear any or all.