captain

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ErikKiekens

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When can you officially call yourself "captain"? I realise now that I have absolutely no clue what it actually means.
Let me rephrase this: can a person with a commercially endorsed Yachtmaster Offshore ticket put "Captain" on their business card? Maybe with reference to the correct STCW chapter?
Or would this be a legal, moral or ethical offense? Or just silly?
Erik
 
I think a yotmaster calling himself Captain would be in for a lifetime of P taking, and deservedly so !

The only person I know who uses it on his website - but would fall about laughing if addressed that way in person - is a chum who is a mega experienced delivery skipper, the only one I've heard of who has a ship Master Mariner ticket; with that and a couple of dozen ocean crossings, combined with some of the stories he's told me very matter of factly - and having sailed with him - he's definitely able to put Captain on his card..

Yours,

Starfleet Admiral Seajet.
 
If you have a commission from the queen giving you the rank of Captain in her Army or Navy.

Otherwise, even if you're in charge of a supertanker, you are the vessel's Master.

(That's the strict interpretation anyway - in practice various people get called captain, with varying degrees of correctness.)

Nevertheless, I think putting it on your business card in connection with yachting is unlikely to be correct under any circumstances, except possibly the circumstances of being an American :)

Pete
 
I still find it rather funny being addressed as captain in foreign ports, they never use skipper. Personally, I think anyone (including YM commercial) in the UK on a small boat who calls themselves captain is a pillock.
 
LadyInBed said:
Isn't a Navy Captain an appointment rather than a rank?
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With the disclaimer that the Andrew is all a bit mysterious to me, I think it can be either. That is, there is a rank of Captain (equivalent to a full Colonel in the Army) but also appointments (commanding ships, generally) which come with the title of Captain regardless of rank.

Pete
 
To me Captain Master or Skipper all mean the same thing. No one would never call ones self "Captain" That is just naff.It is however Ok and for others to refer to you as Captain Skipper or Master if indeed that is what you are. However it is in my mind only a correct title when you are indeed Captain of the boat.
Captain to me first and foremost means repsonsibilty. Firstly for all those on board and scondly for the safety of the boat. So when you leave your boat on a mooring you perhaps revert to be owner. As soon as you or any one else step aboard and especially if there are other people on board then there must be a skipper Captain or master.
This means that you are responsible for the life, well being and comfort of all those on board. Your responsibilty needs to be respected and decisions (orders) obeyed up until the point where someone else chooses to mutiny and take control.
I tend to take a lot of different people on my boat sometimes strangers and I take the responsibility very seriously and so should every one who finds himself skipper.
good luck olewill
 
William_H said:
Captain to me first and foremost means responsibility. Firstly for all those on board and scondly for the safety of the boat.
Click to expand...

...and also responsibility for keeping its affairs legal, wherever you happen to be. In many countries this is formalised in bits of paper. So our Greek papers call me "Captain/skipper" and our Turkish papers "Kaptain". Sometimes we ring the changes so that Lynne is skipper (partly because the misogynists hate this). And sometimes they do it to themselves: 18 months ago, on entering Turkey, a friend who very rarely sailed but was just along for the ride found herself appointed kaptain by the entry officials.

Yet the titles above clearly carry legal weight in those and other countries. They mean you can carry any cans being thrown abut just as readily as any true captain. But that doesn't mean, to borrow Dylan's words, that you're not really just the bloke who cleans the bogs.*

* or the bloke who knows how to, which is status of sorts, I suppose :ambivalence:
 
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Absolutely delighted with this discussion. The word "master" is NEVER heard in Belgium. "Skipper" sometimes ("schipper" in Dutch) but that is becoming old-fashioned. The word "captain" has more mystery around it than "doctor", where it is a lot more clear who can call themselves doctor and who cannot. Interesting!
 
ErikKiekens said:
Absolutely delighted with this discussion. The word "master" is NEVER heard in Belgium. "Skipper" sometimes ("schipper" in Dutch) but that is becoming old-fashioned. The word "captain" has more mystery around it than "doctor", where it is a lot more clear who can call themselves doctor and who cannot. Interesting!
Click to expand...

But if the doctor is a surgeon he gets called Mr.
 
I think it all comes down to the size of the vessel. I would naturally refer to anyone in charge of a yacht as skipper and would never call him captain, unless it was one of Abramovitch's dinghies. There are certainly differences between nations' usages, for example, the Dutch would happily refer to my little tub as a "ship".
 
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johnalison said:
I think it all comes down to the size of the vessel. I would naturally refer to anyone in charge of a yacht as skipper and would never call him or skipper, unless it was one of Abramovitch's dinghies. There are certainly differences between nations' usages, for example, the Dutch would happily refer to my little tub as a "ship".
Click to expand...
!
 
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Last Christmas my daughter bought me a 'Captain' baseball cap from Nauticalia. I'm sure she wonders why it's still hanging in the bedroom never to be worn. I haven't the heart to tell her.
 
All this reminds me of the embarrassing way pilots of light aircraft are sometimes addressed as "Captain" by officials/refuellers etc though the matter isn't helped by the very few but very visible Walts who fly their puddle jumpers wearing white shirts with epaulettes and gold bars...At least that doesn't happen in yotting - or does it?

ps. The RN rank that is actually an appointment is Commodore isn't it?
 
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