Connecticut western news., 1889-06-19
SEA CAPTAINS.
The Men Who Control the
 Large Ocean Steamers.

Large UCean steamers
 The Hard Work and Require.
 ments of Their Office.
 The commander of ono the big vessels carrying hundreds and hundreds of lives and big fortunes in merchandise and incalculable values represented in the bags of mail, is a great man. He is absolute ruler of a small town for from six days to two weeks, according to the length of the voyage. The pres ervation of the ship, which may be worth $1, ,0O0, 900 or moro, the safety of the passengers and of the freig ght and mail, depend solely upon him. He must gov ern the crew more wisely, shrewdly and stel nly than General must control his army; he must be prepared to withstand tho attacks of the forces of air and ocean with as much skill and alertness as the leader of an army must show against surrounding enemy. His re- sponsibility never ends not even when he is asleep. Sometimes the dangers which beset him forbid any attempt at sleep, and hour after hour the Captain must stand upon his high bridge, exposed to all manner of storms. Often has com mander come into port from a perilous journey, during which for two days and nights he has not left his bridge, except four or five times, and then only for five minutes at time. Yet for all this re- sponsibllity the Captain docsn t get large pay. What salaries the different lines give these men, to whom they intrust so much that is precious--human life, valuable cargoes and costly vessels-are almost insignificant. Seldom may you find commander who receives moro than $5, 900; often it is less than that, and frequently it is as low as s2, 900 year. A certain captain, talking the other day about what he earned, related that he made two trips which netted him at the rate of $10, 900 year. He said it proudly as if it were great thing, but he added a moment later: ''But that was only for two trips, and on each trip ] had surrendered my stateroom at large rates." This captain, after all, did not put so high value on the money given him as Le did on the honor he had in That position is the highest place in the calling to which seafaring man can l get. And it takes industry, study, and years of successful service to become a captain. Despite their relatively small salaries there is probably not commander of an ocean liner who has not been around the world as common sailor, mate, and finally master of ship. In fact, it would be difficult to get the command of transatlantic ship without having been previously the Captain of some sort of large sailing vessel Some of the companies have rule requiring that a candidate for captaincy shall have served as Captain somewhere, and it is only little while ago that sailor on one of the biggest boats between here and Liverpool, who had climbed up from the bottom to the high rank of first oficer-the second in authority left the company with which he had made his progress solely that he might take place as Captain on smaller and less important vessel. He did this be. cause he wants some day to be a Cap tain with the first company. If he sue. ceeds in his new berth-and his old employers will watch his course and he will see that they learn of all his success it is likely that in few years he will be called back and have & command given him. It is very little matter of personal pull, this appointment of Cap tains. The man who knows his busi- ness gets tlere. No matter how gruff or unpopular, no matter what are any of his personal peculiari- ties, if he understands his busi- ness and gets smoothly over the sea he is pretty sure of promotion. Of course, as between two men equally capable in seamanship, the one who has friends and friend-winning qualities is pre- ferred. The company has large eye to business in this matter, and it knows that rich passenger often learns to like captain and will sail on whatever shiF he rules.
 Catherine Lorillard Wolfe, for exam. pie, who used to travel great deal, always took certain ship because il was commanded by captain she had learned to like and in whom she ha6 confidence. So it is with many othel rich people who cross frequently.
 A captain does not get all the educa tion which makes him capable of assum ing command of an Umbria, City O Paris, La Champagne, merely iron the rough outdoor experience of tn deck. There must be much study O books. He must know something of thu art of shipbuilding, of engineering; h. must know good deal of the science O meteorology; he must be master of thu moods of old ocean, the currents ant lanes as discovery has set them forth; h.