Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-11-27
BIG SHIPS MUSTER.
III MEN WHO DO THE WORK IN
OUR ATLANTIC LINES.

ME MEN WHO Do THE WORK ON
OUR ATLANTIC LINES.
Three Great Observation-Disclosures.
ing the Crew Before Sailine-The
Men in Their Quarters.
The management of all the big pas
,eurer ships during the days thew snen,,
,t sea is practically the same It yar;rs
in seine details on the ships of different
lines. In every ship there are three do
nsrtmcnts: The sailing, or deck denart-
ment; the passenger, or stewards de-
pertinent, and the engine department, If
you think any one of these departments
is more important, take your pick and
don't let anybody influence you to think
Otherwise. The chances are that Won
will be just us nearly right as any one
else. If there were no sailing densrte
uent the ship would never 90 from one
port to another. If there we're NO enp;na
department the ship would never move
at all. And if there were NO passengers
there would be no need for passenger
department. and the ship would never
have been built. It's Kind Of q pull
altogether affair; oil three are one.
The sailing department Of the CITY Of
Paris musters SO men and boys; the pas
senger department 1853 men, boys and
women, and the engine department 1873
men--in all Ais. The So men of the
sailing department are nine officers.
twcnty-eight able seamen, two ordinary
seamen, twelve quartermasters, q bo's'n
and mate, carpenter and mate, and four
masters-at-
Each of these departments has crew
of its own, under the personal SUPER
vision of chief officer. Supreme over
the combination Of all the departments
is the Captain, who is an absolute mon
arch during the time that his ship is at
sea If you can't tell the Captain by
the length of his coat you can always tell
him by his coat sleeves. just above the
cuff he wears three gold stripes, and he is
the only man on the ship who does. With
the other officers it is not so easy, be-
cause there are sometimes several of
them who have the same rank. The
number of officers is different on differ
ent ships. On the City Of Paris there
are eli ht officers besides the Captain.
Every one OF them holds masters Ger
tifcate issued by the Board of Trade Of
Liverpool, so that there are nine men on
the ship who are competent to take her
in charge. These officers oil belong to
Me sailing department. which has to do
simply with navigating the ship. One of
them is the chief officer. Three others
rank as second officers. The chief officer
and the second officer wear two gold
stripes above the cuffs of their coats. So
it is always easy to distinguish them
from the other officers, but there is NO
difference in uniform by which they can
be distinguished from each othes. The
other four officers have ono'gold stripe
above the cuff of their coat sleeves.
On the ships articles the officers are
signed us master and mates. The master
is commonly called the Captain. Pie
mate is the chief officer. On the City Of
Paris there are three second mates, or
second officers, two third mates, or third
officers, and two fourth mates, or fourth
officers. The second officers are known
as the senior second, junior second, and
extra second; the third officers us the
senior third and extra third, and the
fourth officers Us the senior fourth and
extra fourth.
The object Of carrying so many officers
on the City of Paris is to insure to each
sufficient rest under any stress Of weather
which may arise. No other ship cross
ing the North Atlantic carries SO many.
Their work is so arranged that they have
sixteen hours each day off duty. The
sailing department is, Of course, the do
partment to which the Captain devotes
most Of his time. The chief officer is
the executive officer. He stands no
watch and his business is to assist the
Captain. The other officers stand watch
on.the bridge and sail the ship under the
Captains orders.
Every ship which sails out Of the port
Of Liverpool must comply with the
marine regulations Of the Liverpool
Board Of Trade. One of those regula-
tons provides that just before any ship
goes to sea there shall be muster Of the
crew on deck, at which representative
of the Board Of Trade shall be present.
The regulations which concern the sign
ing of the ships crew provide that for
all foreign-going ships, that is, for ships
that sail from Liverpool to ports or places
in the United States, British North Amer
lea, the West Indies, South America,
India, China and the Eastern Seas, or
the Continent of Europe, the crew shall
be signed for each voyage for term not
to exceed twelve months, and must be
brought back to the final port of dis
charge in the Uunited Kingdom. A
voyage Of the City of Paris from Liver
pool to New York and back takes about
four weeks, including stays in port, so
that her entire crew, from the captain to
the last coal trimmer, is signed twelve
times year. The crew numbers 40, OF
whom seven are women. The muster is
always conducted by the purser. The
entire crew, captain and oil, except the
stewards, is drawn up in line on the
promenade deck. The stewards are
mustered in the saloon. The purserr
goes over the roll with the Board OF
Trade representative and the ships doc
tor, and if any men are missing IL the
words "Did not join" are entered after
their names on the articles, and substl-
tutes are signed in their places.