The record-union., 1898-03-16
A KING ON SMALL PAY.
MASTER OF A BIG STEAMSHIP
is NO PLUToCRAT.
Low Wages for Officers-The Pur-
ser and the Doctor Have
Slim Purses.

| skipper OF a regular liner are as many
and onerous as the successful bank
! President, and that in addition, his
salary is just as large The response
bility of the one is about as great as
the other. but when it comes to duties
the sea dog has, as a rule, much more
to bear, While, unlike the bank Presi-
dent, his salary is as small as his du-
ties are large. 1t may surprise some
of the regular transatlantic travellers
to learn that their beau ideal of sea
Captain who in faultless gold lace goes
about the deck laughing and chatting
with the tourists, patting the half-fare
tots on the back and doffing hisscap to
| the rug-clad occupants of an easy
steamer chair betW cen the time that he
spends in his berth, in the chartroom
or on the bridge, gets little more money
a month than the detective, sergeant
or the average steamboat Captain.
One of the most successful lines rum
ming between this port and Europe
pays it's Commodore, who has been over
twenty years in this particular serv-
ice, f35 a month, or about $115. This
is about $40 week. The other Cap
lent of S125 for thirty days labor. Any
number of matter Of -no-fact stories
have been printed with the object of
showing that the commanders Of the
great liners received in some cases
sums ranging from ST 900 to S12,00U
per year. But such talk is idle. There
is not a single Captain on the ocean
who enjoys nay such income. That
many Of them deserve to is another
matter entirely. In an argument that
master mariners are we'll paid the point
is advanced that the officers are fed
while at sea and even 1<ongSlde the
wharf with the best that the market
affords at the expense Of the steamship
company Yet 80 per cent. of these
well-fed gold laces are married and
have big families that demand food.
clothes and a home either here or
abroad, whether or not the ship is in
port This establishment costs as much
while the master marine is on the bos-
ON of Old Neptune as it does when he
is playing dry cob at home for short
period His going or coming adds or
deducts little from he general cost.
THE PURSER'S PAY.
There are few pursers on the Asfan-
tic who command a higher monthly
salary than f10 They must have
years of experience, a host of friends
and be 'topsawyers" as they say at
sea, to command even this figure. Un-
like the stewards, and, in the majority
of cases, the ships surgeons, the purs-
er is seldom made the recipient of a
generous tip. Nobody seems able to
explain why it is so, unless it be that
the purser, handling all the money of
the voyage, which includes extra pas
sage money, the receipts from the
smoker made through the chief stew
ard, the wine bills from the tables, all
amounting to a pretty large figure, is
recognized as the financial end of the
floating hotel and is treated accord
ingly.
There is TO man aboard ship who Is
more generally thrown in with the pas
sengers than the purser And there is
none who is capable of making himself
more popular or the reverse. seven
eighths Of the complaints go to him,
and he has the power to rectify them
if he will He can change the berth,
or even the room of the passenger VINO
thinks the accommodation assigned hlm
not up to expectation. That in itself
is the source of a great deal OF has
popularity. He may go into the smoker
at night when his assistant is main
tanning the rigor of office hours, pun
away at his brier, sip his grog With
the tourists or make himself generally
agreeable with the poker crowd be-
tween card draws. The smoker and its
many attachments are luxuries which
the Captain is not permitted to enjoy,
or if permitted, rarely INDUCES in. Any
skipper who would make himself
jolly good fellow in the smoker would
lose the confidence of those under his
care as fast as a trout taking a May
fly Not that his appearance there
would make him any less the sailor,
but the passengers, for some reason or
another, seem to believe that the only
place for the master of their ship is
on the bridge or in the chartroom. And
if they can picture him ON this bridge
in oilslzins and so'wester with the wind
and sleet and ice clustering around
him so much the better to the perfec-
ton of their idea of the practical and
capable mariner.
THE POOR DOCTOR.
The poorest paid man in an official
capacity on a great liner is probably
the surgeon. Some passengers have
the opinion that as the company pays
the ships doctor those using him on
trip are not supposed to give financial
recognition to his attention. 1t is true
that none is obliged TO, but he should
The demand of a doctor at sea is in no
wise different from that demand on
land. The steamship companies give
a passenger board, lodging and trans
portation at a cost that could not be
equalled ON any railroad of the earth,
when distance, accommodation and at
tention are considered. The luxury of
a doctor, while generally forced, is at
the same time an auxiliary of sea travel
for which the company receives moth
ing, and which, when free medicines
are Included, as they invariably are,
costs quite good deal. Experienced
ocean travellers seldom forget the sur
geon when necessity makes them call
for his attention during a trip. But
theee experienced tourists are few and
far between. The majority of patients
troop ashore at the end of a passage
WITHOUT 80 nucn as HOuTlSn Oh an
empty hand to, the sawbones Of the
good ship that brought them over.
On many Of the big liners the chef
receives as compensation more than any
two of the gold lace brigade. The
truth of the old saying that the easiest
way to reach a. mans heart is through
his stomach, is just as applicable to
the gentler sex, at least it is on ship
board. A superior table with all other