Barre evening enterprise. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-1898, 1898-04-21
SEA CAPTAINS PAY.
lE MASTER OF A BIG OCEAN STEAM
Err is NOT A PlUTOCRAT.

3 erything Considered He Is Poorly Paid
False Stories Printed-Low Wages Given
Dther Officers For Onerous Duties-Pur.
Ter and Surgeon.
1t is the general impression among
ose who do not know that the duties
IN 6d response bilities of the average skip
NJ "a of regular liner are as many and
nerous as the successful bank president
h Nd that in addition his salary is just
u Y large. The responsibility Of the one
v Il comes to duties the sea dog has as q
rule much more to bear, while, unlike
The bank president, his salary is as
" mall as his duties are large. 1t may
\ eurprise some of the regular transat-
lantic travellers to learn that their beau
dial of sea captain who in faultless
toid lace goes about the deck laughing
md chatting with the tourists, patting
10 half fare tots on the back and
60ffing his cap to the rug clad occupants
an easy steamer chair between the
time that he spends in his berth, in the
chartroom or Oh the bridge, gets little
moro money month than the detective
sergeant or the average steamboat cap
tain. In many instances Mr.. Gold Lace
GETS less.
Ono Of the most successful lines run
ing between this port and Europe pays
II commodore, who has been over 20
sY&ars in this particular service, 935 a
i month, or about $l75. This is about $40
aweek The other captains in this line
Il IRE paid the equivalent of $l25 for 80
days labor. Any number of matter of
81 no fact stories have been printed with
he object Of showing that the COM
snanders of the great liners received in
some cases sums ranging from 81, 600
ITO $4,000 per year. But such talk is
idle. There is not single captain on
the ocean who enjoys such all income
That many of them deserve to is anoth-
] VI matter entirely.
In an argument that master mariners
IRE we'll paid the point is advanced that
i The officers are fed while at sea and
sven alongside the wharf with the best
#xhat the market affords and at the eX-
u Dense Of the steamship company. Yet
DO per cent of these we'll fed gold laces
5aare married and have big families that
l&demand food, clothes and home either
here or abroad, whether or not the ship
4 is in port. This establishment costs as
much while the master mariner is on
the bosom 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 the general
cost.
There arc few pursers on the Atlantic
who command higher monthly salary
than el0. They must have years of ex-
perience a host Of friends and be ''top
sawyers, as they say at sea, to COM
mand even this figure. Unlike the
stewards, and, in the majority of cases,
the ships surgeons, the purser is sell
dom made the recipient Of generous
ltip. Nobody seems able to explain why
4 it is so, unless it be that the purser,
Handling all the money of the voyage,
(which includes extra passage money,
! the receipts from the smoker made
Through the chief steward, the wine
bills from the tables, all amounting to
a pretty large figure, is recognized as
the financial end of the floating hotel
and so treated accordingly.
The smoker and it's many attachments
are luxuries which the captain is not
permitted to enjoy, or if permitted rare
ly INDUCES in. Any skipper who would
make himself a jolly good fellow in the
smoker would lose tho confidence of
2those under his care as fast as trout
talking May fly. Not that his appear
Eanco there would mako him any less the
&sailor, but passengers for some reason
Npr another seem to believe that the
only place for the master of their ship
us on the bridge or in the chartroom.
@And if they can picture him Oh this
4 bridge in oilskins and so'wester with
the wind and sleet and ice clustering
around him so much the better to the
perfection of their idea of the practical
and capable mariner.
Tho poorest paid man in Gil official
capacity on great liner is probably
the surgeon. Somo passengers have the
opinion that as the company pays the
sship's doctor those using him on trip
ARE net supposed to give financial recog-
milton to his attention. 1t is true that
#none is obliged to, but he should. The
demand Of a doctor at sea is in nowise
different from that demand Oh land.
The steamship companies give passen
ger board, lodging and transportation at
a cost that could not be equaled Oh any
railroad of the earth, when distance,
accommodation and attention are con-
sidered. The luxury of a doctor, while
generally forced, is at the same time an
auxiliary Of sea travel for which the
company receives nothing, and which,
when free medicines are included, as
they invariably are, costs quite good
deal. Experienced ocean travellers sell
dom forget the surgeon when necessity
makes them call for his attention dur
ing trip. But these experienced tour
lists are few and far between. New
York Mail and Express.
Sienkiewicz.
Father Barabasz Of Baltimore, who
visited his countryman, Henry Sienkie-