The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-14
MASTER OF A BIG OCEAN STEAM
SHIP BY NO MEANS A PLUTOCRAT.
Low Wages for Ofiicers-The Purser
and the Doctor Have Slim Purses
Thrift ON Tramp Vessels.



the sea dog has, as rule. much more to
bear. while, unlike the bank president, his
salary is as small as his duties are large.
1t may surprise some of the regular trans
atlantic travellers to learn that their beau
ideal of sea captain who in faultless gold
lace goes about the deck laughing and chat
ting with the tourists, patting the half-fare
tots on the back and doffing his cap TO the
rug clad occupants of an easy steamer chair
between the.>time that he spends in his
berth, in the chart room or on the bridge
gets little more money month than the de-
tective sergeant or the average steamboat
captain. In many instances Mr.. Gold Lace
gets less.
One of the most successful lines running
between this port and Europe pays its COM
modorc, who has been over twenty years in
this particular service 935 a month, or
about $175 This is about $40 week The
other captains in this line are paid the
equivalent of 1925 for thirty days labor
Any number Of matter-of-no-fact stories
have been printed with the object of show
ing that the commanders of the great liners
received in some cases sums ranging from
$1,000 to $4,000 per year. But such talk IS
idle. There is not single captain on the
ocean who enjoys such income. That
many Of them deserve to is another matter
entirely. In an argument that master
mariners are well paid the point is ad-
vanced that the officers are fed while at
sea and even alongside the wharf with the
best that the market affords and at the ex-
pense of the steamship company. Yet 80 per
cent of these well-fed gold laces are mar
ried 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
nsta sIYaD fC hA n
tune as it docs when he is playing dry cob
at home for q short period. His going or
coming adds or deducts little from the gem
eral cost
THE PURSER'S PAY.
There are few pursers the Atlantic
who command a higher monthly salary than
91O They must have years of experience, a
host of friends and be '.topsawyers," as
they say at sea, to command even this fig
ure. Unlike the stewards, and, in the ma
jority Of cases, the ships surgeons, the pur-
ser is seldom made the recipient of gen.
erous 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 passage money, the
receipts from the smoker made through the
CHIEF steward, the VINE bills from the ta-
bles, all amounting to a pretty large fig
ure, is recognized as the financial end of
the floating hotel, and is treated accord
ingly.
There is no man aboard ship who is more
generally thrown in with the passengers
than the purser. And there is none who is
capable of making himself more popular or
the reverse. Seven-eighthS OF the COM
plants 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
who thinks the accommodation assigned
him not up to expectation That in itself is
the source of great deal of his popularity.
He may go into the smoker at night when
"a maintaining O
flee hours, puff away at his bI1er, SIP his
grog with the tourists make himself gen.
orally 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 a jolly good fellow in the
smoker would lose the confidence of those
under his care as fast as Il trout taking a
May fly. Not that his appearance there
would make him any less the sailor but
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 chart room. And if they can picture him
this bridge in oiskins 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.
THE POOR DOCTOR.
The poorest paid man in an official ca
pacity on a great liner is probably the sur
geon. Some passengers have the opinion
that as the company pays the ships doc
tor those using him on trip are not sup
posed to give financial recognition to his at
tention. 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 de-
mand on land. The steamship companies
give a passenger board lodging and trans
portation at a cost that could not be equaled
on any railroad of the earth, when distance,
accommodation and attention are conSlu-
cred. The luxury of a doctor, while genef-
ally forced, is at the same time an auxiliary
Of sea travel for which the company re-
ceives nothing, and which, when free medl-
cineS are included, as they lnVarlaply are,
costs quite good deal EAperieneeu ocean 1';San
travellers seldom forget the surgeon Wnen
necessity makes them call for his attentlon
during a trip. But these experienced tour
lists are few and far between. the majority
of patients troop ashore at the end or pas
sage without much as q hourish OF an
empty hand to the sawbones OF the Iood
shin that brought them over.
on many of the big liners the cher re-
ceiyes as compensation more than any two
of the gold lace brigade. The truth OF the
old saying that the easiest way 10 reach
mans heart is through his stomach, is Just
as applicable to the gentler sex. at least II
is on shipboard. A superior table with all
other conditions equal means the superior
ity of any or every steamship line for
that reason the kingpin of the CUISINE con-
trolls the biggest salary, Whlch nor i 4hdeo
uuently equals if it does not exceed those
Maid to the captain and his chief of1cer.
Economy is rarely applied to the head OF 2
floating culinary establishment, even
though it does attack Mr.. Gold Lace. Yet
if more liberal salaries were pald these sea.
dogs it is doubtful if their standard or
efficiency could be improved, Tor those on
the Atlantic cannot be equaled anywhere,
not even east of SueZ, where the skipper
of a regular liner is the monarch OF all
he surveys.
ON CARGO VESSELS.
But If economy is practiced on the LADY
of the ocean, as Kipling calls the liner, it
is on a small scale compared to that fol-
lowed on the poor old cargo boat An
examination Of the annual statements OF a
number of tramp steamer concerns flying
the British flag will show that the masters
of these vessels receive not more than $50
per month The deck hand of an ordinary
river craft would howl like Ceyloh pirate
| If he had to do as much work as some of
| these captains for as little money. OF
course, where such poor salaries are paid
| to master mariners who have hundreds OF
| thousands worth of property at their COM
nand there is generally leak, ana the
/ butcher baker candlestick maker and even
/ the stevedore and the ship chandler at
! touches has to furnish a rebate, which the
captain pockets without the formality OF
| informing the ships husband.
The other day the British Board of Trade
suspended for three months the certificate
| of the captain of the Beecroft. The inves'
| tigation, held at Liverpool, showed
| unique and startling device on the part o.
| the master of that vessel for pOcketing the
| wages of his crew during a voyage. 1t was
shown that the captain took big stock Of
the men during the trip. He had amone
| other spirits twenty cases OF whisky FOL