Milford chronicle., 1910-12-02
Gar OF HIS SHIP
The Captain of an Ocean Liner
Is a Real AutoCrat.
HIS WORD is ABSOLUTE LAW.


geney Is Empowered to Take Life.
Imagine a mayor or a judge Of 8
circuit court or a county sheriff or q
town marshal OF village of $500 pop
ulation stepping out into the strsei
and on general and self imposed au
thurity picking up a citizen. ordering
him to cell and clapping irons on
him for safe keeping.
Wouldn't the bird Of American lib
erty set up scream? Wouldn't the
old and badly cracked Liberty bell
resonate in dscord!
After one OF the great transatlantic
passenger steamships leaves the three
mile limit of New York the passenger
is in foreign territory on the high seas.
! English. French. German whate, er
the flag at the masthead the ship is "a
section Of its fatherland. floating in the
/ high seas. where only maritime laws
! regarding its transit in times Of peace
may hold check upon the czardom OF
the ships commander, on or of the
bridge
No czar has more power within bis
territory than has the captain of the
great Atlantic liner on the high seas
He is on an island OF his couutry's
ownership floating island. having a
population of SUO employees and look
ing after the welfare and safety of per
haps 5000 passengers. He is prac
tically the administrative. executive
and judicial single individual. such as
exists rarely on the uap of present
day civilization Aside from his au-
thority over mankind. be may have
S7OOOOOO Of vessel under him. to say
nothing of the international mails and
millions in gold in transshipment
There's the captain" is a whispered
bit Of comment made a million times
a year IN the beginning OF the pas
sages of great ocean steamships. And
generally the captain looks the part
Il is not 50 much his uniform either
Ordinarily the captain is not young
There is gray in his hair mustache
OF beard That young man In his
twenties. no matter what his school
ing for beginning the work. isn't called
at a moments notice 10 the captains
bridge. He must have bis maximum
of training for six or seven numbers
below before he is called TO the foot
of the ladder
On the British passenger vessels
most of the beginners at navigating
an ocean vessel of the first class will
have had a lieutenants commission
from the navy. 1t is from the royal
navy reserves that the lowest officers
vacancy is filed. Filling it. be has his
chance to rise to the position Of cap
tain.
As to the captains authority: One
midnight. when in a fog the White
Star Baltic struck the German oil
steamship Standard. the Baltic needed
its captain. and he was there. His
ship carpenters were rushed TO the
bow Of the vessel and began the work
Of patching up the hole in the Baltic's
steel sheathing.
Suppose that in a stampede of the
Baltic's crew its employees had rushed
up to ill its boats? II was within the
captains power to have shot down the
leader-tO have brought about war to
the knife. revolver and rifle in the in
terests Of his vessel and its passen
gers. Or had some passenger or pas
sengers become panic stricken and
against orders menaced the welfare Of
the majority on the ship death would
have been dealt with the same rigid
discipline which requires Of the cap.
tain that he be the autocrat AT his
post.
There are no forms of writs or war
rants necessary. There is no court at
which the passenger or the seaman
may give bond In that instant of
sudden great emergency which arises
the captains word is more than writ
ten law; it is the unwritten common |
law of the high seas. in the spirit Of
which the vigilance committee OF the
wild west of the United States rose
lawlessly lawful.
Today the captain Of the great liner |
may step into the palatial cabin and |
command order He may go into the |
smoking cabin and stop the game OF
cards at which the sharper is playing |
for his stakes. In case of refusal that |
ancient land right Of no deprivation |
Of liberty without due process Of law"
becomes a farce. The cell room OF |
even the iron manacles OF the cap |
tain's authority may be used upon the
individual who has paid $500 or $1,000 |
for his suit Of rooms and his passage
On the high seas the captains ship
becomes an autocratic democracy. The
individual in the first cabin and at the
captains table must share with the
far below those equities
that are granted to each in his place.
Don't buck the captain" said an
official in the offices Of a great steam
ship line He is all there is of author
lty. He is the supreme entity of his
ship He is dressed for it; but, more
than that. be is trained to it. He is
to take life if he must, and
On land this is the most serious Of all
things in the statute books"
Commodore Of the feet" is one Of
The offices toward which the old sea
,aDtafD looks. NOT enviOusly. not with