The master should remember that his engineers are officers of the ship, with their own responsibility, that his chief engineer is of some importance on board, and that it is necessary in the owner’s interests that they should work together amicably.  In ordinary cargo vessels, the engineer is often better educated than the master himself, and should never be treated as an inferior while he behaves with proper respect to the master.  To his own deck officers the master should behave with ordinary courtesy, and, if he finds them trustworthy, should not spoil them and render them unreliable by always keeping on or about the bridge; an officer who is never left by himself in charge will soon fancy himself incapable.  It is to be feared that many young officers are spoiled in this way.

Familiarity with the men before the mast is always unwise.  It is not a good practice in ordinary vessels, where a new crew is shipped each voyage, to begin by calling the men “Tom” and “Jack.”  An officer to have any real command over the men must keep himself apart from them and show them the difference of their positions.  A judicious shipmaster will warn his young mates about this.

The usual system of mess room for engineers, the officers messing in the cabin with the master, is a good one, though it is a question whether it would not be a very good thing if the chief engineer always messed with the master so long as he was a decent, respectable man.  It is often one of the causes of ill health in the master that he keeps too much to himself, seldom if ever speaking to his officers except on business connected with the ship.  A man who does this has far too much time to think, and if he has any trivial illness is apt to brood over it and actually make himself ill.

It is much wiser and better for all concerned that the master should, within certain limits, be on friendly terms at any rate with his first mate, if not with all his officers.  Any man with common tact can always find means for checking undue familiarity, and it will generally be found that officers treated as equals instead, as is often the case, as though they were an inferior race of beings, will be much more inclined to do their work with zeal, and to back up the master in all his troubles.  Many men when they get command seem to forget that they ever were officers themselves.  It is the general opinion that the strict ship is the most comfortable one, and as a rule the master who will take the trouble to enforce proper discipline fore and aft is just the very man who will also be considerate and courteous to those who sail under his command—­whatever be their rank.

To govern others well a man must first have learned to govern himself.  The first lesson for a young seaman to learn is obedience, and unless he does learn this lesson he will not know how to enforce it when he becomes an officer, and still less will he be fit for his position when he obtains command.  It is to be feared that many never learn this lesson, and that this is the cause of much of the insubordination rife in these days.