| Show A SEA CAPTAINS PAY THE MASTER OF A BIG OCEAN STEAM ER IS NOT A PLUTOCRAT considered ue ie poorly bald faint printed low jaee given other por r fand it is tho general impression among those who do not know that tho duties and responsibilities of the average kip per of a regular liner aro as many and onerous as tho bank president and that in addition his salary is just ae large the responsibility of the one ie 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 tho bank president his calary is as email as his duties are large it may surprise some of tho regular transatlantic travelers to learn that their beau ideal of a sea captain who in faultless gold lace goes about the deck laughing and chatting with tho tourists patting tho halt 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 hie berth in the chartroom or on the bridge gets little more money a month than abo detective fc ergeant or the average steamboat cap tain la many instances air gold lace gets less one of the most successful lines run ning between this port and europe pays its commodore who has been over 20 years in this particular service 35 a month or about this is about 40 a week tho other captains in this line are paid the equivalent of for 30 days labor any number of matter of fact edories have been printed with the object of showing that the commanders of tho great liners received in como bums ranging from to per year but such talk is idle there is not a single captain on the ocean who enjoys such an income that many of them deserve to is another matter entirely in an argument that master mariners KIO well paid the point is advanced that the officers are fed while at sea and even alongside tho wharf with the best that the market affords and 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 abere or abroad whether or loubo ship is in port this as much while the master mariner is on the bosom of old neptune as it does when he is playing dry cob at homo tor a abort period his going or coming adds or deducts little from tho general cost there are few pursers on the atlantic who command a higher monthly salary than 10 they must have years of experience peri ence a host of friends and be top sawyers as they say at aea to command even this figure unlike th e stewards and in the majority of cases the s aps surgeons tho purser is seldom made tho recipient of a generous tip nobody eloms able to explain why it is so unless it be that tho purser handling all tho money of the voyage which includes extra passage money the receipts from the smoker made through the chief steward the wino bills from abo tables all amounting to a pretty large figure is recognized as the financial end of the floating hotel and so treated accordingly tho smoker and attachments aro luxuries which tho captain idiot permitted to enjoy or if permitted rarely indulges in any who would make himself a jolly good fellow in the kloker would loso tho confidence of those under his as fast as a trout taking a may fly not that his appearance abero would mako him any loss the bailor but passengers paE for some reason or another beem to believe that the only place for tho master of their ship is on the bridga or ill tho chartroom and if they can picture him on this bridge in oilskins and with tho wind and sleet and ice blustering around him much tho better to the perfection of their idea of the practical and capable mariner the poorest paid man in an official capacity on a great liner is probably the surgeon somo passengers have the opinion that as the company pays the doctor those using him on a trip are not supposed to give recognition to his at tenton it i true that riona is obliged to but ho should the demand of a doctor at sea is in nowise different from that demand on land tho steam ship companies give a fasben ger board lodging and transportation at a cost that could not bo equaled on any railroad of tho earth when distance accommodation and attention are considered si tho luxury of a doctor whilo generally forced is at tho u time an auxiliary of sea travel tor which the company receives nothing and which when freo medicines are included as they invariably are costs quite a good deal experienced ocean travelers ua dom forget the surgeon when necessity makes them call for his attention during a trip but these experienced tour ista are few and far between new york mail and express |
