Transcriber's Note.
Apparent typographical errors have been corrected. The use of hyphenshas been rationalised. Sub-paragraphs and lists have been indented. Aline in blackletter font in the dedication has been bolded.
An advertisement for another book by the same author has been shiftedto the back of the book.
Chapter XVIII describes the Rules of the Road as they apply to theHigh Seas and to U.S. Inland Waters. In the original work correspondingpassages are set out on opposite pages. In this version the Rulesapplying to the High Seas are followed by those applying to InlandWaters. Inland Waters are defined in Chapter XIX.
THE MEN ON DECK
Master, Mates and Crew
Their Duties and Responsibilities
A MANUAL
for
The American Merchant Service
BY
FELIX RIESENBERG, C.E.
Master Mariner (Sail and Steam)
Superintendent, New York State Nautical School,
Commanding Schoolship "Newport"
Author of "Under Sail"
NEW YORK
D. VAN NOSTRAND COMPANY
25 Park Place
1918
Copyright, 1918
by
D. VAN NOSTRAND COMPANY
DEDICATED TO
Captain Reginald Fay
OF THE PORT OF NEW YORK
IN RECOGNITION OF
HIS UNTIRING EFFORTS
FOR
THE BETTERMENT
OF THE
AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE
Preface
In the days of sail, the duties ofmasters, mates, and crews, were well defined. Sea practice, in thevarious rigs, had become standard with the authority of an ancientcalling.
The art of sailing, and of rigging ships, was a precisematter. Gear remained standard for a century. The mainto'bowline of a Black Ball Liner, tearing to windward ina North Atlantic hummer, was rove and led in much thesame fashion as the main to'bowline of the ships of Nelsonand Van Tromp. And the old time seamen, in their usageand habits, followed the regularity of the ships upon whichthey sailed.
The gradual transition from sail to steam carried withit, for a time, the old system of sailing ship routine. Butto-day the sailing ship sailor is a thing of the past; the worksof steam and steel are upon the waters—we are in the ageof engines and the engineer. Great problems of mechanicalpropulsion, and of construction, are constantly presentingthemselves, and the successors of the ancient mariner, themodern master, mates, and crew; the "deck department,"if you will, of the present day steamer, find themselves afloatwith different gear and under different conditions every timethey change vessels.
No standard form of sea training has yet come to take theplace of the old-time apprentice system of sail, and in additionto ships that are far from standard, we find that many ideasprevail as to the duties and organization of the seamanshipbranch of the modern steamer.
Able as they may be individually, officers of mixed trainingare constantly being thrown together in vessels of themerchant service, while in most cases crews are picked uphaphazard from the beach. It is not to be wondered at thatmany ideas prevail as to the proper way of doing things.Indeed, many otherwise intelligent officers often have a veryhazy notion as to just what they are supposed to do, or toknow.
Seamen are often confused, through lack of knowledge, asto what may be expected of them; one vessel is run one way,and another one may be quite different. In fact the lack of