"I'm master of this ship."
"Yes, sir, and I'm mate of her, and know my place! My place is
forward, and yours is aft!"
"My place is where I choose! I command the whole ship; and you
are mate only so long as I choose!"
"Say the word, Capt. T., and I'm done! I can do a man's work
aboard! I didn't come through the cabin windows! If I'm not
mate, I can be man," etc., etc.
This was all fun for us, who stood by, winking at each other, and
enjoying the contest between the higher powers. The captain took
the mate aft; and they had a long talk, which ended in the mate's
returning to his duty. The captain had broken through a custom,
which is a part of the common-law of a ship, and without reason;
for he knew that his mate was a sailor, and needed no help from him;
and the mate was excusable for being angry. Yet he was wrong, and
the captain right. Whatever the captain does is right, ipso facto,
and any opposition to it is wrong, on board ship; and every officer
and man knows this when he signs the ship's articles.
It is a part of the contract. Yet there has grown up in merchant
vessels a series of customs, which have become a well understood
system, and have almost the force of prescriptive law.
