Tenure of Captains and Chiefs

[JMC]

I was Chief Engineer on Canadian Prospector from April 1982 to February 2005 and relieved on her for 3 to 4 months in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

[Russ]

You are essentially correct. Mostly from the annual Red Books, I show Don Erickson was Captain on the Henry Ford II from 1962 - 1965, Captain of the William Clay Ford from 1964 - 1984, and Captain of the Benson Ford 1985 - 1986.

After a little more checking, I came up with the following long periods of service on the same boat: William H. Ryan was Wheelsman on the Canadiana from 1919 - 1951 (33 years); Charles E. Moody was Captain of the Christopher Columbus from 1904 - 1936 (33 years); Samuel M. Sylvester was Chief Engineer on the car ferry Ashtabula from 1907 - 1940 (34 years); and Charles F. Meyers was First Mate on the car ferry Ashtabula from 1899 - 1915 and then Captain on the same vessel from 1916 - 1940 (a total of 42 years). The longest I have found is for Ray Hanel. He was assistant engineer on the William H. Truesdale from 1913 - 1919 and Chief Engineer on the William H. Truesdale from 1920 - 1934. In 1935, the Truesdale was renamed James E. McAlpine. Hanel continued on the McAlpine as Chief Engineer from 1935 - 1950 and again from 1952 - 1956 (43 years on the same boat).

[Captain Grumpy]

Another long time Skipper was Capt. D. E. Erickson. He sailed on the William Clay Ford as her Captain from 1965 until she was retired in 1985. He then went over to the "new" William Clay Ford and possibly also on the Benson Ford (Russ?) until he retired shortly thereafter.

[Russ]

Your understanding is partially correct. In 1966, or possibly 1967, John McCarthy was sailing as Captain of the Ben E. Tate and grounded while departing Toledo. Columbia bumped him back to First Mate. However, he worked his way back to Captain and sailed as Captain of the Joseph H. Frantz and the G. A. Tomlinson in 1971. When Captain McSorley was appointed Captain of the Fitzgerald in 1972, he asked John McCarthy to sail with him as his First Mate. Rather than sail as a Captain on one of the smaller crane boats in the Columbia fleet, John McCarthy accepted Captain McSorley's offer to sail as First Mate on the fleet flagship.

[rpf13188]

My understanding is that McCarthy had an accident while sailing on one of Columbia's boats and after that was assigned as first mate; it wasn't that he requested it.

[Russ]

The dominant factors in assigning an individual to a boat are (1) seniority within the fleet and (2) seniority within rank. The most senior Captain is assigned to the "newest and biggest" boat in the fleet and the Captain with the least seniority is assigned to the "oldest and slowest" boat. Whenever someone retires/quits/dies, everyone with less seniority moves up and the First Mate with most seniority becomes the Captain with least seniority. A secondary factor is the number of boats in a fleet. Within a small fleet, it becomes less likely to move up and someone may be assigned to the same boat for several years but in a large fleet it is more likely that someone will retire and everyone will move up on an almost yearly basis. Nowadays, most licenses are unlimited (tonnage, routes, horsepower). However, in the old days, license restrictions could limit the boats an individual could work on. This could permit less senior Captains to be assigned to newer, bigger boats. Also, individuals could sometimes request specific boats. The most senior Captain in the Hanna fleet requested an older and slower boat in his last year rather than the flagship. Captain John McCarthy could have been sailing as a Captain in the Columbia fleet but he chose to sail as a First Mate on the Fitzgerald with Captain McSorley. Finally, I may find other examples but John J. Pearce was Captain of the Henry Ford II for 24 years and George A. Pennycook was Chief Engineer on the Edward Y. Townsend for 27 years.

[Dave F]

Reading this month's Historical Perspective on the Lemoyne, I noticed that Captain C.E. Robinson was Master for twenty years, from 1927 to 1947. This seemed like a long time on one ship, so I looked at the lists for all of the ships in the Perspectives. Captain Robinson is the longest serving Master listed and the longest serving Chief I found was John S. Sparre on the Carl D. Bradley (2) at 22 years, 1928-1950. Admittedly the sample of 22 ships is quite small, but it appears that it is unusual for a Captain or Chief to serve on one ship for ten years or more, and rare to serve 15 or more. I can imagine there all kinds of reasons why an officer might switch to a different ship, including better money, trade routes closer to home, newer construction, conflict with officers on the old ship, sale of the old ship to a different fleet, or just generally easier or better work on a different ship. I suppose there are an equal number of reasons why a fleet might reassign an officer. Are some officers close to retirement by the time they get promoted to the top of their department? Does anyone have any insights on the comparitively short tenures of Captains and Chiefs on ships? Thanks!