Talk:Seafarer's professions and ranks

Corrected some phrasing
I did a bit of drive-by editing and corrected some phrasing under the Captain/Master heading. It was missing a definite article in many places, and had some grammatical errors. Proper capitalization may still be off; I'm not a sailor or in to any nautical hobbies, so I have no idea if things like 'Chief officer' is a title and should have both words capitalized, or if Chief is itself the title. By all means, I invite revision of my edits. MechanoidWarhead (talk) 08:54, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

I am a former Captain (Master) and have only just started looking at these wonderful articles. All the ranks are to be capitalized including that of Chief Officer which is a title (aka Chief Mate or First Mate or First Officer) Mehranwahid (talk) 10:00, 2 July 2017 (UTC).

Electrician
The ETO is a significant officer aboard most respectable vessels and should be listed too, for those not sailing, he is at the same rank as the second engineer. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.94.186.124 (talk) 19:38, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

ETO is an expanding position that on some vessels has rank within its department, perhaps this needs to be explained in more detail — Preceding unsigned comment added by 180.94.48.185 (talk) 14:24, 9 November 2015 (UTC)

Historic usage
This article should be (tm) modified to include the age of sail. In addition to a bunch of professions which aren't represented here (sailmaker, for example), the roles of many others are different than their original instantiations. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Akb4 (talk • contribs).
 * I changed the title of the main section to "Modern..." to make this distinction. I personally don't have any plans to add descriptions from the days of yore. Haus42 17:26, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

I don't feel competent enough to describe the trades myself but i can't help to miss the engine deparments "fitter" on the list. And also since you included the "pumpman" maybe the LNG/C equivalent the "Cargo engineer" should be added?

best regards / Rickard —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.50.125.242 (talk) 16:08, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Note to the editor of the article
Hello,

There is a site which I thought would relate to this article. You may consider adding details/ref about SeaFolks.com. Its an online community of merchant navy officers around the world. Thank you.

Regards Umesh —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.95.26.34 (talk) 21:24, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

I noticed the First/Second engineer and the cadet engineer have the same description. I assume that's in error. ~ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 143.115.159.54 (talk) 19:44, 3 June 2011 (UTC)


 * I see this mod is still in place. I'd like to ask an admin to roll this section back, as I don't see the original text anywhere. Thanks! Karanne (talk)

The "other" department(s)
I see references to the fourth department, the "other" department. Who's in there? Medical? I'd appreciate someone in the know expanding this part. 71.110.167.52 (talk) 03:12, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

I agree what about the medical department Some ships also have a radio or communications department Some passenger ships also have an entertainment department I believe sometimes the deck department is also split in to the seaman's department and the navigation department.2.123.131.244 (talk) 09:38, 4 June 2012 (UTC)

Purser?
We the purser is not named here? --SignorX (talk) 20:02, 23 January 2012 (UTC) Neither are the stewards, or radio operators.2.123.131.244 (talk) 09:41, 4 June 2012 (UTC)

Title
It surely ought to be "Seafarers' professions and ranks". Harfarhs (talk) 21:11, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

Correct. Grassynoel (talk) 10:35, 17 October 2022 (UTC)

general inaccuracies
There are some general inaccuracies. I think most of them are due to differences between North American Ships, and European ships. Although one person mentions pursers are not mentioned. The Purser is not present on Cargo ships, usually only on Passenger ships. One inaccuracy is the mention of ratings. Rating is a general term. Each job is a rating. A captain is a rating. The best understanding is to realize there are licensed ratings, and unlicensed ratings. But to say An Abled-Bodies seaman holds a merchant mariner document is misleading. In my country, the United States, the Coast Guard requires a merchant mariner document for all jobs on a ship. An Able Bodied seaman is a helmsman who steers, so he has to qualify and apply for the the AB Endorsement on his merchant mariner document. There is AB Green and AB red. AB Green is one which is qualified for helmsman duties. For those seaman who are Engineers or Mates, they have their engineer license, or mate license, in addition to their mariner document. The so called merchant mariner document is held from the lowest job to the highest job on the ship. The so-called electrical department does not exist on American Ships. The engine department has unlicensed members called QMEDS. Usually there is one QMED who serves as the electrician for the vessel. USually the engine department has two, maybe three QMED positions, which assist the engineers. QMED means "qualified member, engine department." And as for medical officers, in my experience, the 2nd Mate was the designated medical officer, which I think was the requirement for the position as outlined by the Coast Guard.
 * This article is difficult because of the differences between countries and their merchant fleets. Good information you (whoever you are) posted, though the USCG NMC officially doesn't use the word "Licensed" anymore, instead referring to "credentials." I believe the USCG NMC does separate ratings from officers, or maybe use the term Seaman and Officers, though I need to do some research.
 * I can think of doing two things, one, generalizing this article greatly by reducing much of the details. This would make it a historic profession of ranks and summery of the different merchant fleets. Secondly, making separate articles or including them within their merchant fleets own wiki articles as a subsection. Doing that could greatly enhance the accuracies for each nations fleet. What do others think?--MarlinespikeMate (talk) 03:40, 19 October 2015 (UTC).
 * Maybe separate this as USMM professions and ranks? Or separate it by country? Or make it more ambiguous? MarlinespikeMate (talk) 20:18, 19 October 2015 (UTC)

Merging "Royal Navy historical ship's complement" with Royal Navy History? Whats our goal for this page?
This article seems geared toward civilian mariners around the world, yet focuses on US Merchant Mariners. The Royal navy historical ship's complement seems unfitting. I could be completely wrong if the general idea is for every maritime and naval related profession and rank around the world to be included here. If so, the article falls short, and needs to be better organized by country. We need a goal here--MarlinespikeMate (talk) 05:04, 20 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Closing the merge proposal, given the opposition and no support over more than 2 years. Add a 'see also' in the section to maintain a link. Klbrain (talk) 15:41, 25 November 2017 (UTC)