The master should remember that his engineers are officers of the
ship, with their own responsibility, that his chief engineer is of
some importance on board, and that it is necessary in the owner's
interests that they should work together amicably. In ordinary cargo
vessels, the engineer is often better educated than the master
himself, and should _never_ be treated as an inferior while he behaves
with proper respect to the master. To his own deck officers the master
should behave with ordinary courtesy, and, if he finds them
trustworthy, should not spoil them and render them unreliable by
always keeping on or about the bridge; an officer who is never left by
himself in charge will soon fancy himself incapable. It is to be
feared that many young officers are spoiled in this way.

Familiarity with the men before the mast is always unwise. It is not a
good practice in ordinary vessels, where a new crew is shipped each
voyage, to begin by calling the men "Tom" and "Jack." An officer to
have any real command over the men _must_ keep himself apart from them
and show them the difference of their positions. A judicious
shipmaster will warn his young mates about this.

The usual system of mess room for engineers, the officers messing in
the cabin with the master, is a good one, though it is a question
whether it would not be a _very_ good thing if the chief engineer
always messed with the master so long as he was a decent, respectable
man. It is often one of the causes of ill health in the master that he
keeps too much to himself, seldom if ever speaking to his officers
except on business connected with the ship. A man who does this has
far too much time to think, and if he has any trivial illness is apt
to brood over it and actually make himself ill.