The crew on a ship is divided into three departments:
The Master
The Deck Department
The Engine Department
The Stewards's Department

We will start with The Master
Involves an enormous responsability. The Captain is in charge of everything and everyone on board. He has complete responsability for running the ship while at sea and for the safety of the Crew, passengers and cargo. Whenever there is an emergency or a serious problem of any kind.



The Master of a ship is not actually a crew member. But he supervise the work of any other office or a crew member on board. Determine the possition communicate with other vessels operate and overhaul engines, perform maintenance, handle lines or operate vessel equipment of any kind.

The Master of a merchant vessel is the agent of the company that owns the ship. This means that he represents the company business in every operation both at sea and in port. A Captain has to be able to coordinate both of these aspects. All this involves quite a lot of paper work. When we are at sea, the bridge officers and the Captain maintain the Ship's Log and the records of the ship's movements. Then there are the Ship's Papers such as the Certificate of Registry, the Muster Roll or Crew List etc and the documents dealing with loading and unloading of the ship;
The Bill of Lading, the Cargo Manifest, the Stowage Plan, the Dangerous Goods Stowage Plan, the Loading and Discharging plan.