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. To be sure, all power is in the
captain, and the officers hold their authority only during his will;
and the men are liable to be called upon for any service; yet, by
breaking in upon these usages, many difficulties have occurred on
board ship, and even come into courts of justice, which are
perfectly unintelligible to any one not acquainted with the
universal nature and force of these customs.
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