Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/538



The duties of the second mate are to command the starboard watch when the master is not on deck, and to lead the crew in their work. It was not formerly deemed indispensably necessary that he should be a navigator, or even be able to keep a journal; but it is obvious that many advantages must have resulted from his being acquainted with navigation, together with a general competency to keep the log, so that he might have the chance of promotion, in the contingency of any accident happening to the chief mate, or of his removal from office. The second mate, however, does not even now, either by law or custom, necessarily succeed to the office of chief mate in the same manner that the chief mate succeeds to that of master: it lies in the discretion of the master, for the time being, to appoint whom he pleases to the office of chief mate; nevertheless, if the second mate be really fit to perform the duties of the office, he is usually appointed.

When the starboard watch alone is on deck, and the master is below, the whole of the duties devolve on the second mate, he alone being then in charge of the ship. In furling sails, the second mate also goes aloft to the topsails and courses, and takes the "bunt," that being an important place in all such operations. He is not expected to go on the mizen topsail-yard for any service, and though, in bad weather, and in case of necessity, he would do so, yet it would be out of the usual course. He might also, in heavy weather, assist in furling the jib, but he never furls a top-gallant sail, royal, or