Captain
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- This article concerns the rank and title of Captain. Please see Captain (disambiguation) for other meanings
Captain is a rank or title with various meanings. The word came to English via French from the Latin capitaneus ("chief") which is itself derived from the Latin word caput ("head").
The term has different meanings in nautical, army, aviation, police and emergency services circles. This often causes confusion.
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[edit] Nautical
Captain is the traditional customary title for and form of address given to the person in charge of a vessel at sea regardless of military rank. On most legal documents in the merchant shipping industry, he or she is correctly referred to as the ship's Master. A nautical "captain" may be a civilian or a naval commissioned officer of any rank. See Master Mariner or skipper (boating).
This usage originated in the Royal Navy in the 1300s. At that time, "Captain" referred to the commander of the contingent of soldiers boarded upon a ship. However, the actual sailing and maintenance of the ship was in the hands of the "Master" and (what became) the other warrant officers--using the same terminology as that used on a merchant ship of the period.[1]
[edit] Military
In military circles, the rank of Captain has two different meanings:
- Captain (naval): a naval rank with a NATO rank code of OF-5.
- Captain (army/air force): an army or air force rank with a NATO rank code of OF-3.
Captain, as an army rank, has existed since as early as the Roman Empire, and perhaps even before. Translated as "Head Man", a Captain was most often in charge of a company or column of soldiers.
In the Middle Ages, the independent mercenary companies (or condottieri) developed a rank structure that typically had a captain (who commanded the company), a small number of lieutenants, and a larger number of sergeants. This basic structure was later taken over by national armies when they became professionalized during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
[edit] Police and fire
The title of "Captain" is often used to denote the person who is in charge of a police or fire department. In most U.S. police departments, the rank of captain is immediately above lieutenant. A captain is often the officer in charge of a precinct. In the New York City Police Department, the rank of captain is below deputy inspector. Unlike the military version, where the rank of Captain may be held by junior officers with 4-6 years of service, Police and Fire Captains are usually veterans with extensive experience. In the United Kingdom, the approximate equivalent rank of a Police Captain is that of chief inspector.
In most U.S. fire services, a captain ranks above a lieutenant and below a battalion chief. This varies, though, between departments – in the Los Angeles County Fire Department, for example, engineer is the next lowest rank below captain. A captain is in charge of a specific fire station. In paid departments, as opposed to volunteer departments, there is a captain for each shift at each station. In these cases, the senior captain is responsible for the station overall. The head of the training division is often a captain, or there may be multiple captains reporting to a battalion chief of training. Additionally, captains may be assigned over other areas, such as hazardous material (Hazmat) response or Emergency Medical Services (EMS).
Captain is also the approximately equivalent to the rank of station officer in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries. In the Australian New South Wales Rural Fire Service and Country Fire Authority, the rank of captain indicates the head of a brigade.
In the New Zealand Fire Service in the early 1980s, a captain was in charge of a station. The NZFS has now moved to senior station officer and station officer as station management ranks. The person in charge of a fire brigade is the chief fire officer, and captain is no longer used.
[edit] Civil aviation
In commercial aviation, a pilot in command who is required to hold an airline transport pilot certificate and is in command of a large aircraft operated by an air carrier is referred to as a "captain" (although sometimes as "commander"). The practice began with Pan American Airways in the 1930s. Juan Trippe, Pan Am's president, correlated the responsibility and authority of his flying boat commanders with that of a maritime merchant ship's captain. The practice quickly spread to most of the airline industry and continues to the modern day. Nautical terms are ubiquitous in aviation, not the least among them are nautical style ranks and forms of address. Most airline captains wear uniforms with four stripes (or bars) on the sleeve and shoulderboard (emulating the rank insignia of both the U.S. and Royal Navies), although this practice varies among companies. Traditionally, pilots-in-command sit in the left hand seat of a fixed-wing aircraft and the right-hand seat of a helicopter. Letitia Baldrige, an American expert on protocol and etiquette says that, like merchant ship captains, airline captains should be addressed both professionally and socially by his or her rank, as in "Captain Edward Musik." Following a tradition established in the maritime service, where only captains and ship's physicians are addressed by their rank, in commercial aviation too, only the captain is properly addressed by his or her rank. All other officers are addressed as "Mr."
[edit] Service Industry
The head waiter in a restaurant or the head bellhop in a hotel is often called a captain. They determine work schedules, keep time records, inspect subordinates for neatness and uniform dress, and instruct them in procedures for handling guests.
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[edit] Further Information
The term as been used variously throughout both history and literature, with the correct form adding weight to its romantic application. Chorus, at the beginning of Henry V describes the King as "The Captain of this Ruin'd Band". Captaincy and Nobility of some sort have often been blurred. Cesare Borgia claimed the title of 'Captain-General' of the Papal Army once his father had ascended to the Fisherman's Chair as Pope Alexander the Invincible, and during the Rennaisance period, Swiss Mercenaries operating under the rules of Condottiere were led by Captains, regardless of their usual social rank or the size of the force in question. It was this rule of "leadership by merit" which made them so effective a fighting force. In The Fellowship of the Ring, the first volume of The Lord of The Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, a dying Boromir makes peace with Aragorn, telling him, "I would have called you my Brother, my Captain, my King". Elswhere in the book, the spectral leader of the nine Nazgûl, the terrifying Black Riders, is referred to 'The Captain of Despair'. Although this seems from context to be more a description than an actual title, it must be noted that the Nine were once kings of men in their own right. Towards the final part of the story, largely dealing with pitched battles, Gandalf calls for 'The Captains of Gondor' as he enters war-council with the defenders. Haldir is described as an Elven Captain, and Éomer. nephew of King Théoden (therefore himself a Royal) is noted as being Captain of the Riddermark, leader of the Rohirrim, a superb fast-response cavalry squadron.
The term Captain seems to have been used throughout history as a mark of respect towards soldiers, much as 'civilians' were honoured with titles like 'My Lord/Lady' regardless of their actual social position, especially those no longer serving in a particular force, and this has continued into literature. Many of the European Fairy-Tales describe the wandering soldier of fortune who stray into the tale as being a Captain. The concept is superbly illustrated in the 1974 Hammer horror film Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter. The title says it all. It is certainly plausible to have the roads filled with wandering soldiers, due to the almost-constant state of war in Europe from about 1300 to as recently as the late 1800s; As to whether these were noble soldiers of fortune, Knight without armour seeking adventure, deserters stumbling from conflict to conflict, or just plain criminals, is unknown. The literature of the time, fairy tales or simple morality tales, set the scene by having a noble young (marriageable) soldier, wander into a tale of woe at the appropriate juncture. They are invariably revealed as captains. This gives rise to the question as to whether the men indeed held that rank, were simply promoting themselves for personal gain, or wether the very fact that they were no longer in service gave them that position; The laws of Condotta, which governed the organisation of Mercenary soldiers seems to suggest that a Soldier released from contract, or retired from service, was entitled to the Honorific of Captain. Perhaps this 'promotion' was granted to ensure safe passage home, or was a ploy for gaining a better position in his next contract is unclear; perhaps it was simply a self-aggrandising title used by lower ranks seeking respect. More likely it was simply this- Socially, civilians have had a tendency to look down on the common soldiery as a whole, whilst demonstrating a marked respect to men of officer rank; to the socially aware, a military rank of Captain and above for men of a certain age is akin to nobility. A soldier leaving the service of his Condotta (Mercenary Regiment) was 'promoted' to Captain- the fact that he was the commander of a force consisting of only one man (himself) was immaterial, as Condotta units led by Captains varied in size from small skirmish teams to full field regiments. It would however ensure the respect he had earned, and ensure a welcome into the "decent society" who might otherwise have looked down on what was effectively an unemployed soldier without a war, and therefore useless. A Captain was clearly a man to be reckoned with, and could therefore be depended upon to conduct himself well in whichever field he chose to involve himslf with in peacetime. A similar device was used in the Southern United States from the 19th century, with the title of Colonel being granted as an honour to certain public figures. From this, the term has entered popular usage in such romantic titles as "Captains of Industry" to signify bold commercial Adventurers and would-be merchant princes, when in some cases the term "Robber-Baron" might be more apt.
It is tempting to think that the same guideline provides the title given to various costumed Superheroes. Marvel Comics Flagship publication Captain America centres around a man with enhanced abilities, the only subject of what was to have been an army of super-soldiers. According to the story, the character of Steve Rodgers was unfit for military service in World War II until he was recreated in a laboratory. The experiment is a success, and the doctor behind it is murdered, taking his secret with him. Rodgers is in fact inducted into the U.S.Army, an important distinction in that few of the other Superheroes using the title are in fact soldiers. Captain America goes onto fight the Axis Forces (seemingly single handedly at times) and is brought into modern times by a suspended animation plot device, where he continues to serve America through the Department of Defence, the Pentagon, and the White House. The interesting use of the title of captain harks back to the days of Condotta; Steve Rodgers fights in a costume based upon the American Flag - rather the olive drab of his colleagues- and bears the title of Captain, although out of costume he holds the lowest rank of Private. Other costumed heroes have followed suit - notably almost all of them male -in so far as using a Captaincy as part of an impressive title, although very few, and none as evidently as Captain America, have a record of Military Service. (See List of Superhero Captains)
Perhaps the most famous fiction captains are the masters of Starfleet vessels in the various incarnations of Star Trek. As the original series began, James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock (note the Maritime use of the title of Mister) held the ranks of Captain and Lieutenant Commander respectively. This indicated that the Captain was the master of the vessel, although it was soon revealed that captain was a rank of its own as well as a command position; Kirk wears captain-rank insignia. However, the possibility of being a Captain in Command whilst holding a different rank, as in modern navies, was never shown, giving the impression that all Starfleet Captains were ship's commanders, the rank and the job being the same. Higher ranks such as Admiral and Commodore were shown, with the impression that they were winding up their careers towards retirement, or in many cases, becoming Ambassadors. None of them were ever in active command of a serving Ship of the Line, although most had been- Ie. they were captains when they were Captains, as it were. In the film versions, made some years later, Kirk holds the rank of Admiral, and Spock is a captain. In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Admiral Kirk is assisting Captain Spock in a training exercise when an emergency forces them to take the training vessel into conflict. Admiral Kirk assumes command as the ranking officer and Spock takes his old position of Second in Command and Science Officer. The crew readily move into their familiar roles, even calling him by the title of Captain, although Admiral is used as appoint of honour on several occasions. At the end of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Kirk is demoted as punishment for his maverick behaviour; This is actually a veiled reward for his politically-sensitive heroics. Kirk becomes a Captain again, and regains command of his beloved ship. Spock remains his second in command, as always, although he too retains his captain's rank, as does Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott - a pleasant situation for all concerned, which in a real Navy would be unlikely to happen.
For many, the romantic connotations of the word are summed up in the film Dead Poets Society, in which an enigmatic poetry teacher at a Private School engages his student's imagination by getting them to view poetry as a living thing, another way of seeing the world around them. To this effect, he has the students attract his attention in class by declaring "O Captain! My Captain!". This is in fact the title (and opening line) to a poem by Walt Whitman. The three verse work was written to mark the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. In so doing, Whitman marks his alarm at the loss of a great leader, a dynamic and charismatic man in both war and peace, holding the highest possible office, by assigning to him the title of Captain; In so doing he harks back to the ancient practice of Captains-General, of Princes amongst men, men of honour and of duty, and brings us almost full circle.
[edit] See also
- List of sea captains
- Military unit
- Maritime colleges in the United States
- United States military academies
- Hawsepiper and Mustang
- List of Superhero Captains
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