Kate wonders, >>How would one get the designation "Captain". Would one have to have served with the military or were merchant mariners given that title, also?<< A ship's captain may have no military rank whatever. He need not be a member of an organized establishment such as today's Merchant Marine. He would only have to be hired for the job by the vessel's owner(s). But don't discard the possibility that he might have been Captain of a militia or other unit at a previous time. Depending on how they were thought of in the community, some people continued to be called "Captain" long after they'd been out of any such post. I also have a distant cousin who was called "Captain" for no discernible reason! He was a millwright, not a mariner, and as far as I've been able to learn was never made a militia officer. Good hunting, Judy