>Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 14:00:45 -0700 >From: "Bruce E. Carpenter" <carp@whidbey.com> >To: CARPENTER-L@rootsweb.com >Subject: Second Ship lll > >I looked carefully at the best book on >14th century merchants for the meaning of a >ship's 'master'. Carus-Wilson's Medieval >Merchant Venturers (pp.84-6) explains >explicitly that owner, captain and merchant are >all synonymous with 'master'. Ships were often jointly owned, >as seems the case with our St. Mary, and certainly >many ships carried consignments of other merchant's >goods. According to Carus-Wilson, not until a century later >did the ship, its navigation and its goods become separate businesses. >So we Carpenters can claim our ship, the St. Mary, a true >Carpenter ship! >Sincerely, >Bruce Carpenter > I haven't seen the book or a quote of the definition, but I think it probably meant, in mathematical terms: master EQUALS ((owner OR captain OR merchant) OR (owner AND captain) OR (captain AND merchant) OR (owner AND merchant) OR (owner AND captain AND merchant)) rather than: master EQUALS (owner AND captain AND merchant). Rick