Hi Barry, Thank you for explaining that. The only tidbit of information I have is from an 1873 record which was from the Liverpool Sheltering Homes. The note said that, when the 5 CORKILL children went to stay there, they had lost their mother. But, their father, a Master Mariner, was on his way to Africa at the time ! Betty (As I've mentioned before, all 6 of Evan and Elizabeth's children migrated to Canada (ages ~16 to 3) (1873-1875). And, Evan, a few years later remarried, and lived for many years. And I have no way of knowing whether he remained in contact with his children.) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Barry Hughes" <jbarry.hughes@ntlworld.com> To: <eng-liverpool@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 10:08 AM Subject: Re: [ENG-LIV] sea captains > Hello Betty, > > A Master Mariner was a qualification obtained by study it did not > automatically convey a captaincy, indeed many Master Mariners, during the > inter-war years, worked as junior officers or even able seamen just to > keep working. > The title Sea Captain is, of itself, meaningless but it is unlikely that > Captaincy of an ocean going merchantman would have been attained without a > Master's ticket. > > Happy Christmas, > > Barry