The stories and legends of Masters who preferred to go down with their ships, even though they had an option to escape, reverberates the minds of seafarers for generations and are a source of inspiration. Not only the Masters, but history sparkles with the names of many members of the crew who bravely preferred their permanent abode at the sea bed with their ship. The saying about the ‘Master going down with his ship’ is not merely an ancient myth but it is happening in the contemporary times as well. The heroic act of late Captain Mahendra Nath Mulla, IN, Commanding Officer of the former INS Khukri, who chose to go down with her on 09 Dec 1971 during the Indo-Pak war, is the last of this martyrdom in the Indian maritime history.

Masters cannot abandon ship too soon. He has a responsibility to his men, but weighed always against to that of the owner and the shipper. The Master has an obligation to preserve the ship and make every effort to stop her from going down even while she is sinking. If a ship is abandoned prematurely, the Master is likely to come under the hammers of civil and criminal laws for barratry. Barratry is an unlawful act or breach of duty on the part of ship’s Master or Crew that injurers the interest of the ship’s or cargo’s owners. The helplessness of the master of a sinking ship has been well picturised in the famous film ‘Titanic’. Till the last moment the Master was standing on the bridge rock steady, without loosing his cool and passed instructions to all concerned to preserve the ship. He even gave his life jacket to a passenger and refused to accept one from the crew member.

There may be minutes between the detection of the sinking state of the ship and the sea closing over the mast of the ship. During this time, the leadership skills of the Master, or whosoever in charge of the ship according to hierarchy, comes to play in determining the fate of the ship and the crew. Before and if he has to utter those words ‘abandon ship’, he has to alert the entire crew, instill confidence in them, assess the situation, fight the fire, run the ballast around when listing, prevent seepage from the damaged hull, close hatches, send distress signal, shut down engine and power, prepare for lowering life boat and initiate a hundred other action.

The shipping law, commercial documents, admiralty manuals etc refers a person of authority onboard a merchant vessel as ‘Master’. Onboard a war ship, he is the Commanding Officer. The term Captain is a naval rank equivalent to a Colonel in the Army. In the army this is a junior rank below a Major. The Master has a special contract with his ship owners, quite distinct from the agreement for employment of the crew. He is in absolute charge of his vessel. In the early days he was permitted to perform legal functions like burying people, conducting marriages, ordering arrest, awarding summary punishments etc. During those days when communication facilities did not exist, ships were heard or seen only on return from the voyage. Then Masters were having extensive responsibilities and authority. They had the authority to use bottomry bonds and respondentia bonds to clear off charges against the ship. Bottomry bonds were used to obtain a loan by pledging the ship and respondentia bonds were used to pledge the cargo. Now, with the availability of communication facilities with speed of thought and transfer of money possible by a mouse click, the owners take care of such issues ashore.

These days, a majority of responsibilities like cargo management, repairs to ship, victualling and bunker purchase, freight collection etc are being handled by the Agents of ship owners or Charterers from their shore offices around the world. (And thus the billet of a Purser onboard a merchant vessel has become redundant.) A Master can do anything to protect his vessel and save it from hazards. He may call upon crew or passengers to render assistance and disobedience of such orders or failure to give such assistance shall constitute a crime. The Master has authority to make prudent purchase of necessary and reasonable stores and equipment for his ship. He may pledge either his own or his owner’s security for the purpose of raising money and when this is not sufficient, he may resort to the use of bottomry bond or a respondentia bond. The Master as bailee of the cargo has only the responsibility for custody and safe carriage of the cargo. Therefore, pledging of cargo to ensure completion of the voyage would come within cargo owner’s interests.

The bills of lading are signed by or on behalf of the Master. It is the duty of the Master to see that the goods confirm with the description in the bill regarding the ‘apparent good order and condition’ and they have been actually landed onboard. These days, considering the practical problems, bills of ladings are being signed by the company’s representatives. But this will not absolve the master from his responsibilities towards the cargo. When in distress, the master has full authority to act as agent for both ship owner and cargo owner to initiate prudent action including disposal of cargo, jettison cargo etc to save the voyage. His liability is practically unlimited, and he is fully responsible to the owners as their agent for any default or neglect.