This article is based on a player handout from Andy's own campaign.  You will find it useful for rounding out your descriptions of either PC or NPC civilian ship crews, and their day-to-day routines.  My thanks to Andy for granting permission for me to host it on my web site. - Kevin Clark - Feb. 8th, 1999.

INTRODUCTION

For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,

Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be;

Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,

Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales...

  -- Alfred, Lord Tennyson; "Locksley Hall"

Just over half of all 2300 AD player characters have worked as starship crew before entering the game, usually in Space Military, Ship Crew, or Smuggler/Pirate careers.  This handout expands on what such characters know; as Naval and Pirate operations are well-covered in Challenge magazine, we focus here on merchant spacers.
Andy Slack
July 1995
 

Merchant Spacers

The crews of large ships operated by reputable shipping lines are very concerned with their personal and corporate image, and for this reason they will almost always be smartly turned out, polite, and law-abiding.  Independent traders have smaller ships ( they can't afford big ones) and operate on a very narrow profit margin; they are unencumbered by bureaucracy, take more risks, back more hunches, get involved in more illegal deals, and generally react faster to trading opportunities.  But... the small ship has smaller profits and so pays lower wages.  This means it has a higher crew turnover, and must be content with lower quality crew -- those rejected by the larger corporations for too little skill, too little tact, or too much independence.  This means PCs are more likely to be hired, being as a rule highly skilled, but unwilling to toe the line on uniform regulations and being nice to passengers.
 

Merchant Ship Design

Cargo comes in standard, sealed containers.  This speeds up loading and unloading, protects the cargo from damage in transit, and reduces pilfering.  Containers are brightly coloured and splashed with their owners' logos; usually the crew neither knows nor cares what's inside, simply what extremes of pressure, temperature and gravity it will tolerate.  Wine, for example, can't be carried in zero-G; the sediment spreads, ruining it.

Containers are stacked one over the other in the ship's holds, held in place by skeletal frameworks.  This means merchantmen need large hatches close together, each at least big enough to take the largest container -- often the hatches are large enough to take three contaainers side by side.  If atmospheric re-entry is not required, further containers may be attached outside the hull by means of magnetic grapples or simple wire ropes, occasionally as many as five high.  Since her cargo is boxy containers, the cargo vessel is herself often box-shaped ( like the English BC-4), or a simple dispersed frame structure on which cargo pods are hung ( like the American Mammoth-class or the French Metal-class).

The bridge, sensors and crew quarters are normally well forward to allow a clear view all around, and protect crew and instruments from the vibration and radiation of the engines.

Some ships have their own cranes, waldoes or small craft ( such as the American CargoDevil freight handler) for handling cargo, allowing them to visit ports with few facilities.  However, these require costly maintenance and take up valuable cargo space.
 

The Crewman's Life

Merchant ships usually have a spin habitat for the crew, even if not carrying passengers.  Crewmen spending long periods in microgravity suffer a variety of illnesses, not least of which is calcium leaching from their skeletons, rendering their bones fragile.  It's cheaper for the owners to accept the higher cost of a spin habitat than to change crews every few months, or to deal with Space Adaptation Syndrome lawsuits.  However, some vessels operate in zero-G whenever they are in space.  These are the smaller, independent vessels -- usually ex-couriers -- that player characters are likely to use.  Apart from the obvious bathroom problems of zero-G, you can't taste or smell anything due to fluids pooling in your sinuses ( imagine having a bad head cold), and you can't wash your hair properly ( so most crewmen shave their heads).  It is therefore not surprising that this sort of vessel hardly ever carries paying passengers, except for the poor and the desperate.

Every ship has some spare accommodations.  In peace, this is used for passengers, or to make the crew more comfortable.  In war, Navy men move in to provide tactical advice, and man sensors and weapons temporarily added for the duration of hostilities.

Crews spend long periods in cramped, uncomfortable conditions under strict discipline.  Often minor fights erupt under the stress, but since everyone depends on everyone else for survival, grudges are rarely held, and if they are, one or other of those concerned will leave the ship quickly.  The crews make up for the bleakness of shipboard life when on leave, and tend to be a rowdy lot when planetside or in an orbital station, spending much of their wages on drink and professional companions of the opposite sex.

Spacers join the crew by signing Ship's Articles, and may leave voluntarily, or be paid off by the Captain, at the end of any voyage ( or in extreme circumstances, at a port partway through a voyage).  However, many stay with the same ship for years at a time, especially if its route includes their homeworld or they get on well with the rest of the crew.
 

Merchant Crew Positions and Responsibilities

The chain of command aboard ship includes the Captain, First, Second, Third and Fourth Officers, and any officer cadets ( It does not include the Chief Steward, Chief Engineer, or any members of their departments.  Chief Engineers comment sarcastically that this means any cadet can do the Captain's job).  Aboard British ships, the First, Second, Third and Fourth Officers are traditionally referred to as the First, Second, Third and Fourth Mates.
 

The Bridge Crew

Workstation       Mainday Shift     Alterday Shift
Command           Captain           1st Officer
Navigation        3rd Officer       2nd Officer
Communications    Spacer            Spacer
Helm              Bosun             Spacer
Computer          4th Officer       Officer Cadet or spacer

On many small ships there aren't enough crew to man the bridge fully; officers take turns on watch, with several stations unmanned.  Whichever officer is on watch will take the navigation station, with a spacer or cadet at the helm; often the duty engineer joins them for the sake of the company, and reconfigures the computer workstation as an engineering monitor.

The Captain: The Captain ( or Master) has ultimate responsibility and authority over everyone and everything aboard ship in flight -- it is for this reason that he is sometimes called the 'Master under God'.  His sole function is to command; his main responsibilities are the safety of his ship, his crew, his cargo and his passengers.  He is also empowered to conduct weddings and funerals in space.  If any contraband is found aboard ship by customs officers, the Captain is fined as well as the actual smuggler.  Should stowaways be found, the Captain decides their fate.

The First Officer: Also called the Chief Mate, Chief Officer, the First Mate, or simply the Mate.  He is second in command of the ship, and probably has a Master's Certificate ( allowing him to command a ship), but lacks the seniority to have been given a command.  His prime duty is to work out what cargo should be stored where in order to minimise time spent loading and unloading at each port.  The calculations allow for the order of ports along the route, the ship's inflight stability, which cargoes can be loaded on top of which others, and so on.  The ship's owners specify which holds can be used for refrigerated cargo, bulk fluids, etc, but the details are left to the First Officer ( The ship's computer adjusts the trim of the vessel by pumping fuel from tank to tank, but there are limits to what this can do).  In flight the First Officer and the bosun run the ship on a day-to-day basis.  The First Officer spends a lot of time in overalls, inspecting nooks and crannies to discover any potential problems, such as cargo working its way loose.  He overhauls and maintains any waldoes etc aboard ship, assisted by the electrical engineers and the Chief Engineer.  These tasks are carried out by senior officers because of the safety implications.  Further, he is responsible for ensuring that the ship is cleaned and lubricated, and that the ship's accommodations are well decorated.  Finally, each day the First Officer spends an hour or so passing on his experience by instructing any officer cadets aboard.  When experienced First Officers get together the talk is always of chances of promotion to Captain.  Promotions are recommended based on a combination of seniority and merit, and as there are more First Officers than ships the laws of supply and demand operate; the last step up the ladder is by far the hardest.

The Second Officer: His responsibilities are the ship's navigation and the bridge upkeep.  Second Officers often have a Master's Certificate, but lack the seniority to command.  Those without a Master's Certificate almost certainly have First Officer's papers.  When docking with or undocking from an orbital station, the Second Officer is responsible for the lines and clearances of the aft half of the ship.  In port, the Second Officer oversees the implementation of the First Officer's plans for loading and unloading cargo.

The Third Officer: This officer is responsible for the maintenance of the ship's safety equipment, such as the p-suits and fire-fighting gear, as well as assisting the Captain with the ship's accounts.  He acts as understudy to the Second Officer, and on ships where no full-time medical officer is carried, the Third Officer acts as ship's medic.  It is not uncommon for Third Officers to have a First Officer's ticket, but they lack enough time in space to serve as a First or Second Officer.  The Third Officer's maintenance role encompasses checking the pipes and alarms for the ship's fire extinguishing system, weighing hand extinguishers to check that they are fully charged, and checking the inventories for the survival supplies and lifeboats.  This is important for the ship's safety and the crew's peace of mind; fire on a starship is even more of a threat than dirtside, because the oxygen it burns is all there is to breathe.  Wealthy shipping lines have the wages and accounts paperwork done planetside by clerical staff; on small independent vessels this work falls to the Third Officer also, and he must calculate how much each of the ship's complement should be paid, allowing for taxes, pensions etc.  On ships which have no Chief Steward, the Third Officer also carries out his duties, which on a freighter mostly consist of dealing with spaceport paperwork.  When docking or undocking at an orbital station, the Third Officer is on the ship's bridge and responsible for the forward half of the ship clearing the dock safely.

The Fourth Officer: This officer is typically a newly promoted cadet, learning the skills needed for higher ranks.  He also undertakes cleaning and painting.  Often he has Second Officer's papers, but will lacks practical experience.  Training for these papers takes 2-3 months, and as a prerequisite the candidate must have about three years' experience as a ship's crewman ( time spent in training or as an Officer Cadet counts towards this).  Promotion beyond Fourth Officer depends on seniority and merit, not on time served.

Officer Cadets: These are fresh from training, having spent from two weeks to two years in this, depending on the quality and expense of the school.  They perform a variety of minor tasks, such as painting the ship's accommodation; the two main jobs they are given are airlock watch and cargo watch.  Airlock watch entails answering the communicator, restricting access to the ship, and escorting visitors to senior officers.  Most importantly, the cadet on airlock watch monitors the security of any airlock or boarding tube when docked to an orbital station.  The cargo watch observe all loading and unloading, noting the time each item of cargo came aboard and exactly where it is loaded.  These notes are important for inflight trimming of the ship, and for cargo loading or unloading; stevedores use them to order transport, advise buyers when to collect and so on.  The notes bear the ship's route in mind, so each item of cargo can be offloaded quickly and without moving other cargoes.  Containers must be loaded the right way round, and connected to coolant outlets if refrigerated.  The cargo watch also look for any damage to ship or cargo caused by the people loading and unloading.

The Bosun: The bosun is the ship's senior petty officer, and as the bridge crew is usually the largest department aboard a small ship, he is listed in this section.  When in port, the bosun takes charge of cleaning and painting those parts of the ship which are unreachable in flight, though the ordinary spacers do the actual work, assisted by any officer cadets aboard.  In flight, he is responsible for discipline among the crew, except for officers ( disciplined by the Captain) and enlisted engineering crew ( controlled by the engineroom storekeeper).  Together with the First Officer, he makes the day-to-day decisions aboard ship.

Ranking below all of the above are the ordinary spacers of the bridge crew, who include the operators for any shipboard vessels.
 

The Engineering Crew

The Second Engineer: This officer is responsible for the state of the engine room and the engineers' quarters, and must see that they are clean, tidy, and safe to work in.  As electrical engineers have higher status than mechanical ones, this officer is more often than not the Senior Electrical Engineer.  On sufficiently large ships there are also Third and Fourth Engineers, but these are often petty officers.

The Engineroom Storekeeper: This petty officer acts as quartermaster for the ship's stores, with special responsibility for the engineering spares.  He is also responsible for disciplining the engineering crew.  Most commonly he will be the Senior Mechanical Engineer aboard ship.  On a small ship, this person will also be the Third Engineer.

Below these personnel are the ordinary drive, electrical and mechanical engineers.  One of the electrical engineers will have special responsibility for the refrigeration equipment, and he is normally made a petty officer to reward him for the extra responsibility.
 

The Steward Section

The Chief Steward: Also known as the Purser, this officer's prime responsibility is the safety, care, and feeding of the passengers.  In flight, he spends much of his time organising events to keep them occupied.  In port, the Purser keeps track of all the local port paperwork, and checks and replenishes the ship's stores as necessary.

The Ship's Doctor: This officer is carried to minister to any crew or passengers who may become ill or be injured.  As such he is expert in Medical skill.

The Second Steward: This person is the senior petty officer of the Steward Section and is responsible for disciplining the ordinary spacers of the Section.

The Ship's Cook: This person is usually a petty officer and is responsible for feeding the crew and passengers and maintaining supplies of food and drink aboard ship.

Ranking below these personnel will be ordinary spacers carried as stewards, cooks or medical orderlies/nurses.
 

Ship Crew Skills in Games Terms

Bridge Crew      Pilot-0, Drive Engineering-0, Computer-0, P-Suit-1.
Bosun            As Bridge Crew; Leader, Pilot, and Aircraft Pilot useful but optional.
Officer Cadet    Pilot-0, Drive Engineering-0, Computer-0, P-Suit-1.
4th Officer      As Officer Cadet; Appraisal useful but optional.
3rd Officer      As 4th Officer, plus Mechanical-0, Electronic-0, Survival-0; First Aid
                 and Bureaucracy useful but optional.
2nd Officer      As 3rd Officer, plus Sensor Operations-1; Astronomy common but optional.
1st Officer      As 2nd Officer, plus Pilot-1; Aircraft Pilot useful but optional.
Captain          As 1st Officer; almost certainly has Leader and Bureaucracy by now, if an
                 independent trader probably has Appraisal, Bargaining and Trader as well.
Engineering Crew Mechanical-0, Electronics-0, P-Suit-1.  The commonest -- and therefore
                 lowest-paid -- type of spacer.
ER Storekeep.    As Engineering Crew, plus Mechanical-1.
2nd Engineer     As Engine Room Storekeeper, plus Electronics-1.
Chief Engineer   As 2nd Engineer, plus Ship's Drive Engineering-1.
Steward Crew     No skills required; high Eloquence and Medical useful, but optional.
Ship's Doctor    Medical-1 ( Medical-3 common on liners run by large corporations).
Purser           Bureaucracy-1, plus First Aid-1 or Medical-1.

Merchant Ship Customs

Formal Inspections: Twice weekly, the Captain, Chief Engineer, Chief Steward and First Officer inspect the crew quarters as required by law, to check that they meet hygiene and safety standards.  Everything must be clean, tidy, and secured so that it does not hurtle about dangerously under sudden acceleration; food and water stores must be pure.

The Distressed Spaceman Clause: Most spacefaring nations operate this clause, a legal obligation on the Captain of any civilian vessel to carry distressed spacers of his nationality towards their home planet, provided that accommodations are available.  To qualify for this, a spacer must be in genuine distress; for example, incapacitated by injuries.  This is one of the main reasons why some spacefarers still retain nationalities rather than opting out of being a citizen of one country or another ( citizens pay taxes, but a spacer gets few of the benefits, being away from his nation's health care, sewerage and whatnot most of his life).

General Averages: In the case of a fire aboard ship, a General Average may be declared, which means that all those owning cargo in the ship are required to pay a contribution towards the cost of repairs to the ship, whether their cargo was burned or not.  This custom dates back to 1,000 BC and is still observed in the year 2300 AD.

Accompaniment: On larger ships owned by big companies, the families of the Captain and First Officer may accompany them on voyages.  This privilege is normally waived except by those native to asteroids and similar small airless worlds, who are accustomed to cramped spaces and zero gravity.

Scrapping: Vessels which have reached the end of their useful lives will make a final trip out to a metal-poor colony, where they will be parked in orbit and dismantled slowly as sources of raw materials -- for an orbital colony, this is much cheaper than mining and refining raw ore ( and possibly shipping it into orbit).  The owners are paid by the empty weight of the ship, as if she were a shipment of steel.  Often ships with working life-support systems are used as accommodations for workers until the ship is finally broken up.  However, the tantalum in the ship's engines is always recovered by the owners.  Any remaining furniture, fittings etc are appropriated by the local customs officers and police.  As an alternative to being dismantled, ships may be used as orbital storehouses, living quarters, or prisons.  On the ship's final voyage, all fittings worth removing are taken out ( usually being appropriated by sister ships) and non-essential lights and facilities are powered down and fuses removed to minimise the risk of fire.  Crews are paid a bonus to compensate for the lack of amenities.

Ports of Convenience: Each ship must be registered in a specific home port.  Some ports are lax in safety regulations and crew training standards; it is therefore cheaper to operate ships registered in some ports -- 'ports of convenience' -- than others.  Vessels registered in ports of convenience tend to be poorly maintained and have poor quality crews running short-handed.  The main flag of convenience is Manchuria; Manchurian spacers and colonists live in poor conditions, and Manchurian technology is somewhat backward, so it's easier for a ship to satisfy Manchurian inspectors and gain their approval.  A number of small freighters are also registered out of Tanstaafl on Aurore, where bribery is a way of life and the relevant papers can be bought, regardless of the ship's condition.  Kie Yuma might be expected to be a port of convenience, as the Trilon Corporation is a law unto itself; but Trilon's standards are actually quite strict as the company takes pains to maintain a reputable public image.

Designer's Notes

This article was submitted to Challenge in 1995, but rejected; I still like it, and use it as a player handout, so here it is.  Tips of the hat are due to Andy Bird, who always titled his player handouts "What every knight knows", "What every Iscin knows," and so on, and to Kevin Clark for some suggested changes.  The initial quote will also explain why a certain ex-courier in the campaign is called the 'Purple Twilight'...

16 April 98: Kevin Clark suggests that the Bosun and at least one other crewman should have Aircraft Pilot to fly any carried interface landing craft, or land an interface-capable starship on a non-vacuum world.  My thinking in leaving it optional is that you wouldn't incur the costs of landing unless you had to.  Your Mileage May Vary.
-Andy Slack