If you command a yacht, you can call yourself “Skipper” or, if signing something official, “Master”. Heck, I have a good friend who has a Coast Guard 500 ton licence and has served as an officer on tall ships for over a decade. You are not a Captain because you have a US Coast Guard 100 ton licence or a RYA yacht master. (Actually I don’t know for sure that there are no other positions that are properly titled “Captain”, so if you know of one I missed, please leave a comment.)
You sit in the left pilot seat in a large transport aircraft.You would also be entitled to use the title in retirement. You have an unlimited tonnage all oceans master mariner’s licence and command a commercial vessel at sea, which almost always requires four years at a recognized maritime university and several years serving at sea working your way up the ladder through various mate positions to command.A serving, or retired, officer in the Navy with a rank one below Admiral.A serving officer in the Army, Airforce, or Marines with a rank one below Major.You can call yourself “Captain” if you are: As far as I know that’s as far as it has got…I fervently hope so. This seems to be confined to the US, although it is spreading to Canada too. What’s making me crazy is the current fashion for recreational mariners, particularly on VHF radio, to call each other “Captain”. I tried to ignore it, I really did, but it’s no good, I have to say something.
This post is going to get me in all kinds of hot water, but I just can’t stand it any more.
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