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Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, etc. In militaries, the captain is typically at the level of an officer commanding a company or battalion of infantry, a ship, or a battery of artillery, or another distinct unit. It can also be a rank of command in an air force. The term also may be used as an informal or honorary title for persons in similar commanding roles.

Quotes

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Armed forces

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  • A brave captain is a root, out of which as branches the courage of his soldiers doth spring.
    • Sir Philip Sidney; reported in R. D. Heinlr, Jr., Dictionary of Military and Naval Quotations (1966), p. 41
  • Who can look for modestie and sobrietie in the souldiers, where the captaine is given to wine, or women, and spendeth his time in riot and excesse?
  • As many are soldiers that are not captains
    So many are captains that are not soldiers.
    • Nathaniel Field, A Woman Is a Weather-Cock (1609)
  • I take a bold Step, a rakish toss, a smart Cock, and an impudent Air to be the principal ingredients in the Composition of a Captain.
    • George Farquhar, The Recruiting Officer (1706)
  • A captain cannot be too careful of the company the state has committed to his charge. He must pay the greatest attention to the health of his men, their discipline, arms, accoutrements, ammunition, clothes and necessaries.
    His first object should be, to gain the love of his men, by treating them with every possible kindness and humanity, enquiring into their complaints, and when well founded, seeing them redressed. He should know every man of his company by name and character. He should often visit those who are sick, speak tenderly to them, see that the public provision, whether of medicine or diet, is duly administered, and procure them besides such comforts and conveniencies as are in his power. The attachment that arises from this kind of attention to the sick and wounded, is almost inconceivable; it will moreover be the means of preserving the lives of many valuable men.
    He must divide his company into four squads, placing each under the particular care of a non-commissioned officers, who is to be answerable for the dress and behavior of the men of his squad. He must be very particular in the daily and weekly inspections of his men, causing all deficiencies to be immediately supplied; and when he discovered any irregularity in the dress or conduct of any soldier, he must not only punish him, but the non-commissioned officer to whose squad he belongs.
    He must keep a strict eye over the conduct of the non-commissioned officers; oblige them to do their duty with the greatest exactness; and use every possible means to keep up a proper subordination between them and the soldiers: For which reason he must never rudely reprimand them in presence of the men, but at all times treat them with proper respect.
    He must pay the utmost attention to every thing which contributes to the health of the men, and oblige them to keep themselves and every thing belonging to them in the greatest cleanliness and order. He must never suffer a man who has any infectious disorder to remain in the company, but send him immediately to the hospital, or other place provided for the reception of such patients, to prevent the spreading of the infection. And when any man is sick, or otherwise unfit for duty, or absent, he must see that his arms and accoutrements are properly taken care of, agreeably to the regulations prescribed.
    He must keep a book, in which must be entered the name and description of every non-commissioned officer and soldier of his company; his trade or occupation; the place of his birth and usual residence; where, when and for what term he enlisted; discharges, furloughs, copies of all returns, and every casualty that happens in the company. He must also keep an account of all arms, accoutrements, ammunition, clothing, necessaries and camp equipage delivered his company, that on inspecting it he may be able to discover any deficiencies.
    When the company arrive at their quarters after a march, he must not dismiss them till the guards are ordered out, and (if cantoned) the billets distributed, which must be as near together as possible; and he must strictly prohibit his men from vexing the inhabitants, and cause to be punished any that offend in that respect.
    He must acquaint them with the hours of roll-call and going for provisions, with their alarm post, and the hour of march in the morning.
    If the company make any stay in a place, he must, previous to their marching, inspect into their condition, examine their knapsacks, and see that they carry nothing but what is allowed, it being a material object to prevent the soldier loading himself with unnecessary baggage.
  • [Insert French text]
    • The union of wise theory with great character will constitute the great captain.
    • Antoine-Henri Jomini, Précis de l’Art de la Guerre (1838); translation reported in Heinlr (1966), p. 41
  • The captain, in the first place, is lord paramount. He stands no watch, comes and goes when he pleases, and is accountable to no one, and must be obeyed in everything.
    • Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the Mast, vol. 3 (1840)
  • The company is the true unit of discipline, and the captain is the company. A good captain makes a good company, and he should have the power to reward as well as punish. The fact that soldiers would naturally like to have a good fellow for their captain is the best reason why he should be appointed by the colonel, or by some superior authority, instead of being elected by the men.
  • A loud-mouthed, profane captain who is careless of his personal appearance will have a loud-mouthed, profane, dirty company. Remember what | tell you. Your company will be the reflection of yourself. If you have a rotten company it will be because you are a rotten captain.
    • Major C. A. Bach, U.S. Army, to graduating student officers at Fort Sheridan, Wyoming (1917); reported in The Greenhill Dictionary of Military Quotations (2000), p. 67
  • The company commander is a living example to every man in his organization. To be an officer means to set an example for the men. The officer must be his soldier’s incarnation of soldiery, his model. If the German officer is inspired by this mission, the best and deepest qualities of his soul will be awakened; his life’s aim will be fulfilled if he succeeds, through knowledge, demeanor, and conviction, in forcing his troops to follow him. This is the manly purpose for which it is worthwhile to stake life in order to win life.
    • Standards for German Army Officers; reported in U.S. War Department, German Military Training (17 September 1942)
  • The Captain had brushed his project aside in a way that captains have.
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  • Cook was a captain of the Admiralty
    When sea-captains had the evil eye,
    Or should have, what with beating krakens off
    And casting nativities of ships;
    Cook was a captain of the powder-days
    When captains, you might have said, if you had been
    Fixed by their glittering stare, half-down the side,
    Or gaping at them up companionways,
    Were more like warlocks than a humble man— [...]
    Cook was a captain of the sailing days
    When sea-captains were kings like this,
    Not cold executives of company-rules
    Cracking their boilers for a dividend
    Or bidding their engineers go wink
    At bells and telegraphs, so plates would hold
    Another pound. Those captains drove their ships
    By their own blood, no laws of schoolbook steam,
    Till yards were sprung, and masts went overboard—
    Daemons in periwigs, doling magic out,
    Who read fair alphabets in stars
    Where humbler men found but a mess of sparks,
    Who steered their crews by mysteries
    And strange, half-dreadful sortilege with books,
    Used medicines that only gods could know
    The sense of, but sailors drank
    In simple faith.

Nautical

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  • A Shipman was ther, woning fer by weste:
    For aught I woot, he was of Dertemouthe.
    He rood up-on a rouncy, as he couthe,
    In a gowne of falding to the knee.
    A daggere hanging on a laas hadde he
    Aboute his nekke under his arm adoun.
    The hote somer had maad his hewe al broun;
    And, certeinly, he was a good felawe.
    Ful many a draughte of wyn had he y-drawe
    From Burdeux-ward, whyl that the chapman sleep.
    Of nyce conscience took he no keep.
    If that he faught, and hadde the hyer hond,
    By water he sente hem hoom to every lond.
    But of his craft to rekene wel his tydes,
    His stremes and his daungers him bisydes,
    His herberwe and his mone, his lodemenage,
    Ther nas noon swich from Hulle to Cartage.
    Hardy he was, and wys to undertake;
    With many a tempest hadde his berd been shake.
    He knew wel alle the havenes, as they were,
    From Gootlond to the cape of Finistere,
    And every cryke in Britayne and in Spayne;
    His barge y-cleped was the Maudelayne.

Metaphorical

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  • Encyclopedic article on Captain on Wikipedia
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