Talk:Ratings in the Merchant Navy (United Kingdom)

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White crew/mixed crew[edit]

What do these terms mean? Surely they should be defined, but online I can find no references other than other copies of this table. Were they old terms one could assume they were racist designations, but the article does not indicate that they have been superseded since 1964, and it is unlikely racist terminology would have continued to the present day. Ozaru (talk) 16:37, 9 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Fairly obvious I should have thought. "White" means the crew was wholly European. "Mixed" means the crew was both European and non-European (many British-registered ships had crews that were largely non-white, although with white officers and often petty officers). The article does not go beyond 1964, when these differences would still have been commonly highlighted. Note that it is written in the past tense. -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:54, 11 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I've added some clarification. -- Necrothesp (talk) 14:03, 11 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Abbreviations, and combinations[edit]

I have my grandfather's old "continuous certificate of discharge" book, from 1912-1914, and am trying to make sense of the Ratings from his voyages. It would be helpful knowing what abbreviations were used and what jobs were sometimes combined. From the book I have, I can tell you that "Fireman and Trimmer" was sometimes given in combination, and in one case Fireman was shortened to "Fman." One rating appears to be "Do." which my only guess for would have to be "Donkeyman". --Ericjs (talk) 18:00, 26 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]