ABSTRACT
All industrial units which operate at sea must have a section of the work-force concerned with the propulsion of the machinery, one which is concerned with its direction, another concerned with feeding the crew. Ships make up the shipping industry, and indeed it is difficult to separate a discussion of the structure of the industry from an analysis of its physical components. Most ships also carry a number of junior engineers. Sometimes they keep watches and sometimes they are day workers, the practice varying from ship to ship. Skilled work in the engine-room department is generally carried out by the officers. The normal job of engine-room ratings is cleaning, oiling and greasing the machinery, doing maintenance and repair work changing burners and filters and so forth. The command structure on board ship is reinforced, nevertheless, by of passenger and cruise ships.
