This article explores the tension between maintaining and blurring traditional lines of authority among workers on a ship. Through the years, work crews aboard ships have operated under hierarchical arrangements. The author places the experience of one ship's crew in historical and social context and demonstrates ways in which shared living experiences at sea served to foster camaraderie and a sense of community among workers in spite of hierarchical arrangements. Interestingly, elements of these shared experiences were drawn on by officers of the ship in order to maintain social status distinctions on board. The combination of comradeship and hierarchy served the efficient operation of the ship. This finding challenges the traditional understanding that in total institutions like a ship, social distance is maintained between status groups for the sake of efficient administration of the institution.
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