16,568. Does the captain apply to you for some opinion as to the qualifications of the men?-Yes, if he does not know them himself.
16,569. You have told me that you have generally made yourself pretty well acquainted with the men's abilities?-Yes.
16,570. Then I suppose only a certain proportion of each crew shipped at Lerwick consists of men who have been in that captain's employment previously, perhaps one third?-Sometimes they had almost all been in the same ship before, but they changed agents occasionally. Perhaps sometimes one half of them might re-ship.
16,571. But very often the captain would secure one half or one third of new hands?-Yes.
16,572. In that case you must be consulted a good deal about the qualifications of the men?-Yes. I tell the master about them, so far as I know; and in some cases, perhaps if he ships a man, that man may be able to recommend another to him.
16,573. But I suppose the captain attaches considerable weight to your recommendation?-Perhaps he does.
16,574. Have you any reason to doubt that he does?-I have not. I would not recommend a man if I did not know him to be a good hand.
16,575. Has a captain ever refused to follow your recommendation and to take a man whom you had recommended?-When he had plenty of men of his own, of course he would take no others than them.
16,576. But when he was in want of men, did he generally follow your recommendation?-Sometimes I have seen him in doubt between two or three men whom I have recommended, and he selected any one of the three that he liked himself.
16,577. If you recommended one man in preference to another, have you ever seen him take a man of whom you disapproved?- In some instances I have seen him take a man who had been recommended to him by another that he had engaged, instead of a man that I could recommend. The man had sailed with him before, and he recommended another man with whom he was acquainted, and the captain engaged him.