I never had any ambition other than to go to sea. - Arthur Rostron

Inspections should be taken seriously and should be by no means cursory.

I can look back to the nights on a passenger ship when one wax candle afforded all the illumination between two cabins. Hot water was carried to the passengers in jugs; baths were luxuries. Smoke rooms were just being added; libraries were practically unknown. Progress has meant two things- speed and comfort, though with us there has always been the matter of safety first. Out of common experience a hundred devices have come into use that make for safety- inventions apart altogether from life boats, bulkheads and so on. Wireless, wireless direction finders, the fathometer for taking soundings, and smoke and fire detectors.

A busy life and a good one. I can honestly say I have enjoyed every hour of my long seafaring experience. If I could go back I should want to do just what I have done- and a man is lucky if, when the time comes to retire, he can assert that. So with confidence I say to the young aspirant for a captaincy in the Merchant Navy: You will have many worries, hard times and responsibilities, but it's worth it all. And, as the real inspiration for your life's work, remember you are a unit in a great service with hundreds of years of honourable and stirring traditions behind it. It's a grand profession.