The bosun walks into your pantry mid-service and tells your third stew to come and help move fenders. She looks at him, then at you. You have thirty seconds to resolve a question of authority in front of a guest corridor, and whatever you do will be remembered by both departments for the rest of the season.
The chain of command onboard
Every vessel operates a defined chain of command set out in the yacht Safety Management System (SMS) under the ISM Code. Typically: Master, then heads of department (Chief Officer, Chief Engineer, Chief Steward(ess), Head Chef), then their teams. The chain exists so that in an emergency there is never a doubt about who instructs whom.
Two principles sit above it:
- The Master has overriding authority to take any decision necessary for the safety of the vessel, the people onboard and the marine environment, and to request assistance from the Company. Under ISM the Company must state this in the SMS and must not constrain it commercially.
- The Designated Person Ashore (DPA) provides a direct link to shore management outside the normal chain, so that a safety concern cannot be buried by an intermediate rank.
The interior HOD is a head of department: you hold delegated authority over the interior team, you report to the Master (or to the Chief Officer, depending on the SMS), and you are accountable for the safety and conduct of your department as well as its service output. Your authority over other departments is zero; your influence over them is everything.
Authority versus influence
| Authority | Influence | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | The role, the SMS, the crew list | Trust, expertise, reciprocity, example |
| Reach | Your own department | Everyone, in any direction |
| Speed | Immediate | Built over weeks |
| Fails when | Overused, or used to bully | Never really fails, but is slow |
Authority gets an order followed once. Influence gets it followed when you are not there.
Formal and informal power
Formal power comes from the position: legitimate authority, the ability to reward (leave, promotion, the good cabins) and to sanction (warnings under the yacht disciplinary procedure). Informal power comes from the person: expertise, information, relationships, and how you behave under pressure. On yachts, informal power is often held by someone without rank — the long-serving stew everyone asks, or the chef whose mood sets the tone. Identify who genuinely holds it and work with them.
Back to the pantry
The correct move is lateral: not a confrontation, but a redirection. Your crew take tasking from you; a request from another department comes to you, and you decide. Say so calmly, then close the loop with the bosun off-stage. If the request were a genuine safety-critical need, or came from the Master or the officer of the watch, it outranks service every time.
Onboard Notes
- Your yacht SMS, its flag state and the Master define the actual chain of command and any deviation from it. Read the SMS rather than assume the pattern above.
- Never use safety authority to win a service argument, and never let a service priority override a lawful safety instruction.
- Bypassing your HOD to go straight to the Master over trivia burns credibility. Going to the Master or DPA over a genuine safety concern is legitimate and protected.