title: Second master
text: # Second master
  
  Second master was a rating introduced into the Royal Navy in 1753 that indicated a deputy master on third-rate ships of the line or larger.
  
  Second masters were paid significantly more than master's mates, £5 5s per month. A second master was generally a master's mate who had passed his examination for master and was deemed worthy of being master of a vessel. Second masters were given the first opportunity for master vacancies as they occurred.
  
  Master's mates also acted as second master of vessels too small to be allocated a warranted master.
  
  ## Footnotes
  
  * ↑ Lavery, Brian (1989). Nelson's Navy: The Ships, Men and Organization. Annapolis, Md: Naval Institute Press. p. 326. ISBN 0-87021-258-3.
  * ↑ Rodger, N.A.M. (1986). The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. p. 216. ISBN 0-87021-987-1.
  * ↑ "Officer ranks in the Royal Navy". Retrieved 25 April 2009.
  