The Merchant Service

[Garnfellow]

In the OTU, is the Merchant Service a formal service branch of the Imperium, equivalent to the U.S. Merchant Marines, or is this really just a "merchant service," which is to say "members of various commercial enterprises" united only by a common profession like the rest of the "Other" careers?

Looking through CT sources, I don't see much evidence for either interpretation.

Marc Miller’s Traveller for T4 is the only source I've found that really leans in on the formal service branch interpretation:

"The Merchant Service fulfills an essential role in the workings of the Imperium, and because of that, it is underwritten and overseen by offices of the Imperial government" (20).

 

[mike wightman]

LBB7 is the definitive guide to this.

Suffice to say, no the merchant service in CT/OTU is not similar to naval auxiliary service in the merchant marine. Cutting and pasting various bits from page 6 and 7:

The large lines, the ones which can reach over great distances, are the megacorporations and the sector-wide lines.
Sector-wide lines dominate the major trade routes within the sector, and provide limited service to adjacent sectors.
The small lines are the feeders to the large lines. They handle smaller, less profitable markets, but provide vital services.
The Free Traders operate the wandering tramp starships that visit star systems on irregular schedules.The Free Traders serve the worlds that other merchants do not.

 

[GypsyComet]

While not formally described as such, I suspect the answer is era-specific. The Syleans and early Imperials employed subsidy and patronage models both internally and externally, as suggested by T4 and some of the exposition in Agent of the Imperium, but once the Third Imperium recontacted the Vilani homeworlds the Bureaux came out of dormancy as megacorps and transformed mercantile "service" into the Mega-Regional-Local-Free hierarchy seen in CT and MT. There are still government connections, as a PC can still be Drafted into the Merchants, but they are not as pervasive as in the early days, when patronage would have been the norm.

 

[Garnfellow]

LBB7 is the definitive guide to this.

Suffice to say, no the merchant service in CT/OTU is not similar to naval auxiliary service in the merchant marine. Cutting and pasting various bits from page 6 and 7:

Yeah, that's probably the best argument against merchants being a formal service -- further on it's implied that the Merchant Academies are run by the large corporations, since that's who graduates end up working for. But I don't find LBB7 exactly definitive on this score.

Elsewhere the Merchant Academies are described as one of the "service academies," available to PCs. This term has a very specific American context: there are five U.S. service academies, which include West Point, Annapolis, and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in King's Point, NY.

For examples of describing the merchant academy as a service academy, see the CT alien modules or the MT Player's Manual.

 

[mike wightman]

Repeat after me - the third Imperium is not the USA in space

When it says service academy it is using the term to mean a prior career path, not a military service.

Read pages six and seven, and then page ten, then page twelve.

Fair use prevents me from quoting the lot.

There is no mention in LBB7 anywhere of merchants being militarised or serving the navy in times of war.

 

[maksimsmelchak]

Yeah, that's probably the best argument against merchants being a formal service -- further on it's implied that the Merchant Academies are run by the large corporations, since that's who graduates end up working for. But I don't find LBB7 exactly definitive on this score.

Elsewhere the Merchant Academies are described as one of the "service academies," available to PCs. This term has a very specific American context: there are five U.S. service academies, which include West Point, Annapolis, and the U.S. Maritime Maritime Academy in King's Point, NY.

For examples of describing the merchant academy as a service academy, see the CT alien modules or the MT Player's Manual.

Garnfellow,

*** Have you ever looked back at the Merchant Service? This was a 2013 post. ***

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

 

[Garnfellow]

Garnfellow,

*** Have you ever looked back at the Merchant Service? This was a 2013 post. ***

I don't follow?

 

[GypsyComet]

There is this thread:
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=29251

And may be others.

 

[Whipsnade]

But I don't find LBB7 exactly definitive on this score.

And deliberately so.

GDW understood that most merchant marine academies are "small a" types. They're academies, but they're not THE ACADEMY like Annapolis, Kings Point, or New London. GDW also understood that attending an academy is not the only way to become an officer in the merchant service.

Contrasting the USMMA and MMA is a good way to explain this.

The USMMA at Kings Point is a federal service academy. You don't pay to attend. You need a congressional appointment to attend. Upon graduation, you're either commissioned in the naval reserve or in any of the other uniformed federal military and paramilitary services. Fields of study and degree programs are limited. You're also obligated to work in specific industries for a certain period of time.

The MMA is a public school. You pay to attend. You only need to meet admission requirements to attend. Much like Texas A&M with it's Brigade, you can join MMA's Regiment and use NROTC program to pay your tuition. Not every MMA student does that or needs to do that. Fields of study and degree programs are also limited, but you are not obligated to work in specific industries after graduation.

Both schools also offer what's best described as "continuing education". People already serving in the merchant marine or wanting to serve in the merchant marine can take specific courses and licensing programs for specific accreditation.

The maternal side of my family has been Down East, Blue Nose, Maritimes, and similar types for centuries. I can't begin to count the number who've worked at sea and at least a dozen have attended MMA in one form or another since the 1940s. One of my uncles even served as MMA's harbor master after his 30+ year USN career.

One cousin ran away to sea right out of high school, worked as a deckhand, served in the Mekong riverine forces in Vietnam, returned to the merchant marine, went to URI for his degree, attended MMA for his master's license, and finally retired after decades of working as a swordfishing boat relief captain in the Pacific. His younger brother went to MMA straight out of high school, put in his required active duty time, and then worked for a number of large shipping lines eventually reaching captain before retiring.

Two men, both merchant marines, both captains, both with different education and career paths.

GDW understood this. That's why LBB:7 allows for different career paths.

You can attend the Tukera or Al Morai or whatever mega/big corp academy at 18. You can apply after graduating college or university. You can be a direct hire by Oberlindes or McClellan's or whomever after your naval or scout service. You can even sign aboard a free trader as a mop jockey and (hopefully) work your way up to better things.

 

[Garnfellow]

It's easy to imagine a private merchant academy for megacorporations and sector-wide corporations, although I'm not familiar with any historical precedents. I figured the East Indian Company would have had one if anyone ever did, but I could only find an army academy. They pay for your school, in exchange for some specific duration of service on their ships.

MMA also works as a model: an independent public academy, possibly subsidized by planetary or subsector governments, or maybe private associations like the "Diaspora Interstellar Commercial Association." You pay your fee, then have options of working for anyone.

But does the Imperium provide the equivalent of the USMMA? "The Imperial Merchant Academy of Deneb," etc. Like the corporate academies, they pay for school in exchange for your service.

Which gets me back to the original question: is their an Imperial equivalent of the merchant marines?

 

[Whipsnade]

It's easy to imagine a private merchant academy for megacorporations and sector-wide corporations, although I'm not familiar with any historical precedents. I figured the East Indian Company would have had one if anyone ever did...

The EIC, VoC, HBC, and others had training programs but they were just like the "apprenticeship" programs the uniformed services of the period used. You learned by doing. Formal courses of study in classrooms lay in the future.

MMA also works as a model...

It's one of many models. The apprenticeship model is in play too.

But does the Imperium provide the equivalent of the USMMA? "The Imperial Merchant Academy of Deneb," etc. Like the corporate academies, they pay for school in exchange for your service.

The USMMA just doesn't graduate merchant marine officers. If a cadet opts for the active duty route they can end up in the USAF as well as the USN, NOAA or MSC.

What you're really asking is if the Imperium has something akin to a Military Sealift Command (MSC) and I believe the answer is a qualified yes. Rather than the US' current unified maritime transport organization, the Imperium has several smaller organizations within larger services.

We know the IISS has a transport branch exists which operates demilitarized AHL-cruisers among other hulls. We know a 10K dTon Imperial transport exists. We also know that a Marches Auxiliary Naval Service exists and can assume similar organizations exist in other sectors.

That NROTC or naval academy graduate could serve in a transport command instead of a Plankwell squadron. That IISS recruit or newly graduated hire could serve aboard the cruiser running wine and mail between Terra and Sylea instead of a Donosev.

Which gets me back to the original question: is their an Imperial equivalent of the merchant marines?

The Imperium has both a Merchant Marine and a merchant marine.

 

[flykiller]

Which gets me back to the original question: is their an Imperial equivalent of the merchant marines?

for purposes of socio/economic/political influence, sure. though it may not always be called that ....

(heh. my ftf players have just been "drafted" into such a role.)

 

[GypsyComet]

Which gets me back to the original question: is their an Imperial equivalent of the merchant marines?

Depends on your definition of Imperial. A Duke may well sponsor such a body to encourage and support his subsector's (or sector's) commerce. An Imperium-wide organization may also be possible, either as an entirely separate entity or as an adjunct to the Navy, or as a required pool of personnel and hulls in megacorp fleets. Or all of these at the same time depending on location.

Mercantile Academies are likely also a Ducal responsibility, though from a PC backstory point of view they could be the college option in nearly any of the spacefaring careers. The Logistics concentration at the sector Naval Academy, a separate Sector school to increase the output of personnel, or a megacorp training facility all qualify, but the inverse is also possible: that "college" for a spacefaring career could be the subsector or sector Ducal MMA regardless of career.
A Ducal academy would certainly be an Imperial service school in some lights, but not necessarily in others. Will all sectors or subsectors have such things? Maybe. Does the Emperor recognize the school's implied status? Maybe. Does this all change every generation? Absolutely.

 

[Timerover51]

The United States does not have an official Merchant Marine. The Merchant Marine Academy exists to train Ship's Officers for service on merchant ships. There also exists individual State Merchant Marine Academies that train both crewmen and officers for merchant service. The Jones Act requires that direct water trade between two United States ports be carried on by U.S. Built ships, manned by U.S. citizens, under the U.S. Flag. That means that any cargo shipped from Seattle to Anchorage, Alaska must be carried onboard of a U.S. ship. All trade amount the Hawaiian Islands is carried on by U.S. flagged, owned, and manned ships. Tankers traveling between Valdez, Alaska and California carrying crude oil are all U.S owned and manned. All trade on the Great Lakes directly between two U.S. ports is carried on U.S. ships. However, there is no government owned or operated shipping line.

There is an exception to the rule of U.S. manning for fishing boats under a certain size, which is causing problems no with respect to treatment of non-U.S. citizens on fishing boats in the Pacific.

 

[aramis]

The US DOES have a merchant marine in the sense of a unified training requirements and promotions system, and that holders of certain licenses are subject to militarization in time of war.

Rather than take my word for it, look at their FAQ on their website: http://www.usmm.org/faq.html

 

[welsh]

But I'm not sure such an approach would make the merchant service a service of the Imperium, or even a single service. It's better seen as a career governed by a single set of conventions and standards -- like being a lawyer, except no one wants to militarize lawyers.

 

[McPerth]

In Spain there's a university career that is Marina Civil y Náutica (Civilian Navy and Nautical/Seamanship), even while Merchant Marine is not a governmental service, but private one (be it in companies or independnet ships). I guess that could well be the equivalent to Traveller's Merchant Accademy as shown in MP and MT...

 

[Condottiere]

It's strategically incentivized to maintain a large pool of mariners, and merchantmen.

 

[MThompson016]

The way I see it, drafted Merchant service is assignment to subsidized line. Local nobles and world governments may subsidize a line and as part of the agreement, they agree to take a certain number of assigned cadets per year. Some lines have required service to locations, and others are available to serve as military auxiliaries in some fashion. The common thread is they have an obligation of some sort.

 

[Timerover51]

The Subsidized Merchant has been a standard ship since the Little Black Books. Government subsidy of ship building could also imply something like a fleet auxiliary which is partially staffed by individuals subject to a draft. That would make for Merchant Service being possible as a drafted career. If you look at Andre Norton's Solar Queen series, there is a merchant service academy from which upon graduation, the new junior officers as assigned to a specific type of merchant service, which could be large corporation, small corporation, Free Trader, or basic intrasystem, depending on the profile of the cadet.

I sort of use that system, and believe that reaching the Merchant Service by draft indicates a world with subsidized service.

I should note that I have some house rules for crew and manning, along with housing standards.