The "fellowship of the craft" is truly the most important aspect of a crew, and therefore of their ship and her voyage. This fellowship or comradery is the tie that binds the men together, with common goals, views and especially the trust the afore mentioned bring, making the fellowship the life-blood of a vessel. Authors of sea literature illustrate and utilize this fellowship in numerous ways, helping to give the unknowing, unsea-worthy reader an opportunity to better understand this mystical connection.
The fellowship of the craft is an extraordinarily complex inter-relationship of crew, captain & inevitably, the sea herself. While one would be hard-pressed to fully explain this with mere words, it's layered facets include the sailors inexplicable link to the see, which leads to a common belief system that then leads to a trust, resulting in a deep bond or brotherhood within a crew. These relationships coincide with the captain's, and are overshadowed by the militarily reminiscent no-questions-asked authority of the captain, again born of the same links to the sea and unwavering trust. These two end results of the fellowship are the entire basis of a successful voyage, in both the safety and productivity of a vessel, and the emotional well being of her crew. Joseph Conrad concludes that "it is the sea that gives it-the vastness, the loneliness surrounding their dark stolid souls," (Conrad, pg. 1095) making a sailor what he is. A further example of the innately honorable relationship within a crew can be noted a sailors own recollections, "Can you imagine a rough, uneducated sailor like Jim, forgetting all about himself at a time like that and thinking only of the safety of a shipmate? Ah!-They were the men that were true, uncut diamonds of the first water and coming to the surface they cast a beam of sunshine when you least expected it." (Harlow, pg. 364) These men are not simply coworkers, or even mere roommates; they are a family.
