A question… Thomas says “son of a carpenter”. The douchebag officer says “son of a carpenter’s mate”. That means the officers are making James even less than he already is in social standings? That his father was not a carpenter, but a mere helper of a carpenter? Those fuckers!

corsaircourser:

captain-flint:

well they would, wouldn’t they?! those dicks. they don’t care who james is, who his father was, all they know is that james’ family name is not one of nobility and therefore must be undermined and mocked. carpenter, carpenter’s mate.. it must be all the same to them. pickram (the douchebag officer) deserved to be punched in the face just for existing tbh

Pickram is an absolute douchebag, and probably should have been punched even more.  I took a slightly different read from that distinction, though!  Son of a carpenter implied that he was landbound, probably making chairs and tables, that kind of thing.  But “Carpenter’s Mate” is a legit rank on a sailing ship.  It’s actually higher up than just a carpenter, because those are the regular everyday guys, and the Carpenter’s Mate is only under the Master Carpenter, or Ship’s Carpenter, or whatever they called it in your sailing organization of choice!

Still a denigration.  Still a slur, coming from that asshole Pickram.  But I think it might have been meant to show that James and his whole family were seafarers, not landlubbers.