# RE: Are ships captains allowed to marry people at sea? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 8, 2011, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-are-ships-captains-allowed-to-marry-people-at-sea/588307 "2011-07-08T13:59:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-are-ships-captains-allowed-to-marry-people-at-sea/588307/61 "2019-02-07T16:12:16Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > What self-respecting Starfleet captain would preside over a wedding in a torn shirt? Not James T. Kirk: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS3PQgCVF4U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS3PQgCVF4U) Getting married by James T. Kirk ranks right up there with marrying a Cartwright. It’s gonna be a short marriage. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2019, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-are-ships-captains-allowed-to-marry-people-at-sea/588307/62 "2019-02-08T03:09:26Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Getting married by James T. Kirk ranks right up there with marrying a Cartwright. It’s gonna be a short marriage. Well, it’s a pretty small data set, after all. He only did it once, that we know of. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-are-ships-captains-allowed-to-marry-people-at-sea/588307/63 "2019-02-26T02:20:32Z")
In the recent “Deflectors” episode of the sf comedy/drama _The Orville_, set aboard a Planetary Union starship sometime in the future, Capt. Ed Mercer mentions that he has the authority to perform weddings. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-are-ships-captains-allowed-to-marry-people-at-sea/588307/64 "2019-02-26T22:13:03Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > In the recent “Deflectors” episode of the sf comedy/drama _The Orville_, set aboard a Planetary Union starship sometime in the future, Capt. Ed Mercer mentions that he has the authority to perform weddings. Captain Sisko performs at least one marriage on _DS9_, but that may have been in his religious role as the Emissary of the Prophets irrespective of his role in Starfleet. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-are-ships-captains-allowed-to-marry-people-at-sea/588307/65 "2019-02-26T23:13:38Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Captain Sisko performs at least one marriage on _DS9_, but that may have been in his religious role as the Emissary of the Prophets irrespective of his role in Starfleet. Yes, that’s how I remember it, too. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-are-ships-captains-allowed-to-marry-people-at-sea/588307/66 "2019-02-26T23:45:52Z")
I was thinking that he was implied to have authority to solemnize marriages in both capacities, but I am not sure. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-are-ships-captains-allowed-to-marry-people-at-sea/588307/67 "2019-05-15T13:35:29Z")
> [@Coralee\_s\_Papa](#): > > There’s also a very satisfying shipboard wedding in Patrick O’Brian’s novel _The Surgeon’s Mate_. William Babbington, having been trained by Jack Aubrey himself in the duties and privileges of a ship’s master in His Majesty’s Navy, performs the ceremony after a brief reference to the regulation manual… I just finished _The Fortune of War_ (1979), the novel in the series just before _The Surgeon’s Mate_ (1980), and in it Capt. Broke of HMS _Shannon_ is told by his crotchety old ship’s clerk, when he asks, that the captain does indeed have authority to marry a couple. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-are-ships-captains-allowed-to-marry-people-at-sea/588307/68 "2019-05-15T18:15:41Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I just finished _The Fortune of War_ (1979), the novel in the series just before _The Surgeon’s Mate_ (1980), and in it Capt. Broke of HMS _Shannon_ is told by his crotchety old ship’s clerk, when he asks, that the captain does indeed have authority to marry a couple. Babbington does say it is in his manual “after the burial service”, so I guess we could check. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-are-ships-captains-allowed-to-marry-people-at-sea/588307/69 "2019-05-15T22:27:42Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Well, it’s a pretty small data set, after all. He only did it once, that we know of. It’s a null set, in fact, they don’t even finish the ceremony. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-are-ships-captains-allowed-to-marry-people-at-sea/588307/70 "2019-05-16T04:17:41Z")
It’s wrong to insist on a single definite answer to such an ambiguous question. If the question were ‘Will courts of the U.S.A. uphold a marriage by a ship’s captain’ then we’d know the answer, already given up-thread: ‘Unclear; of two cited court cases one upheld the marriage, the other didn’t.’ But the U.S.A. is not the only government or culture in the world. And the 21st century is not the only epoch. Many cultures have ideas about the solemnization of marriage, and sometimes government doesn’t get involved at all. Often _the key issue is whether the couple can morally sleep together_, and NOT, e.g. what boxes they’re legally allowed to check on a Form 1040. In many human cultures the key part of a marriage ceremony is that the wedding be witnessed in a dignified setting by serious witnesses. That such a ceremony at sea can and should be directed by the ship’s captain is too obvious for debate. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-are-ships-captains-allowed-to-marry-people-at-sea/588307/71 "2021-03-27T04:14:59Z")
Bumped. > [@Irishman](#): > > …Your example of Bermuda fits into that category. They have licenses to perform the ceremonies. Probably smart PR for Princess and Bermuda. Here’s more on Cunard captains and Bermuda law: [http://bermudasun.bm/Content/NEWS/Breakaway/Article/Cunard-register-ships-in-Bermuda/24/1307/54833](http://bermudasun.bm/Content/NEWS/Breakaway/Article/Cunard-register-ships-in-Bermuda/24/1307/54833) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-are-ships-captains-allowed-to-marry-people-at-sea/588307.md?page=3)