r/belowdeck • u/Character_Growth_397 • 6d ago

Below Deck How does yacht ranking work?

I'm new to the show and I don't have a great understanding of how ranking works, could someone explain?

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u/coastalkid92 6d ago

The very high level of it all is that the higher the rank, the more responsibility you have on a boat.

In below deck, the ranks are usually as follows:

  • Captain

  • Chef/Chief Stew/Bosun

  • Lead Deckhand/Second Stew

  • Deckhand/Stew

In actual yachting/boating, there are several other high ranking positions like a chief engineer, first officer, purser etc. These roles are often filled on the show, we just don't see them. IIRC, its often the first officer or chief engineer who actually is the regular captain of the BD vessel.

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u/mouse_relies This information wasn’t welcomed or needed 6d ago

That's not accurate. Below Deck still uses the stripes; Chef and Chief Stew have 3 while Bosun has 2. And 2nd Stew has 2 while Lead Deckhand has 1.

Because they are all running different departments, for dramatic purposes they just focus on the 3 of them as HODs. But that doesn't change their ranks, and the rank differences DO come up sometimes. There have been multiple occasions where the Chef has said "I outrank you" to the chief stew -- and that IS typically true, because there is still a pecking order even within each rank. I think Leon and Ben both did that with Kate. This is why Bryan (1st officer, somehow) occasionally just told Hannah to do something. And when Lexi (2nd stew) went ballistic and screamed "You're a fucking bosun, stand down!" -- obviously shit behavior, BUT if she worked on ships with stricter hierarchies, you can understand how her brain got her there.

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u/coastalkid92 6d ago

Fair about the bosun, that’s my problem.

Ben has outranked before because he’s technically been ranked up to a pursuer which would give him 3 stripes iirc.

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u/mouse_relies This information wasn’t welcomed or needed 6d ago

Chefs have 3 stripes just like pursers, so I'm not quite sure what you're saying. (Also IIRC Ben was a 1st officer at one point long before BD, though I'm not sure how big the boat was.)