In the
Royal Navy, the captain of the port was the officer, usually with the rank of
captain, responsible for the day-to-day running of a
Naval Dockyard under the authority of the
admiral-superintendent. He usually also held the position of
Queen's or King's harbourmaster and was directly responsible for the captain's department, which among other things operated the
yard craft. From the 1650s until the mid-nineteenth century, the position was known as
master attendant, and ranked immediately below that of Navy Commissioner. Occupants of the office were required to be "skilful in all affairs requisite in the looking after, equipping and setting out of State ships", for which they initially received an annual wage of between £90 and £100 plus accommodation. The office was often combined with that of harbourmaster, and existed until the second half of the 19th century, when occupants (in common with Royal Naval
masters) began to be commissioned with the rank of staff captain. From the early twentieth century, the equivalent appointment became
staff captain (dockyard), then
captain of the dockyard, and finally captain of the port from 1969. ==United States==