CAPTAIN of a Ship of War, the officer who commands a ship of the line or a frigate carrying twenty or more cannon. The charge of a captain in his majesty's navy is very comprehensive, in as much as he is not only answerable for any bad conduct in the military government, navigation, and equipment of the ship he commands, but also for any neglect of duty or ill management in his inferior officers, whose several charges he is appointed to superintend and regulate. See NAVY.