So they're living in sin!

Watched "The African Queen" the other day - great film, but there comes a point where Charlie and Rosie are about to be executed as spies and they ask the Captain of the German ship they're on to marry them - which he does, and then delivers the priceless line "I pronounce you man and wife - proceed with the execution".So what?  Well, the idea that the Captain of a ship is ex officio authorised to marry people is a myth, albeit a widespread one.  It probably has its origins in the early days of sail, when ships could be at sea for months at a time.  As has been mentioned before in these pages, prior to 1753 there were no rules about how you got married and I'm sure back then ships' Captains did perform marriage ceremonies on board, and if challenged such marriages would almost certainly have been declared valid, assuming there was no suggestion of duress, but since that date you have to be authorised to perform a marriage ceremony and ships' Captains aren't, and as this takes place in 1914...