Depending on what kind of captain you choose to be Ie. Hunter, you should hire crew oposite of what your captain is Ie. you should hire Craftsman/Sailor/Scientest & so forth if you choose something else.

Before, when playing the game i've gotten to the point that i wanted to buy my next level of ship so i can hold more stuff & crew 6 people/another whaleboat. but upon going to the shipyard to purchese my next ship i found out that i didnt have the Proper skills to buy the ship & the only way to get them is to have certain crew who has the skills or have your captain with the skills. You can always fire your crewmembers to Aquire the proper skills~but you lose -1 prestige for firing a crew member and it takes time sailing port to port finding the correct crew members.

When first hiring crew members there are some things you should know. some crew members will have no traits or a few traits. some traits can be positive ie Funny +5 to all crew moral, Teetotal -100% grog consumption or there are negative ones like Annoying -5 to all crew morale or drunkard +150% grog consumption. try to hire ones with positive traits. Not all negative traits are bad. if you do hire crew with a neg. trait you can try to get rid of the neg. trait with an event that randomly pops up. if they have a pos. trait they can also lose it during a random event that pops up.

But as a captain you can teach your crew members your pos. traits from the random events that pop up while your sailing. Ie. Sailing around hunting for whales or questing there will be a random pop up on your screen where you can teach your crewmember 1 of the 3 options or 4th option if you don't have the traits that they want to learn at the time. If you have [OPENMINDED/STRONG/SMART] you can teach them one of these to give the added trait bonus per event appearance its a granteed succes when teaching them one of your traits. You can learn the crewmembers positive traits by them teaching you there positive traits that they know & you don't Ie. if your crew member has [OLD SEA DOG] while sailing around you will have a random event pop up asking you if you want to learn by his example. Like when you try to teach people your positive traits. This event will be 80% succes rate to beable to learn it. and your crew will also help you get rid of your negative traits if you aquire some this is also done by random events poping up.

After you go sail around doing your quests & your crew levels up to when you will be able to asign them a skill. there are 9 skills in a total of 3 rows for you to select your crew to go down. when you select your skill they will aquire their new skills automatically. At 2nd level you can choose the row they learn/go under. At the 5th level they will automatically aquire the Second skill in that row you choosen. The 2nd skill 5th crew level is the skill you want to work towards. here are the first skill rows to go down when aqiuring or trying to get your 2nd big ship.

You will also need to level up your ship technology to match the requirements on the 2nd ship. When you are wanting to upgrade your ship you need to go to a shipwright. At the shipwright you will see, on the left side of the screen, ships that you can buy and on the right your current ship and below that are 10 ship upgrades. Among them you will start off with hammocks, sails, shelving, lenses, harpoons. There are ones you need to unlock by leveling up your crew to aquire those upgrades. what I described down below this paragraph~ these skills provide you with bonuses when you level them up/unlock the skills ~Ledger: Unlocks captains cabin and gives you a positive % to selling oil/blubber. Hammocks: Unlocks Forecastle, restores crew hp per day. Sails: unlocks quarter deck, gives you a positive % to sailing speed. Shelving: unlocks hold, gives you positive % to cargo space. Stoves: unlocks caboose, gives you positive crew morale. Surgical kit: unlocks sick bay, gives you + hp restored per day. Try Works: unlocks Try-works, gives you %raito from blubber to oil. Lenses: unlocks Crow nest, gives positive % field of view. Harpoons: unlocks harpoons: More Base damamge. Powder: unlocks .32pd cannons Negative % to pirate ship speed. If you level them up you get better benefits from the upgrades. Now how to unlocking the grayed out areas.

Craftsman 1st skills to get~the first row you should go down when this crewmember level up [Butcher] then @ the 5th level your crewmember Aquires Automatically[TRY-WORKS]

Another option to go for in craftsman that will also work other then the one in the above row. both options will work if you choose one or the other

Craftsman 1st skills to get~The first row you should go down when this crewmembers level up [BALANCED RATIONING] then @ the 5th level your crewmembers aquires automatically[CABOOSE]

Hunter 1st skills to get~you can choose whatever skill to go under as the Hunter skill not needed when aquiring your 2nd ship

Scientist 1st skill to get~The first row you should go down when this crewmembers level up [HAVE SOME REST] then @ the 5th level your crewmembers aquires automatically[SICKBAY]

Sailor 1st skill to get~you can choose whatever skill to go under as the Sailor skill not needed when aquiring your 2nd ship

After you have been sailing around and leveling your crew to their 5th level & your crew aquring the skills said in the above parts, you can now sail back to port. Going back to port you will have to upgrade your ship technologies, but only if your crew has the said skills in the above part . Then you will be able to upgrade your ship technologies for free the 1st time then the 2nd level will be for a price. as you aquire your 2nd ship you can now crew more members & another whaleboat but for your 2nd crew you should hire/make their skills into.

You also need to level up your ship technology to match the requirements of the 3rd ship.

Craftsman 2nd skill to get~depending what you have choosen for your first crew member. Your 2nd pick should go down when this crewmember levels up [Butcher] then at the 5th level your crewmember Aquires Automatically[TRY-WORKS]

Depending on your 1st Craftsman skill you choose you should now choose the other option.

Craftsman 2nd skill to get~depending what you have choosen for your 1st crew member. Your 2nd pick should go down when this crewmember levels up [BALANCED RATIONING]then @ the 5th level your crewmembers aquires automatically[CABOOSE]

Hunter 2nd skill to get~ Now is when the Hunter becomes needed. the 2nd pick your hunter should go down when this crewmember levels up [COVERING FIRE] then @ 5th level your crewmembers aquires automatically[CANNON]

Scientist 2nd skill to get~ you can choose whatever skill to go under as the Scientist when trying to Aquire your 3rd ship

Sailor 2nd skill to get~ Now is when the Sailor becomes needed. The 2nd pick your Sailor should go down when this crewmember levels up [BLACK MARKET] then @ 5th level your crewmember aquires automatically[CAPTAINS CABIN]

Now you should be able to get your 3rd biggest ship thats even better then your lasts ones. At this point you can asign the 3rd full crew to whatever you don't have~some things you should also factor is your Captain skills can also be used towards aquiring your ship & you don't want 2 of the same crewmembers to have the same skill It will be useless space & you need to level up your ship technology as well to be able to buy the next level ship it will show you what you need to do when you first look at the ship you want.

I hope this guide helps you, but the choices is entirely up to you.