Some of the most beautiful antebellum mansions in the port city near me were built a hundred years ago by ship captains. They were the very cream of society in the 1800's.
Now, my uncle is a ship captain in the Gulf of Mexico. At the age of 55 he makes about $70,000 U.S. a year - which happens to be the median income of the U.S.
It's the Law of Entropy, applied to career earnings. Nothing we can do, I guess... go to law school and learn to sue people if you want to make a killing.....