RE Grievances: Silence/freedom cuts both ways. Labour can't complain, but an overbearing or fanatical management can't preach either. One person's disenfranchisement is another's protection.

And if the sailor's complanyt is the house's out-of-tune fiddler, we're going around in circles.

RE Labour: Ships are a business. The bigger and more complex they get, the more specialized the labour force. The larger ship's 'company' might be a different social class than the 'crew' &c. Smaller vessels or different rigs got by on less. eg: Little of what you'll read online would apply to the 19th century Bermuda sloops.

The few individual fifers I'm aware of (all Americans) were not professional musicians outside naval service. And it seems it wasn't usual for an American naval officer to have a personal fifer on staff.