A boatswain ( , ), bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun, also known as a deck boss, or a qualified member of the deck department, is the most senior
rate
Rate or rates may refer to:
Finance
* Rates (tax), a type of taxation system in the United Kingdom used to fund local government
* Exchange rate, rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another
Mathematics and science
* Rate (mathema ...
of the
deck department
The deck department is an organisational team on board naval and merchant ships. The department and its manning requirements, including the responsibilities of each rank are regulated within the STCW Convention, applicable only to the merchant fl ...
and is responsible for the components of a ship's
hull
Hull may refer to:
Structures
* Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle
* Fuselage, of an aircraft
* Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds
* Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship
* Submarine hull
Mathematics
* Affine hull, in affi ...
. The boatswain supervises the other members of the ship's deck department, and typically is not a
watchstander
An able seaman (AB) is a seaman and member of the deck department of a merchant ship with more than two years' experience at sea and considered "well acquainted with his duty". An AB may work as a watchstander, a day worker, or a combination o ...
, except on vessels with small crews. Additional duties vary depending upon ship, crew, and circumstances.
History
The word ''boatswain'' has been in the English language since approximately 1450. It is derived from late
Old English ''batswegen'', from ''bat'' (''boat'') concatenated with
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
''sveinn'' (''
swain
Swain, Swains or Swain's may refer to:
Places
* Swain Islands, Antarctica
* Swain's Island (Newfoundland and Labrador), Canada
* Swains Island, an atoll in the Tokelau chain, American Samoa
* Swain County, North Carolina, United States
* Swains ...
''), meaning a young man, apprentice, a follower,
retainer or
servant
A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...
. Directly translated to modern Norwegian it would be ''båtsvenn'', while the actual crew title in Norwegian is ''båtsmann'' ("''boats-man''"). While the phonetic spelling ''bosun'' is reported as having been observed since 1868,
this latter spelling was used in Shakespeare's ''
The Tempest'' written in 1611, and as ''bos'n'' in later editions.
Royal Navy
The rank of boatswain is the oldest rank in the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...
, and its origins can be traced back to the year 1040.
In that year, when
five English ports began furnishing warships to
King Edward the Confessor in exchange for certain privileges, they also furnished crews whose officers were the
master, boatswain,
carpenter
Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters tra ...
, and
cook.
Later these officers were
warranted by the
British Admiralty. They maintained and sailed the ships and were the
standing officers of the navy.
The boatswain was the officer responsible for the care of the rigging, cordage, anchors, sails, boats, flags and other stores.
The Royal Navy's last official boatswain, Commander E.W. Andrew
OBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
, retired in 1990.
However, most RN vessels still have a Chief Boatswain's Mate (or "Buffer"), who is the most senior rating in the Seaman Specialist department.
Naval cadets
The rank of cadet boatswain, in some schools, is the second highest rank in the
combined cadet force
The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is a youth organisation in the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), which operates in schools, and normally includes Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force sections. Its aim is to "provide a ...
naval section that a cadet can attain, below the rank of
coxswain
The coxswain ( , or ) is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from ''cock'', referring to the cockboat, a type of ship's boa ...
and above the rank of leading hand. It is equivalent to the rank of colour sergeant in the army and the royal marines cadets; it is sometimes an appointment for a senior petty officer to assist a coxswain.
Job description
The boatswain works in a ship's deck department as the foreman of the unlicensed (crew members without a
mate's licence) deck crew. Sometimes, the boatswain is also a
third or fourth mate.
A boatswain must be highly skilled in all matters of
marlinespike seamanship
Ropework or marlinespike seamanship are traditional umbrella terms for a skillset spanning the use, maintenance, and repair of rope. Included are tying knots, splicing, making lashings, whippings, and proper use and storage of rope.
While t ...
required for working on deck of a seagoing vessel. The boatswain is distinguished from other able seamen by the supervisory roles: planning, scheduling, and assigning work.
As deck crew foreman, the boatswain plans the day's work and assigns tasks to the deck crew. As work is completed, the boatswain checks on completed work for compliance with approved operating procedures.
[Oregon University System, 2004]
Outside the supervisory role, the boatswain regularly inspects the vessel and performs a variety of routine, skilled, and semi-skilled duties to maintain all areas of the ship not maintained by the
engine department. These duties can include cleaning, painting, and maintaining the vessel's hull, superstructure and deck equipment as well as executing a formal
preventive maintenance
The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure, and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installa ...
program.
A boatswain's skills may include cargo rigging, winch operations, deck maintenance, working aloft, and other duties required during deck operations. The boatswain is well versed in the care and handling of lines, and has knowledge of
knot
A knot is an intentional complication in Rope, cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. Practical knots are classified by function, including List of hitch knots, hitches, List of bend knots, bends, List of loop knots, loop knots, ...
s, hitches, bends, whipping, and splices as needed to perform tasks such as mooring a vessel. The boatswain typically operates the ship's
windlasses when letting go and heaving up anchors. Moreover, a boatswain may be called upon to lead firefighting efforts or other emergency procedures encountered on board. Effective boatswains are able to integrate their seafarer skills into supervising and communicating with members of deck crew with often diverse backgrounds.
Originally, on board
sailing ship
A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing square-rigged or fore-and-aft sails. Some ships ...
s the boatswain was in charge of a ship's
anchor
An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ...
s,
cordage
Cordage may refer to:
* Rigging, cords and ropes attached to masts and sails on a ship or boat
* Rope, yarns, plies or strands twisted or braided together into a larger form
See also
* String (disambiguation)
* Cord (disambiguation)
Cord or ...
,
colours, deck
crew
A crew is a body or a class of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchical organization. A location in which a crew works is called a crewyard or a workyard. The word has nautical resonances: the tasks involved ...
and the ship's boats. The boatswain would also be in charge of the
rigging
Rigging comprises the system of ropes, cables and chains, which support a sailing ship or sail boat's masts—''standing rigging'', including shrouds and stays—and which adjust the position of the vessel's sails and spars to which they ar ...
while the ship was in
dock. The boatswain's technical tasks were modernised with the advent of steam engines and subsequent mechanisation.
A boatswain also is responsible for doing routine pipes using what is called a
boatswain's call. There are specific sounds which can be made with the pipe to indicate various events, such as emergency situations or notifications of meal time.
Notable boatswains
A number of boatswains and naval boatswains mates have achieved fame.
Reuben James and
William Wiley are famous for their heroism in the
Barbary Wars
The Barbary Wars were a series of two wars fought by the United States, Sweden, and the Kingdom of Sicily against the Barbary states (including Tunis, Algiers, and Tripoli) of North Africa in the early 19th century. Sweden had been at war wi ...
and are namesakes of the ships
USS ''Reuben James'' and
USS ''Wiley''.
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor ...
recipients
Francis P. Hammerberg and
George Robert Cholister were U.S. Navy boatswain's mates, as was
Navy Cross
The Navy Cross is the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps' second-highest military decoration awarded for sailors and marines who distinguish themselves for extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force. The medal is eq ...
recipient
Stephen Bass
The Battle of Qala-i-Jangi (sometimes also referred to as the "Battle of Mazar-i-Sharif") was a six-day military engagement following an uprising of prisoners-of-war on November 25, 2001. The battle took place between November 25 and December 1 ...
.
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
recipients
John Sheppard,
John Sullivan,
Henry Curtis, and
John Harrison
John Harrison ( – 24 March 1776) was a self-educated English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea.
Harrison's solution revo ...
were Royal Navy boatswain's mates.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
Bosun John Crisp RN is credited in "The Colditz Story" by escapee
Pat Reid as providing, whilst a prisoner of war at
Oflag IV-C, Colditz Castle, the expertise and enthusiasm to manufacture torn and then woven "bedsheet ropes", tested for appropriate strength, using his extensive maritime experience.
There are also a handful of boatswains and boatswain's mates in literature. The boatswain in
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
's ''The Tempest'' is a central character in the opening scene, which takes place aboard a ship at sea, and appears again briefly in the final scene. ''
Typhoon
A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...
'' by
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language; though he did not sp ...
has a nameless boatswain who tells Captain MacWhirr of a "lump" of men going overboard during the peak of the storm. Also, the character Bill Bobstay in
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which '' H.M.S. ...
's musical comedy ''
H.M.S. Pinafore'' is alternatively referred to as a "bos'un" and a "boatswain's mate". Another boatswain from literature is
Smee
Mr. Smee is a fictional character who serves as Captain Hook's boatswain in J. M. Barrie's 1904 play ''Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up'' and 1911 novel ''Peter and Wendy''.
History
Mr. Smee seems an oddly genial man for a pirate; Ba ...
from ''
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...
''.
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...
had a Newfoundland dog named Boatswain.
Byron wrote the famous poem "
Epitaph to a Dog" and had a monument made for him at
Newstead Abbey
Newstead Abbey, in Nottinghamshire, England, was formerly an Augustinian priory. Converted to a domestic home following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it is now best known as the ancestral home of Lord Byron.
Monastic foundation
The prio ...
.
The 1907 naval gothic novel ''
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig"'' by
William Hope Hodgson features the character of the ship's “bo'sun” as an important member of the crew and a personal friend to the narrator.
Billy Bones was a boatswain in the fictional Starz TV show ''
Black Sails''.
Scouting
Quartermaster is the highest rank in the
Sea Scouts, BSA, an older youth (13–21) co-ed programme. The youth can also elect a youth leader, giving that youth the title "boatswain". In the Netherlands, a boatswain (Bootsman) is the patrol leader of a
Sea Scout patrol (Bak); in Flanders, it is the assistant patrol leader of a
Sea Scout patrol
A Scout (in some countries a Boy Scout, Girl Scout, or Pathfinder) is a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split ...
(Kwartier).
See also
*
Boatswain's mate (United States Coast Guard)
*
Boatswain's mate (United States Navy)
*
Bootsmann
*
Bosun's chair
*
Buffer (navy)
*
Deck department
The deck department is an organisational team on board naval and merchant ships. The department and its manning requirements, including the responsibilities of each rank are regulated within the STCW Convention, applicable only to the merchant fl ...
*
Merchant Navy (United Kingdom)
The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom and comprises the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguar ...
*
Seafarer's professions and ranks
*
Serang (disambiguation) Serang is a city in Indonesia.
Serang may also refer to:
*Serang Regency, a regency within Banten Province of Indonesia, and surrounding both Serang city and Cilegon city on their landward sides.
*Seram Island, in Indonesia
*Serang River, a river o ...
*
Ship transport
Maritime transport (or ocean transport) and hydraulic effluvial transport, or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people ( passengers) or goods ( cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by sea has been widely used th ...
*
United States Merchant Marine
United States Merchant Marines are United States civilian mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, an ...
Notes
''This article incorporates text from
public-domain sources, includin
websites. For specific sources of text, see notes.'
References
*
*
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*
*
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External links
*
*
CorPun website on corporal punishments*
{{Merchant Marine Billets
Marine occupations
Nautical terminology
Titles
Naval ranks