The boatswain would also be in charge of the rigging while the ship was in dock. Originally, on board sailing ships, the boatswain was in charge of a ship's anchors, cordage, colours, deck crew and the ship's boats. Effective boatswains are able to integrate their seafarer skills into supervising and communicating with members of deck crew with often diverse backgrounds. Moreover, a boatswain may be called upon to lead firefighting efforts or other emergency procedures encountered on board. The boatswain typically operates the ship's windlasses when letting go and heaving up anchors. The boatswain is well versed in the care and handling of lines, and has knowledge of knots, hitches, bends, whipping, and splices as needed to perform tasks such as mooring a vessel. Ī boatswain's skills may include cargo rigging, winch operations, deck maintenance, working aloft, and other duties required during deck operations. These duties can include cleaning, painting, and maintaining the vessel's hull, superstructure and deck equipment as well as executing a formal preventive maintenance program. 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. As work is completed, the boatswain checks on completed work for compliance with approved operating procedures. Īs deck crew foreman, the boatswain plans the day's work and assigns tasks to the deck crew. The boatswain is distinguished from other able seamen by the supervisory roles: planning, scheduling, and assigning work. A boatswain must be highly skilled in all matters of marlinespike seamanship required for working on deck of a seagoing vessel. Sometimes, the boatswain is also a third or fourth mate. The boatswain works in a ship's deck department as the foreman of the unlicensed (crew members without a mate's licence) deck crew. Job description Boatswain of Felix von Luckners yacht Seeteufel, smoking a pipe and hosing the vessel's deck 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. The rank of cadet boatswain, in some schools, is the second highest rank in the combined cadet force naval section that a cadet can attain, below the rank of coxswain and above the rank of leading hand. However, most RN vessels still have a Chief Boatswain's Mate (or "Buffer"), who is the most senior rating in the Seaman Specialist department. The Royal Navy's last official boatswain, Commander E.W. The boatswain was the officer responsible for the care of the rigging, cordage, anchors, sails, boats, flags and other stores. They maintained and sailed the ships and were the standing officers of the navy. Later these officers were warranted by the British Admiralty. 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, and cook. The rank of boatswain is the oldest rank in the Royal Navy, and its origins can be traced back to the year 1040. 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. Directly translated to modern Norwegian it would be båtsvenn, while the actual crew title in Norwegian is båtsmann (" boats-man"). It is derived from late Old English batswegen, from bat ( boat) concatenated with Old Norse sveinn ( swain), meaning a young man, apprentice, a follower, retainer or servant. The word boatswain has been in the English language since approximately 1450. Additional duties vary depending upon ship, crew, and circumstances. The boatswain supervises the other members of the ship's deck department, and typically is not a watchstander, except on vessels with small crews. The boatswain aboard a US merchant ship stands cargo watch as freight is lowered into an open hatch, c.1981Ī boatswain ( / ˈ b oʊ s ən/ BOH-sən, formerly and dialectally also / ˈ b oʊ t s w eɪ n/ BOHT-swayn), 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 of the deck department and is responsible for the components of a ship's hull.
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