Boatswain

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"Bosun" redirects here. For other uses, see Boatswain (disambiguation). For the class of subatomic particles, see Boson.

The bosun of a civilian sail-training ship. Click the image for further details.

The bosun on deck of a U.S. freighter exams a cargo hold during cargo operations

A boatswain, often (at least since 1868) phonetically spelled and pronounced bosun, is a warrant officer or petty officer who is foreman of a ship's crew and is sometimes also third or fourth mate.

[edit] History

The word boatswain, recorded in English since the mid fifteenth century, is derived from from late Old English batswegen, from bat ("boat") + Old Norse sveinn ("swain"), meaning a young man, a follower, retainer or servant—compare mate.

Originally, onboard a sailing ship such as a man-of-war or a galleon, the boatswain was in charge of a ship's anchors, cordage, colors, deck crew and the ship's boats, and would also be in charge of the rigging while the ship was in dock; with steam and further mechanisation, the technical tasks have been modernized. It remains his duty to summon the crew to work by a whistle known as boatswain's pipe.

In the Royal Navy, in so far as that task did not fall to the master at arms or to the Marines corporal, he would also administer physical punishments, both informally, usually with his boatswain's cane on the boys or with a rope's end on the adult sailors, either on an officer's instructions or at his own accord, and formally on deck on captain's or court martial's orders, usually birching or wielding the cat o' nine tails; in a large crew he could delegate this to one or more boatswain's mate(s), who might alternate after each dozen of lashes.

Onboard U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard vessels, boatswain's mates comprise and lead the deck department. Whereas, onboard merchant vessels, the boatswain is the foreman of the crew, and is sometimes also the third or fourth mate.

In the realm of literature, among the more famous boatswain characters is Bill Bobstay, the "bos'un" in Gilbert and Sullivan's musical comedy, H.M.S. Pinafore which premiered in London in 1878. Another is Smee from Peter Pan.Lord Byron's newfoundland dog was called Boatswain, he famously nursed him through to his death despite the dog having rabies. Byron had a monument made at his home in Newstead Abbey which is said to be larger than his own.

By tradition and superstition, only the boatswain is allowed to whistle while on board, lest an unwitting sailor "whistle up the wind". Hence the phrase, "Only fools and boatswains..."

The word bosun also refers to a type of dinghy.

A boatswain's chair is a type of harness that allows a crewmember (called a rigging monkey) to climb into the rigging and work on the sails or halyards safely. The boatswain's chair was tied off to an available halyard, which is tended by another crewmember as the work is completed, ensuring that any misstep by the rigging monkey does not result in a fall to the decks of the boat.

Compare: Bootsmann