1. the bosun and his deckhands is like a
foreman and his gang. Traditionally, the First
Mate and Bosun
run the
decks. The Bosun must be able to
8C like mad; he must be a
leader and driver of men without being vicious. He should be an expert seaman, exceedingly well versed in ropes and their
use. The Bosun's
store is his domain. Here he keeps his ropes, tackle, shackles, blocks; he knows where the water measuring rods are, where the
tools are, he sees they are
returned at the end of each working
day cleaned and in good
condition. He sees to the
landing and retrieving of
boats, the
handling of
cargo, the
condition of
rigging and fenders -all the working
rig of the
decks. The bosun is the kind of
man that when there is something tricky to be done, or some
emergency, you immediately "
send for the Bosun." He is a seaman's seaman; a
jack-of-all-trades and
master of all of them.
(Ship's Org Bk.) 2. officer or seaman responsible for the
supervision and
maintenance of a
ship's
boats, ropes and
decks.
(FO 2674) 3. Boatswain.
(FO 87)