The Collaborative International Dictionary
Boatswain \Boat"swain\, n. [Boat + swain.]
(Naut.) An officer who has charge of the boats, sails, rigging, colors, anchors, cables, cordage, etc., of a ship, and who also summons the crew, and performs other duties.
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(Zo["o]l.)
The jager gull.
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The tropic bird.
Boatswain's mate, an assistant of the boatswain.
--Totten.
Wikipedia
Boatswain's mate is a job classification in navies, coast guards, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and may refer to:
- Boatswain's mate (United States Navy), a job classification in the United States Navy
- Boatswain's mate (US Coast Guard), a job classification in the United States Coast Guard
- Boatswain's mate (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), a job classification in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Bill Bobstay, the "Boatswain's Mate" character in the operetta H.M.S. Pinafore (1878) by Gilbert and Sullivan.
- The Boatswain's Mate, a one-act opera by Ethel Smyth
- Boatswain's mate (German language Bootsmannsmaat), a historical military naval rank (OR4/OR6) in Austria, Germany, and Russia.
The United States Navy occupational rating of boatswain's mate (abbreviated as BM) is a designation given by the Bureau of Naval Personnel (BUPERS) to enlisted members who are rated or "striking" for the rating as a deck seaman. The colloquial form of address for a boatswain's mate is 'Boats'. The rating of Boatswain's Mate dates from the American Revolutionary War and is one of the oldest U.S. Navy rates still in continuous existence.
The most versatile member of the Coast Guard's operational team is the boatswain's mate (BM). Boatswain's mates are masters of seamanship. BMs are capable of performing almost any task in connection with deck maintenance, small boat operations, navigation, and supervising all personnel assigned to a ship's deck force. BMs have a general knowledge of ropes and cables, including different uses, stresses, strains, and proper stowing. BMs operate hoists, cranes, and winches to load cargo or set gangplanks, and stand watch for security, navigation or communications.
Usage examples of "boatswain's mate".
As Herrick peered down at the jolly boat as it bobbed and curtsied at the chains, he saw a boatswain's mate and two seamen struggling to fit the surgeon into a bowline to assist his passage up the side.
A boatswain's mate forward was starting one of the hands with the foretop-sail clew-line, something altogether too thick to be used for that purpose.
Senior Chief Hayes asked his number one, Boatswain's Mate First Class Ralston.
The midshipman received his orders, and touched his hat, which he gave to the head boatswain's mate, who touched his hat, and then the calls whistled cheerily.
He had never known an ache or a pain in his life save those inflicted by some boatswain's mate with a cat-o'-nine-tails.
I thought a moment, and then I called the boatswain's mate to pipe all hands to bathe.
It had struck quivering in the deck within feet of Packwood, a boatswain's mate.