Daily AncestorLandsman
Landsman was the lowest rating in the 19th-century U.S. Navy, given to new recruits with little or no sea experience who did unskilled work aboard ship.
The rating existed in the U.S. Navy from 1838 to 1921. A landsman who gained three years' experience or reenlisted could be promoted to ordinary seaman.
In the Civil War navy, Black sailors, including escaped slaves, were generally rated and paid at the lowest levels, and several landsmen won the Medal of Honor. In navy records and pension files the word marks a man's rating, not where he came from.
As seen in a recordNavy rendezvous report, Civil War
Enlisted as Landsman, Jan. 5, 1863, at New York, for 1 year
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Daily Ancestor. "Landsman." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/military/landsman. Last checked 2026-10-03.