Daily AncestorBoatswain
A boatswain, pronounced bosun, was the ship's petty officer in charge of the deck crew, rigging, anchors and cables.
The word has been in English since about 1450 and comes from boat plus swain, a young man or servant. The phonetic spelling bosun has been seen since 1868.
On a sailing ship the boatswain was the officer in charge of the sails, rigging, anchors, cables and all work on deck; on a merchant ship he was the petty officer who directed the other seamen. In the Royal Navy it is the oldest rank.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1850 to 1900 census
Ole Thorvik, 40, Boatswain, Norway
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Daily Ancestor. "Boatswain." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/boatswain. Last checked 2026-10-12.