Heavy Responsibility

Boatswain, or “Bosun” and “Boats” as they are known in the Navy form the core of Navy ships manpower. These hardworking Sailors are known for keeping the ship in shape from top to bottom and was the original “Rate” or job from which all others diverged as they became more specialized. These crew members are still known for taking care of the overall ship from top to bottom and performing many of the crucial tasks to put and keep a ship underway.

Video by: Tech. Sgt Jared Whitecar

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Transcript

(Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Shelby Eby) I guess you would say that we’re kind of the heart of the Navy, the foundation that started with all of the rates. Boatswain’s mate derives from the inception of sailing in general. Everything that’s trickled down in the Navy has come from boatswain’s mate. We’re pretty much are in charge overall of how the ship looks, how it runs, driving it. We get it where it needs to go. These guys get so excited because you’ve got to think they’re coming in 18, 19, 20 years old, and they’re driving this multibillion dollar craft. Hundreds or thousands of people, and you’ve got all of their lives literally in your hands.

(Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Christopher Williams) Conning officer, port engine stop.

(Conning Officer) Very well.

(Williams) Kind of intimidating, ’cause you have this 684-foot ship that you’re about to steer with, like, this six-inch wheel. Yea this is the uh, we call it the trick wheel. It seemed like at any moment you could just turn the wheel the wrong way and you’d be crashing into something. You just get used to it, really. Uh you start to become more comfortable. Uh, more confident in your abilities and skills. Once you’re “Boats enough” — that’s our shorthand. You often go around the ship and people say, “What’s up, Boats?” So once you become Boats enough, then you can get the crossed anchors on your hand.

(Eby) Boatswain mates would get scars on their hands right here from the line running out. So they started a tradition that to go over your scars based on which side of the coast you were on. You would go with your LPO or your chief, and you would get a set of crossed anchors to cover that scar.

(Williams) Long hours, hard work, it’s the life of the boatswain’s mate.

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