While working on tall ships as scientist, I am always intrigued by the roles of professional crew on board. Here is what I’ve learned about bosuns …
A boatswain (or bosun) on a ship is in charge of the deck department and responsible for all aspects of upkeep and maintenance above deck and the ship’s hull. Over the years, I have seen various bosuns on Pelican of London initiate, carry out, oversee or manage all sorts of tasks:
- check, repair or replace parts of the rigging and ropes
- take down old and rig new sails
- repair sails and recover usable canvas from old sails
- maintain, repair and cox the RIB (rigid inflatable boat)
- fight rust, chip and paint
- sand and scrape grime and old varnish of the woodwork and apply oil
- recover tins and pots useful for painting and greasing
- train, teach and guide bosun’s mates, volunteer crew, voyage crew
- manage cleaning of decks and superstructures
- request spares and consumables
- organise ship’s laundry and cleaning materials
- check and maintain the climbing harnesses
- coordinate with the first mate and work down the scheduled maintenance list
- help out the scientist on board with rope, shackles, tools, driving the RIB and general problem solving.
Clockwise from top left: Pete explaining the workings of the spanker, Sevastian overseeing a RIB recovery, Pete passing on sail mending skills, bosun on the corse yard, Elisa teaching ‘sweat and tail’, Jo and Jakob maintaining the RIB, Jakob teaching knots, the old t’gallant sail on deck, Jo driving the RIB.
Naturally, I am especially interested in the role a bosun plays in improving the sustainability of running the ship. When Elisa took apart the old royal (the square sail on the top of Pelican’s main mast) on a voyage in 2022, I decided to take some footage and pictures of bosun’s activities, which Yasmin spliced together with additional material to create this video, now posted on the Seas Your Future LinkedIn site.
Captain Ben Wheatley told me more about bosuns. First, a bosun is at one with the ship, so much so that traditionally, a bosun would be involved with a ship from its construction and it was not unusual for him (at the time they were all male) to stay with the ship even when it changed hands. Second, being a bosun is more of an art than a science, as the work is all about extending the use of all items on board above deck. This preventative maintenance requires having eyes and ears everywhere and a ‘feel’ for the ship and what’s required as a result of constant wear and tear.
Regarding aspects of sustainability, Ben is a fount of information, too:
Bosuns are in charge of the ‘paint locker’ that contains all sorts of chemicals to treat rust (phosphoric acid), as well as commercial primer and paints. On Pelican, heavy duty, commercial products are used that could not be deemed environmentally friendly at this point.
On the other hand, some positive steps to more sustainable materials are underway. For example, woodwork on deck used to be varnished, but over the last couple of years, the varnish has been removed item-by-item from wooden handrails, blocks, pins and pin rails and replaced with linseed oil.
Other natural products in the bosun’s store include tallow, beef fat used as lubricant on rigging, for example where leather slides across wood or steel on the jaws of the gaff. Equally, Stockholm Tar is a by-product of charcoal manufacture and is combined with boiled linseed oil to produce the blackening mix for the rigging that stops parcelling and servings from rotting.
Currently, it is not feasible to use natural fibre ropes on Pelican, as they are much more expensive than lines made from man-made fibre, which also last much longer, therefore cutting down on (wo)manpower required to maintain and replace them. However, perhaps it will be possible to use rope made from recycled materials on Pelican. To minimise the amount of synthetic fibres and paint chips being washed into the ocean, the decks are swept before each deck scrub.
The bosuns on Pelican are also continuously seeking to improve the sustainability and biodegradability of cleaning products used on board. This includes the introduction of durable cleaning cloths, scrubbing brushes with natural bristles and biodegradable laundry soap. With respect to disinfection and effective washing-up liquid, they are still on the look-out and much else can be improved still…
Clockwise from top left: Janice and Jakob recovering fender material for new uses, Emily removing varnish from woodwork, Saul driving the RIB for instrument recovery, Sevastian supporting instrument deployment, Josh tackling rust on a hose joint, Jakob preparing metal jerrycans for repainting, Elisa recovering canvas from an old sail.
On a personal note, I’d like to say that all the bosuns and bosun’s mates I’ve encountered on Pelican were superstars, each in their own way, when it comes to sail training and supporting the STEM education on board. Always there to help and often a good laugh, too. I owe them gratitude, especially Connor, Janice, Sevastian, Jo, Jakob, Elisa, Saul, Josh and of course the first bosun I encountered on board, mean Pete (with his legendary instruction for sweat and tail: “hang your a***s“) .
Picture Credits: unless stated otherwise (c) C Braungardt 2019 – 2023.
Bosuns
Janice
&
Connor
(picture
credit:
Yasmin
Deter)
Picture Credits: unless stated otherwise (c) C Braungardt 2019 – 2023.
Challenging Habitat 