The term has been in use in England dating back to at least 1463. This widely used term has its origins in the document issued to a ship showing that the port it sailed from suffered from no epidemic or infection at the time of departure.Ī coxswain or cockswain was at first the swain (boy servant) in charge of the small cock or cockboat that was kept aboard for the ship's captain and which was used to row him to and from the ship. The ship's crew then started referring to the stack as the "Charley Noble." It seems that Captain Noble, discovering that the stack of his ship's galley was made of copper, ordered that it be kept bright. Bright it should be and work it is.Ĭharlie Noble is an "it," not a "he." A British merchant service captain, Charles Noble, is said to be responsible for the origin, about 1850, of this nickname for the galley smokestack. These recruits trained in "boot" camps.īrightwork originally referred to polished metal objects, and bright woodwork to wood which was kept scraped and scrubbed, especially topside. The list was kept at the binnacle.ĭuring the Spanish-American War, Sailors wore leggings called boots, which came to mean a Navy (or Marine) recruit. In the eighteenth century and probably before, a list was given to the officer or mate of the watch, containing the names of men unable to report for duty. A binnacle was the stand on which the ship's compass was mounted. The term is also used more generally to describe seamen as compared with officers, in phrases such as "he sailed before the mast."Ī ship's sick-list. Literally, the position of the crew whose living quarters on board were in the forecastle (the section of a ship forward of the foremast).
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