Boatswain (Civilian)

Position Description

In Earth's history boatswains (pronounced: Bosun, it's also spelled this way on occasion) have worked in a ship's deck department as the foremen of the unlicensed deck crew. The Bosun is distinguished from other deck crew by the supervisory roles: planning, scheduling, and assigning work. Outside the supervisory role, the boatswain regularly inspects the vessel and performs a variety of routine, skilled, and semi-skilled duties to maintain all areas of the ship not maintained by the engineering department. These duties can include cleaning, painting, and maintaining the vessel's hull, superstructure and deck equipment as well as executing a formal preventive maintenance program. Moreover, a boatswain may be called upon to lead fire fighting efforts or other emergency procedures encountered in the inherently dangerous environment of a starship. Effective boatswains are able to integrate their seafarer skills into supervising and communicating with members of deck crew with often diverse backgrounds. The Boatswain usually works closely with the Captain and the First Mate and is often considered third in line of command and part of the command team.

Where to Play

• Civillian Ships
• Civillian Facilities

Character Development Ideas

• The Boatswain guides and trains the Deck Hands. Some might need more training than others, more motivation, some need a fire lit under their behinds.
• It's the Bosun's duty to make sure the ship is clean and representable, during travel they can easily repaint the corridors (though the hull would be slightly more challenging) for example.

Other Resources

Content...(Several links with short descriptions that give the player help playing a civilian character in general as well as playing in this specific position)