First the
bos'n estimates manpower and time required to perform the emergency repairs, then the air boss checks schedules to find the optimum time.
There was concern about the wind, which came whipping up the Lynn Canal and had the dangling
bos'n chair swinging alarmingly on its ropes.
This
bos'n, who is responsible for the smooth functioning of deck operations, gets up an hour early each day just to think about the kind of environment he will create on the deck that day, given the schedule of operations.
He edited several play anthologies and wrote or compiled many books about the sea and sea songs, among them Iron Men and Wooden Ships (1924), American Sea Songs and Chanties (1948), The
Bos'n's Locker (1949), and The Ships Flying (1953).
Ron Rancourt served on board USS George Washington as the air
bos'n for nearly four years, completing two work-up cycles and two deployments.
Simply walk right up to the bow on any of these ships and chat with the
bos'n who is standing by.
And this is a real pity, because, in the twenty-odd years since, much linguistic energy has been wasted by non-Italian scholars on the discussion of the names "Gian' Battista," "Fidanza" and, partic ularly, of the term nostromo, variously interpreted as "
bos'n," or "our man," "nuestro amo," and even as "mare nostrum," and "cosa nostra."
