![]() | ||
A cabin boy or ship's boy is a boy (in the sense of low-ranking young male employee, not always a minor in the juridical sense) who waits on the officers and passengers of a ship, especially running errands for the captain.
Contents
Duties
Cabin boys were usually 14–16 years old and also helped the cook in the ship's kitchen and carried buckets of food from the ship's kitchen to the forecastle where the ordinary seamen ate. They would have to run from one end of the ship to the other carrying messages and become familiar with the sails, lines and ropes and the use of each in all sorts of weather. They would have to scramble up the rigging into the yards whenever the sails had to be trimmed. They would even begin to stand watch like other crewmen or act as helmsman in good weather, holding the wheel to keep the ship steady on her course.
Royal Navy officers
Several prominent British Royal Navy officers began their career as cabin boys. The list includes officers that achieved an admiralty rank before 1801.
Lord Admiral Nelson Admiral of the Fleet Sir William Parker, 1st Baronet of Shenstone Admiral of the Fleet Sir Cloudsley Shovell Admiral Sir Francis Drake Admiral Sir John Hawkins Admiral (General) Richard Deane Admiral (Colonel) William Rainsborough Admiral Sir William Penn Vice Admiral Sir William Batten Vice Admiral Sir John Lawson Vice Admiral (Captain) Badilow Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Tiddeman Vice Admiral (Captain) James Peacock Vice Admiral (Captain) William Goodson Vice Admiral Sir Christopher Myngs Vice Admiral Sir John Harman Rear Admiral Sir John Berry Rear Admiral Sir Richard Stainer Rear Admiral (Captain) Anthony Houlding Rear Admiral (Captain) Deacons Rear Admiral (Captain) Robert Sansum