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,[1] especially running errands for the captain. The modern
merchant navy successor to the cabin boy is the
steward's assistant.
Duties
Cabin boys were usually 13–16 years old, but sometimes as young as 8,[2] 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 scramble up the rigging into the yards whenever the sails had to be trimmed. They would occasionally stand watch like other crewmen or act as helmsman in good weather, holding the wheel to keep the ship steady on her course. They could be found on pirate ships sometimes.
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.
Matthew Henson, cabin boy at the age of 12. Went on to accompany Robert Peary in his Arctic explorations. Allegedly the first person to reach the North Pole.
Thomas Nickerson, cabin boy on the Essex who later wrote about the shipwreck and subsequent three months of survival at sea.
Frederick Pabst, cabin boy at the age of 14 and Great Lakes Captain at 21. Later became an American brewing pioneer and led Pabst Brewing Company into prominence in the late 1800s.
John H. Paynter, cabin boy who enlisted in 1884, later became a real estate developer and writer of poetry and nonfiction, including the acclaimed Fugitive of the Pearl (1930).
John Ward Westcott, cabin boy at the age of 13 and a
Great Lakes captain at 20. He developed a special vessel mail system.
"Cabin Boy" a song by Tom Robinson from the 1984/1997 Castaway Northwest CNWVP006 album War Baby.
Captain Pugwash, a British television children's animated series about a hapless captain and his crew; Tom, the cabin boy, is depicted as the most intelligent member of the crew.
Treasure Island, where the main character Jim serves as a cabin boy on the board the ship the Hispaniola.