Able Seaman or Able Bodied Seaman

AB, Able Seaman or Able Bodied Seaman, which is it?

Never thought about it. I always say “Able Seaman”, but when I think of the abbreviation AB I’ve always understood that the full term is “Able-Bodied Seaman”

Able Seaman.

The abbreviation AB came about as a method to avoid confusion with OS.

Most seaman considered able-bodied would be better served knowing the difference of Ms, Miss, and Mrs.

Look on your MMC. The endorsement reads: “Able Seaman”. There may other verbiage such as, “Special”, Any Waters - Unlimited, Limited, etc. The term in our country comes from the British tradition dating back to the 18th century on sailing ships where the rating was used to differentiate an “Able Seaman” as one “…who knew the ropes” i.e. the complex rigging on a sailing ship of the day as opposed to a relatively inexperienced “Ordinary Seaman”. In my forty years of sailing the only difference in the duties of a competent Ordinary Seaman and an Able Seaman were that only an Able Seaman could steer in Pilot Waters and could go aloft. Anyone who uses the term Able Bodied Seaman, including many marine personnel offices, is a maritime moron.

I have seen some old tall ship recruitment posters, calling all Able Bodied Seaman.
MMD refers to Able Seaman, OSV, Special, Unlimited, MODU specifically

IMO, Able Bodied Seaman is a throwback to maritime nostalgia

[QUOTE=XpatBubba;168056]I have seen some old tall ship recruitment posters, calling all Able Bodied Seaman.
MMD refers to Able Seaman, OSV, Special, Unlimited, MODU specifically

IMO, Able Bodied Seaman is a throwback to maritime nostalgia[/QUOTE]

I used to have a nice reprint of a flyer from the 1830s looking for ‘able-bodied’ seamen for a clipper ship departing boston for san francisco.

I have wondered why the abbreviation is AB instead of AS…

[QUOTE=Ctony;168060]I used to have a nice reprint of a flyer from the 1830s looking for ‘able-bodied’ seamen for a clipper ship departing boston for san francisco.

I have wondered why the abbreviation is AB instead of AS…[/QUOTE]

Maybe there were unable body seamen back then. There are still a few unable seaman around. Then again that ship was going to San Francisco so having a certain number of able bodied sea men upon arrival might have been in the contract.

You must mean 1850s, the town/city did not exist, I believe a small village called Yerba Bueno existed there.

[QUOTE=awulfclark;168044]Able Seaman.

The abbreviation AB came about as a method to avoid confusion with OS.[/QUOTE]

This is what I have been told as well. When seaman were signed on the hand written “AS”, especially if written lower case could be eaily confused with “os” To avoid confusion the abbreviation “AB” came into use instead.

Also “able-bodied” doesn’t really make sense, being able-bodied could apply to either AB and OS.

However before becoming ascold, by dictionary “able-bodied seaman” is correct as “informal” due to it’s wide spread use (or misuse).

Perhaps the abbreviation AS will return when the gender-neutral “Able Seafarer” comes into use.

An advertisement looking for able-bodied seamen could simply be referring to the condition of health.

[QUOTE=Left Coast;168064]You must mean 1850s, the town/city did not exist, I believe a small village called Yerba Bueno existed there.[/QUOTE]

could be right…I had this flyer when I was a teenager and have no idea what happened to it.
ever read two years before the mast? I thought dana stopped there on his trip to the west coast…or did the bay just have the name and not the city then?

[QUOTE=Gerald_D;168085]An advertisement looking for able-bodied seamen could simply be referring to the condition of health.[/QUOTE]

Yeah that sounds more like it…a pulse, can walk, and a minimal of venereal diseases.

[QUOTE=Gerald_D;168085]An advertisement looking for able-bodied seamen could simply be referring to the condition of health.[/QUOTE]

A ship crewing up would need seaman. There were three categories; Boys(or green hands), Ordinary Seaman and Able Seaman. If the ad was for “able-bodied” seaman they could be looking for all three.

AB. Rhymes better with “maybe” for those times you have a maybe-AB.

[QUOTE=Kennebec Captain;168042]AB, Able Seaman or Able Bodied Seaman, which is it?[/QUOTE]

According to the IMO and the STCW, it’s “able-seafarer-deck”. Not to be confused with “able-seafarer-engine”, which used to the be the title “Oiler”

After many years of having SUP seamen on vessels, I’ve come to realize it’s AB, which literally means Any Body.

According to Henry Dana’s “The Seaman’s Friend” (free ebook) seaman would “self-rate” when they signed on.

The crews are not rated by the officers after they get to sea, but, both in the merchant service and in the navy, each man rates himself when he ships. The shipping articles, in the merchant service, are prepared for so many of each class, and a man puts his name down and contracts for the wages and duty of a seaman, ordinary seaman, or boy, at his pleasure. Notwithstanding this license, there are very few instances of its being abused; for every man knows that if he is found incompetent to perform the duty he contracts for, his wages can not only be reduced to the grade for which he is fitted, but that something additional will be deducted for the deception practised upon all concerned, and for the loss of service and the numerous difficulties incurred, in case the fraud is not discovered until the vessel has got to sea. But, still more than this, the rest of the crew consider it a fraud upon themselves; as they are thus deprived of a man of the class the vessel required, which makes her short-handed for the voyage, and increases the duty put upon themselves. If, for instance, the articles provide for six able seamen, the men expect as many, and if one of the six turns out not to be a seaman, and is put upon inferior work, the duties which would commonly be done by seamen will fall upon the five. The difficulty is felt still more in the watches; as, in the case I have supposed, there would be in one watch only two able seamen instead of three, and if the delinquent was not a capable helmsman, the increased duty at the wheel alone would be, of itself, a serious evil. The officers also feel at liberty to punish a man who has so imposed upon all hands, and accordingly every kind of inferior and disagreeable duty is put upon him; and, as he finds no sympathy from the crew, his situation on board is made very unpleasant. Indeed, there is nothing a man can be guilty of, short of a felony, to which so little mercy is shown on board ship; for it is a deliberate act of deception, and one to which there is no temptation, except the gain of a few dollars.

[QUOTE=Kennebec Captain;168101]According to Henry Dana’s “The Seaman’s Friend” (free ebook) seaman would “self-rate” when they signed on.[/QUOTE]

From the Congressional Committee Hearings on Amending the Seaman’s Act of 1915:

"Mr. Leckie. The reason we ask to be permitted to put certificated lifeboat men in the place of able seamen is this; a certificated lifeboat man must take an examination and show he is qualified to handle the lifeboat equipment. The able seaman gets his United States license from the Government on a mere affidavit; he does not have to take an examination. …

Mr. Hardy. Wasn’t your fight here to get certificated lifeboat men as far as possible and was not that a large part of the fight on the seamen’s bill, to get out from under the requirement of able seamen and substitute in their place lifeboat men?

Mr. Leckie. No; I hardly think that was so. We fought both propositions;we did not want either one "

[QUOTE=Jamesbrown;168102]From the Congressional Committee Hearings on Amending the Seaman’s Act of 1915:

"Mr. Leckie. The reason we ask to be permitted to put certificated lifeboat men in the place of able seamen is this; a certificated lifeboat man must take an examination and show he is qualified to handle the lifeboat equipment. The able seaman gets his United States license from the Government on a mere affidavit; he does not have to take an examination. …

Mr. Hardy. Wasn’t your fight here to get certificated lifeboat men as far as possible and was not that a large part of the fight on the seamen’s bill, to get out from under the requirement of able seamen and substitute in their place lifeboat men?

Mr. Leckie. No; I hardly think that was so. We fought both propositions;we did not want either one "[/QUOTE]

“Few seamen are boatmen and few boatmen are seamen”

[I]Fifth Officer Harold G Lowe, R.M.S. Titanic, 1912[/I] (source: American Merchant Seamen’s Manual, 1980)