deepwaterman

plural deepwatermen

1. A ship that is used to voyage and operate in deep waters.

   It is not a job to crave for, that scraping out of the bilges of a deepwaterman.

   1923, The Saturday evening post, G. Graham, page 13

   2 more examples

   Aboard a real shipshape and Bristol fashion deepwaterman of the old school, if there be any such left today, everything is done according to the custom of the sea.

   1918, Riesenberg, Felix, Under sail, The Macmillan company, page 95

   A typical example of the classic small deepwaterman from a small Westcountry port, the Geisha closes this section.

   1971, Bouquet, Michael R., Westcountry sail: merchant shipping, 1840-1960, David & Charles, page 56

2. A person who works in deep waters at sea.

   ... real seamen, fishermen and deepwatermen before the war, all from Brittany, Brest, La Pallice, Saint-Malo and Saint-Nazaire.

   1943, Carse, Robert, There Go the Ships: The Story of the American Merchant Marine at War, Garden City Publ Co., page 128

   2 more examples

   'Hell ships' were commonest among deepwatermen on long voyages round the Horn, or among the whalers when the best class of foremast hands were not to be had.

   1920, Wood, William Charles Henry, All afloat: a chronicle of craft and waterways, Glasgow, Brook & Company, page 94

   Within a few remaining buildings on Johnny Cake Hill the traditions of the sea are kept alive — where in the background hovers the immortal drama of those deepwatermen whose lives were spent at sea, enamored of its somber might, its temptations and mystery.

   1966, Kappel, Philip, New England gallery, Brown, page 84