Boatswain the final scene. "Typhoon" by Joseph Conrad has a nameless boatswain who tells Captain MacWhirr of a "lump" of men going overboard during the peak of the storm. Also, the character Bill Bobstay in Gilbert and Sullivan's musical comedy "H.M.S. Pinafore" is alternatively referred to as a "bos'un" and a "boatswain's mate." Another boatswain from literature is Smee from "Peter Pan". Lord Byron had a Newfoundland dog named Boatswain. Byron wrote the famous poem "Epitaph to a Dog" and had a monument made for him at Newstead Abbey. Quartermaster is the highest rank in the Sea Scouts, BSA, an older
Boatswain plans the day's work and assigns tasks to the deck crew. As work is completed, the boatswain checks on completed work for compliance with approved operating procedures. Outside the supervisory role, the boatswain regularly inspects the vessel and performs a variety of routine, skilled, and semi-skilled duties to maintain all areas of the ship not maintained by the engineering department. These duties can include cleaning, painting, and maintaining the vessel's hull, superstructure and deck equipment as well as executing a formal preventive maintenance program. A boatswain's skills may include cargo rigging, winch operations, deck maintenance, working aloft, and other duties