My friends and mentors, Captain Jim Meeker USCG (Rey), and RADM Dick Bauman USCG (Ret) have both brought to my attention that the definition of A.B. appearing in the Fall 91 issue of the EXPERT was incorrect. The Coast Guard’s definition of A.B. today found in 46 CFR 12.05 is "Able Seaman", not "Able-bodied seaman." RADM Bauman sent a copy of the definition contained in the OXFORD COMPANION TO SHIPS AND SEA 1976 which was consistent with the U.S. usage.
Our definition came from the International Maritime Dictionary 1961. The definition for "A.B." was:
ABLE BODIED, placed after a seaman’s name on ship’s papers.
See ABLE SEAMAN.
ABLE SEAMAN had a long definition of what such a person did ending with following:
The Seaman’s Act of March 4th 1915, requires that on American merchant marine vessels operating on the high seas able bodied seamen must be 18 years old.
In Great Britain the term able-bodied seaman has been recently superseded in Board of Trade regulations by "efficient deck hand."
Seems like in the derivation of the term, the able-bodied seamen first became disembodies and then superseded.
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