Seaman or Seafarer?

Seafaring is a tradition which encompasses a variety of professions and ranks. Each of these roles carries unique responsibilities which are integral to the successful operation of a seafaring vessel. A ship’s crew can generally be divided into four main categories: the deck department, the engineering department, the steward’s department, and others.

In the older days, a seafarer is also known as a seaman. Nevertheless, the nomenclature hasn’t really been pushed into oblivion: almost everyone still refers to the seafarer’s identification document as ‘seaman’s book’.

So which is correct: Seaman or seafarer?

Answer posted in  SEAMAN ONLINE.Ph states  the following, as defined by online dictionaries :

 “The term “Seaman” refers to the elite and professional individual whose area of knowledge are on sea vessels.

To become a Seaman, it requires formal training, learning, and certification.

1. a person skilled in seamanship.
2. a person whose trade or occupation is assisting in the handling, sailing, and navigating of a ship during a voyage, especially one below the rank of officer; sailor.
3. U.S. Navy and Coast Guard . an enlisted person ranking below petty officer.

While a Seafarer is a general term of anyone who’s been tackling the seas.

Anybody can become a seafarer by experience.

1. a sailor.
2. a traveler on the sea.

It is interesting to note that Marine Cafe Blog pointed out that the term ‘seafarer’ is actually less accurate in describing somebody who works on board a ship. What it means is a person who regularly travels by sea – the term being a combination of two words, sea + farer (from the Old English faran, meaning ‘to journey or travel’ ). Thus, certain ethnic groups are called ‘seafarers’ such as the Orang Laut (sea people) of Malaysia and the Badjaos (men of the seas or sea gypsies) of the southern Sulu archipelago in the Philippines.