Barrelman is in reference to a person who would be stationed in the barrel of the foremast or crow's nest of an ocean going vessel as a navigational aid. The mast of a sailing ship is a tall vertical or near vertical Spar, or arrangement of Spars which supports the Sails Large ships have several masts A crow's nest is a structure in the upper part of the Mainmast of a ship that is used as a lookout point Navigation is the process of reading and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another In early ships the crow's nest was simply a barrel or a basket lashed to the tallest mast. A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container traditionally made of Wood Staves and bound with Iron Hoops The Later it became a specially designed platform with protective railing.

History

Without the use of navigation aids such as the astrolabe, compass and modern navigation equipment, early sailors and navigators relied upon the raven or crow to determine where the closest land lay when no land was in clear sight. The astrolabe is a historical Astronomical instrument used by classical astronomers, Navigators A compass, magnetic compass or mariner's compass is a navigational instrument for determining direction relative to the earth's Magnetic poles It consists Basic concept of GPS operation A GPS receiver calculates its position by carefully timing the signals sent by the constellation of GPS Satellites high above the Earth A navigator is the person onboard a ship or aircraft responsible for its Navigation. Raven is the common name given to the largest species of Passerine Birds in the Genus Corvus. The true crows are large Passerine Birds that comprise the Genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. As a bird was released a dead reckoning course would be set. Dead reckoning ( DR) is the process of estimating one's current position based upon a previously determined position or fix, and advancing that position based upon As ships grew in size and complexity that station became to be mounted on the highest mast of the ocean going vessel and it became to be known as the crow's nest. The mast of a sailing ship is a tall vertical or near vertical Spar, or arrangement of Spars which supports the Sails Large ships have several masts ^[1] The simplest construction to providing a lookout and setting course direction for the ship was to lash a barrel to the mast. A member of the crew experienced in the matters of navigation was charged with manning this perch and became to be colloquially known as a barrelman. A colloquialism is an expression not used in formal speech, writing or Paralinguistics.

In Newfoundland the term barrelman was synonymous with the word scunner^[2]. The Dominion of Newfoundland was a British dominion from 1907 (before which the territory had the status of a British colony to 1949

See also

• Glossary of nautical terms

References

This Newfoundland and Labrador-related article is a stub. This is a glossary of nautical terms; some remain current many date from the 17th-19th century Newfoundland and Labrador (ˈnuːfɨn(dlənd ən(d ˈlæbrəˌdɔr (Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador is a province of Canada, the tenth and latest to join the Confederation You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.