steersman

English

Etymology tree

English steer

English -s-

Proto-Indo-European *mon-

Proto-Germanic *mann-

Proto-West Germanic *mann

Old English mann

Middle English man

Middle English -man

English -man

English steersman

From steer + -s- + -man.

steersman (plural steersmen)

(nautical) One who steers a ship or other vessel; the helmsman.
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 53, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
  And as for a tiller, the whale-boat never admits of any such effeminacy; and therefore as in gamming a complete boat’s crew must leave the ship, and hence as the boat steerer or harpooneer is of the number, that subordinate is the steersman upon the occasion, and the captain, having no place to sit in, is pulled off to his visit all standing like a pine tree.
- 1942, Emily Carr, “Regatta”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC:
  The Indian canoe races were the most exciting of all the Regatta. Ten paddles dipped as one paddle, ten men bent as one man, while the steersman kept time for them with grunting bows.

one who steers a ship