{{short description|Ship crewman responsible for maintaining wooden structures}}
'''Ship's carpenter''' is a post aboard ships, both naval and commercial, responsible for the maintenance and repair of the ship's wooden parts, as well as its water stocks.
In the late 19th century, typical activities for a ship's carpenter included caulking the ship's boats, repairing masts and other wooden pieces of the ship, maintaining paddles, and other miscellaneous tasks of carpentry as may be required.<ref name="lewis" />
The most important task for a carpenter was maintenance of the ship's hull from attack from barnacles and ship worm.<ref name="pirate" /> Whalers employed carpenters to carry out emergency repairs.<ref name="whale" />
== Merchant vessels ==
In the late 19th century, almost all merchant vessels of a large size or on a long voyage carried a carpenter. The carpenter may or may not have been a seaman, thus either requiring or excusing him from ship's duties. While not an officer, the carpenter maintained a degree of privilege on the ship and was answerable only to the ship's master in terms of his carpentry duties.<ref name="mckechnies" />
== Royal Navy ==
The ship's carpenter on the ''Mary Rose'' had his own cabin, in which tools such as his adze and his brace and bit were discovered.<ref name="maryrose" />
Carpenters were warrant officers until the end of the Second World War.<ref name="lewis" />
Carpenters were unusual in that many of them passed part of their careers as civilian employees of the Navy Board in the dockyards, and part as officers in the Navy. Although it was possible to serve an apprenticeship afloat as Carpenter's Crew and Carpenter's Mate, the majority qualified as shipwrights in the dockyards before going to sea, and some of the Master Shipwrights and their Assistants were former Carpenters who had returned to the yards.<ref name="lewis" />
In the 20th century, with the adoption of metal as the general material for ship construction, carpenters no longer dealt with wood on board ships. In 1918 they were renamed Warrant Shipwrights.<ref name="lewis" />
{| class="wikitable" |+ Titles per rank<ref name="lewis" /> ! Rank ! Title |- | Petty Officer || Carpenter's Mate |- | Warrant Rank || Carpenter |- | Sub-Lieutenant || Chief Carpenter (1865) |- | Lieutenant || Carpenter Lieutenant (1903) |- | Lieutenant-Commander || Carpenter Lieutenant (1903) |- | Commander || Shipwright Commander (1918) |}
== United States == {{Infobox Military rating |name= Carpenter's mate |image= |caption= |issued_by= United States Navy |type= Enlisted rating |abbreviation= CM |specialty= Hull }}
''Carpenter's mate'' (CM) was a United States Navy rating throughout the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.
The rating was established in 1797, and separate pay grades were implemented in 1893.<ref name="nhc"/> The sleeve insignia for the rating depicted two crossed axes. Responsibilities of carpenter's mates included maintaining ship ventilation, watertight control, painting, and drainage.<ref name="bjm"/> During the era of wooden ships, carpenter's mates were charged with maintaining the integrity of the ship's hull. In times of battle, carpenter's mates would fight fires and use plugs to patch holes in the hull.<ref name="ijn2002"/> In 1948, the rating was changed to damage controlman.<ref name="nhc"/>
== References == <references>
<ref name="nhc">{{ cite web | last = Malin | first = Charles A. | url = http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq78-3.htm | archive-url = https://archive.today/20121213001341/http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq78-3.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = December 13, 2012 | title = Compilation of Enlisted Ratings and Apprenticeships, U.S. Navy, 1775 to 1969 | publisher = Naval History & Heritage Command | date = 19 May 1999 | accessdate = June 8, 2010 }}</ref> <ref name="bjm">{{Cite book | title = The Bluejackets' manual | publisher = United States Naval Institute | location = Annapolis, Maryland | year = 1944 }}</ref> <ref name="ijn2002">{{cite journal | last = Williams | first = Glenn F. | date = April 2002 | title = Uncle Sam's Webfeet: The Union Navy in the Civil War | journal = International Journal of Naval History | volume = 1 | issue = 1 | url = http://www.ijnhonline.org/volume1_number1_Apr02/article_williams_navy_civilwar.doc.htm | accessdate = June 8, 2010 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20100520025818/http://www.ijnhonline.org/volume1_number1_Apr02/article_williams_navy_civilwar.doc.htm | archivedate = May 20, 2010 }}</ref> <ref name="mckechnies">{{Cite web|url=http://www.mckechnies.net/family/mckechnie/nicol_1845/carpenter.htm|title=The Ship's Carpenter|website=www.mckechnies.net}}</ref> <ref name="maryrose">{{Cite web|url=https://maryrose.org/meet-the-carpenter/|title=Meet the Carpenter|website=The Mary Rose}}</ref> <ref name="pirate">{{Cite web|url=http://thepirateempire.blogspot.com/2016/12/pirate-carpenter.html|title=The Pirate Empire: Pirate Carpenter|first=Ts|last=Rhodes|date=December 5, 2016}}</ref> <ref name="whale">{{Cite web|url=http://www.girlonawhaleship.org/jernapp/refCard.do?shortName=carpenter|title=Crew - Carpenter|website=www.girlonawhaleship.org}}</ref> <ref name="lewis">{{Cite web|url=https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~morgan/genealogy/cheryl/carpentr.html|title=Alfred King Lewis, Carpenter Mate in British Royal Navy, Paddle Frigate:VULTURE and Paddle Steamer: STYX: 1841-1848|website=freepages.rootsweb.com}}</ref>
</references>
Category:United States Navy ratings
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