WEBVTT

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[Ship's horn blasts, Sailors yelling]

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(Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Shelby Eby) I guess you would say that we're kind of the heart of the Navy, the foundation that

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started with all of the rates.

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Boatswain's mate derives from the inception of sailing in general.

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Everything that's trickled down
in the Navy has come from boatswain's mate.

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We're pretty much are in charge overall of how the ship looks, how it runs, driving it.

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We get it where it needs to go.

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These guys get so excited because you've got

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to think they're coming in 18, 19, 20
years old, and they're driving this

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multibillion dollar craft.

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Hundreds or thousands of people, and you've got all of their lives literally in your hands.

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(Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Christopher Williams) Conning officer, port engine stop.  (Conning Officer) Very well.

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(Williams) Kind of intimidating, 'cause you have this 684-foot ship that you're about to steer with, like, this six-inch wheel.

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Yea this is the uh, we call it the trick wheel.

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It seemed like at any moment you could just turn the wheel the wrong way and you'd be crashing into something.

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[Rock music plays]

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(Williams) You just get used to it ,really. Uh you start to become more comfortable. Uh, more

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confident in your abilities and skills.

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Once you're "Boats enough" -- that's our

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shorthand. You often go around the ship
and people say, "What's up, Boats?"

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So once you become Boats enough, then you can get the crossed anchors on your hand.

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(Eby) Boatswain mates would get scars on their hands right here from the line running out. So they

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started a tradition that to go over your
scars based on which side of the coast

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you were on. You would go with your LPO or your chief, and you would get a set of

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crossed anchors to cover that scar.

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(Williams) Long hours, hard work, it's the life of the boatswain's mate.

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[Rock music plays]