The Swabber
A sailing ship`s crew was divided into various disciplines, able seaman, light seaman, ship boy's and so on but there was also the waster or the swabbers. Swabbers were the weakest of a ship's complement, those seamen unable to perform duties aloft or at the guns. Their assignments consisted of the dirtier, menial tasks to be found aboard ship, they themselves being pretty much viewed as scavengers by the rest of the crew. But don't confuse that with the morning cleaning of the deck, everyone had to do it, and at about five o'clock in the morning the guard started to wash the decks and polish the boards with a heavy holy stone. Corners and angles were polished in the same way with small pieces of the same type of stone, called prayer books. After the holy stones, other sailors came with brooms, swabs and buckets to dry the decks, while others polished the brass fittings or generally cleaned up.
This is an image of a cabin boy or mousse anglais, but the swabber would have looked like this
Lowly, though he may have been, even the ignoble swabber had someone to boss around, that being the liar. This was a transitory rate held but for a week by one lucky mariner. An expecptionally bad liar could be expect to be hoisted to the mainstay with a shovel and a broom seized to his back, just to get him in the right frame of mind for cleaning.
An original mop or swabber of HMS Invincible, 1758
But if from time to time the sailors talk about the swabber, then the epaulettes of the officers, who got this nickname because of their appearance, can be meant.
