Leadsman

He was the leadsman, that is to say, it was his business to sound the depths of the sea; he had plumbed the profound abysses of the ocean, calculated the elevation of the land and the apparent motion of the sky; he knew the exact time by looking at the sun, and he could tell from the stars how far they had travelled. ❋ August Strindberg (1880)

Though she received nine shots in her hull, the leadsman was the only man wounded on board. ❋ William Henry Giles Kingston (1847)

The leadsman was a rather pompous individual, duly impressed with the importance of his position, in having charge of the deep-sea line, which was something short of two fathoms in length. ❋ Various (1841)

Giving the cub pilot the wheel in what he knew to be safe water, Bixby arranged for the leadsman to begin calling out ever more dangerous readings, while Clemens grew increasingly agitated, finally crying out in an agony of doubt and despair: Quick, Ben! ❋ JR. ROY MORRIS (2010)

The halt is a matter depending on the sounding-line, and not on the leadsman. ❋ Unknown (2008)

The veteran pilot arranged with the “leadsman,” the deckhand who took constant soundings of the channel depth with a lead-weighted rope, to falsely cry out smaller and smaller depths as Sam manned the pilot wheel across a passage that he knew to be safe and deep. ❋ Ron Powers (2005)

We were surrounded by reefs, a light breeze, and fair depth of water-called out by the leadsman, 2, 2½, 2, 3 fathoms, until after some time we got into deeper water, and passed out of the Bay in safety. ❋ Unknown (2003)

Lieutenant Otero, who had charge of the frigate, paused to listen to the leadsman who was calling the depth. ❋ Cornwell, Bernard (1992)

The leadsman called the three fathom mark over an unsettling quaver of sound. ❋ Wurts, Janny (1989)

The captain called for a leadsman to sound the depth, that the ship could be run to the limit of her draft on each tack. ❋ Wurts, Janny (1989)

Through the clear air we could see every detail - the leadsman in the chains swinging away, the white-shirted tars on her decks, the blue-coated officers on the quarter-deck, even a little midshipman in the rigging with his telescope trained on the fort. ❋ Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- (1977)

So the leadsman was sent forward, and he tolled the fathoms. ❋ Clavell, James (1966)

I lifted the flare box over the side eased it down the full length of the rope and started to swing it slowly, gently, from side to side, like a leadsman preparing to cast his lead. ❋ MacLean, Alistair, 1922-1987 (1966)

And then, when he saw the lights of Macao on the horizon, he ordered the sails reefed and eased his ship cautiously — but always with the maximum speed — into the shallow harbor of Macao, the leadsman calling the fathoms. ❋ Clavell, James (1966)

They hauled the ship to safety, the leadsman calling the soundings, and when Brock was sure that they were safe, he ordered the anchor let go. ❋ Clavell, James (1966)

It was the sound of a lead being cast — and then followed, at the appropriate interval, the high pitched cry of the leadsman. ❋ Forester, C. S. (1962)

The smoke billowed round, and through the clouds came the cry of the leadsman. ❋ Forester, C. S. (1962)

"No bottom with this line!" reported the leadsman in the chains. ❋ Forester, C. S. (1958)