Talk:Quartermaster

Propose a split
This page seems too jumbled to me, and I don't see a way to un-jumble it without splitting. My proposal is something like this: 1) page Quartermaster (army) with various armies, 2) page Quartermaster (navy) with various navies, 3) page Quartermaster (scouting), 4) page Quartermaster (civilian), and 5) a dab or short summary page. Any feelings? Haus42 02:54, 21 March 2007 (UTC)


 * I don't recommend splitting up the page because of the limited topic. I think it just needs better organization.  --Ehrentitle 03:09, 21 March 2007 (UTC)


 * I did a quick reorganization by usage first, then by nation as necessary. I don't have any strong feelings about it -- just trying it out. Haus42 03:24, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

Remove stub status?
The article now seems to be at least Start class to me, as it deals in some detail with many different aspects of the topic. Time to declassify it as a stub? Pirate Dan 19:52, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I'm still seeing this article as three disjoint articles that happen to lie on the same page. One, I'd say, is start class, and the other two are stubs.  But you're right: whatever it is, it's certainly not a stub.  Cheers.    H aus  Talk   14:14, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

Origins of the term Quartermaster in the Navy
I believe that the term "Quartermaster" is simply the standard third tier rank after master. Master -> Master's Mate -> Quartermaster. If it is derived from "master of the quarterdeck", what is Quartergunner derived from? A Quartergunner ranks below a Gunner's Mate, who ranks below the Gunner of the ship. See William Falconer's Dictionary of the Marine, for example (http://southseas.nla.gov.au/refs/falc/1013.html)


 * I was under the impression that, in the Royal Navy the Age of Sail, a "quarterqunner" oversaw the guns on a particular quarter of the gundeck -- the aft starboard quarter, or wherever. --Michael K. Smith (talk) 19:55, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

Furthermore, the english-speaking sailing navies used the word "captain" a lot: captain of the maintop, captain of the afterguard, gun-captain, etc. Master referred only to the Sailing Master, as far as I know, so I would have expected a "captain of the quarterdeck" rather than "master of the quarterdeck".

Is this perhaps a more modern back-formation in the US Navy? Anklefear (talk) 23:01, 24 January 2008 (UTC)


 * I removed the sentences "In the United States Navy, the term is used quite differently. The title derives from "master of the quarterdeck", the quarterdeck being the deck where the helm was situated and navigation was generally performed." pending a citation. A lot of navy history is "oral tradition" and I'm pretty sure I've bumped into this one before.  Please do insert your referenced etymology.  Cheers.   H aus  Talk   16:15, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

All of the sources quoted for Pirate Quartermaster rank are biased on the records of the trial of Bart Roberts, where only 3 members of the crew testified, one of which being A quartermaster. 67.60.228.184 (talk) 01:30, 1 October 2008 (UTC)USNBosun

Unclear definition
'''In the Royal Navy and Commonwealth navies,. . . the quartermaster is the seaman who is functioning as the helmsman.'''

This sentence gives the impression that the title or designation of "quartermaster" changed at every watch, as the individual at the helm changed, which wasn't the case in the Age of Sail. The helmsman was whoever was steering at the moment. The quartermaster was a warrant officer who specialized in steering the ship under direction of the master, with one or more quartermaster's mates working under him. Since no indication is given in this paragraph of the time period under discussion, did this system change later on, with the passing of sailing ships? (I have no idea.) --Michael K. Smith (talk) 20:02, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

Pirate quartermasters
No references whatever for this section. Reads like a section from a fiction book.

The link to 'articles' is a total nonsense, to my mind. I signed dozens of Articles (of Agreement) in my time with the Merchant Navy (UK) and I never served on a pirate ship!!

I suggest this section is deleted, especially as it seems to be used by BBC prog QI as a reference.

Cannonmc (talk) 03:36, 9 December 2012 (UTC)

Suspect broken link
Navy Enlisted Occupational Standards for Quartermaster (QM) Oops! Google Chrome could not find buperscd.technology.navy.mil — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.119.192.64 (talk) 13:57, 19 January 2014 (UTC)

What is a "brow"?
In the article under the section Royal Navy, there is a sentence that states that the Quartermaster is responsible for " the security of the brow" However, the word 'brow' is undefined with no link and is obscure. I attempted to research the definition of this word without success.

Could someone with knowledge of this term please update the entry to articulate what a brow is? Savlonn (talk) 14:04, 13 February 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20070616180843/http://buperscd.technology.navy.mil:80/bup_updt/508/OccStandards/CHAPTER%2066.htm to http://buperscd.technology.navy.mil/bup_updt/508/OccStandards/CHAPTER%2066.htm
 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20070926231215/http://www.tpub.com/content/administration/14220/index.htm to http://www.tpub.com/content/administration/14220/index.htm
 * Added tag to http://www.quartermasterband.com

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Orphaned references in Quartermaster
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Quartermaster's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "auto1": From Neighborhoods of Alexandria, Virginia:  From Lucius Roy Holbrook:  From Law enforcement in the United Kingdom:  From Brigade:  From Lewis Armistead: The Armistead Family: 1635-1910 By Virginia Armistead Garber pg. 15 From Governance in 18th-century piracy: Leeson, Peter T. An-arrgh-chy: The Law and Economics of Pirate Organization. From Israel Defense Forces: Israel is world's largest exporter of drones, study finds Haaretz, Gili Cohen Published: 19 May 2013</li> </ul>

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT ⚡ 13:29, 17 January 2022 (UTC)