merchant seaman

American  

noun

1. a seaman who works on a merchant vessel.

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Etymology

Origin of merchant seaman

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

Back outside, with a view of the port and the sunlit open sea, we met a merchant seaman, relaxing on a bench, who told us his son worked for the New York Times.

From Los Angeles Times

He eventually enlisted in the Marine Corps and was a merchant seaman before pursuing a career in journalism, according to Tucker Carlson’s post.

From Los Angeles Times

And in a wayfaring six-decade career, he was a merchant seaman, a jazz pianist, a law student, a television news anchor, a familiar character on network sitcoms, an Emmy-winning documentarian, a good will ambassador to China, a longtime expatriate in Europe — and a reported dead man; in 2015, rumors that he had been killed were mistaken.

From New York Times

Her father was a railway signalman, union official and former merchant seaman who claimed that her pram was crammed full of Labour literature during the campaign that led to Labour's 1945 landslide election victory.

From BBC

The oldest: merchant seaman Thomas Hardwyre Milligan, 64.

From Reuters