The Straight Facts about the Merchant Marine
Newspaper article; The Washington Times, December 15, 1997
...seaman or AB (able-bodied seaman), except for bosun, carpenter and deck engineer. (I am presuming that the alleged ship, the Horace Bushnell, was a liberty ship.) All unlicensed crew members of a merchant-marine ship have endorsements, not ranks, from the U.S...