Also 5 cok-, koke-; 7–8 coxon, coxen. [f. COCK sb.3 ship’s boat + SWAIN; cf. boatswain. The spelling coxswain (which would more logically be coxwain, since cox = cocks) has in the present century quite established itself in ordinary use. Thence also the familiar abbreviation COX, and vb. to cox.] The helmsman of a boat; the person on board ship having permanent charge of a boat and its crew, of which he has command unless a superior officer is present.
In a man-of-war the Captain’s coxswain, who has charge of the captain’s boat and attends his person, ranks high among petty officers; the Admiral’s coxswain in a flagship ranks still higher.
α. 1463. Mann. & Househ. Exp., 219. Gevyn … to the cokswaynne in almesce, j. d.
1481–90. Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.). 68. I toke the kokeswayne of the Mary xx. d.
1633. T. James, Voy., 82. The Cock-swaine and his Ging, fetcht them aboord.
1734. Lond. Gaz., No. 6289/1. A handsome Barge, with a Cockswain and 12 Men.
1842. F. Cooper, Jack o’ Lantern, I. 157. ‘Bad fig,’ sputtered Jacques, ‘Raoul’s cockswain.’
β. 1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Sea-men, 5. The Coxswaine is to haue a choyce to attend the Skiffe to go to and againe as occasion commandeth.
1748. Anson’s Voy., III. ix. 399. The boat’s crew … were in number eighteen and the Cocxswain.
1871. Tyndall, Fragm. Sc. (ed. 6), I. vi. 219. The captain placed at my disposal his own coxswain.
γ. 1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Sea-men, 35. The Coxon hath … 3 [shares].
1660. Pepys, Diary, 24 April. The Coxon of the Vice-Admiral came for me.
1708. Motteux, Rabelais, IV. xxiv. (1737), 100. Here, Coxen, get the Ladder over the Gunnel.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Cockswain or Coxen, the officer who manages and steers a boat.
Hence Coxswainless a., without a coxswain. Coxswainship, skill in steering.
1882. Standard, 20 July, 2/8. The Thames Cup, for Coxwainless Fours.
1886. Pall Mall Gaz., 10 July, 6/1. There were singularly few mistakes made in the coxswainless races.
1885. Bell’s Life, 15 June, 3/7. [They] lost their opportunity through bad coxswainship.
