English

Noun

ship's company ‎(plural ships' companies)

1. (nautical) The entire crew of a ship, including the officers
   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, ch. 10:

     [T]he whole ship's company consisted of sixty-five men.

   • 1850, Herman Melville, White Jacket, ch. 33:

     [T]he regulations enjoin the attendance of the entire ship's company, from the corpulent Captain himself to the smallest boy who strikes the bell.

   • 1863 April 7, "The Prize Steamer Aries," New York Times (retrieved 3 Aug. 2012):

     The Aries had a ship's company of twenty-four men, besides four passengers.

   • 1988 Dec. 25, "Pueblo's Veterans Look Back on '68 in Anger," New York Times (retrieved 3 Aug. 2012):

     Before the outgunned ship was overtaken and captured, a crewman was wounded, and he later died. The 82 other members of the ship's company underwent 11 months of brutal captivity.

2. (nautical, possibly nonstandard) All of the occupants of a ship, including crew and passengers.
   • 1879, Anthony Trollope, John Caldigate, ch. 8:

     The whole ship's company, captain, officers, quarter-masters, passengers, and all, were quite sure that she had succeeded in getting a promise of marriage from him.

See also

• lower deck

References

• ship's company at OneLook Dictionary Search