Bumboat
[BUHM-boat]
Part of speech: noun
Origin: Dutch, 17th century
1.
Traditionally, a small boat used to ferry provisions to ships docked away from the shore
2.
In Singapore, a water taxi used to take tourists on sightseeing tours
Examples of Bumboat in a sentence
"The captain of the bumboat ran a lucrative business because the sailors had no other way to buy supplies."
"Add a tour on a bumboat to your Singapore visit and get a unique perspective of the city from the water."
About Bumboat
While you will find a boatswain on a marine vessel, and possibly even aboard a bumboat, this is a name for the ship’s officer in charge of the equipment. You might also hear the boatswain referred to as a bosun or Petty Officer.
Did you Know?
The term bumboat initially meant a scavenger’s boat, but they came to be an important part of the marine economy. Large ships couldn’t always dock at the shore and these smaller vessels would ferry provisions across the water, for a handsome price, of course.
