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• n  the senior petty officer; responsible for discipline aboard ship

• His shipmates are a sorry, ragtag lot, full of hate and fear for the sadistic master-at-arms, Mister Claggart.
• The one exception is the master-at-arms, John Claggart, a figure of Mephistophelean evil, who, hating all goodness, cannot but hate Billy Budd and plot his destruction.
• The narrator, Ruby Drew, is "sort of dean and master-at-arms in the House of Trainees" in the Church Zealous.

News & Articles

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• Petty officer killed in crash remembered as 'one in a million'
  Things had been going well for master-at-arms Philip Bordeaux in recent weeks — he had just pinned on second class, attended his first watch meeting and was looking forward to his brother’s wedding in the States.
  Aug. 9, 2013 - Stars and Stripes