A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
(Stere maister,) Steerma(i)ster, n. [Ster(e n.2 and Maister n.] = Sterisman n. Also fig. —1523 Old Dundee II 313.
[A dispute having arisen regarding the payment of the pilot, Henry Cranston, who held the charter-party for the cargo] is adjudgit to pay Scots William, steerman, his steerman fee of the haill guids of the ship; [although he claimed] that the skipper free him of the steermaister 1679 J. Gordon The Reformed Bishop 252.
It hath been the unhappy fate of this church, that such persons have become the steer-masters of that fluctuating ark
