"acquaintance with the skill of a good seaman," 1766, from seaman + -ship.
Entries linking to seamanship
seaman n.
"a sailor, one whose traffics and voyages are ships on the sea," Middle English seman, from Old English sæmanna (plural); see sea + man (n.). Similar formation in Dutch zeeman, German Seemann, Old Norse sjomaðr. In later times technically restricted to men below the rank of officer. Related: Seamanly; seamanlike.
-ship
word-forming element meaning "quality, condition; act, power, skill; office, position; relation between," Middle English -schipe, from Old English -sciepe, Anglian -scip "state, condition of being," from Proto-Germanic *-skepi- (cognates: Old Norse -skapr, Danish -skab, Old Frisian -skip, Dutch -schap, German -schaft), from *skap- "to create, ordain, appoint," from PIE root *(s)kep-, forming words meaning "to cut, scrape, hack" (see shape (v.)). It often forms abstracts to go with corresponding concretes (friend/friendship, etc.).