shipmaster
noun
ship·mas·ter ˈship-ˌma-stər 
: the master or commander of a ship other than a warship
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web The elderly victim was a decidedly unsympathetic figure, a onetime shipmaster and merchant who’d built his fortune in part by transporting enslaved people from the Ivory Coast to the Caribbean. 
Barbara Spindel, WSJ, 8 Dec. 2021 The shipmaster quickly realized what had happened and that the vessel had crossed over the pipeline, the records indicate. Adam Elmahrek, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2021 Valleys for topographers and whaling ships, a glacier for a shipmaster’s wife, and a fjord for a Dutch whaling skipper. Juliana Hanle, Scientific American, 18 Nov. 2019 The building replaces the iconic Italianate-style Lincoln Building, which was built by shipmaster James B. Lincoln in 1859. Johanna Seltz, BostonGlobe.com, 28 Aug. 2019
Barbara Spindel, WSJ, 8 Dec. 2021 The shipmaster quickly realized what had happened and that the vessel had crossed over the pipeline, the records indicate. Adam Elmahrek, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2021 Valleys for topographers and whaling ships, a glacier for a shipmaster’s wife, and a fjord for a Dutch whaling skipper. Juliana Hanle, Scientific American, 18 Nov. 2019 The building replaces the iconic Italianate-style Lincoln Building, which was built by shipmaster James B. Lincoln in 1859. Johanna Seltz, BostonGlobe.com, 28 Aug. 2019 Word History
First Known Use
14th century, in the meaning defined above