Definition of "spademan"

The earth of this under stratum furrow a number of spademen threw into the old original furrow.

1784, Present state of husbandry in Scotland, page 97

This spade is sharp as hone can make it; the spademan's feet are shoeless; the thing he stands on will sometimes irresistibly slide away from him, like a sledge.

1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

All the chiefs and greater men landed with a sufficient number of spademen to assist them with the work, while the others lay off in the ships and watched in silence.

2018, J. Storer Clouston, Vandrad the Viking, page 119