There's actually another word for Sailor. It's seamen (plural), or seaman (singluar). There are ranks in some Navy's like "Leading Seaman" and "Master Seaman" among the seamen too. These seamen are theoretically slightly better than the semi- functional Able seamen, or Ordinary Seamen which are, well ordinary. In the US Navy, I'm given to understand they only have 3 kinds of seamen.
On another note: If you take the word MILK and re-arrange the letters then change just 4 of them you get BEER!
Isn't that amazing?