So, I’m writing this no reason other than to help other Navy guys that wish to transfer over to the Merchant Marines. I’m a newbie myself, but this is just some advice and experiences.

So a brief Background. I served 8 1/2 years in the US Navy. The first 18 months in Nuclear Power School, the following 7 years as a mechanic on board Fast Attack submarines. I left the Navy as a Chief and started my transition.

So up to speed, I started this whole process in Febuary 2010, It’s now Dec 2010 I just completed testing and should have my 3 A/E STEAM in about two weeks. Following issuing I still need to get a one month course to add HFO diesels to my license. End result about a year to be fully licensed to sail on all vessels.

Now, Much of this time delay was due to me not knowing how to get things done and nearly all of it was waiting on one thing or another. Hence me writing this to help others avoid the same mistakes I made.

Step 1) If you are even considering this career before you get out of the Navy, get your TWIC card. You need this to even apply to the US Coast guard for evaluation. It takes a few weeks to a month and can save you some time if you start early.

Step 2) Get plenty of character/Professional recommendations while you are in service. As all military members know the squeaky wheel gets the grease. I waited nearly a month to get the Letters of recommendations I wanted. You need at least 3 to apply for a Merchant Mariner Document. If you have them in hand from Chiefs, Div o’s, Department heads, CO’s ect early you have saved some time. These people may have appreciated you when you were there, but are very hard to get to things from when you are out of the service.

Step 3) Get a Sea Service Transcript before you get out….. I don’t know if this is even possible. Mililington writes them once you are out, but will not recieve your record until after you are DISCHARGED… This doesn’t mean terminal leave. I had to wait 3 months after my EAOS to receive mine. So 60 days terminal + 3 months = 5 months waiting on a stupid piece of paper…. My advice. Your Current CO can write a sea service letter for the time served at your current command…. But not previous commands. Get PSD to figure out what a Sea Service Transcript is, Have them write one to date and have the CO sign one when you leave your ship on terminal…. Send BOTH into the coast guard for evaluation.

Step 5) Send your record into the NMC for evaluation. Request the Highest thing you can reasonably imagine you deserve. Then send them as much supporting paperwork as possible, Schools, Evaluations, Letters of Commendation/ NAMS ect. I was approved for 3 assistant Engineer STEAM only… I know others who have slid by and received a Diesel endorsement too. But request anything you can.

Step 6) This is debatable and really depends on your dedication to become a Merchant Mariner at all costs and how rapidly you want. The NMC will take up to 60 days to evaluate your application and determine what you are eligible for. If you recieve an officer endorsement you will need certain classes before you take an exam…. I can’t tell you what these are so you will just have to wait. I needed a one week Fire Fighting course. HOWEVER, if you plan on doing any work outside of the US international law requires a series of courses for a STCW 95 certification. These are basic courses everyone needs so you could spend some money while you are waiting and take these. These requirements are going to change soon (2012 i think) but any for profit maritime school will be able to help you figure out what you need. Mine were as follows

1 week Basic safety training (Personal survival technics, First aid/CPR, personal Safty Social responsibility, and Fire fighting) – Cost $950

Furthermore on training, If you want to ASSUME what the NMC will approve you for, You could take more STCW courses. This may save you some time but could also become a costly mistake if you assume wrong.

In total I had the following classes

Basic Safty training mentioned above $950
Proficency in Life Craft – $995
Medical First aid provider – $650
Basic and Advanced Fire fighting – $750

I also took a non-required 3week Exam Preparation course – $2000

Step 7) After you complete all you classes and are ready to take an exam, Take your exam and get your credentials!!!

Other tips and Advice. Marine schools are expensive but food and lodging can be expensive too. PRICELINE dot com saved me a ton on hotels and such (although I only need them 4 days a week as I lived about 3 hours from the school). But Crew houses are another good option. Search for a crew house with shared accomodations and I would guess about $300 a week with everything included.

once the coast gaurd (NMC) approves your application for some rating QMED, Engineer, Mate, etc call around to a few unions. I found one that offered to pay for all my room, board and schools if I commited to working for them 3 years…. I politely declined, based off my financial situation and the whole being afraid of contracts now…. But it was a great opportunity, schooling paid for and an employer all at the same time.

I know this is a long and drawn out post with mostly personal experiences but maybe it can help someone. If anyone has any further advice or feels I am off basis please comment. Like I said, I’m very new and lack experience in the industry and could be wrong on a few points.

Happy sailing,
-Matt

We have received many great article submissions in gCaptain’s YOUblog section, the place where mariners get a chance to blog, but few posts have received the quick acclaim of this “news” article by first time participant Humorist. Enjoy…

In 2000 the Washington Tribune first broke the story of pets receiving credit cards. “Frustrated with an endless stream of solicitations” the newspaper tells us “Bob Jones angrily filled out an application for his dog Brandy, a toy poodle, and was shocked to find a shiny new Mastercard in his mailbox two weeks later”.

Captain Benjamin Dover, clearly remembers the article despite being only 6 years old at the time. “If a dog could get a card then so could I” he recalls. And he did. By the age of ten he had used the card to buy a Boston Whaler, by 12 he had financed a 100 ton fishing boat and soon accumulated enough seatime to sit for a Coast Guard 100 Ton Master’s license.

While Ben had experience with convoluted forms, from his dealings with Mastercard, the application for a Coast Guard license was significantly more complex. “I got most of the boxes filled-out ok and was able to do everything by mail, which I liked because I look young for my age.” says young Ben. “I did have trouble with the box titled ‘desired rank’ but my mom always says I have ‘Unlimited’ potential so that’s what I wrote down.”

NMC Chief, Captain Dumass USCG, says that’s where the initial mistake was made. In an official statement he writes “An insidious compilation of events led to the misevaluation of Mr. Master’s application and subsequent misguidance by NMC staff the complexity of which is still being evaluated.”

Further Web 2.0 based investigation by gCaptain reporters unravels the larger mystery. On a facebook tweet the evaluator handling Mr. Dover’s application admits “Well it was a application for Master and he wrote ‘Unlimited’, the mistake was clearly his.” In a later tweet he continues, “Mr. Dover had no medical issues, no background check issues, never failed a coast guard exam or missed an alimony check. Based on my findings he was the perfect candidate.”

But there is still the issue of him never submitting a seatime letters. An NMC employee that wishes to remain anonymous tells gCaptain “Lots of records got lost in the move to West Virginia and all the guys with experience have left out of frustration. Anyone who tells you this operation is running smooth needs a colonic.”

While heads are rolling at the Coast Guard, Ben and his family couldn’t be happier. When asked his future plans Ben told us “Many of those guys working on drillships have never been more than 100 miles out to sea. Some, like me, haven’t yet graduate high school. So I rigged my GPS up to a trawling motor and wrote DP experience on my application to (xx drilling company). Luckily HR didn’t really know what DP was so they hired me on the spot.”

It seems the future is bright for Captain Benjamin. In a final stroke of luck he asked the Coast Guard if his license might be taken away, considering the clerical error. The CG’s answer was promising; “No son, it’s our firm policy never to revoke a license that was issued due to a mistake by the NMC, otherwise who would be left to drive the ships? Just don’t kill any birds in California and you’ll be ok.”

When asked if he had any regrets Ben gave us these final words “I should have been more persistent. It’s great being a Captain at 16 and all but if the NMC hadn’t taken so long processing the darn thing I could have been a Captain at 14. Now that would have been really cool!”

Once upon a time, there was this cruise ship that went out for a three hour tour. The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was . . . (Oops. Sorry, wrong story).

Our story does start on a cruise ship with the third engineer officer on watch. He was diligently writing in his logbook in the ECR. He glanced up at the window to the engineroom and noticed (tah-dah!) flames coming from between two of the main diesel engines. He followed proper procedure (Note: this is one of the few times in this story that proper procedures are followed) and informed the bridge to take control of the plant. The second officer, on the bridge, immediately complied with the request (like he had a choice?). The third engineer stopped the engines.

He (the third engineer) then entered the engineroom alone, with a damp cloth over his face. No, I’m not kidding. He saw the flames earlier, but had this wild craving to disregard his personal safety and he wanted to get to know this fire better. He then found his two assistants, and a motorman, and a wiper (Is it just me or doesn’t anyone pass the word for a fire anymore? Maybe their ships instruction states that you have to tell everyone personally.). Anyway, they all evacuated the engineroom together. They then woke the chief engineer (Mind you, obviously no word for a fire has been passed. I know this is a cruise ship, but come on).

We’re going to skip ahead to some more good stuff. They finally passed “Code Bravo,” the super secret password for a bravo fire (Get it? “Code Bravo?”). The crew mustered in the safety room. The air conditioning engineer was then ordered to close all ventilation to the engineroom. Ordered? When there’s a bravo fire in a main space, should mechanical and electrical isolation be part of the scheme of things? I spent 24 years in the navy and on a side-bar, I must say that I’m very impressed they have a special engineer for “air conditioning.” I wonder if there’s a license associated with that?

Anyway, at the same time, a fire entry team is entering the space (OK, it’s not really a “team,” it’s just two people and a hose.). Whether or not mechanical or electrical isolation has been set wasn’t made clear, nor was it clear if they had permission or a team leader. All I know is that this hose team is only made up of only two people wearing breathing apparatus (BA). Now, check this out. After a few minutes, they found it very hot and withdrew. Really . . . Guess what? Did you think that bravo fires are only tepid? I’ve fought too many fires in my day, and I’ve yet to come across a fire that’s comfortable. Maybe some proper firefighting ensembles would have helped. Maybe they were wearing those really cool shorts and tee-shirts that Gopher used to wear on The Love Boat. I digress.

We’re going to skip ahead about eleven minutes later and get to some more good stuff. Even though there’s still no mention of mechanical and electrical isolation being set, I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt. They do have fire boundaries set (Yey!). The chief engineer recommends that the fixed CO2 system be utilized. Unfortunately, the person designated to light this system off can’t be found (Hmmm. Maybe he’s on the Lido Deck.). Three minutes later, the safety officer and the chief electrician make their way to the CO2 compartment. Note: The ship was equipped with a Minimax low fog spray system. This system sprays an atomized mist of water into the space. This flashes to steam and smothers the fire. It works so great that the navy is considering replacing all of their halon fixed systems with this (You remember what halon is? It’s that stuff that kills the ozone layer and makes everyone communists.)

They open the hatch, but the chief electrician is the only one who can enter. Why? Because the safety officer is “encumbered” by his BA (I’m really hoping that this was because of a really small hatch and not an overweight safety officer.). At seventeen minutes into the fire, the safety officer confirmed that they were ready to release CO2 into the affected space (I wonder how he knew, considering he didn’t fit into the space?). However, the VHF radio communications between the chief electrician and the chief engineer were poor, so the electrician was unable to hear any clear instructions. Shouldn’t you always have a plan for backup communications? You had a safety officer outside the space. Was there a phone nearby? Could he relay a message? Obviously not. The chief electrician couldn’t hear any subsequent instructions from the chief engineer, so the chief engineer went all the way to the CO2 room (the clock is ticking.) and ordered the release of CO2 into the engineroom and the boiler room (Why the boiler room? I don’t know.).

Much to my surprise, the chief electrician didn’t know how to properly activate the installed CO2 flooding system. Of course he couldn’t tell anyone this because his radio didn’t work, but God love him, he made the attempt and reported that CO2 had been released into the engineroom and the boiler room . . . well, at least he thought it had been released. In fact, it wasn’t (I know, you’re surprised.).

Ok, here’s where it gets even better. After a few minutes, the staff captain briefly entered the engineroom (I’m not kidding.), with a damp cloth over his face. What’s with this damp-cloth-thing? Is there a budget crisis on this ship where they’re in short supply of BA’s? I also thought that once CO2 is released into a main space that doesn’t have AFFF bilge sprinkling, you have to wait 24 hours prior to entry. I could be wrong, but I don’t think so. Also, if you really think it’s necessary to enter a space where the fire hasn’t been deemed out, wouldn’t it be a good idea to bring a hose team with you instead of entering the space alone?

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, it does. About 10 minutes after the CO2 dump, the chief engineer enters the space (Am I the only one who’s heard of this 24 hour thing?). At least he’s wearing a BA, but he’s also alone. Why is he even in there? Well, he wants to perform an atmospheric test in the space. It’s not bad enough that a trained hose team has yet to enter the space and declare the fire out, the chief engineer has an unusual method of atmospheric testing: He takes off his BA and sniffs! No, I am not making this up. He sniffs (“OK guys, I’m not dead. Come on in!”). He then orders ventilation opened up to the space where the fire still hasn’t been declared out by a hose team (Can you say: “Reflash” That’s a big word.). Almost two hours later, two fire teams with thermal imaging cameras (flown on board) finally check out the space and declare the fire officially out ( . . . though it’s not only merely dead, it’s really most sincerely dead!).

To add to everything, two weeks previously, the safety officer (who couldn’t fit down the hatch) scheduled hectic training due to firefighting deficiencies noted from a previous PSC inspection. Nine days later, the MCA found them “satisfactory.” (Hmmm, if they only knew.)

On a final note, (much later after the fire) the ship was investigated (Surprise!). An investigator and the chief engineer were in the CO2 compartment. The inspector asked the chief engineer to explain the system because it appeared to not have been released. With permission from the chief engineer (you all know what’s going to happen); the inspector flips the cylinder release, and guess what? Yup, he dumps CO2 into the engineroom. But that’s not all: “What else have we got for our contestant, Johnny?” “Well Artful, we’ve got an engineroom full of personnel that have to be evacuated before they suffocate and die!”

Ok, maybe I was a little hard on these guys, but guess what? Everybody lived. Yeah, I was surprised too. I could have been a lot worse. Maybe, in a few years, these guys will be sitting around the bar, with MaryAnn and Ginger, laughing and joking about it. Heck, we all make mistakes. Are there lessons learned? You betcha! If your title has the word “chief” in it, you should make it your business to know everything concerning damage control. Damage control training is ongoing. If you think you know it all, you don’t. Know your systems. Know your equipment. Know your procedures. Know your people. And, most importantly: Cross train everyone in everything.

Oh, on a final-final note: the reason the fire started was because some rocket scientist modified a spray guard on a fuel line for the diesel . . . ooops!

So, that’s my bedtime story kids. Keep those emails coming. I love to hear about your incidents. Heck, maybe one day I’ll tell you kiddies how, when I was a young pup, put a naval warship dead in the water by lighting farts in the engineroom. Blog this article and tell me what you think by commenting below. I’m the Artful Blogger. That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it!

This article was written by YOUblogger Artful. You can find the original article, including comments from gCaptain forum members, HERE. To view more articles written by our members or to submit your article for consideration visit YOUblog today.

A US shipping company has a fleet of Jones Act vessels and trading routes between US ports. The ships are aging, (maybe even steam driven), and becoming uneconomical to run. They may be more polluting and un-environmentally friendly than todays newer vessels, just like in the auto industry. Profits could be poor or even negative and government funding might be the only way of staying afloat.

Is this the right way to continue? Is there an alternative solution that can help US shipping become the strong and worthy industry that it used to be?

It seems to me that running the US Merchant Marine as the Country’s 4th or 5th [military] service means that it will never be a viable commercial business, in which case the answer would be to completely nationalize the industry. Take full control, cancel all the lucrative contracts etc. (run as an NPO?), and put all the money into building up the fleet with new tonnage. I guess that could make the Merchant Marine almost like the USPS for example.

Alternatively…find the key to the Jones Act locker and consider a sweeping change or two that might make a difference. And before I go down this road, let me question the reasoning behind the idea.

For many years now I have made a habit of inspecting every label to see where an item is made, as I desperately seek to support my home industry…and to anyone who has the same ideas, you know how hard this can be. For example, my recent choice of reciprocating saw (yes I live dangerously!), was made purely on where the product was made, and I am very happy to report that “Made in Wisconsin” works just fine! Next up, a new pair of pliers with a price of $30 vs $10 for the import, but I will have a US made pair in my tool box.

For a US shipping company, I would recommend a [simple?] change to the act that would allow them to purchase foreign built tonnage for domestic trade. Those vessels would still have to be flagged in the US and crewed by US seafarers, just as they are today.

This would allow a company to quickly invest in new, perhaps more economical, tonnage. They may even be able to increase their fleet size (two for the price of one?), and thus employ more US seafarers and add to the US flag economy. The same new vessels could easily be used for international trade and switched between both as market demands dictate.

It is very unlikely that this idea would sit well with domestic ship builders and particularly at a time when they are launching whole new series of fine modern vessels. This recent success though must be due in most part to the Jones Act and government funding programs? One can sympathize with these yards and their fine workforce of skilled shipbuilders, but why are they any different to my chosen plier manufacturer? Is it “all about me?”

I do not believe that our shipyards can not compete on the international playing field. The vessels being built now, albeit with some outside assistance, prove this. If the determination and commitment is there, they can succeed. No, I say let the shipowner go out and rebuild his fleet. Let him become strong and wealthy and then tempt him home…where he belongs.

This article was written by YOUblogger Publius Nauta. You can find the original article, including comments from gCaptain forum members, HERE. To view more articles written by our members or to submit your article for consideration visit YOUblog today.

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Do you want to know more about the Jones Act or were injured while working offshore?  Gordon & Elias, L.L.P are a boutique law firm with a nationwide practice focusing on Jones Act, Admiralty and Maritime Law.  More information can be found at http://www.OffshoreInjuries.com, and the associated Jones Act Blog http://www.JonesActQuestions.com.