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Cadet Edward Pollard on the TSES

Recent news article claim steps in obtaining agreements in placing maritime school students aboard merchant ships for accomplishing sea time requirements. A step that appears to solve a problem. Getting places to stash the boys and girls seems like a good idea, but what does it actually achieve and at what cost?

License requirements requires sea time that allegedly acquaints one with the performance of seaman type works and shipboard practices. A candidate for a license should be a competent mariner (Deck or Engine qualified). The latest version of the Merchant Marine Officer’s Handbook, 5th edition, implies a newly licensed officer should “hit the deck running.” A perusal of the American Merchant Seaman’s Manual, 6th edition, list twenty three or more chapters of basic material a competent mariner should be “knowledgeable ” or at least aware of.

Taking the sample examination questions from the USCG Proceedings, Spring 2008, both deck and engine I was hard pressed to locate answers or information that would provide acceptable answers. The same applied to the two previous issues. Therefore, either the examinations are based on data that is not readily available or there is a gross deficiency in training manuals; in any case what does one study at sea, examination prep- sheets?

Of greatest concern is the lack of awareness by bureaucrats that putting kids to sea does not make them seaman. How many ship’s officers are qualified teachers , practiced instructors, good parents? The wrong experience can set a pattern that can be perpetuated for years. Cramming for an examination does not produce competency.

It is time to examine the school of the ship and resolve the requirements for education, knowledge, skill and leadership and invest our maritime training funds in those that will properly crew, operate and command the sophisticated giants of the seas in the future. Not all will be effective and efficient masters or chief engineers, but everyone licensed or documented should be competent. The expeditious path of “pumping out” licensed people to fill vacant slots is accomplishing only one purpose, increasing accidents. -JGD

John Denham is a retired USN Captain, Licensed unlimited Master and Pilot, maritime academy teacher,and author with extensive experience as a marine consultant. He is also author of The Assistant and DD 891.

Each year hundreds of cadets graduate America’s Maritime Academies looking for a Third Mate job with the country’s best shipping companies. Polar Tankers, Transocean, Matson… the names don’t change and the number of positions set aside for newly licensed officers rarely widen. Only the top cadets will win these spots, the rest are left to join unions or sail with less respected companies. While not making the cut seems like a sure path to becoming Giligans next skipper, you may actually end up better off than your classmate. Here are the Top 10 reasons why:

10 - A Learning Experience

Sure the new Vessel Management and Integrated Bridge Systems sound impressive but Captains are not looking for a mate that knows what buttons to press on a console, they are looking for someone who can think through what happens when the buttons are pressed. Years studying manuals is simply not as effective as months spent tracing cargo lines and rebuilding values.

9 - Management Skills

A chief mate is only as good as his crew. On the Rusting Rover, undermanned and in poor condition, even the simplest jobs can quickly because an “All Hands” event with mates and seaman doing the jobs together. By working closely with the crew you learn what makes them tick; knowledge that will serve you well later in your career.

8 - Networking

While the Marine Superintendant knows a lot about the fleet’s new ship he is more likely to have sailed the rest bucket. All companies have a ship “everyone” has sailed “back in the day” and by merely mentioning your rig it won’t be difficult to get them sharing sea stories at the next company picnic.

7 - Hard Work Gets Recognized

The reason Joe Perfect got the job with Polar is because companies recognize it takes a lot of hard work to get a 3.9 GPA and Joe will likely work just as hard for the company… but as the old joke goes; “What do you call the last member of the graduating class? Mate!” Five years into your career no one will ask what your GPA was. What they will say is ” wow, you spent 5 years repairing leaks on our worst ship. You must be a had worker.”

6 - Learn Different Ships

Your new company may not have the impressive pay scale of Transocean but it may have more flexibility is ship assignments. While the offshore king has only semis and the more coveted Drillings, traditional shipping companies have contracts aboard a wide range of vessels. The breadth of your experience is what will get you a master’s job by age 30, not your previous pay scale.

5- World Travel

The best ships of the biggest companies have the high dollar contracts. Matson isn’t going to send it’s best ship tramping around SE Asia, it will be put on a liner run to Hawaii. The M/V Rust Bucket, however, will take grain to Africa then refit to pick up containers in Singapore.

4 - Failure

Failure is the best learning device. With skyhigh dayrates the gem of the fleet is rigged against failure. With redundant designs, new equipment and the company willing to pay expensive 3rd party contractors at the first sign of trouble the mate aboard the gem of the fleet is unlikely to be tested with failure. Conversely Danny Salt, three voyages away from the trip to {insert shipbreaker} has a much better chance to witness critical failures at the worst possible times. These failures will test his ability and he will grow with the experience.

3 - Beats Working 9-5

The facts are in and the jury has convened, shipboard “managers” are now spending more time behind the computer than hitting the deck and junior mates aboard new ships can now spend weeks sitting in control rooms, bridges and chart rooms. This puts them at a disadvantage. When the big cargo tank needs to be mucked in August and the stripping pump dies will the Chief Mate know how to fix it? Can he accurately determine when the guys are at their breaking points? Will he have the self-confidence and knowledge to grab his boots and help the guys fix the pump?

2 -This is great!!

Read any blog on the topic of happiness, productivity or selling yourself for a promotion and the key ingredient is a positive attitude. Nobody like to hear the new Captain say “On the M/V Pride of the Fleet, we did this or had that!” while every sole aboard will appreciate the one who says “WOW you guys run a top notch operation her on the M/V Pride Of The Fleet, I’m so glad to be here.” Your outlook, job satisfaction and motivation to get things done will be higher when upgrading to a new vessel than moving down to the Rust Bucket that has a ten page deficiency list.

1 - Meeting new people

No one stays longer than they have to aboard the M/V Bucket ‘o Rust. From unqualified or inept people hired off the street to the fleet’s best captain who’s asked to do one hitch as a company favor, the number of short service employees is going to be highest on the worst ship. For better or worse each person who passes through your ship will have a lesson to teach even if the next captain’s only purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others.

No Worries Mate

So before you get too depressed about your 2.0 GPA and graduation just months away, lower your standards and reap the rewards later in your career. For a wise old bosun once told me; “Never trust a Captain that doesn’t smoke like a chimney, drink like a fish or has never sailed a working ship.”

Photo by rkr806

Sea Fever brings us the annual cruise of Massachusetts Maritime Academy’s training ship Enterprise. This cruise has departed each winter for well over one hundred years and serves both as a platform for training future merchant officers and an escape from the regions brutal winter. Sea Fever tells us:

The Cape Cod Times set up a fantastic section on their website that follows Massachusetts Maritime Academy’s 2008 Sea Term Cruise. Canal to Canal: Sail Cape Cod to Panama with MMA is a collection of news stories, slide shows, video tours of T.S. Enterprise, interactive graphics and much more.

There are three blogs each offering a unique perspective on the experience. Captain Thomas L. “Tom” Bushy writes Sea Term 2008: Captains Blog which covers all of the things that you would expect a master of a training ship to be focused on. Cape Cod Times reporter Hilary Russ writes short posts in The Portal that present a outside the experience perspective of life at sea with cadets. Russ posts often get a decent volume of comments, many from parents of cadets thanking her for keeping them informed. Last but certainly not least, 4th class cadet Christiaan Conover writes MMA Sea Term 2008 blog from the perspective of a young person going to sea for the first time on a commercial ship. Christiaan also has a personal blog and is on Twitter and you can follow him here. These 3 primary bloggers are able to paint a pretty rich picture of life aboard the T.S. Enterprise.

You can also get a video tour of the enterprise by visiting Cape Cod Time’s YouTube page HERE. Here is a preview of the tour:

Take a look at all of the US based training ships HERE.

Episode number 6 of our new maritime podcast Messing About In Ships is live. You can listen to it below, read the show notes, download the MP3 or subscribe via iTunes.

The above photo is by California Maritime Academy Cadet Robert Hart taken aboard the T/S Golden Bear.

 

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