Merchant Marines

[ericbh1]

Have any of us ever worked in the merchant marines? Tell me about it! I'm thinking of shipping for a couple years after college.

[mirage2521]

Exactly what aspect of Merchaqnt Marines do you mean? Anyone who has a captains license is a licensed merchant marine officer. DO you mean MSC, military sealift command?

[ericbh1]

I'm thinking anything you ought not crash. I've got a handle on 100 ton, but I'd love to hear any experiences people have working on anything bigger than a small ferry.

[mirage2521]

I have been Master on up to 300ft and about 1400 tons, ask away. tell you anything I can about it.

[ericbh1]

Well let's see: first off, what was the progression of jobs that led up to getting the license? How did you get jobs as a newly licenced captain? Any advice you can impart to the guy getting licensed the slow way?

[mirage2521]

Hey sorry about the slow reply, I typed a nice long comprehensive reply, then it vanished from my screen >:(

I will try to answer some of your questions

1. the progression of jobs began as a deck hand on a commercial fishing boat when I was 15 and from the I spent the next 25 yrs working as a Profesional Mariner. *

2. As a newly licensed capt. its a lot easier to get a mates job or get on a tug as a second capt. or wheelman. *There are always tour and dinner boats that will hire most anyone but they pay cr$p. One word of advice, if you come upon a person or company who really needs someone and is willing to take a risk on you and put you on their boat. Give some serious thought to whether or not you are positive you are ready for it. Once you cast of those lines, youre the man, there is no one to ask for help or advive. I tell you this because I have been in that seat *a few times and there was nothing in the world I wanted more than to turn around to someone and say "you take it" it can get scary.

3. Advice. *tons, but a few highlights, if you can go to sea school or somewhere similar, they do alll the paperwork, that a lone is worth the money. If you cant do a prep school, go to a west marine (one place I know that has them) and get a large green soft cover book "how to get your license" or something like that. the book you want has a CD in the back. *Put the book on a shelf and dont touch it again. Break out that CD and run the program, let it test you and test you, it literally is the USCG question bank. *Focus on rules of the road and chart work, you have to score 90% on rules and 80% on chart work.

one more time, don't get put in a position you are not ready for, they will do it to you if you let them.
Take a look at this website also

http://maritimeemployment.com/

[ericbh1]

Man thanks a bunch for all the advice.

I'm very lucky to work for a captain right now who is very capable but at the same time is very willing to let me get into trouble and back out of it again with the company's boat. It certainly gives me the willies to have 40+ lives pretty much in my hands, but I feel like in the long run it will give me more confidence when there isn't somebody to turn to.

How did you learn to overcome ugly situations where you weren't sure what to do?

IE Did you become more skillful, understand the limits of your vessel better, gain confidence.....?

[mirage2521]

As far as the ugly situations...you just go back to the very basics..if you have to hit something, hit it flat, if you have a chance to choose, choose to hit something cheap....not as funny as it sounds. Tug boats are hard work..lol

I was lucky in that I had some very old very very wise Captains that I could go back to and recount what had happened and get advice and get a different perspective...in all the cases they said I did the right thing...when you operate really old boats you get lots of suprises. You have to constantly think about things like..."what do I do if I lose an engine now" it has ahppens to me docking a 190 ft tug and barge combo.....20 feet from the dock and lose an engine, that will wake you up....or moving a barge for the Navy full of ammo and have you steering system literally fall off of your rudder post :o...

I would'nt trade my career for anyones, it's been the best.

I have been telling myself one thing for years "if no one is bleeding and nothing was bent, it was a good day at sea"

[ericbh1]

Sounds reasonable. It seems like locally where I am, you start out with trashy jobs where safe navigation comes second to keeping the water below the floorboards. I'm still torn about whether I want to ship out or try and get work locally so I can be home, but that decision needn't be made for a couple years. It seems like in Portland ME, there are a wealth of crusty old men who LOVE driving boats, so it'll be tough to get a job being a young inexperienced guy.

[ericbh1]

I worked for a 21 year old captain who was a real panic case and screamed a lot, how do you overcome the sense of responsibility enough to be calm in dodgy situations? I myself am not very prone to panic, but then again I'm not solely responsible for anything yet.

[mirage2521]

I worked for a 21 year old captain who was a real panic case and screamed a lot, how do you overcome the sense of responsibility enough to be calm in dodgy situations? I myself am not very prone to panic, but then again I'm not solely responsible for anything yet.

Experience, Experience, Experience

[Carl]

Just a thought - if you are already going to college or plan on attending, maybe look into Maine Maritime. It's a college and licensing all in one. You get the schooling and the training along with some sea time. Any of the maritime schools do this including the Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point NY. The only possible draw back is that you may have to serve on American Flag vessels for awhile after graduation as part of your commitment if any of your tuition gets paid for by the government. This is becoming more and more difficult in the unlimited tonnage / horsepower arena (blue water) since there are less and less American flag ships. You always have MSC and all the MARAD ships. Keep in mind there are various unions associated with many ships also.

[ericbh1]

Yeah I thought seriously about Maine Maritime, but decided I needed to get out of Maine for college. I should probably find out how to do office work in case I lose my motivation.