Age no limitation?

[Andrew Griffiths]

Hello everyone,

Although my career has been in journalism and business I have always had an ambition to go to sea, and circumstances mean I am now in a position to pursue this dream. Would anyone be able to provide an insight into whether it is realistic for me to become a deck officer at the age of 55?

My research so far seems to indicate that cadetship is the only route into the profession, and for that one needs to be sponsored by a shipping company, and commercial sense would dictate that they would prefer to invest in people with a long career ahead of them. Is anyone aware of companies that would offer a cadetship to someone of my age? Being fit and healthy and having no plans to retire, I feel I have at least a decade of service to offer.

I should add that last week I applied for a cadetship through one of the training companies and got a seemingly standard rejection today based on "large number of applications and limited number of places" with no feedback about my application itself, and certainly not mentioning my age.

Any thoughts hugely welcomed. Thanks.

Andy

[Tony Taylor]

Andy, ambition is great, but are you aware of the actual duties you would need to carry out, being a deck officer is not all posing in a nice uniform and looking out thro binoculars etc. It still involves some heavy graft, long hours, mental stress etc. You dont see that side of things in the brochure. You may be fit now but by the time you finish your cadetship you could be a wreck. Some think deck officers have it cushy but we all know different, I am an engineer by the way ha ha.

[j.sabourn]

Andrew by the age of 55 I was counting the days and the coppers to the age of 65 which was the earliest I could even think of retiring. If I had stayed in British ships I would still be working today to pay off the mortgage and I’m 81. I was on over 80 ships plus offshore edifices during my time, never made my fortune, but did make a living just. Only in the last 20 years did I get a reasonable home life, too late to see kids grow up ,as was too busy to earn enough for them to have a decent standard, and this meant going away for long periods. You as a more mature man will not have this problem. Going to sea today will not be like most of what you read on here, that is history now and the rule book has changed. You might be perfectly adaptable for today at sea and you may even get job satisfaction from it. Depending on your circumstances in life is your choice , myself have no wish to go back, but I have been there seen and done most of things. Your case is nothing ventured nothing gained, so would say the ball is in your court. You never know. But don’t expect to recapture your lost youth, any of that you have left will go as well with the minimum 12 hours a day 7 days a week expected from you. The further you advance so will the hours of work. But have a go... all the best JWS
PS.. I was 1 year younger than you when decided enough was enough and probably not thinking straight decided to get the hell out of it. We applied for immigration got it put everything in a container , sent to Australia climbed on an airplane and flew out to WA. Was working inside of a month on a ship, it was a shore job I wanted, but who wants a 54 year old man sweeping up the mall. Back to sea with better conditions and never looked back. You could say I was the same age as you when decided to change my countries as well as my employment , but pleased I took the bull by the horns. Regards JS

[john walker]

Andy as you probably know age discrimination is illegal in this country but alas it happens. I very much doubt at your age the majority of companies would entertain the thought of paying for expensive college education etc. When your sea going career would be very short. Have you thought of a different nautical occupation like working on yachts it is easier for you to get certification and a working knowledge through the Royal Yachting Association's training courses and volunteering to crew for others who own their own boats. Once you are qualified it is possible to make a living doing deliveries etc. If the above proves to be of interest just google RYA and follow the leads.

[Keith Tindell]

I would agree with J S, the world of seamen that we speak of here is long gone, in fact the whole world is not the same, in our day to sail to OZ was a long trip, today OZ is a single flight from UK. I had thoughts when i retired from the Fire Service at 53, of digging my discharge book out and doing one more trip for memories sake, very soon realised that was just a dream, things had changed beyond belief. The days of my trampships are now just history, kt

[cappy]

####proper ships long gone keith......the days of the old trampships long gone now ......along with most of the men who sailed them...containers wouldnt pizz on them .....but we had the dream ....nobody can take that away ......what an education .....worldwise circumnavigation twice by 18.....we had it all bad times and good......truly men of the world still in our teens.....on yer wack ...no fatties then lol cappy.....

[robpage]

In 1966 we were told that cadet training cost the company (B&C) £3500 , a new build house was £2500 so the training cost today at 55 would never be recovered in your working life , Try by all means and I wish you well but the ENG1 medical was never easy , If I was hiring I would offer good wishes but no job

[Chris Allman]

Keith I agree. However lucky me on retirement managed to get my big wish, a sailing ship in my Discharge Book - taken from the port side on the poop under full sail - fantastic

[j.sabourn]

When I went as a volunteer on the Leeuwin I thought it would be a very complicated job steering such a vessel. It wasn’t, never realised but the problem of not coming into the wind and finishing up in stays was solved by simply having a wind direction pointer by the side of the wheel and all this you hear about only coming 6 points into the wind was untrue , could come about 3 points into the wind no problem, didn’t try coming closer though just in case miscalculated and finished up in stays. Of course this will vary ship to ship, but the old BOT stipulations when working out how’s she heading, was very misinforming If believed was true for all sailing vessels. JS

[Keith Tindell]

I also could not completely let go of the sea, apart from owning my own 26ft sailing boat, i did manage to acquire my yachmaster offshore qualification, and was able to do some work on the John Lang sail training boat. Once you have tasted that sea its never going to leave you, and the life that us guys had makes us part of history in a way. I love to read of the guys before who were before us under sail, and they were tough old boys, and from yet another era, kt