Tickets & Changes

[Louis the fly]

For the first half of my time at sea the only tickets I needed in my book were EDH with lifeboat ticket and AB'S ticket.
I was qualified to join any ship, no matter how large or small. The second half brought about many changes.
Looking through the back of my book here are the tickets and course's I had at the end.
Small Craft Navigation & Radar, Petroleum Tanker Safety Course, Marin - Ark Evacuation Course, Fire Fighting Course, Sea Survival including Wet Drill, Certificate of Proficiency in Survival Craft, Certificate for the Operation of Mobile - Elevated Work Platform Self Propelled Boom ( Cherry Picker )
On many deep sea ships I was no longer an AB I had now become Seaman Grade 1A. Like a free range egg. Even worse was GP1 with duties in the engine room and on deck. Luckily for me on both occasions someone volunteered to stay in the engine room permanently after the promise of a lot of overtime.

[Michael Black]

Yes Louis, having a ticket seems more important than experience nowadays.
I had been rigging for years. Had been chargehand, foreman ran the rigging loft for years. Then it started to creep in you had to have a course and a ticket at the end of it for everything. We had to have a safety passport , forklift truck licence, working at height, banksman, nvq level 3, harness inspection, lifting equipment inspection, I also took my appointed persons ticket which is an advanced ticket to have.
A lot of these had to be renewed every few years, sometimes the company would pay, my appointed persons cost well over a thousand but that was paid for by the company.
I know the reason why they wanted all the courses but a bit of paper didn't mean you were a good rigger. We always knew who was a good hand.
Regards Michael

[j.sabourn]

#1 Missed a few there Louis, HUET , Helicopter Landing , Oil Recovery, and the list goes on. One company I was with no names, if for the likes of advanced first aid , which everyone had to have, would pay for, with the stipulation that if you didnt stay there a year , you would refund the course fees to them. However was the same in latter years for certificates of competency , you had to have at least 2 years seatime in every 5 years , otherwise had to go back to school for a week to pick up any new legislation. so i used to give myself a discharge whenever i remembered the only reason i can remember some of the ships names, must have forgotten 3 however. JS PS was that hard boiled or soft boiled or maybe just Fried ? JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

I remember an old Bosun I sailed with on the NZ coast, no tickets of any kind, but would lose anyone in seamanship, as he used to say, you young ones don't know what seamanship is all about untill you have been around the Horn a dozen times in a Hurricane. Small, wizened,
and 79 years old, he didn't need what he called these new fangled gadgets.
Des

[happy daze john in oz]

Yes tickets were, and still are , important.
Try getting on a bus or a train without one!!