Career At Sea

[Craig Smith]

Good morning all. I requested some help in October last year. My son was considering joining the merchant Navy and claiming an interest in navigation. He is 18 in June and sits his A levels in a couple of months. The response was overwhelming and very helpful. As parents, we can only offer so much advice. Especially, when we have no background knowledge of a life at sea. Could I ask for some more input from members please? I would like to know if our son would need previous sea faring experience? He currently has non. Also, should he choose more than one shipping company to apply to for sponsorship (he seems to prefer the cruise option but can't tell us why). Finally, could members offer maybe 5 (or more if appropriate) questions that they would ask him to establish if the he was genuinely committed to a career at sea. Thank you very much in anticipation. Craig Smith.

[Captain Kong]

Two years ago I joined the STATENDAM, of Holland America Line, in San Diego as a passenger, a lad from Preston flew out with me, it was his first trip to sea as a Navigation Cadet,
he told me he was sponsored by Trinity House, went to Warsash College, Southampton and then joined HAL.
HAL is a good company to work for, they have Dutch as well as British officers, the language is always English.
Cheers
Brian

[j.sabourn]

1. Do you consider going to sea is going to be your lifetime career.
2. Are you going to sea as you think it will be an adventuresome thing to do,
3. Do you realize that when shipping dips trade wise you may suffer loss of job and salary, and this could be a frequent thing
4. What will be your position if you decide to marry and have a family.
5. Do you realize that going to sea also consists of frequent learning and updating of knowledge.
6. Are you prepared to get your hands dirty and your feelings maybe hurt.
7. Many people go to sea on the navigation side of a ship thinking they can easily get a job ashore if required, work for such is very limited, so a change in careers with loss of salary may quite be in the offing if have that option in mind.

My advice would be let him go it is his life if there are mistakes to be made he will have to learn to make his own way, he has the same chances as anyone of his age entering such a profession, the only thing is I would question his wanting passenger ships, personally I don't think that is the place to learn his trade, after he is properly qualified is different. Shipowners in my day looked for people with experience, seamen get that experience by doing the job more so themselves. The old maxim you cant tell someone what to do unless you have done it yourself applies. You could not take a passenger ship only trained person and stick him on an oil tanker or a bulk carrier, a deck officers job is not standing on the bridge looking pretty, it is learning about the carriage and handling of various cargoes, and there are many types, also a lot of shipping is now very specialized, learning how to handle passengers is no experience for such. All the best to him and am certain if he doesn't like it will be home within 6 months to try something else. All the best John S

[Ron B Manderson]

brill advise there.
Get your hands dirty.
You don't see the real world from a passy ship.
Bonnie uniform is not real. I stayed away from these companies.
You can beat getting covered in oil and dirt to do a proper job. And see the real world, .with all the nuts and bolts with warts and all .
Ron the batcave

[John Arton]

Good morning all. . Craig Smith.

Craig
I can only suggest once again that he applies to as many companies as possible. Internet search should give you the names of companies that sponsor deck cadets but off the top of my head I can think of:
Maersk, Anglo Eastern, P and G tankers, Trinity House together with a number of North Sea Operators of supply and stand by ships. Also Faststream, a recruitment site work very closely with a large shipping outfit in Glasgow who are at this present offering positions as Deck Cadets.
rgds
JA

[Red Lead Ted]

Craig, You are the ones to be commended for taking an interest in your sons choice of what is a life style more than a job it has its highs and lows, But think if he gets his chance and doesn't take it he will wonder for the rest of his life, If it was my Son he would go with my blessings good luck to the lad I wish him nothing but success, Very best regards to you and all your family Terry.

[John Albert Evans]

Dear Mr Smith, I read your post in October and that of today and I note that he will be 18 years of age in three months time. I wholeheartedly with Terry's post 6# but considering all the valuable good information that has already been given by a lot of members I am curious as to what your son himself has done in order to become a Merchant Seaman bearing in mind that the majority of men on this site had already done about 2 years sea service by the age of 18 years. I am of course aware that school leaving ages have differed since the 1950.

John Albert Evans,

[Red Lead Ted]

As you say John, Its a very different world while most of us left school at 15 these kids today with nothing awaiting them outside the school gates at 15yrs old are encouraged to stay on and do higher education and not necessarily in college, It is the norm for 6th form pupils to stay in school my own grandson has and his mother still gets child benefit for him which he receives otherwise its the road to know where for most kids today at the age of 15/16 Regards John Terry

[j.sabourn]

To be honest I would say a career at sea today as against what was there in our era is certainly not the same. We came from an era where British Shipping was the biggest in the world. Ships were run mostly on peoples integrity and skills. One made ones own decisions. Good bad or indifferent was how one kept a job if one wanted to keep it. The basic training was different and one first learned to be a seaman first last and foremost. I particularly don't agree with the basic requirements for the present day mariner, but there again I am not fully aware of the requirements and don't particularly want to know. However I saw nothing wrong with the old ways and think it produced well and adjusted people with a lot of knowledge, which today is considered par for the course and unnecessary, I fail to agree with that. What I see is a bunch of zombies being produced on the factory roll on roll off system, with a piece of paper which tells them they are trained to the required level. The sea like some other dangerous jobs one is never finished learning and this goes on right up to the day one retires. No one knows it all and never will. However if one gets job satisfaction out of going to sea one is sitting pretty. Of course there are jobs there at the moment but to assume they are always going to be there is a bit presumptuous, the present shipowners can see a decline in applicants nowadays, but will have no compunction in getting rid of when it suits them as they have done in the past. JS

[Captain Kong]

The only growth industry at sea today appears to be Cruise ships. from what I have seen both on Cunard and Holland America, is the Cadets do the dirty jobs, as well as Navigation watches. A ship is still a ship and these maintenance jobs still need to be done.
They are not just poncing about for passengers in white suits.
In fact it is difficult to see a deck officer, all the passenger accommodation is run by hotel staff and nothing to do with deck officers, No one is allowed on the Bridge these days, security. so no posing with young ladies.
So if a lad can get to sea on a cruise ship then he will still get the right training.
Cheers
Brian