Duties of Deck boy /JOS

[Keith at Tregenna]

Were not many lascars deemed higher than deck boys ?

K.

[j.sabourn]

#27... Ken a steering cert. was not an official cert. of competency. It was issued by the ship and the only thing official about it was the ships stamp. It stipulated that you had completed I think 12 hours on the wheel steering the vessel and appeared competent, or words to that effect. It was part of every deck seafarers progress reports you might say. Would probably be asked for as well as a lifeboat cert. when applying for an ABs certificate which was official, the same as an EDHs. JWS

[j.sabourn]

#31. Never saw the rating of deck boy on any Indian ship . There. Again might of been different on British ships of the old eastern traders . Kalassi 1 And 2 were the only actual deckmen I knew. They did not even drive a winch , you had a winch walla for that. Every man to his own job. That’s why you carried big crews , you needed them. If you were of the old colonial school you may have called them boy , but it was not in reference to their age. JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Good informative string here as I've learned something today. Have not previously heard of a Steering Ticket. From 1948 Deck Boy to later QM the only tickets held were EDH and Lifeboat though spent as many hours at the wheel as any other. Clearly missed another piece of paper in my distant past.

Ken T
R412277

Hi Ken.
I never heard of it until I think Terry mentioned it a few years ago, I assumed I got my steering ticket while at the Vindicatrix on the launch in 49
Cheers des

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Hi Peter.
Do you know if your dad went to a sea school? He may have gone the the most prolific one the Vindicatrix in Sharpness.
Des

[j.sabourn]

Most on here talking about steering certs. Are talking about the old telemotor system of steering . Where in applying wheel or rudder either to port or starboard and watching the amount on a helm indicator, judged themselves when to bring the wheel back to midships to maintain the course. Releasing the wheel being held over it returned itself to the midships position. Today that system of steering is rare and the steering mechanisms are mostly electric and maybe a tiller or buttons and you bring the rudder or rudders back amidships the same way you put the helm on. Every ship you may go on may be a different system. The picture you see on your tv screens of a man standing in the steering position is usually on a passenger ship , on a conventional working ship that would probably be the master or one of the mates. To have a man on the wheel today it would probably be an old clapped out vessel and the only way to do it. Having a helmsman and two or 3 officers around must look good to the passengers that’s the only reason I would give. Also a lot of ships today don’t have rudders they have azimuth thrusters . When manouvering a lot of different types , if on a ship with Becker rudders I never used just
Put them both facing inwards so had the least affect if going backwards using the props or thrusters and the bowthruster as your rudder . Can get over complicated when trying to use 5 tools to do one job with one pair of hands. JS...

[happy daze john in oz]

I do not know much about pay rates now for crew on container ships or bulk carriers, tankers etc.
But I do know the crew of them are mainly Asian.
As to cruise ships, from what crew have told me there are variations between the various companies.
Some look after the crew very well, others not so good.
Nothing has changed really when you think about it.

As to steering tickets, the only tickets I ever got were either bus ones or for speeding.

[robpage]

UCL had steering tickets , a few in catering had them tool , thought it was a company thing but there is a MCA spec

Has met the requirements laid down in Regulation II/4 of STCW 95 and
the standards of competence specified in section A-II/4 of the STCW Code,
and has completed a minimum of 10 hours steering in open waters and 10
hours steering in pilotage waters on a seagoing ship of 500 gt or more.

[j.sabourn]

It all sounds very efficient Rob as it’s meant to be. That’s. The equivilant of about a weeks seatime. Maybe less in some cases. Does it specify on what type of steering ? No magnetic compass I supposed ? That’s the old reason why seatime was once considered a must. Today I believe people go to sea as watchkeeping officers without even knowing if they are going to suffer from mal de mere. I don’t have too much faith In modern methods, but there again I don’t worry anymore , just too pleased to be clear of any future and present day misfortunes. Cheers JS

[robpage]

I have had one experience of working with people with the modification which seems to be more of a watchkeeping certificate particularly in the engineering department and I'm afraid that having eventually got my combined first class class 1 certificate but the modern system is a total load of junk to me and I think that they watered down what was one of the best maritime certification schemes in the world so the oldie people with British certificates could be replaced by fresh young university graduates from the third world modern day certification I'm afraid with the very limited experience I've seen of it stinks

[Red Lead Ted]

Hi Ken.
I never heard of it until I think Terry mentioned it a few years ago, I assumed I got my steering ticket while at the Vindicatrix on the launch in 49
Cheers des

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Hi Peter.
Do you know if your dad went to a sea school? He may have gone the the most prolific one the Vindicatrix in Sharpness.
Des

hI, Des, I think you will find we all had our steering ticket or those who went to sea via a sea school, I got mine in Gravesend, But it was one of those things you had to put into practice so to speak and yes I got mine aboard the Trevaylor first trip and yes the ticket is signed by the ships Master. If you remember it was usually left in the back of your book and when you joined a ship it proved you had done it at sea, A bit like boat drill I had a boat ticket when I left Gravesend, You couldn't really do the full drill under sea conditions on the Thames, So we done it most Sunday mornings all in the learning curve and for your own good and the souls that where aboard with you Terry.