Marine Transport Masters, Officers and Technicians
Control and manage the operation and maintenance of marine vessels and equipment.
A night watch on the bridge
You are a ship's officer on a coastal freighter, on watch overnight while the captain sleeps. It is 2am and the sea is getting up. Visibility is dropping, a fishing boat has appeared on the radar, and you are due to alter course in twenty minutes.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
Officer, I can see a light off the port bow, low down. I cannot tell if it is a boat or a buoy. It is not on the chart as far as I can see, and the radar is cluttered with the swell.
Thank Hari, plot it on the radar and keep watching in case it comes closer
The light turns out to be a small boat drifting with its engine off. Because you were watching early, you pass wide with plenty of room. A lookout who speaks up is a gift.
Tell Hari it is probably a buoy, since nothing is charted there, and ask him to keep an eye on it
It is not a buoy. The boat looms up closer than you like and you have to turn sharply. Guessing from a distance is how close calls begin, and Hari learns that speaking up gets brushed off.
Wake the captain straight away, before looking at the radar yourself
The captain comes up and is glad to be told, but asks what you have found. You do not have an answer yet. Calling for help is right, and arriving with a first look is better.
I heard the engine note change. Are we still on schedule? We need to be at the pilot station by six, and I do not want a late arrival. Can you push the speed up a little to make up time?
Say yes and increase speed a little, since the captain asked and the arrival time matters
You follow an instruction, but the sea is rougher than the captain knows from his cabin. The ship pounds and the cargo lashings need checking. The captain should decide with the conditions in front of him.
Describe the sea and visibility, advise against it, and ask him to come up
The captain comes to the bridge, sees the swell and agrees to keep the speed. You have given him what he needed to decide and you have not simply obeyed or refused.
Say everything is fine and increase speed without mentioning the weather
The captain is reassured, but the ship is now moving faster in poor visibility with a boat nearby. The captain cannot decide well without the full picture, and you were the one who had it.
The starboard cooling reading is creeping up. It is within limits, just. I can probably keep an eye on it until we reach port, or I can slow the engine now. What would you like me to do?
Ask her to keep watching it and report if it passes a set reading
It is a fair plan, and Siobhan monitors it. But the weather is worsening, and a failure at the wrong moment would leave you with less room. A watching plan needs to account for where the ship is.
Ask her to slow the engine and check the cause, and tell the captain what you decided
Siobhan finds a partly blocked filter and clears it. The reading settles. You lose a little time, but you keep the engine, and the captain understands why when you explain.
Tell her to leave it alone, because slowing down will make you late
The reading climbs and the engine has to be slowed anyway, later and in worse conditions. Deciding early gives you choices that deciding late takes away.
How it went
Dawn comes up with the ship on time, a sleepy crew and a log full of notes about what was seen and decided. Marine work means long stretches of watchfulness, a clear chain of command and the habit of saying what you see. Could you see yourself on a bridge at 2am, awake and calm?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The pilot and the wind that changed its mind
A fictional case set in a working vessel at a fictional regional port, with a bridge, an engine room and a deck crew.
The situation
Captain Eleni Vasilakis was bringing a bulk carrier into Port Marlow with a marine pilot, Ben Orr, on the bridge. The forecast had promised a light southerly. Halfway up the channel, the wind swung round and strengthened. The ship was heavy in the water and the tide was falling. The shipping agent on the radio reminded them that the berth had to be cleared by evening.
What they did
Ben told Eleni plainly that the conditions had gone outside what he was comfortable with. They agreed to wait. They slowed, held the ship in the wider part of the channel and asked the port for a tug to stand by. The agent complained about the delay, and Eleni said the decision was made on safety and would be recorded that way. When the wind eased, they went in with the tug.
How it turned out
The ship berthed three hours late. The agent had to rearrange the unloading crew and was not happy, but there was no damage to the ship or the wharf. Ben and Eleni both wrote the decision into their logs, and the next shift of pilots read the note.
What would you do?
- How would you handle someone on the radio pushing you to hurry?
- Why might the pilot and the captain need to agree out loud?
- What would the hardest part of being away at sea for weeks be for you?