Day-to-day jobs of a deck cadet/officer

[DaOrkyMan]

I know what a deck officer is supposed to do, primarily concerned with navigation, cargo, survival equipment maintenance and the such, but what actual tasks do you carry out on a day-to-day basis? And other than re-rusting and similar, what tasks do deck cadets get given?

[alistairuk]

What your duties are as an officer will depend on your ship and company - on some you may not be required to do anything other than your 8 hours of watch keeping. However deck officers are normally (although it depends completely on the arrangements onboard a particular vessel) responsible for - amongst other things - the following, usually shared amongst the 3 watches;

Chart & Publication Corrections
Passage Planning
Safety Trainings
LSA Checks (Survival Craft, Fire Appliances, Fire Alarm Systems, Fire Doors, WTDs...)
Muster Lists
Environmental (such as pest control or even as basic as sorting different types, arranging and supervising offloading of garbage).
Deck Maintenance

[GuinnessMan]

Where to begin? It's such a busy life! Drink Coffee, lick windows, drink some more coffee, pose on bridge wing, sleep, moan about being overworked, watch stevedores/loading master do cargo operations, drink coffee, fall asleep on watch (seen that before), park ship on the beach...

Ok, so I'm just kidding (no, honestly!) basically what Alistair has said sums it up for the most part. Basically you are in charge of the safe navigation of the vessel (not of every aspect of the vessel), cargo operations (tank cleaning on tankers) and general deck maintenance including cosmetic maintenance (first thing inspectors look at and that will normally determine in what manner the inspection will progress).

[Randomist]

As guinnessman/alistair have already said as officer of the watch you are responsible for the safe navigation, the safety of all life onboard, safety of all cargo and the security of the vessel. You are also the delegated representative of the master. In the course of carrying out these duties you are responsible for the vessel as a whole, while the captain retains power over the vessel ultimately. The only thing you are not directly responsible for are the ships engines or machinery spaces.

Although, I'm sure Guinnessman would agree that if you're over zealous with the engine controls and black the ship out, that's your responsibility not the EOOW.

As a cadet on a day to day basis you would understudy the officer of the watch in the course of his duties. Before you can do that you will be expected to work on deck and learn all aspects of deck maintenance/seamanship.

[Bulman]

Could you lot also give some examples of what you're asked to do/have done?

[tommo]

Hi Bulman,
Tommo here, what I have written below is what my father (the old sea dog) told me. However thing may have changed slightly because it was a while since he was a deck cadet.

deck cadet- understudy the officer of the watch as Randomist said.
-working along side the Bosun to give you a grounding knowledge, which you will need later on in your career, which would involve basic deck maintenance (chipping and painting) rope work ( splicing etc..)
-helping the officer of the watch with look outs (risk of collision assessments)

deck officer- Basic safety, checking fire fighting equipment, fire extinguishers etc... also watch keeping, (4 hours on 8 hours off, normally)

However if anything is wrong, or if there is something missing with the above statement, im sure others will be along to correct me later!!

Hope this helps! Tommo

[Bulman]

Cheers Tommo, I was mainly asking for daorkyman (plus it's nice to know.) as people were saying what your roles and responsibly are, not what they had actually done task wise while being on a ship, like checking the fire fighting equipment as you pointed out.

[gadget123]

By the end of your cadetship you should be able to do all of the jobs that are done by the ratings (AB/OS) and the junior officers (third/second mate) so this includes:

-Maintenance and checks on all equipment on board (excluding engine room type stuff) - steelwork, hatch covers, lifting equipment, fire fighting equipment (fire hoses, extingishers, breathing aperatus etc), safety equipment(lifeboat equipment, life jackets, life-rafts, EPIRB/SART), mooring and anchoring equipment.

-Mooring and anchoring operations - first as a rating type role, then taking charge as under the supervision of the officer

-Cargo operations - will vary hugely depending on ship type but again first as a rating type role and then taking charge

-Safety drills - Fire, abandon ship, enclosed space, man overboard, enclosed space rescue, emergency steering gear tests.

-Then of course bridge watch keeping - fixing the ships position on the chart, collision avoidance, chart corrections, met observations, checking navigational equipment (compasses, radar, GPS, radio equipment) and generally monitoring the safety of whats going on board.

Thats all I can think of but there are other things I have probably forgotten.

[GuinnessMan]

I was mainly asking for daorkyman .[/COLOR]

Whats one of those?

[Bulman]

the original poster :P

[DaOrkyMan]

Whats one of those?

You see, the daorkyman is a very rare creature. Although it's usually seen scurrying around rural Wales, it has been seen to be moving closer to the coastline. Some even say they may eventually evolve to be a primarily marine creature, coming ashore only to mate and hunt for fresh food stocks.

Anyway, thanks everyone for the posts.

[GuinnessMan]

coming ashore only to mate

Welshman! Guard your Sheep!

[utpdm]

Do a watch - log onto the planned maintenance - check whats coming up - read job description - do job. simples.

[DaOrkyMan]

Welshman! Guard your Sheep!

Indeed, guard them well, for I am on the prowl...