Aurum
Download

Seafarer and Merchant Navy Career

The route to sea as a merchant navy officer or rating: maritime school, STCW and medical certificates, sea time and the training record book, certificates of competency, deck or engine progression and coming ashore.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Then open the Marketplace in the app, search for Seafarer and Merchant Navy Career, and click Install. It goes into your own files, and works offline from then on.

What it installs.

1

Pillar

1

Area

50

Projects

200

Starter tasks

🧰 Professions & Trades

Seafarer and Merchant Navy Career

Becoming a seafarer: maritime school, certificates of competency, sea time, deck or engine routes and progression to officer.

  1. Talking to serving officers about life at sea
  2. Deck, engine or electro-technical officer route
  3. School subjects for maritime college entry
  4. Seafarer medical and colour vision pre-check
  5. Officer cadetship or ratings entry
  6. Shortlisting approved maritime academies
  7. Funding maritime school and bonded sponsorships
  8. Cadet sponsorship applications and selection days
  9. Passport, seafarer identity document and discharge book
  10. STCW basic safety training certificates
  11. Training record book kept current at sea
  12. Sea service record and testimonials
  13. Hours of work and rest record
  14. Certificate and endorsement expiry calendar
  15. Wage account and home allotment checks
  16. Leave fund between contracts
  17. Drills, muster duties and permit to work discipline
  18. Sleep, fatigue and fitness around watch patterns
  19. Mental wellbeing and welfare contacts at sea
  20. Family life around long tours at sea
  21. Collision regulations learned by heart
  22. Ship stability and trim calculations
  23. Passage planning and position fixing practice
  24. Engine room systems and watchkeeping
  25. Maritime English and standard marine phrases
  26. MARPOL rules and environmental record books
  27. Medical first aid and medical care certificates
  28. Reading the employment agreement before signing on
  29. Vetting crewing agencies and refusing placement fees
  30. Choosing a ship type and trade
  31. Seafarer tax residence and earnings records
  32. Insurance, pension and dependants' cover
  33. Flag state endorsements for foreign-flag ships
  34. Crew visas and joining travel
  35. Joining your first ship as a cadet
  36. Completing the cadet sea phase and signing off
  37. Officer of the watch written exams
  38. Oral examination for your first certificate
  39. GMDSS radio operator certificate
  40. ECDIS and bridge resource management courses
  41. Engine room resource management and high voltage courses
  42. Revalidating your certificate of competency
  43. Rating to officer upgrade route
  44. Moving from naval or coastguard service to the merchant fleet
  45. Women at sea networks and practical planning
  46. Coming ashore into a maritime career on land
  47. Tanker and gas carrier endorsements
  48. Dynamic positioning operator certification
  49. Chief mate and master certificates
  50. Second and chief engineer certificates

Where it starts.

Each project arrives with its purpose, milestones and first tasks written out. Here is how the first three read.

Talking to serving officers about life at sea

Deep-sea contracts commonly run four to nine months, with watches every day, no weekends and long passages where shore leave may be an hour or nothing at all. Hearing that from a serving second mate or third engineer, before you spend a year's fees on maritime school, is the cheapest test of whether the life fits you and the people who depend on you.

First tasks

  • Ask your school, church or a maritime college to connect you with a serving officer
  • Prepare five questions about rotation, pay, watches and time away
  • Write up each conversation the same evening
  • Record your decision and the date you made it

Deck, engine or electro-technical officer route

Deck officers navigate, handle cargo and eventually command; marine engineers run and repair the propulsion and power plant; electro-technical officers look after the electrical, automation and control systems. The choice decides your courses, your sea time and which certificate you sit, and switching later usually means extra training, so make it with evidence about all three.

First tasks

  • List what a deck officer, an engineer and an ETO does on a typical watch
  • Ask one officer from each department what they wish they had known at the start
  • Score each route against your school subjects and practical strengths
  • Write down your chosen route and the main reason for it

School subjects for maritime college entry

Maritime academies usually ask for passes in mathematics, English and physics or a combined science: CSEC or CAPE in the Caribbean, GCSE and A level in the UK, or a high school diploma with the right courses in the US and Canada. Checking the entry rules of two or three colleges while you can still choose subjects avoids a year lost to resits.

First tasks

  • Download the admissions requirements from three maritime college websites
  • Put your current and predicted grades beside each requirement
  • Book a meeting with your guidance counsellor about any gap
  • Confirm next year's subject choices with the school office

Make it yours.

Install Seafarer and Merchant Navy Career, then tell Aurum the date you're aiming for. It checks whether the plan fits the weeks you actually have.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Blueprints are general information to help you organise your own work. They are not medical, financial, legal or other professional advice. See the Terms.