NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Chief Mate

A Chief Mate (C/M) or Chief Officer is a licensed member and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the ship's cargo and deck crew.^[1] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... This article is about transported goods. ... The Deck Department is a reference to a division on a U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, or Merchant Marine vessel which is comprised of sailors who perform maintenance and upkeep on the ship (chippers and painters, as theyre commonly referred to) and are knowledgable in basic seamanship. ... Captain Sir Arthur Henry Rostron receiving a loving cup from Margaret Brown for his rescue of RMS Titanic survivors Main article: Seafarers professions and ranks Captain is the traditional customary title given to the person in charge of a ship at sea. ... A vessel is, say, like a town in that everything works such that. ... A United States Merchant Marine license. ... The Deck Department is a reference to a division on a U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, or Merchant Marine vessel which is comprised of sailors who perform maintenance and upkeep on the ship (chippers and painters, as theyre commonly referred to) and are knowledgable in basic seamanship. ... Cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship that carries goods and materials from one port to another. ... This article is about transported goods. ...

The chief mate is responsible to the captain for the safety and security of the ship. Responsibilities include the crew's welfare and training in areas such as safety, firefighting, search and rescue.

Cargo Officer

As cargo officer, a chief mate oversees the loading, stowage, securing and unloading of cargoes. Moreover the chief mate is accountable for the care of cargo during the voyage. This includes a general responsibility for the Stability conditions (watercraft) of the ship and special care for cargoes that are dangerous, hazardous or harmful. Stability conditions (watercraft) is the term used to describe the various standard loading configurations a Ship or Boat may be subjected to. ...

A ship is balanced precariously under the best of conditions upon the water and is subject to a number of forces, such as wind, swells, and storms which could capsize it. The cargo officer uses tools like ballasting and load balancing to optimize the ship's performance for the type of environment expected to be encountered. Ballast is used in sailboats to provide moment to resist the lateral forces on the sail. ... Weight distribution refers to the apportioning of weight within a vehicle, but is used most often to refer to cars, airplanes, and watercraft. ...

Watchstanding

A chief mate is almost always a watchstander. In port and at sea, the chief mate is responsible to the captain for keeping the ship, crew, and cargo safe for eight hours each day. Traditionally, the chief mate stands a "4-8" watch: from 4am until 8am and 4pm until 8pm.^[2] On watch, the mate must enforce all applicable regulations, such as safety of life at sea and pollution regulations. In port, the watch focuses on duties such as cargo operations, fire and security watches, monitoring communications and the anchor or mooring lines. Watchstanding, or watchkeeping, in nautical terms concerns the division of qualified personnel to operate a ship continuously around the clock. ... The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) is the most important treaty protecting the safety of merchant ships. ... Ship Pollution is an abbreviated form of the Protocol of 1978 Relating to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution From Ships, 1973. ...

IMO regulations require the officer be fluent in English. This is required for a number of reasons, such as ability to use charts and nautical publications, to understand weather and safety messages, communicate with other ships and coast stations, and to be able to work with a multi-lingual crew. A nautical chart is a graphic representation of a maritime area and adjacent coastal regions. ... Nautical publications is a technical term used in maritime circles describing a set of publications, generally published by national governments, for use in safe navigation of ships, boats, and similar vessels. ...

Sea watch

At sea, the mate on watch has three fundamental duties: navigate the ship, safely avoid traffic, and respond to any emergencies that may arise. Mates generally stand watch with able seamen who act as helmsman and lookout. The helmsman executes turns and the lookout reports dangers such as approaching ships. These roles are often combined to a single helmsman/lookout and, under some circumstances, can eliminated completely. The ability to smartly handle a ship is key to safe watchstanding. A ship's draught, trim, speed and under-keel clearance all affect its turning circle and stopping distance. Other factors include the effects of wind and current, squat, shallow water and similar effects. Shiphandling is key when the need arises to rescue a man overboard, to anchor, or to moor the ship. This article is about a civilian occupation. ... A helmsman is an person who steers a ship. ... A lookout or look-out is a person on a ship in charge of the observation of the sea for hazards, other ships, land, etc. ... The draft of a ships hull is the vertical distance from the bottom of the hull to the waterline. ... A turn with the turning radius being r. ...

The officer must also be able to transmit and receive signals by Morse light and to use the International Code of Signals. 1922 Chart of the Morse Code Letters and Numerals Morse code is a method for transmitting telegraphic information, using standardized sequences of short and long elements to represent the letters, numerals, punctuation and special characters of a message. ... The International Code of Signals (INTERCO) is a signal code to be used by merchant and naval vessels to communicate important messages about the state of a vessel and the intent of its master or commander when there are language barriers. ...

Navigation

Celestial, terrestrial, electronic, and coastal navigation techniques are used to fix a ship's position on a navigational chart. The officer directs the helmsman to keep to track, accounting for effects of winds, tides, currents and estimated speed. The officer uses supplemental information from nautical publications, such as Sailing Directions, tide tables, Notices to Mariners, and radio navigational warnings to keep the ship clear of danger in transit. Table of geography, hydrography, and navigation, from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 600 pixelsFull resolution (2048 Ã— 1536 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 600 pixelsFull resolution (2048 Ã— 1536 pixel, file size: 1. ... For the episode of The West Wing, see Celestial Navigation (The West Wing). ... Electronic navigation normally refers to one of two systems of navigation: Satellite Navigation: Navigation using signals from orbital satellites (such as GPS) as a reference. ... Portion of chart of Bering Strait, site of former land bridge between Asia and North America. ... A helmsman is an person who steers a ship. ... This article is about tides in the ocean. ... The word current usually implies a flow or movement. ... Nautical publications is a technical term used in maritime circles describing a set of publications, generally published by national governments, for use in safe navigation of ships, boats, and similar vessels. ... Sailing Directions is a 47-volume American navigation publication published by the Defense Mapping Agency Hydrographic/Topographic Center. ... A tide table is used for tidal prediction and shows the daily times and height of high water and low water for a particular location. ... Notice to Mariners is an American navigation publication made available weekly by the Defense Mapping Agency Hydrographic Topographic Center (DMAHTC), prepared jointly with the National Ocean Service (NOS) and the U.S. Coast Guard. ...

Safety demands the mate be able to quickly solve steering control problems and to calibrate the system for optimum performance. Since magnetic and gyro compasses show the course to steer, the officer must be able to determine and correct for compass errors. This article is about the navigational tool. ... [[ Cutaway of AnschÃ¼tz gyrocompass The following description refers to the gyrocompasses used on ships. ...

Weather's profound effect on ships requires the officer be able to interpret and apply meteorological information from all available sources. This requires expertise in weather systems, reporting procedures and recording systems. // Meteorology (from Greek: Î¼ÎµÏ„ÎÏ‰ÏÎ¿Î½, meteoron, high in the sky; and Î»ÏŒÎ³Î¿Ï‚, logos, knowledge) is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting. ...

Traffic management

The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea are a cornerstone of safe watchkeeping. Safety requires that one live these rules and follows the principles of safe watchkeeping. Maximizing bridge teamwork, including the practice of Bridge Resource Management, is an emerging focus in watchkeeping. The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea 1972 (COLREGS) are published by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and set out the rules of the road to be followed by ships and other vessels at sea. ...

The main purpose for Radar and Automatic Radar Plotting Aids (ARPA) on a ship's bridge is to move safely among other vessels. These instruments help to accurately judge information about prominent objects in the vicinity, such as: For other uses, see Radar (disambiguation). ... Automatic Radar Plotting Aid, ARPA, gives a maritime radar the possibility to follow targets resembling other ships, calculating their course, speed and possible collision with own vessel. ...

These factors help the officer apply the COLREGS to safely maneuver in the vicinity of obstructions and other ships. The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea 1972 (COLREGS) are published by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and set out the rules of the road to be followed by ships and other vessels at sea. ...

Unfortunately, radar has a number of limitations, and ARPA inherits those limitations and adds a number of its own. Factors such as rain, high seas, and dense clouds can prevent radar from detecting other vessels. Further, dense traffic and course and speed changes can confuse ARPA units. Finally, human errors such as inaccurate speed inputs and confusion between true and relative vectors add to the limitations of the radar/ARPA suite.

Under the best conditions, the radar operator must be able to optimize system settings and detect divergences between an ARPA system and actual conditions. Information obtained from radar and ARPA must be treated with scrutiny: over reliance on these systems has sunk ships. The officer must understand system performance, limitations and accuracy, tracking capabilities and limitations, and processing delays, and the use of operational warnings and system tests.

Emergencies

Emergencies can happen at any time. The officer must be equipped to safeguard passengers and crew. The officer must be able to take initial action after a collision or a grounding. Responsibilities include performing damage assessment and control, understanding the procedures for rescuing persons from the sea, assisting ships in distress, and responding to any emergency which may arise in port.

The Chief Mate is in charge of the firefighting and damage control teams. He is scene leader and reports via radio to the Captain who is in command and coordinates the larger response from the bridge.

The officer must understand distress signals and know the IMO Merchant Ship Search and Rescue Manual. A distress signal is an internationally recognized means of obtaining help by using a radio, displaying a visual object or making noise from a distance. ...

Controlling ship operations

The officer has special responsibilities to keep the ship, the people on board, and the environment safe. This includes keeping the ship seaworthy during fire and loss of stability, providing aid and maintaining safety during man overboard, abandoning ship, and medical emergencies.

Understanding ship's stability, trim, stress, and the basics of ship's construction is a key to keeping a ship seaworthy. The mate must know what to do in cases of flooding and loss of buoyancy. Fire is also a constant concern. Knowing the classes and chemistry of fire, fire-fighting appliances, and systems prepares the officer to act fast in case of fire.

An officer must be expert in the use of survival craft and rescue boats. Expertise includes the vessels' launching appliances and arrangements, and their equipment including radio life-saving appliances, satellite EPIRBs, SARTs, immersion suits and thermal protective aids. It's important to be expert in the techniques for survival at sea techniques in case it's necessary to abandon ship. Severn class lifeboat in Poole Harbour, Dorset, England. ... A rescue craft is a boat or ship used in rescuing. ... Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs), Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs) and Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) are tracking transmitters that operate as part of the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system. ... A standard SART, produced by Jotron, on board a Norwegian ferry Shipboard Global Maritime Distress Safety System (GMDSS) installations include one or more Search and Rescue Transponder (SART) devices which are used to locate a survival craft or distressed vessel by creating a series of dots on a rescuing ship... An immersion suit or, more specifically an immersion survival work suit, is a type of dry suit designed to keep water away from the skin, and prevent hypothermia, if its wearer falls into cold water. ...

Officers are trained to perform medical tasks, and follow instructions given by radio or obtained from guides. This training includes what to do in case of common shipboard accidents and illnesses.

Licensing

United States

To become a chief mate (unlimited) in the United States, one must pass a series of examinations and must have had at least 365 days of service while holding a second mate's license. Similarly, one must have worked as a third mate for 365 days to have become a second mate. There are many special cases in license upgrades at the individual level, as licensing regulations change from time to time. A sizable portion of mates still working received their licenses before current laws went into effect. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 775 Ã— 599 pixelsFull resolution (3270 Ã— 2529 pixel, file size: 945 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) United States Merchant Marine license from US government site: http://www. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 775 Ã— 599 pixelsFull resolution (3270 Ã— 2529 pixel, file size: 945 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) United States Merchant Marine license from US government site: http://www. ... Main article: Seafarers professions and ranks A Second Mate (2/M) or Second Officer is a licensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. ...

There are two methods to attain an unlimited third mate's license in the United States: to attend a specialized training institution, or to accumulate "sea time" and take a series of training classes and examintations.^[3]

Training institutions that can lead to a third mate's license include the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (deck curriculum), the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and U.S. Naval Academy with qualification as an underway officer in charge of a navigational watch, any of the state maritime colleges, the Great Lakes Maritime Academy, or a three-year apprentice mate training program approved by the Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. Seal of the US Merchant Marine Academy The US Merchant Marine Academy represents Federal involvement in maritime training that is more than a century old. ... The United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA), located in New London, Connecticut, is a U.S. military academy that provides education to future officers of the United States Coast Guard. ... Teamwork: Fourth Class Midshipmen lock arms and use ropes made from uniform items as they brace themselves climbing the Herndon Monument The United States Naval Academy, or USNA, is an institution for the undergraduate education of officers of the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. ... Officer of the Deck (OOD) is a position in the United States Navy that confers certain authority and responsibility. ... Northwestern Michigan College, also known as NMC to local residents, is a community college, established in 1951, in Traverse City, Grand Traverse County, Michigan. ...

A seaman may start the process of attaining a license after three years of service in the deck department on ocean steam or motor vessels, at least six months of which as able seaman, boatswain, or quartermaster. Then the seaman takes required training courses, and completes on-board assessments. Finally, the mariner can apply to the United States Coast Guard for a Third Mate's license. In the Royal Navy in the middle of the 18th century, the term Able Seaman referred to a seaman with at least two years experience at sea. ... The boatswain on a modern merchant ship supervising cargo operations. ... Quartermaster is a term usually referring to a military unit which specializes in supplying and provisioning troops, or to an individual who does the same. ... USCG HH-65 Dolphin USCG HH-60J JayHawk The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is at all times a branch of the United States armed forces a maritime law enforcement agency, and a federal regulatory body. ...

A master of 1,600 ton vessels can, under certain circumstances, begin the application process for an unlimited third mate's license. Captain Sir Arthur Henry Rostron receiving a loving cup from Margaret Brown for his rescue of RMS Titanic survivors Main article: Seafarers professions and ranks Captain is the traditional customary title given to the person in charge of a ship at sea. ...

If approved the applicant must then successfully pass a comprehensive license examination before being issued the license. Hawsepiper is an informal maritime industry term used to refer to an officer who began his or her career as an unlicensed merchant seaman and did not attend a traditional maritime college/academy to earn the officer license.

A ship’s hawse pipe is the pipe passing through the bow section of a ship that the anchor chain passes through. Hawsepiper refers to climbing up the hawse pipe, a nautical metaphor for climbing up the ship's rank structure. Hawsepiper is considered a positive term when said respectfully. Many hawsepipers are proud of their background and use the term to describe themselves.

Several merchant seamen's unions offer their membership the required training to for career advancement. Similarly, some employers offer financial assistance to pay for the training for their employees. Otherwise, the mariner is responsible for the cost of the required training.

Since the requirements of STCW '95 have been enacted, there have been complaints that the hawsepiper progression path has been made too difficult because of the cost in time and money to meet formal classroom training requirements. These critics assert that the newer requirements will eventually lead to a shortage of qualified mariners, especially in places like the United States.

Notable First Mates and Chief Mates

Starbuck is a surname, and may refer to: // Starbuck, the first mate of the ship Pequod in Herman Melvilles novel Moby-Dick Lieutenant Starbuck, a character in the original 1978 Battlestar Galactica film and TV series Captain Kara Thrace, call sign Starbuck, a character in the 2004 Battlestar Galactica... For other uses, see Moby-Dick in popular culture. ... For other meanings of the name Starbuck, see Starbuck. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Template:Infobox Military Person. ... Fletcher Christian Fletcher Christian (September 25, 1764 â€“ October 3, 1793) was a Masters Mate on board the Bounty during William Blighs fateful voyage to Tahiti for breadfruit plants (see Mutiny on the Bounty). ... for other meaning see Mutiny on the Bounty (disambiguation) The mutineers turning Lt Bligh and some of the officers and crew adrift from HMAV Bounty, 29 April 1789 The Mutiny on the Bounty was a historical event in the late 18th century, most widely known through fiction, of an officer... Roronoa Zoro ), also known as Roronoa Zolo, is a fictional character in the anime and manga series One Piece by Eichiro Oda. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump Monthly Shonen Jump Original run August 4, 1997 â€“ (ongoing) No. ... Zoe Washburne (nÃ©e Alleyne) is a character in the television series Firefly, played by Gina Torres. ... Henry Tingle Wilde (September 21, 1872 â€“ April 15, 1912) was the Chief Officer of the RMS Titanic. ... John Biscoe (June 28, 1794 â€“ 1843) was an English mariner and explorer who commanded the first expedition known to sight the areas known as Enderby Land and Graham Land along the coast of the Antarctic. ... Restored grave of Jabez Peters Jabez Peters (Born ? - died 25th March 1907) was a merchant seaman. ... Chewbacca (or Chewie) is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. ... The Millennium Falcon is a fictional spacecraft in the Star Wars universe commanded by smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his Wookiee firstmate, Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew). ...

Contents

Cargo Officer

Watchstanding

Sea watch

Navigation

Traffic management

Emergencies

Controlling ship operations

Licensing

United States

Notable First Mates and Chief Mates

See also

Notes

References

External links

Contents

Cargo Officer GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Watchstanding

Sea watch

Navigation

Traffic management

Emergencies

Controlling ship operations

Licensing

United States

Notable First Mates and Chief Mates

See also

Notes

References

External links

Cargo Officer