mates orals – glasgow – bf

Date: June 2020

Disclaimer!!! I’m doing this from memory the following day, so there are bound to be things I’ve missed, this is just a general summary of what I recall.

The exam was over MS Teams, which is generally okay, but presents one noticeable issue – you have to keep looking at the camera when you answer, but the examiner appears at the bottom righthand corner of the screen. It’s important, especially when the examiner is sharing their screen, that you look at the camera to answer. Its counterintuitive, but important.

Other than that, it’s fine. The examiner will run through the rules of online testing and ensure that the room is empty of people and notes etc. All fairly straight forward.

BF was pretty awesome at making me feel at ease – didn’t let me off the hook, but equally was understanding about the occasional brain-fart and allowed me to return to a topic later on. Also, she was happy for me to make notes, but not to write down questions, which I complied with fully, alongside all other rules!

Asked about my experience (mostly containers, some pax, some yachts) and placed me on a container ship.

Questions and format as far as I recall:

● Joining as Master on <3000GT. Which MARPOL certificates are you expecting to see onboard?
● Tell me about the IOPP and ISPP
● 17 year old Cadet joining. What certificates should they have? How will you explain their rest hours to them? What’s in a SEA?
● What can you tell me about the EAS? What is HSSC? Who issues the ISM SMC under EAS? Tell me about the ISM DOC and SMC.
● Now you’re C/O approaching Glasgow. Client wants to know how much cargo you can load to take to Panama. What are your considerations?
● You’re alongside now. How do you prepare the ship for cargo ops?
● Tell me about DG considerations.
● During ops, you’re also bunkering. Bunker hose breaks, oil on deck and over the side. Actions? What are the dangers of an oil spill? Where will you find out the properties of the oil?
● Now you’re the Master. Additional actions?
● Back to C/O, prepare for departure. Which documents will you expect to receive and/or sign? What’s a Bill of Lading?
● Tell me about SF & BM. Where is SF maximum? What else about cargo can affect it? What is stowage factor?
● Showed me a position on a chart just outside the port limits and placed me on a shallow depth. You’ve left port, you’re the officer on the bridge, pilot has left, Master gone down, one lookout. You run aground here. Actions? Water ingress in no. 3 WBT. Actions? There was something crucial here I misunderstood in the question, but she moved on and said we’d come back.

Buoyage – action and identification, sailing north, inbound:
● North cardinal. What other action may you need to take?
● Preferred channel to stbd, region A
● East cardinal
● Preferred channel to port, region B

Lights – vsl, size, aspect, nav status, day and fog signals
● Trawler, over 50, underway, nets caught
● Aground, over 50
● Towing, under 50, under 200
● RAM, stopped, pass/don’t pass side signals
● PDV P/S – action for this one, then went into specifics of rule 17

RV Plot:
Given the complete O-A plots, copied it onto the radar plotting sheets and completed the plots. What are the other vsls doing? Action?

Back onboard again as C/O.
● Back to the vsl aground. What are you thinking about to keep you in place while you conduct damage assessments/repairs? This is the thing I forgot before, but now seemed really obvious!
● Placed on a synoptic chart near a low and ahead of an occluded front. What kind of weather are you expecting?
● What do understand by fumigation?
● How would you explain the limitations of ARPA to a Cadet (specifically ARPA and not radar)
● What’s a prohibition notice? Improvement notice?
● What’s a kenter shackle? Why is it a good thing? How long is a shackle?

End of exam (C. 1hr30mins)

BF asked me how I thought it had gone and then told me I had passed. She wanted to know how I found the online setup and any real positives or negatives.

During the exam, BF seemed conscious to ensure not only that I had said certain things, but that she had heard them (sometimes there was a delay/lag in signal) and didn’t just assume that I’d left something crucial out – occasionally asked me to repeat an answer for, I assume, that purpose. Told me that I’d receive the updated/completed NOE within 5 minutes of the end of the exam.

I’m absolutely certain that there are questions I’ve forgotten, but this is a good summary of topics covered. I deliberately haven’t included my answers for two reasons (1) They might not have been correct and/or what another examiner would want to have heard and (2) I find that researching a topic myself results in a much more fluid and informed verbal answer than regurgitating what someone else says is right. Sorry to be a prick! 😊