anonymous vs Capt. Tim Andrews

Exam: Chief Mates Unlimited
Examiner: Capt. Tim Andrews
Date: 22nd March 2022
Duration: 1hour 45mins
Experience: PAX and Jack-Up
Result: Pass
I logged on 15 minutes before the exam and Capt. Andrews logged on about 5 minutes prior to our scheduled time. Started off by saying he’d looked at my experience and asked about my current vessel. Hardly wanted any information on this topic. Checked my passport and asked me to confirm my name and took my passport number. Explained the rules of the exam, practiced a screen share and asked me to show him the room. Capt. Andrews was very clear on his instructions and said if I was unsure of the question, please ask him to repeat it.
I’ve tried to remember as much as possible but I’m sure I’ve forgotten some bits and it’s probably not in the right order.
• Statutory Certificates
o What certs would you expect a ship to have?
o Who does MARPOL convention apply to?
o What certs are for 300gt?
o What is a CSR?
• ISM
o What is it?
o What is the contents of ISM Code?
o What is a DPA?
o What’s a planned maintenance system?
o What are the Masters responsibility under ISM?
• Going to have a 4 day voyage, what does C/O check before departure. I was going down the lines of FW, weather etc but soon realised he was looking for watertight integrity, checking lashings, check drafts/loadlines, conduct drug/stowaway search.
• Loadlines
o How to prepare for a loadline survey?
o Draw a loadline (drew my ships but it only had fresh and summer)?
o What other lines could you have?
o How are loadlines determined?
• Stability
o Minimum GM of a cargo ship
o Intact stability criteria
o Minimum GM for timber and grain cargo, mentioned the MCA allowance for a lower timber GM to 0.05 which led to why is timber allowed such a low GM.
• Bulk cargo – loading bulk cargo (didn’t specify)
o What determines how much you can load?
o Want to carry max cargo between two predetermined ports – How do you work out how much cargo you can load?
o What are in hydrostatic tables?
o What forces do you have to be careful for with bulk carriers?
o What are bending moments and shearing forces?
o Draw how shearing forces act on a vessel
• Working at Height on cranes – went through the usual working at height procedure
• Person working at height has fallen and GEA sounded for medical – what would you do, went through stopping work, priority is casualty, either medical shoreside or medivac
• Casualty now off the vessel
o What happens next?
o Went through accident investigation
o Who to report to?
o Is it mandatory to report to MAIB?
o Now investigation is done, work can start, what do you do? Said you would treat it as a completely new job, so complete working at height procedure again.
• Roles of safety officer
• Planned maintenance on LSA equipment- went through weekly, monthly, 3 monthly lowering, annual inspection (what’s looked at)
• Sailing around North West Europe –
o What would you as Master need to consider when arranging a suitable watch schedule
o HOR for over 18 and under 18
o Is there a restriction on what work under 18 can do?
• Heavy weather preparations –
o As C/O
o What would Master want bridge officers to do?
• Mandatory reporting for Master
• What’s an open mood and how would you do one?
• What’s a Mediterranean moor and how would you do one?
• Fire in Galley – went through usual procedure, he then wanted types of bulkhead and fixed fire fighting systems galley would have.
• Restricted vis
o Duty officer calls to report fog, what would Master expect duty officer to be doing whilst he makes his way to the bridge?
o What rule applies to fog?
o What part is specific to radar plotting?
o Linked into radar plot (see last page) – started off with one dot, then I said continue plot, gave another and then complete plot. At this point a second plot appeared on the screen too. He said it was relative and then he gave me my speed vector on the screen, then said plot it on your paper, let me know when you’ve done and tell me what you’d do.
o ROC existed with both. Explained what the rules say and that the common alteration would be to slow down as altering to stbd could result in a CQS.
He then said this seemed like a good time to finish the exam (obviously I took this as I’d failed because I didn’t receive any lights, colregs or buoys). He then went into a debrief where he gave an overview of the questions he asked and how he felt I answered them/things to look at. Fortunately he then said he was happy to pass me.
Captain Andrews was a nice examiner, he could be slightly confusing in the way he asked things which meant you weren’t quite sure exactly what he was looking for but he would try to assist you if he felt you were going in the wrong direction.
Big thanks to Glasgow Maritime Academy and Whitehorse Maritime for all their help over the past 7 weeks. Couldn’t have done it without the group sessions though and getting to practice answers out loud, so thanks everyone!