[esailor Team]

Joel Moxon
Examiner: Alec Keep
Date: 4th May 2021
Result: Pass
Experience: Cruise ships
Duration: 1hr 40mins

I signed onto teams 15 mins before the exam, and at 11:00 was allowed to join. Alec Keep was very courteous and put me at ease. He started off by introducing himself and explained the do’s and don’ts of using teams for the exam. We had a 5-minute talk about previous experience before getting started with the questions. The pace of exam flowed quite naturally, and most of the questions started as follows: “What do you think about… What would you expect…” and therefore felt more like a conversation.

• Joining as master – who would you expect to meet in the Office before signing on
• Duties of DPA and superintendent
• Duties of master under ISM
• What audits do Flag carry out for ISM certificates and when do they come onboard for these?
• Difference between Gross and Net tonnage
• How is a vessels deadweight calculated?
• How would you prepare for a load line survey?
• Thickness of summer load line? Why do you think it’s that thickness? (it equals an inch)
• Length of plimsoll line? Why do you think it’s that length? (it equals 12 inches / 1 foot)
• Do you load to the top or bottom of this line?
• Considerations for a passage from S.America to Rotterdam
• Considerations when loading grain
• What directions does current flow over the North Atlantic?
• What drives these currents?
• Showed me a picture of a wind rose from a routeing chart. What does this show (including numbers in the middle)
• Fixed pitch vs CPP
• How many continuous air starts for a fixed pitch propellor?
• Can you explain how internal combustion works?
• Where are main and backup controls located for WTD’s on passenger ships
• Explain interaction for passing vessels in a narrow channel
• Actions upon collision in a narrow channel
• Fire on your last vessel, how would you respond as Master?
• How do passengers know where their muster station is?
• How do they know when to abandon-ship?
• What divides Main Vertical Zones on a passenger ship?
• What does A60 mean
• How many fire suites are required on passenger ships?
• How many Rescue Boats are required on a passenger ship?
• What type of ships require Fast Rescue Boats?
• What bridge equipment has inputs into your ECDIS
• What would you use RADAR overlay for? (quick check of GPS accuracy)
• Why would you want AIS targets on ECDIS? (Helps build up situational awareness)
• How is AIS transmitted? (VHF) and what is the approx. range
• Showed me a port hand lateral on a chart. How do you know which side to pass this (direction of buoyage)?
• Showed me a west cardinal and gave me a heading. Actions?
• Showed me a RADAR screen with a vessel on my stbd quarter:
o True or relative vectors? (Own vessel had a vector so it must be true)
o Ground or sea stabilised? (Own vector was different to heading so I said ground stabilised)
• Actions for this vessel in restricted vis
• Showed me some smarty board lights and asked for actions (I just gave standard answers. He wasn’t looking for anything special here)
• Explain rule 2 in your own words
After this he smiled and me and told me I’d passed. I was far from flawless when it came to answering these questions, but the examiner helped me through by wording his questions in a manageable way. There were a few questions we hadn’t covered during my prep course but having a solid grasp of the important stuff, helped me stumble past the curveballs.

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