[esailor Team]

Name: Will Hibbs
Exam: Chief Mate Unlimited/Master 3000 GT
Date/Time: 9/11/22 @ 1130hrs
Duration: 1 hour
Experience: Cruise & RoPax
Result: PASS

Examiner specifically asked not to be referenced in the report but he was brilliant. Very good at putting you at ease, understood that nerves were present and endeavoured to make it as comfortable as possible.

Definitely test your technology and connection well in advance of the exam. I had a couple of issues which would have been a problem if I’d tried everything just 15 minutes before the allocated time.

– Started with discussing our respective previous experiences and he knew my ship very well as he had visited it in drydock recently. A lot of the initial questions were related to drydock
– Passage planning considerations for C/O taking vessel to drydock (fuel, water consumptions, ROB figures for arrival at drydock, Wx en route, ballast condition therefore ballast requirements)
– HoW/HoR for the crew for arrival into drydock (wanted the figures for HoW/HoR and relating it to the relevant part of MLC)
– Stability requirements for drydock (saving stability condition on arrival, trim, P force, critical instant and period, what are they, FSM in tanks etc)
– Liaising with drydock for plans (docking plan, shell/frame plan, plug plan)
– Disciplinary procedures because an AB has got drunk ashore and not turned up for duty (MN code of conduct, stages of disciplinary proceedings, company drug & alcohol procedure, Master’s role & dismissal after formal hearing)
– AB falls from height in drydock, actions? (immediate medical response onboard as well as shoreside assistance and drydock response team, subsequent actions of safety officer – investigation, report to MAIB, HSE, company)
– On passage, AB falls overboard, actions as C/O (prep FRB/RB, liaise with hotel dept for crowd control, prepare for heli-ops)
– Vessel is bilged, can you proceed to drydock again? (he wanted to know if as C/O I can calculate stability. I went down the route of pre-worked damage conditions etc to confirm stability parameters)
– Loading abnormal, heavy load onto vehicle deck, considerations? (shippers declaration and note, securing arrangements, ballast transfer for trim)
– IMDG (Limited QTYs, DG note details, UN No, PSN, QTY/VOL, EmS, DG medical kit and FFE)
– Asked about why trim parameters are important (He wanted something to do with the loadline, I think my answer was a bit weak for what he wanted so we moved on)
– Eastern European AB joins v/l, what certificates should he have? (He wanted all the relevant STCW certificates, medical, SEA contents inc. collective bargaining agreement)
– Required additional certification for crew on Class II RoPax and who should have which (Crowd MGMT, Crisis MGMT, PACSHIT)
– Fire in galley, actions as OSC (comms with command & control on bridge relaying relevant info, ventilation and dampers, deploy fixed FF apparatus, commit the fire team as last resort, boundary cooling etc)
– Safety design features of deep fat fryers in galley (Heat limit sensor, Fire damper)

There might have been other questions but tried to put as much down as I can remember. It flowed very nicely as he talked it through like a story linking bits together.
RoR / Lights / Radar Plot / Buoyage:

1. Lights – I was CBD, RAM on port side towing with tow exceeding 200m crossing to starboard
2. Lights – I was PDV, PDV on port side towing with tow exceeding 200m crossing to starboard, asked how I would explain to the 2nd Officer what it was and why we take the subsequent action
3. Safe water mark buoy, what is it and the light
4. Radar plot, 1 target stbd bow with ROC and 1 target port quarter no ROC
5. TSS – I was PDV following the traffic lane, 1 PDV port side and 1 PDV stbd side, both crossing

Thank you to Whitehorse Maritime (Paul, Alastair, Kurt, Kieran, Tom) for their unbelievable orals prep sessions which helped me get ready in a very tight 3 weeks!

And a huge thank you to Huw, Robin & Scott aka ‘The Sunshine Club’ for their support in helping me prep and all the nonsense that surrounds studying.

Good luck to everyone!

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