[esailor Team]

CHRIS PHIILLIPS ORALS REPORT
CHIEF MATE (UNLIMITED) – PASS
6 OCTOBER 2020

Conducted online by Capt Bill Bennet, Belfast Marine Office
The exam took about 1 hr 15 mins in total. I had a bit of a panic initially, as I seemed to have two different links, and after logging on in good time nothing seemed to happen (I was for some reason expecting the examiner also to log in a bit early…). However, at 1400 exactly, Capt Bennet came online, just as I was starting to write an email to ask what had gone wrong…

Started off in the usual manner, checking I was logged in correctly on the app, checking my phone was off, and having a look around my immaculately and tastefully decorated living room to ensure there was nobody else hiding in the corners. We talked briefly about my experience, and I told him about my career on tall ships, whereupon he made sure I understood that he would be asking me questions about several different types of ship.
The following is in no particular order, and there are bound to be omissions, as my brain seems to immediately want to block out the memory of oral exams as soon as they’re over.

• Started off by asking about ISM, Master’s responsibilities, Master’s overriding authority. Role of DPA?
• Moved on to Planned Maintenance systems, master’s responsibilities, and what should be included in a PMS.
Then started on the scenarios…
Chief Mate on a Suezmax bulk carrier, joining, new to the ship, in Rotterdam, to sail in ballast to Sept Iles in Canada to load Iron Ore.
• What would be your expectations when joining as Chief Mate; what would be the process you’d expect to follow?
o Usual spiel regarding joining routine, checking over the ship from ashore first, checking gangway, security arrangements, crew demeanour, meeting with offgoing mate, Master, handover notes, documentation to check etc.
• What aspects of the passage plan would you be most concerned about for the upcoming voyage?
o Mentioned weather, stability, time on passage, planning for loading cargo, and what maintenance might be possible on passage. This brought him to ask about hold preps, and he was obviously angling for something in particular, so when I didn’t come up with what he wanted, he dug deeper and asked about SOLAS Ch XII and what it specifies about bulk carriers. I mentioned the Enhanced Survey regime, and loadicators, but he still wanted something and I drew a blank. He was prompting me with regard to maintenance and what could be checked whilst the holds are empty, and when I couldn’t think of anything else he moved on. He wanted me to mention Water ingress alarms, and testing them during the ballast passage.
• Surprisingly, we then moved on without mentioning loading a bulk cargo.
• Tell me about MARPOL
• Annex three – Dangerous goods…
You’re now Chief Mate on a Container Ship – loading a number of containers containing Dangerous Goods.
• The ship has a DG DoC – what does this tell you?
• How would you brief the second mate on supervising the loading of these containers? What would he be looking out for?
o Placards on containers
• What information would you find on the DG note?
• These Dangerous Goods – they all have funny unpronounceable names: how do you know what they are?
o UN numbers
• What other information will you find in the DG list and IMDG code about these substances?
o Told him about hazard class, subsidiary risk, EmS, segregation.
• You mentioned segregation: what else do you need to know about these containers?
o Drew a blank here. He was after the packaging information and Packing certificate.
OK, now you’re master of a small, 2999gt general cargo ship with a box hold, and you’re going to load China Clay in Fowey.
(OK, here come the bulk cargo questions I was expecting earlier)
• What would be your concerns with this cargo; what information would you be looking for?
o I mentioned IMSBC code, checking for any particular hazards, especially moisture content and TML, but also mentioned toxicity and angle of repose.
• OK, the cargo has been waiting on the quay for 5 days, and because it’s Cornwall it has been raining for the whole time. What would be your concerns?
o Mentioned that the moisture content would most likely be higher than on the Bulk Cargo Declaration. I suggested the idea of a can test as a way of seeing whether the moisture content was high enough for there to be a risk of liquefaction, then he asked if that would be sufficient and eventually we established that no, it wouldn’t, and I would insist on the moisture content being remeasured before starting loading.
• What is MLC and what are the master’s responsibilities?
o I rattled through some of the areas MLC covered, and he settled on asking about inspections of accommodation and food / water…
• Where do you record these inspections?
• What else do you record in the OLB?
o I listed everything almost in order, but forgot the record of births and deaths and added that out of sequence, so naturally he pounced…
• So, you’re at sea and one of your crew has been killed in an accident on deck. How would you deal with it?
o Mentioned OLB, RBD1, informing MAIB, recording his belongings, informing DPA and asking them to inform NoK, arrange relief, consider well-being of the other crew members, as well as their HoR. He wanted a bit more, and asked what else I would need from the crew who witnessed the incident: Ah, yes! Witness Statements!
• You’ve informed the MAIB: who else would you have to inform?
o MCA of course
• What is the difference between the roles of the MAIB and the MCA in an incident like this?
• You get called up by the OOW and as you arrive on the bridge, the ship judders and comes to a halt. You’ve run aground: actions?
o I listed a whole bunch of the usual stuff, but also forgot a lot.
• You’re fortunate that you have not breached the hull, but the sterngear and rudder have been damaged and you have no propulsion or steering. Also, the tide has risen and you’ve floated off – actions?
o Anchor, and liaise with Company to arrange towage.
• What is the difference between a towage contract and a salvage contract?
o Mentioned that salvage is generally no cure, no pay, and that there has to be peril. He asked what would the salvor have to do to be eligible for payment, and I said that they have to deliver the ship to a place of safety.
• What is the salvage reward based upon?
o The value of the ship and cargo
• What is a SCOPIC clause?

• Somewhere in amongst all the above, he asked me to draw a typical loadline. On waving the flimsy piece of paper shakily at the screen, he then showed me a slide of a loadline, and asked me what the lettering stood for, and in particular what the LR either side of the disk referred to.

• Also somewhere amongst the above, he asked me about the contents of a stability book, and then to draw a GZ curve. We then discussed the minimum statical stability requirements. He then asked me to sketch a curve of a ship in a condition of loll, and what it meant.

At last, we move on to RoR stuff.
• Asks me what Rule 5 says. Impressed by my verbatim recitation.
• Asks me what Rule 6 says. Tell him that too.
• Shows me a representation of a TSS with my ship proceeding along the scheme and another VL crossing from starboard. First he asks me what a TSS is and what rules apply.
• Then asks about the situation and action.
• Gives me a couple more daylight situations: head-on, overtaking and PDV crossing from port side, taking no action.
• Then tells me the visibility has reduced and the OOW calls me onto the bridge. What actions would you take?
• He shows me a radar plot with one blob on the port quarter. Actions? Gives me the next plot, with 3 blobs on a steady bearing, which he asks me to replicate on a plotting sheet and complete the plot, but then he shows me the full plot anyway. Actions?
o Avoiding altering towards a vessel on or abaft the beam, so bold alteration to stbd.
• What else does rule 19 say about altering course to avoid collision?
o So I told him about avoiding altering to port for a vessel fwd of the beam, but he wanted more…
• So if you hear a sound signal apparently fwd of the beam…?
o OK, it’s not altering course, but if that’s what you were after… reduce speed, take all way off, bla bla…
• Shows me various combinations of lights, and asks for what the vessel is, plus day shapes and sound signals.
• Shows me a few buoys: what it is, light characteristics etc… Comes to a region B lateral mark, and then he says that you see one of these out in open water; how do you know which side of it you are going to go?

And then, all of a sudden, it’s over. He tells me I’ve passed, then quickly debriefs me on my omissions regarding bulk carriers and IMDG. Explains that he will now sign the NoE and send it to me electronically. Quick chat about the future. Job done.
A nice, old school examiner, who is thorough but very fair. I didn’t get much prompting, but he could see when I was drying up and either moved on or rephrased in order to get the answer he was looking for.

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