[esailor Team]

Orals Report October 2020
Online – Chief mate/ Master 3000
Result – Failure
Not an utter shambles but unfortunately being on passenger ships my cargo knowledge was not up
to scratch and therefore led to a failure. There was also a surprise extra person sitting in who
turned out to be my old college lecturer which didn’t help settle the nerves. The exam took a full
two hours with the first five minutes having a briefing and confirming ID and scanning around the
room for secret listeners. Feedback at the end was short lived and a final quote from the examiner
was “ Chief Officer is a position of responsibility and authority and you do not present yourself as
the all knowing authority required to pass”. (ouch..right in the feels).
Questions:
A new Third Officer joins your ship and they has only ever used ECDIS but your ship’s primary
mean of navigation is paper charts, how would you explain paper charts to them and how would
their use differ from ECDIS?
Talk more about symbology on paper charts and where would I find them in publications?
How often should a Master inspect his vessel?
You are the Master and you are performing an inspection on the galley area, how would you
conduct your inspection and under what regulation?
What fire fighting equipment would you expect in the galley?
What signage are you expecting to see in a galley? (specifically looking for Marpol V signage)
Where will you record you inspection of the galley?
A new trainee deck hand joins your vessel, what are you considerations regarding his work
schedule? (questioned if by trainee if he meant young person)
Define a young person. What are a young persons hours of rest and how do they differ from
standard crew?
Crew member is tired, how would you deal with it?
When and how do you perform an inspection of a crane on deck and what regulations apply?
How do you go about maintenance of a crane and how often do you do it?
You arrive in port with a cargo of steel coils, you discharge the steel coils and are expecting to load
timber cargo. What are your considerations for both cargoes?
What are the properties relating to stability and special considerations you should make for a
timber cargo.
What are the regulations (said doest want numbers and figures) of storing timber cargo on deck?
Tell me about Timber load line and its purpose.
What happens in a load line survey and who carries it out?
Now that your vessel is loaded with its cargo, how do you know your stability loading program is
accurate?
What should you check before inputing anything into the stability computer? (asked this in such a
vague way but was pushing towards checking that the loading program is “approved”)
Ship handling:
Single screw right handed propeller ship in a river, current astern 2kts wind Bf 3/4 starboard side –
perform a standing moor. The examiner tried to give me control of the ship for this but the option
was greyed out and I didn’t have permission. I ended up talking through it and drawing a diagram.
What are the benefits of a standing moor?
You are still in your river at anchor and you are planning to bunker fuel, what are your precautions
and what are you looking for?
Emergency:
Master of a small passenger ship on fire
Rules of the Road:
How would you explain rule 7 to a cadet?
Does’t Rule 7 contradict itself? it states not taking action based on scanty information but then also
states if in doubt risk of collision collision exists you should assume it does – explain this…
Situations:
CBD on port side crossing in narrow channel.
Sailing boat with cone (PDV) port side.
NUC overtaking me in TSS.
Large overview of a TSS – four other vessels
One fishing boat port side in the separation zone
One PDV opposite lane
One Sailing vessel following same lane as me directly ahead – I am overtaking
Vessel towing displaying one diamond directly astern of me – he is overtaking me
Risk of collision only exists with sailing boat ahead and towing vessel behind – Actions
What is the significance of the diamond on the towing vessel and what is the length of tow?
Radar Plot
My vessel heading 120, two targets with three plots each. I was given the option to answer outright
or to use the printed plotted sheet sent in email to complete the plot and make assessments. Both
targets were heading same course and speed as each other (they were abeam of each other), but
in relation to me one was port quarter and one port bow. Risk of collision only with one port quarter
(port bow passing ahead). I had to state if risk of collision existed and what my action would be and
why. Then asked what I expect the other vessels to do.
Smarty Board lights
Trawler Nets fast upon an obstruction not making way
PDV 50m starboard side
Sailing vessel port side with additional red/green mast lights
Vessel aground more than 100m with deck lights and accommodation/porthole lights (board was
such a mess examiner had to point out which were additional and which were navigational)
Buoyage: Identify, lights and action
Starboard lateral IALA B outbound
Isolated Danger Mark
South Cardinal Heading 118
Yellow cone shaped special mark

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