For anyone who is interested, I started the new year by moving into a new office. My little limited company now has 6 B2B clients, and 3 others who soon will be clients. I’m offering technical authorship, marine surveying, and training services to maritime businesses. One of these business owners is a distant relative of mine, who I worked for in the past as an Assistant AIS technician after graduating from Univeristy.
For new subscribers (thanks, btw), Captain Yankee Jock is ‘Scott Campbell’. I am a Marine Warranty Surveyor with an Unlimited Chief Mate qualification, Master 500GT qualification, and a full Dynamic Positioning Officer’s qualification.
I began my career at sea in Aberdeen Universities’ Royal Naval Unit in 2003, serving on HMS Archer while studying for my BSc. in Marine Resource Management. I then worked as an assistant technician performing AIS and Radar surveys for a Marine risk analysis firm in Aberdeen, the Oil & Gas capital of the UK, after graduation.
The Great Financial Crash is the primary reason that I then went on to complete a cadetship in the Merchant Navy, serving from cadet up to second officer, with Regent Seven Seas Cruises. After a short time doing supply and stand by work in the Middle East, I then worked on supply vessels and geotechnical drilling for an American company in the Northern North Sea, and Eastern Mediterranean. I served with them for four years, where I rose to chief mate and SDPO. It was while working for them that I lived in the USA (Manhattan, then Charleston SC), with my American wife. That is where I grew to love Americans and their philosophical tendencies. Flying back and forth between Scotland and the USA each month began this journey of cultural exploration and reflection on identity, that has become the focus of my writing (and my life).
Global finance and geopolitics again played a crucial role in my career choices. The 2015 oil crash meant that I couldn’t afford to sustain the lifestyle I was living. Too risky with an infant child, and dependent wife. We moved to Somerset in England, where I then worked as a Navigation Specialist for the UKHO for 18 months. That got us back on our feet before becoming a Technical Advisor for the world’s leading commercial publisher in the maritime sector, back home in Scotland.
I spent 5 years there learning everyhting I could about making maritime information products, and rising to head of navigation publications after shadowing and working with Marine pilots in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Denmark, the Panama Canal, and the English Channel.
When I gained my Master 500GT, Covid hit. Lockdowns, and masking were bad enough. Vaccine pressure led to me being very unwelcome in certain parts of the maritime community. As a refusenik (thank god), I basically realised that the only future I could have was to go take my chances on my own.
As detailed in previous editions of this blog, I spent the past couple of years as Master on HSC-OSC CTVs with ECDIS, and three trips as Master on a DP2 construction vessel in the renewables sector.
The past 2 years out on my own have been a real adventure. I scraped together enough money to pay for some training courses, and to go a couple of months without salary when I made the move. Since becoming self employed, my dishwasher has broken twice, my central heating system has exploded and burst through my living room ceiling, I’ve gone through two cars, one of which is still currently sporting cat-induced damage, real inflation has hit highs I’ve never seen in my adult life, a broken washing machine, a broken dryer, dead cell phones, smashed laptops, the birth and rearing of a lockdown baby (who is now 3 years old, and not dead from covid-19), emptied my coffers, spent months with no money coming in at all, and I pushed my wife’s sanity to the brink.
It’s no wonder I had to find God, to get through all that.
So, to be starting the new year with more work than I can possibly handle, the realistic prospect of hiring some friends to work alongside me soon, a happy and refreshed marriage, all of my children beautiful and healthy, and the little one in nursery school, is really, really, lovely.
It was extra nice to be asked for careers advice by someone who used to be my boss (and probably the most demanding one I’ve had) all those years ago, for his son. I can’t help take it as a sign that I’m on the right path.
Anyway, for anyone with teenagers considering a lifetime of debt incurred by going to a depressingly woke university, who isn’t quite sold on a 9-5 lifetime of debt servitude and pronated shoulders as being the kind of thing they should be aiming at, here is the letter I wrote for my friend (Complete with links to recruiters):
Hi XXX,
Sorry for the delay. This week has been very busy with moving to a new office, new year lag, and various clients needing things chased up after the break.
So, I’ll give you the advice that I give most people. The biggest mistake people make when they join the Merchant Navy is failing to do enough research into the company they will do their cadetship with. Lots of people join the Merchant Navy through an agency, and just get stuck on any old cargo ship that they’re given. Then later on, because HR recruiters don’t know anything about ships or your license, people tend to get pigeon-holed into serving on the same ship type over and over again, because that’s where their experience ticks the box.
The college side is common across all cadetships, but the sea time will shape your career. Whether you do the HNC, HND or Professional Diploma doesn’t matter at all for getting your first 2nd officer’s license, so you can just safely do the bare minimum with academics if that’s your choice. It only matters later when you will need to take a bit more time out to upgrade your license to chief mate and master. Therefore, the reason to do more academics early on, is only to ‘front-load’ your education and minimise career breaks later. However, good companies will pay you to go to college later on, so there really is no rush, even though the colleges and recruiters will always push you to do a higher qualification sooner rather than later. The HNC is totally sufficient to get you up and running.
The beauty of the Merchant Navy license, however, is that Certificate of Competency you get actually qualifies you to work on any ship type. That is the main advantage the British ticket has over the American one, or why a Merchant ticket is more useful than a Royal Navy ticket in the long run. Your certificate of competency is still marketable all over the world and is a respected qualification.
Spending a week or two on a tall ship is a great idea. It’s fantastic experience, and something I haven’t actually done myself. However, I know people who’ve made that their main career focus. One friend of mine was on tall ships just having fun for years and years. It’s great physical exercise, and very hands on. By the time he upgraded his license to Master Unlimited he was familiar enough with the job that the academics were easy for him. He’s now skipper on [Superyacht Name] , making £170K pa, with 100% income tax refund. Pretty hilarious for a wee ned from Maryhill.
The Tall Ships guys learn all the traditional seamanship and celestial navigation to a very high standard, and they are crying out for young Brits to move up to command on these vessels, as the senior ranks retire.
Cruise lines are brilliant. After my degree and working for you, I signed up with Clyde Marine. Clyde are the agency who train more than 50% of all UK seafarers. Their MD was a cadet under me on the cruise lines, and I know he’s improved a lot of things there since we were cadets. They place cadets with lots of companies, more than just those listed on their website here. They recruit for offshore, various cargo lines, and some cruise companies, including Royal Caribbean and Disney Cruise Lines. My wife worked for Disney cruises, and they are nice ships.
As you could probably guess, with security and safety concerns a real issue for cadets, a cruise line is also the safest place to be. They have proper security on board when transiting high risk areas, and they operate to the highest safety standards because of their duty of care towards passengers. It’s nice to have a doctor on board, when you’re halfway across the Pacific. Not something most ships can offer.
Royal Caribbean are a huge conglomerate who own about 40% of the other cruise brands. Carnival Cruises own another 40% or so, and brands like Cunard, Costa, etc are all Carnival Companies. Carnival recruit their own cadets directly, and seem good to work for. They have a huge office in Southampton. MSC and Celebrity Cruises also have large offices in the UK, and I know a few people who’ve been unable to stay at sea for personal reasons, or medical reasons, but have been able to move ashore within the same company. It’s worth thinking about. It can be a bit overwhelming working for these huge American and Italian corporations, but it’s good to know they generally look after their people, and they have a large presence in the UK.
Other cruise lines who take UK officers include Holland America Line, and Fred Olsen. I think HAL recruit directly, and I’ve heard career progression is very slow for Brits there because it’s the only company the Dutch have, so they prefer to promote Dutch officers. However, the life on board is very traditional, and even junior officers are treated with great respect. They probably have the most perks and benefits, with even 4th officers being allowed to order room service and use passenger facilities. If you make it to skipper there, the salary is good, but the pension is so good they call it ‘golden handcuffs’.
Some of larger cruise lines also have DP now, and there is a pathway to getting a DP license with some of them.
Fred Olsen is the only cruise line I’d avoid. I’ve heard the owner is a little too hands on, and quite capricious.
I sailed with Regent Seven Seas Cruises (RSSC) from cadet up to 2nd officer. I got placed with them by Clyde Marine. They’re owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL), who are in fact a large American corporation. They were great. They also own stakes in Silver Seas and other companies where the cruise sector sort of merges with the superyacht sector.
When you sign up with Clyde, you state your first choice, second choice, third choice company. The mistake people make is not thoroughly researching which companies they actually want to work with. If you only want to work on cruise ships, be firm, and don’t accept a company you don’t want. A lot of times it’s just a middle rank training officer being lazy about his job that can send people to a company they don’t like. Sometimes they just need some persuasion, to see the light.
The advantage of cruise lines like that is you really do get to see the world. I started out in Hong Kong, and we spent the first 3 days at anchor, so I got to go explore a lot. Vietnam, Singapore, Malayasia, India, Dubai, Oman, Egypt, Jordan, Italy, Iceland, Norway, Russia, the Baltic countries, California, Canada, Alaska, all the Caribbean islands, Florida, Brasil, Mexico, etc.
As a deck cadet on the cruise ships you do the morning watch, from 4 to 8 am. Then you do a couple of hours overtime work with the safety officer, or some mooring. You get 4 hours off after lunch then to go ashore and explore all these great places for free. The day I went ashore in Hawaii, I went sky diving over Oahu, and then met my future wife at a beach bar dinner on Waikiki Beach, with all the singers and dancers from the cruise line. You don’t get much better perks than that in my opinion. It is certainly not the same experience you’ll get on a Northlink ferry in February, or on a tanker that berths 100 miles from town.
Aside from being able to visit all the most beautiful places on earth, and make friends, you get really good at navigation. Cruise ships go to a new port every night, so the navigation and ship handling can actually be very challenging. Also, they tend to anchor at least once per week. Cadets get to drive the tender boats to ferry passengers ashore, and so they get a lot more time with their ‘hands on the sticks’ than cadets on other ship types – actually driving boats with 80+ passengers on board. Looking back this experience helped me in becoming Master more than any other. It was brilliant to be given the freedom to learn on the job like that, and it is something you simply do not get on any other type of ship.
Later on, I got my DP ticket and went offshore, which has also been great. But that was more about the money and the time off, as I got married and had kids. You can transition to any other sector you wish later on. It’s not so difficult if you know how to play the game. But cruise lines give you a great starting point.
Some links to check out:
Tall ships
UKSA
UKSA in Cowes can provide the quickest route to jobs on superyachts and cruise lines. The non-cadetship, yacht to Master 200GT, then 500GT, 3000GT, then unlimited route is a new career path that seems to be favoured by the superyacht sector now. It is interesting, as it is less academic, and more based on practical experience. Although the quality of training on board is probably very hit and miss.
Cruise Lines – Direct
https://maritime.solent.ac.uk/careers/officer-cadet-training/how-to-apply
Carnival are the primary recruiter in the UK. Cunard, P&O etc come under this company.
https://www.pocruisescareers.co.uk/careers/cadets/
https://www.pocruisescareers.co.uk/2022/12/new-graduate-cadet-programme/
https://www.cunardcareers.co.uk/careers/cadets/
Agencies
Chiltern seem to recruit well for MSC, HAL, and Fred Olsen cruises in the UK
SSTG – very good agency. They place people on multiple ship types, like ferry, cruise, cargo and tanker, so they have a broad range of experience when they take their license. I think they pay better accommodation and expense allowances than others too (although I may be out of date on that). https://www.sstg.org/the-merchant-navy/
Clyde Marine. The major advantage of Clyde is that they are the number 1 trainer. Even if your company went bankrupt, they are big enough to place you somewhere else. They have several cruise lines among their clients, and can provide you with most short courses, and a recruitment network when you qualify. https://www.clydemarinetraining.com/merchant-navy-careers/shipping-companies/
Trinity House
Similar to SSTG, Trin House send their cadets to a variety of ship types for more experience. Very good seamanship and boat handling skills on the lighthouse tenders as well. They also seem to facilitate UKSA and superyacht cadetships now, which is a new development. Worth considering, as their cadets tend to go very far and get good jobs later on in government adjacent sector like specialist nuclear cargo and so on. You’ll leave with a good training pedigree, and an excellent professional network in the UK.
https://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/supporting-seafarers/uksa-superyacht-cadetship/study-options
https://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/supporting-seafarers/merchant-navy-scholarship-scheme
General
https://www.maritimeskills.org/Careers
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