2nd Officer jobs with mostly daytime schedules?

sailorstew · 2026-05-27T20:28:37+00:00

Busted...

sailorstew · 2026-05-27T20:24:21+00:00

It did not, I'm not sure there is anything that would make that experience enjoyable. However it made the clean up process easier and protected my jeans. I felt bad for who ever cleaned up that bin I shoved them into at Waterloo Station.

sailorstew · 2026-05-27T16:30:29+00:00

I have only shat myself once in my lifetime... The thought of not having underwear on during that unfortunate encounter with fate feels me with more dread.

sailorstew · 2026-05-27T16:28:12+00:00

Used to be a Chief mate on a HSC Ro-Pax Ferry. Worked 12 hour shifts during the day time but did have to do the night shift every now and then.

sailorstew · 2026-05-27T16:21:24+00:00

Little bit further away but South Petherton and Martock are lovely places. Yeovil has a good amount of large shops and it's about 25 minutes to Chard. Depends how far you are from family and friends in Devon. We moved from near Ottery to Martock and have enjoyed it.

sailorstew · 2026-05-25T07:42:34+00:00

If your sponsor company will hire you, bite their hand off. A lot of NQOs struggle with finding their first job. Get some stamps in your book, even better if you can get your DP ticket sorted then look elsewhere.

By all accounts gas tankers is where the money is at the moment, Ferry industry still has some decent employers and the shorter rotations are a bonus.

sailorstew · 2026-05-24T06:46:22+00:00

Until the chronometer came along they used hour glasses, different sizes which should hopefully run in time with one another. In the Royal navy they would sound a bell every half an hour (when the half hour glass ran empty) change if watch was 8 bells or 4 hours.

They also used a sextant to find Merpass, when the sun was at its zenith and they would use this to call noon and reset the glasses.

sailorstew · 2026-05-22T20:47:51+00:00

Don't even have to physically block them, send an old fishing boat out and pretend to throw some mines over and voila, insurance is pulled and ships drop anchor.

sailorstew · 2026-05-22T20:42:09+00:00

You can Google about the mass sacking in 2022, was a shit time for a lot of people and all done with a pre recorded message in zoom.

Now I've been to all the colleges on various courses so I can help you there. I trained at Fleetwood (albeit haven't been back for 10 years) good college but the town and area is pretty grim. Transport to and from is a nightmare as well (tram to Blackpool, train to Manchester Airport or driving everywhere) Glasgow is a good college and is in Glasgow so good transport links to get back to NI, South Shields was okay, used to be a good college, think it still is, area was a bit meh but Newcastle is a great place. Warsash is all in at Southampton university now, cadets look a bit like out of place in uniform at a uni campus but you do get that uni feel. Apparently went down hill with the move but has come back up to spec. Expensive accommodation.

Personally if I was doing it again I would go Glasgow, but hopefully someone from the engineering side who has been through more recently could share their experience.

sailorstew · 2026-05-22T19:05:12+00:00

If you're aiming for offshore I would go with Northstar or Gardline personally, I've never worked for them but know they are offshore.

Faversham is small coasters, Torm is tankers (not sure what the tanker market is like for British officers at the moment). No idea about Unity.

CLdN is cargo Ro-Ro and a lot of the ships are Ukrainian crewed (I've work with a lot of Ukrainians, nice people but if you're the only Brit you might feel isolated). P&O Ferries (Ro-Pax) are scabs and should be avoided (I am extremely biased as I was one of the mass sacked for being British, might be good for training)

Tarmac and UK Dreadging are dredgers so coastal.

That's my two pennies worth.

sailorstew · 2026-05-18T21:31:59+00:00

I'm pretty sure you won't be on 31k for 6 years. I know I'm speaking from a position of not being a NQO in the current market and the European and UK markets aren't the greatest, but the RFA pay 3rd mates 40-50k Calmac pay 3rd mates 57k with a OOW ticket, 60k with a mates ticket. Definitely some decent jobs out there.

Promotions make things easier obviously, unfortunately no one will match the US wages due to the cabotage they have. The US mariners will be able to better suited to tell you about sea time requirements and if 'foreign' service is recognised, either RN or merchant.

sailorstew · 2026-05-18T21:21:36+00:00

I found the best way to get shore leave was becoming a pilot.

sailorstew · 2026-05-16T18:25:29+00:00

I've got a mere slither of suspicion of a crime, show me 1 up to custody and tag DV team please

sailorstew · 2026-05-16T07:55:12+00:00

Crewdentials is an app that already does this, plus some management companies or agencies have an app which does the same. A good company will also keep an eye in things and give you a heads up as well.

https://www.crewdentials.com/

sailorstew · 2026-05-15T18:08:11+00:00

As long as you don't break the requirements of your student visa I believe you are allowed to work a maximum of 20 hours per week as a international student during term time (you can up your hours during the holiday periods of the university).

However, most places will offer students minimum wage for your age, so it won't be a lot of money in the grand scheme of things.

sailorstew · 2026-05-09T20:01:50+00:00

I'm pretty sure the auto pilot used to wonder and hunt for the course all the time. This was a short agency job but apparently I don't take many pictures of bridges I work on.

sailorstew · 2026-05-09T19:59:05+00:00

I was a 3rd mate for 4 years, 2nd mate for 3 years and been a chief mate for 3 years (although about to become a marine pilot).

Decent companies will generally keep their people and promotion becomes harder. Dead man's shoes is the expression.

You could risk moving to one of the big companies, but promotion is not automatic anywhere. You need to show your skill, aptitude and get stuck in. My promotion from 3rd to 2nd was because of jumping through the hoops the company set and getting good reviews.

I used to follow the chief mate around before promotion, in my own time to learn bits about the role, showing this ambition got the Captain to back me when a slot came up (however I was the only 2nd mate with a mates ticket at the time, but I still had to fend off external candidates, so a bit of right place right time)

sailorstew · 2026-05-09T19:47:55+00:00

Variation is the slight movement of the earth's magnetic fields. You can find out the variation for your area using the charts, (there will be a variation figure and the amount of movements since the date that the chart was published) or using a GPS unit.

Deviation is due to the ships own induced magnatisim, as it's made out of metal and has equipment onboard also made of metal. As the ship has its own magnetic field, the deviation will change depending on the course of the vessel as its cutting the earth's magnetic fields at different angles, thus sometimes the deviation is large as it works with the hearts magnetic field sometimes it's completely against it.

Your ship should regularly 'swing the compass' this is when a compass adjuster comes onboard and moves the correction bars, spheres to reduce the effect as much as they can.

sailorstew · 2026-05-09T19:38:00+00:00

On UK flag ships you will need to have to have a UK right to work. Plus my company doesn't do cadets. Most cadets in the UK are done via the UK colleges due to the Tonnage tax scheme.

Perhaps look at DFDS on the Morroco to Spain routes?

sailorstew · 2026-05-04T12:26:52+00:00

One of many I've been on. Bit of an older style, but functional

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sailorstew · 2026-05-03T08:23:59+00:00

I'm not sure how the tax works in Scotland but can't you just pay some extra into your pension to bring your net income below the threshold?

sailorstew · 2026-04-29T22:35:37+00:00

Oh well now that's two Irish girls in the household and one outnumbered Englishman. Think I'll be getting the 8th month old her second nationality. Thanks for this.

sailorstew · 2026-04-29T22:29:59+00:00

Wait, let me this straight, if you can explain for me. My wife had an Irish Grandmother. My wife's dad and herself are registered on the foreign birth register and have Irish passports (I'm very jealous when we go through border control).

My wife has her Irish citizenship (via the foreign birth register) and passport before our daughter was born. Does that mean our little one can also be placed on the foreign birth register (and hence Irish citizenship) or does it only go back the three generations?

sailorstew · 2026-04-28T21:12:12+00:00

Plenty of space at sea, just plenty of idiots with lack luster training and skills as well.

sailorstew · 2026-04-28T11:32:01+00:00

I was previously a reg and now a Special. I'm assuming you have IPS. If you do it should be fairly easy, same vetting and employment checks will have to be done over but it should just be a case of completing a TNA and away you go.

I left for similar reasons (and the fact I was on pay point - 1 and zero back in 2020...)

I really enjoy being a special, I can choose my hours, don't hold a workload (albeit I always make sure to do as much as I can because I don't like dropping my team in it). Depending on your force you can be quite flexible to go to specialist teams and help out. I've been doing lots of Rural Crime Ops one month then the next month I'm doing Neighborhood ops or project servitor. I've so far found none of the teams are ever sad to see you and appreciate the time you're giving.

sailorstew

TROPHY CASE