A Mariner’s Notebook – Page 6 – Professional Mariner

14 Jun

Coles: Regulations put ECDIS at risk of becoming a dinosaur

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Industry News

The electronic navigation systems used on cargo ships are obsolete and there is little hope of ever bringing them up to date unless there is a radical rethink on the way industry regulates technology. Incredible as it may seem, the roots of ECDIS hardware that is now mandatory on merchant tonnage can be traced back to the Reagan era. It…

05 Jun

'Damn the submarine! We're the men of the Merchant Marine!'

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Industry News

“I hold no branch in higher esteem than the Merchant Marine …” That is a quote from Gen. Douglas MacArthur, supreme Allied commander of the Pacific in World War II. That one sentence sums up National Maritime Day. For if it were not for our glorious Merchant Marine, we might not even be a country at all. National Maritime…

31 May

When mariners set sail, workplace rights should not be left behind

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Publication > Professional Mariner

I was the third mate on an 890-foot crude oil tanker berthed at Long Beach, Calif. We had finished the discharge of North Slope crude and were preparing to load “dirty” ballast into several of the cargo tanks utilizing the No. 1 main cargo pump. The procedure that I had been taught was to keep the sea chest closed when…

02 May

In electronic age, license consultant only way to go for credentials

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Publication > Professional Mariner

It was a few minutes before they opened the doors of the U.S. Coast Guard Regional Exam Center (REC) at Seattle’s Pier 36, and I waited anxiously. I was a cadet on Sea Land Galveston, a containership running between various Alaskan ports and Seattle’s Terminal Five, scheduled to depart for sea at 1700 that afternoon. That meant there were only…

03 Apr

Ward: How your ship probably has been hacked already

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Industry News

You have been either hacked ... or just didn’t know you have been hacked. I predict that the first catastrophic maritime cyberincident will not be the result of a direct attack on a safety-critical specific piece of equipment. It will be the result of an infection on a random PC, perhaps an unassuming email to a crewmember, whose PC is…

27 Mar

Cruise line’s Arctic gamble could leave mariners holding the bag

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Publication > Professional Mariner

Last August, the 820-foot Bahamas-registered cruise ship Crystal Serenity began its trip through the Arctic’s famed Northwest Passage above the United States and Canada, the melting ice and continued warming temperatures freeing up open water for much of the voyage. The ship carried about 650 crewmembers and 1,050 passengers, each of whom paid from $20,000 to more than $120,000 for…

27 Feb

NMC tips save time, money when renewing medical certificate

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Publication > Professional Mariner

In accordance with 46 CFR 10.209(d), it was time to renew my U.S. Coast Guard-issued medical certificate. Getting ready the night before the trip into town for my physical and drug screen, I went to the Coast Guard National Maritime Center (NMC) website (www.uscg.mil/nmc) medical page to download a blank copy of CG-719K, the Coast Guard physical examination form, to…

30 Jan

Merchant Marine flag raises recognition of vital work in peace and war

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Publication > Professional Mariner

One night last fall my wife and I were attending a local Audubon Society meeting with a group of friends, looking forward to a talk by an expert on pileated woodpeckers. During the coffee break, a man who looked familiar came up to me and said, “Are you Capt. Sweeney?” Answering that I was, he responded, “We met several years…

30 Nov

Giving thanks for resolve that has made the sea safer for all

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Publication > Professional Mariner

One of my favorite holidays, at sea and ashore, has always been Thanksgiving. Sitting down at the table enjoying a specially prepared feast, and most of all giving thanks for the good things and good people I have in my life, has always made it a special time. As the holiday season approaches, I have been cultivating my “attitude of…

30 Sep

Mariners need time, proper facilities to maintain hygiene at sea

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Publication > Professional Mariner

I was a young mate working on a crude oil tanker connected to the single-point mooring at Barbers Point, Hawaii. Because we had to keep our engines “live,” the captain ordered the watch-standing deck officers to work at least 16 hours a day for the entire discharge. We did eight hours on the bridge and another eight hours of cargo…