OFFICERS OF SHIPS

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 29, 28 October 1932, Page 11

OFFICERS OF SHIPS

Second Mates as Deckhands PROSPECTS NOT GOOD Prospects of advancement for young officers in the merchant service are very poor at the present time, according to one of the 18 members of the crew of the motor-vessel Port Gisborne, now visiting Wellington. All of these young men hold second mate’s certificates, but owing to the extremely bad state of the shipping business and a consequent lack of officers’ berths they have shipped as forward hands. Speaking to “The Dominion,” the young man said that his chance of being able to sit for a first mate’s certificate were very remote, for in order to take the examination the holder of a second mate’s “ticket” had to serve for 18 months as a watchkeeping officer. That meant occupying a third mate’s berth, for in most of the company’s ships the fourth officer did not keep a watch, consequently time served as a fourth did not count toward the examination. The holder of a second mate’s certificate, he continued, would be extremely fortunate •to get a position as fourth mate these days, let alone third, for with something like 2000 officers out of work in London, many fourth mates at sea today, held first mate’s certificates, while some of them had qualified as master mariners. “I spent six months haunting the shipping offices in London unsuccessfully seeking an officer’s berth,” the speaker continued, “so, unless there is a vast improvement in shipping, it looks as if I will be a grey-headed old man before I obtain my first’s ‘ticket,’ let alone my master’s. The improvement will need to be a big one,” he concluded, “for at present a very large proportion of the company’s fleet is laid up Indefinitely.”