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The Crewing Desk

Notes on the crew of a merchant ship: certificates, watchkeeping, reliefs and the shore side of the trade

A steel filing cabinet in a crewing office, one drawer open, paper crew lists and certificates in labelled folders, daylight from a window falling across the top of the cabinet.
Plate CR-003 A steel filing cabinet in a crewing office, one drawer open, paper crew lists and certificates in labelled folders, daylight from a window falling across the top of the cabinet.

Latest record on the rack What a Crewing Desk Keeps in Its Voyage Files

The Crewing Desk

Every entry on this desk takes one question about the crew of a merchant ship and answers it: what a certificate of competency allows, how many hours of rest a two-watch rotation leaves, who decides when a ship sails, what belongs in the ship's medical locker, how a seafarer travels to join a vessel, and where a berth is actually found. An entry is written from public texts, the conventions (SOLAS, MARPOL, STCW, MLC 2006), flag-state notices, training programmes and the technical literature, then filed under one of four sections: the crew, ships and trades, watch and rest, shore and career.

An independent editorial desk on how merchant crews are assembled, certificated, rested and relieved, written from conventions, flag-state notices and the training literature.

Latest entries on the desk

6 / 7Alphabetical index of records
A manning office desk in daylight: a stack of seafarer files with coloured tabs, a passport and a certificate of competency laid open beside a telephone, a wall calendar behind, shot from slightly above at arm's length.
Where a berth begins: the file, the passport, the phone on a manning desk.

SR-002Shore and career

Name

How a Berth Is Found: Channels to a Crewing Desk

Manning offices, crewing pools, union lists and referrals: what each channel does with a seafarer's file, and what a candidate can show after months away.

Particulars
Shore and career · 1195 words · 2 sources
Caveat
this record cites only ilo.org, imo.org
A seafarer's open passport and seaman's book on a stainless steel table in a ship's mess room, a boarding pass tucked between the pages, cold morning light through a porthole, close framing from above.
A boarding pass tucked in the passport awaiting the joining date.

SR-001Shore and career

Name

Travelling to Join a Ship: Tickets, Visas, Reimbursement

How a crew change is planned backwards from the joining date, who pays for the journey, what a seafarer carries, and what happens when a flight is missed.

Particulars
Shore and career · 1394 words · 1 source
Caveat
this record cites only ilo.org
A ship's medical locker open on a bulkhead, oxygen cylinder with regulator, self-inflating bag and masks on a shelf, checked by a chief officer under cabin lighting.
A chief officer checks the medical locker's oxygen cylinder, bag and masks against the required scale.

CR-002The crew

Name

Oxygen and Airway Gear in a Ship's Medical Locker

What oxygen and airway equipment a ship's medical locker must carry, who checks it, and who aboard is trained to give oxygen or ventilate a casualty.

Particulars
The crew · 1185 words · 1 source
Caveat
this record cites only imo.org
A ship's bridge at first light, the master's hand resting on the engine telegraph handle, harbour lights still visible through the wheelhouse windows, shot from behind the console.
The master holds the telegraph at dawn, harbour lights fading behind him.

SH-001Ships and trades

Name

Who Decides When a Ship Sails

Owner, operator, charterer and master: where commercial pressure ends and the master's authority over departure begins, and how a port call window reaches the

Particulars
Ships and trades · 1073 words · 1 source
Caveat
this record cites only imo.org
A ship's bridge at 0400, dim red night lighting, a watchkeeper's hand resting on a paper rest-hour record clipped to a chart table, the dark sea visible through the wheelhouse windows.
At 0400 the rest-hour record still has to account for every off block.

WT-001Watch and rest

Name

Rest Hours and Sleep in a Two-Watch Rotation

A 6-on 6-off watch bill promises twelve hours off. The rest-hour record, and what sleep actually returns, tell a different story.

Particulars
Watch and rest · 1407 words · 1 source
Caveat
this record cites only ilo.org
A chest X-ray film on a light box in a clinic room, the ribs and lung fields visible in grey, a doctor's hand holding the corner of the film, cool overhead light and a dark background.
A doctor reviews a chest X-ray before signing the seafarer's certificate of fitness.

CR-001The crew

Name

The Seafarer Medical Examination and the Certificate of

What a seafarer's medical examination checks, how a chest X-ray and ECG are read, and who signs the certificate of fitness that clears you for sea.

Particulars
The crew · 1255 words · 1 source
Caveat
this record cites only gov.uk

The slices of the repertory

An independent editorial desk on how merchant crews are assembled, certificated, rested and relieved, written from conventions, flag-state notices and the training literature.

A steel filing cabinet in a crewing office, one drawer open, paper crew lists and certificates in labelled folders, daylight from a window falling across the top of the cabinet.
A steel filing cabinet in a crewing office, one drawer open, paper crew lists and certificates in labelled folders, daylight from a window falling across the top of the cabinet.

CR 3 entries

The crew

What a seafarer has to hold before boarding: ranks, certificates, documents, medical fitness, contracts and the crew list the master signs.

CR-003CR-002CR-001

A ship's bridge at first light, the master's hand resting on the engine telegraph handle, harbour lights still visible through the wheelhouse windows, shot from behind the console.
The master holds the telegraph at dawn, harbour lights fading behind him.

SH 1 record

Ships and trades

Ship types and the trades they run, from dry cargo and tankers to gas carriers and offshore units, and the crew part in a port call.

SH-001

A ship's bridge at 0400, dim red night lighting, a watchkeeper's hand resting on a paper rest-hour record clipped to a chart table, the dark sea visible through the wheelhouse windows.
At 0400 the rest-hour record still has to account for every off block.

WT 1 record

Watch and rest

Watchkeeping, rest hours, fatigue, drills, medical care aboard and the emergencies a crew trains for.

WT-001

A manning office desk in daylight: a stack of seafarer files with coloured tabs, a passport and a certificate of competency laid open beside a telephone, a wall calendar behind, shot from slightly above at arm's length.
Where a berth begins: the file, the passport, the phone on a manning desk.

SR 2 entries

Shore and career

Cadetships and training, progression to the next rank, crew change travel, repatriation and the family side of a seafaring career.

SR-002SR-001

Alphabetical index of records

6 letters · 7 entries
H
O
R
S
T
W

How an entry is written

One question, one answer, opened in the first two or three sentences. The entry then gives the matter: what the public text says, what the shipowner does in practice, and what changes with the flag or the type of ship. Sources are named at the end, and a question the sources do not settle is written as an open question rather than guessed at.

  • gov.uk
  • ilo.org
  • imo.org

Other desks, other flags

2

Desks kept elsewhere, in other trades, that take up a question this one only opens. Each was read before it was set down here, and each is named for what it holds.