All at Sea - The Navigator Issue 23
We welcome your news, comments and opinions on the topics covered in The Navigator
Working on board can be very draining. But witnessing the wonder of this colony of birds taking shelter and flying around the ship absolutely lifts the spirits!
Gil Gerarcas
Songa Dream
On the subject of bridge navigation safety, I believe we are starting to turn a corner. This is partly because of bridge management styles changing and partly because the youngsters coming up are far better educated on the dangers of overreliance on electronics. A lot of the young deck officers are an enormous help to me on the IT front. They know far more than me about running systems of equipment and are keen to help when requested.
Being a Master on any vessel can be highly stressful and how this stress is handled can make a huge difference. Back in the day, the ‘Old Man’ was someone to be in awe of. They could do no wrong, never made mistakes and, even when they did occasionally, to pull them up on it as a junior was a decidedly dodgy area.
Nowadays, I believe things have changed a lot.
I totally encourage all my crew and especially the bridge team to question me at any time if they are not sure what I’m doing or why I’m doing it. Tool box talks and pre-voyage briefings are a great way of letting everyone know what’s expected and what the contingencies are. Just because as Master you have overall responsibility that does not mean you have to shut yourself off from valuable resources, such as a young OOW fresh out of college with all the new innovations and ideas still freshly imprinted.
If one can remember that no-one is infallible and that one is actually not expected to know absolutely everything, it will go a long way towards bringing the whole team together. For instance, I’m a keen student of celestial navigation and regularly use the sextant on board to keep fresh. However, I totally understand that it’s a dying art and never berate my junior officers for not always knowing too much about it. That said, I encourage them to have a go if they show an interest and I’m happy to say most do.
Keep up the good work!
Paul Kersey
Master, P&O Maritime Logistics
If you would like to get in touch with us, please contact the editor, Emma Ward at navigator@nautinst.org, or look out for the LinkedIn discussion. We look forward to hearing from you.