Who's Navigating? The learning starts here
Keith Pletschke AFNI on keeping teamwork going at sea and his own experience of SAR operations
Q: How did you begin your career at sea?
I was a naval cadet for many years as a child, and my brother went into the South African Navy. He sent me an advert from a newspaper in Cape Town for an opportunity as an officer cadet with a company called Safmarine. I was living in East London and travelled to Port Elizabeth for an interview. I was accepted as a cadet with Safmarine for the three-and-a-halfyear training programme.
Q: What have been some of your most rewarding moments?
You never forget the time when you pass your OOW exam – back then it was the Class 3 Certificate – allowing you to ‘officially’ be on your own on the bridge. After that was definitely passing my Master’s orals exam and realising that all those years of studying were finally over as I had finally reached Class 1 Master Mariner – little did I realise that this was actually when all the learning started!
Q: What do you find challenging about working in the maritime sector?
I find that the levels and standards of shore management and companies vary so much that it can be difficult to ensure that the legally compliant status for a vessel can be maintained at times. It is also challenging from an HR perspective as a Master to ensure that you have the right people for the right job and that your crew are working as a cohesive unit. How do you encourage that to keep going within the frameworks of modern seafaring? Especially when people disappear into their cabins after work and will not be seen again till the next work shift.
Q: Have you ever been involved in a search and rescue operation?
About 17 years ago I was Master of a vessel that received a ‘Mayday’ call early in the afternoon. As we were very near to the position, we proceeded to the site of the distress. A helicopter had crashed and we were tasked with other vessels in the area to commence a search pattern for survivors or wreckage. We stayed on location for most of the afternoon and late into the night. It was later in the night that we were released to then proceed onwards to our next port. Our vessel had only recovered some small pieces of wreckage and this was handed to the SAR coordinator vessel on site before we departed.
Q: What did you learn from the experience?
Every vessel, as a minimum, has the responsibility to always check a position of a distress call, just in case you are nearby and can help. Never assume that you cannot be of assistance and always check those coordinates. Also, I learnt how being involved in such an operation can be emotionally demanding. I saw the sombre mood on my vessel and with my crew when we did not rescue any survivors and later we heard that there were no survivors from the accident. As Master, the response to that is as important as immediate distress actions.