Watchkeeping

Question 1

Fatigue Management Strategies

Answer 1

-At minimum, ensuring minimum hours of rest and maximum hours of work ar adhered to
-Managing amount of time seafarers need to spend performing physically or mentally demanding work
-Ensuring nutritional food options are available
-Schedule work hours to streamline with drills, training and musters
-Openly encourage seafarers to communicate their needs with regards to fatigue and rest

Question 2

Determining Fitness for Duty with regards to NCs under MLC

Answer 2

Master shall take into account the quality and quantity of rest taken by Watchkeepers. Watchkeepers must not be fatigued.

Established procedures and contingencies must be in place to ensure the vessel remains safe - in some circumstances this may require delay to the vessel’s departure.

Question 3

Performing the Navigational Watch

Answer 3

STCW chapter 8, BPG, Masters Standing orders and MGN315:
OOW is masters representative and primarily responsible for safe navigation and complying with the Colregs

Colregs / Equipment / Conduct / Paperwork
-Lookout
-Safe Speed
-Vessels engines are at their disposal
-Fitness for Duty
-Taking over the watch
-GMDSS
-Continuously monitor vessel on intended track and confirm position by all available means including
-Not being over reliant on Electronic aids to navigation
-Ensuring logbooks are being completed
-Marpol adhered too
-Appraise lookout and helmsman with navigational status for training purposes and maintain alertness/awareness
-As master I expect them to have a good overview of current work being carried out onboard

OOW shall:
-Keep the watch on the bridge
-Under no circumstances leave the bridge until properly relived by an appropriate officer
-Notify the Master if in any doubt
-Not be relieved on their duty to maintain a safe navigational watch despite the prescence of the Master on the bridge.
-Continue to be responsible for the navigational watch despite prescence of Pilot

Question 4

Factors to be taken into account when composing bridge watch

Answer 4

-Fatigue
-Weather conditions and visibility
-Proximity to Nav Hazards
-Use of Nav aids
-Whether radio duties are to be performed
-UMS
-Any unusual demands on the navigational watch that may arise as a result of special operational circumstances

Question 5

Circumstances where OOW may be sole look-out

Answer 5

-Clear Daylight conditions
-Prevailing circumstances and conditions have been carefully assessed and full account taken off
-Visibility
-Traffic Density
-Weather
-Proximity of dangers to navigation
-TSS
-Design and layout of bridge
-Other duties required by the OOW in maintaining a safe navigational watch
-At all times ensure additional personnel and myself can be available at short notice

Question 6

Principles of keeping a safe engineering watch

Answer 6

EOOW:
-Arrange things to he can immediatly react to instructions from bridge
-Shall frequently perform inspections rounds of the engine room, auxillery and main propulsion
-Shall notify bridge where failure of machinery may affect navigation
-Maintain all engineering equipment to a good operational level

Question 7

UMS

Answer 7

-Prior to entering a UMS space he should inform the bridge
-UMS /deadman alarm as soon as entering ER
-Reset Dead Man’s alarm between performing checks
-Inform the duty officer on exiting the ER

Question 8

Helm Orders

Answer 8

Starboard twenty degrees - Starboard twenty sir - twenty degrees of starboard helm on sir

Midships - midships sir - Wheel amidships sir

Hard-a-port - hard-a-port sir - Wheel hard-a-port sir

Check her - Check her sir

Steady - steady sir - steady on course x,y,z

Alter course to … - Alter course to …. - Steady on course …