OOW 3000 GT

03/02/2022
Examiner: Mr Danny Hawkins
Time: 55min
PASS

Logged in about 20 mins before the start time. What followed was a lot of nervous pacing of
the room, trying to calm the nerves. Sat down 5min before and waited, was a couple
minutes after the appointment time and started to think maybe I’d got something wrong, so
checked the exam confirmation email, and as you’d expect, as soon as I did that he logged
on. Luckily changed back quickly enough to not create any confusion. I must say as soon as I
saw his face, my nerves calmed a lot and I felt fairly relaxed. As many people have said
before, imagine that it’s a conversation with someone just discussing with them what you
know. This helped a lot to see it as less of an exam but more a discussion.

Did the usual show around the room and confirmed correct exam etc. Had a brief chat
about where I was at the moment, previous experience, cruising areas. This put me more at
ease, and then into the exam.

These are as best I can remember in as correct order as possible, I’m sure I have missed
some of the questions.

Screen sharing;

- Compass binnacle, describe it. Just said as much as I knew about it and what the
different parts of it were, stopped when I ran out and he moved on.

- Showed a sextant reading. Got the degrees and minutes correct but struggled with
the decimals as it was as extant I hadn’t seen before, struggled a bit and he moved
on.

- What do we use a sextant for? Taking bearings of objects in relation to the horizon
or other objects, used in position fixing by reference to celestial bodies and land
objects. Spoke about HSA, VSA, and ocean position fixing.

- What is the method for using HAS’s to fix our position? Luckily something that I was
confident on so gave him the full method, took a bit of time getting through this.

Chartwork;

- How do we do paper chart corrections? Standard answer. Also mentioned the QR

code in the bottom left hand corner.

- Lighthouse, read out the full meaning of the symbol, nominal range, height etc, and
arc of the light.
- VTS call point.

- Seafloor symbols (mud, shale, sand etc.) were a few more I can’t remember.

- Tidal diamond, what is it used for, and how do we read it off from the chart? Fairly
straight forward explanation and read off rate and drift of a specific one.

- Compass rose and variation, gave a full explanation.

- Where do we find variation and deviation? He didn’t actually ask what they were
caused by but I had that in my answer anyway.

- Passage planning, how do we conduct it? Usual answer including IMO Res A.893 and
SOLAS ChV, APEM.

- Stopped at appraisal after I had named a bunch of publications and asked specifically
about the Mariners Handbook, what’s in it?

- Back to planning stage, went through it.

- Explain what you would do if you expected bad weather and had to choose a
suitable contingency anchorage? Threw me a bit as I had not seen this question
before or even thought about. Just spoke about finding something with a suitable
bottom for holding (sand/mud) and that would provide some lee in the weather, and
enough space for us to swing etc. Did not even mention charts although looking back
would have been a good one to throw in, he moved on after a bit.

- International Code of Signals, what’s in it? Luckily something I had looked at properly
as in previous exams he always asked 2 or 3 publications. Morse code, and also 1, 2,
and 3 letter flag meanings.

- You’re on watch, fire in galley, actions? Fairly standard answer although did get a bit
lost but managed to mention all the important points, he moved on.

- Classes of fire? Straight forward, flash card answer.

- Responsibilities of OOW with pilot onboard? Something I had not covered as

extensively as I thought but managed to say all the main points, he moved on.

- You’re on watch, MOB stb side, actions? Standard flash card answer. On these types
of questions I’d say go slow and think about saying them in the proper order,
something I struggled with sometimes. Got all the main points.

- Taking charge of launching the rescue tender to recover the MOB? Again something I
had not practiced as much as I should have. He was happy with my answer, I have
seen a lot of examiners go into more detail with the ON/OFF load release hook.
 - Tell me about EPIRBS and SARTS? Strong subject of mine, gave him everything about
EPIRBs and before I could start on SART he moved on.

Lights:

- NUC, uw, mw
- VEIF, uw, stopped/anchor
- PDV incon. tow, stb aspect, actions? Just said Rule 15 and that I would stand on and
monitor, and he did not even take it further to what action if they didn’t give way!

Buoyage: (these were screen shared, he just said describe it, didn’t mention lights
etc. but I had everything in my answers)

- IALA A stb lateral pref channel to port.

- Emergency wreck mark.
- Safe water mark.

Restricted Visibility:

- Brought up a screen share of a manual radar plotting sheet, put on one plot exactly
90deg stb beam. Asked my actions? Scanty info, asked him to complete the plot
which he did, two more plots exactly 90deg stb beam. Then completed the WOA
triangle. He asked me to talk him through it and I also did one on one of my own
plotting sheets, and showed him so there was no confusion. ROC exists, as per Rule
19 dii, I shall not alter course towards a vessel abeam or abaft the beam, therefore
would make a very bold alteration of course to port.

- What is a bold alteration? I said at least 80deg, he was happy.

He then said he would put me out of my misery and that I had passed, which of course I was
very grateful for! Honestly felt like I had a fairly straight forward exam compared to some
I’ve seen, answered almost everything with confidence and I think this helped keep the
exam shorter. Mr Hawkins was very friendly and professional, and we had a nice chat
afterwards about his time in SA and what my future plans would be. He put me at ease from
the start, although was also very good at keeping a poker face during the exam!

Thank you to Whitehorse Maritime for their amazing buoyage and COLREGs online courses,
and their online tuition. I did about 20 hours of sessions with them and it was worth every
cent, gave me a really good understanding of the COLREGs, and improved general
knowledge immensely. Thank you to Fred and his online oral prep videos and quizzes, which
proved invaluable in getting an overall view of the syllabus, I used them extensively during
study too.

Advice to anyone reading this, start your study early!! Take breaks and get your head out of
the books from time to time. The 10 days leading up to the exam I had several days
completely off and it really helped my brain to organise all the info crammed in! CHEERS!
OOW 3000GT

Examiner: Iqbal (Liverpool)

Duration: 1h 40 mins

PASS

Logged in 10 mins early. Introductions, showed round room, cheating policy etc. My experience and
where I usually operate. Also asked what my home port would be and what Flag we sail under.

General knowledge:

Started by saying joining a vessel 2999GT from the dock, what am I looking for and what is
expected.

Looking at water (residue) referenced MARPOL, mentioned load line, mentioned mooring lines and
passerelle in compliance with COSWOP, fire plan end of gangway and expected to be greeted by
officer. Depending on what MARSEC level they were operating on I assumed Level 1 I would be
expected to show ID and sign onto visitors log.

In master’s cabin, what would I be expected to hand over?

COC, GOC, STCW certs, Passport, ENG1 Discharge book, SEA

Officer is leaving, what would you do with regards to handover?

Reference BPG, SMS and muster list went into detail about muster stations, duties in accordance
with muster list, then just rattled onto bridge equipment, cut me off before I got to LSA (lots to
speak about here)

Plan passage to canaries

APEM, all the way up to execution. I was sure to be very descriptive here and was quite a strong
point for me. ALRS volumes, sailing directions etc.

What would you find in sailing directions?

Local weather, port approaches, dangers to navigation etc.

Sources of weather:

Navtex, VHF, Inmarsat, internet, barometer, port, internet

What are the messages you get from Inmarsat?

EGC

Pre departure checklist:

BPG, Whistle, WT integrity etc

In charge of aft mooring station:

Check comms, toolbox talk, snap back zones, don’t stand in bites, check winches are working.

What doe single up to springs, let go all lines mean?

Easy.

Setup radar for collision avoidance:

Went through performance monitor, BRGTC, WT mode long pulse

What is a SART, how does it show on your screen.

12 dots etc.

HRU on screen what is it where would you find it?

What causes tide, what is it called when there is high highs and low lows?

Gravity sun and moon, springs

Showed synoptic chart what is this?

Described everything from isobars to cold/warm/occluded fronts.

Which direction is the wind going?

This led into buys ballot law then onto ocean currents and what is the effect of the rotation of the
earth called.

For the life of me couldn’t remember Coriolis effect and popped into my brain literally as I walked
out the room at the end.

Which vessels cam enter the separation zone in TSS?

Vessels crossing, fishing vessels

How would you setup NAVTEX for your passage?

ALRS volume 3, 518KHZ, necessary stations

Watch handover

Standard flashcard answer

Chef wants to throw garbage over the side?

MARPOL annex 5, put placard for reference in galley and went through annex 5, GRB

Which annex pertains to OIL?

Annex 1

Describe FSE:

Standard question, the went onto relationship between G and M (stiff/tender) asked how to make a
vessel more tender? Helped me a bit here but raising of G to reduce the righting lever is what he was
after.

Picture of wet/dry bulb hygrometer what is it?

Relative humidity, onset of fog, dew point table

How do you update charts? How do you update ECDIS?

How do you check SCBA?

MOB STBD side actions?

What is safe speed?

Rule 6 verbatim plus VDMLWD

What is lookout?

Rule 5 verbatim

How do you determine ROC?

Rule 7

Situations:

All had ROC so only wanted regular series of compass bearings once. He had quite nice little
pictures that I haven’t seen before but most were during the day.

VEIF outlying gear port side

PDV port side crossing

CBD crossing port side

Then me in a narrow channel PDV less than 20m crossing. (impede script)

Night lights: didn’t want light characteristics, just wanted me to identify and my action

PDV towing port side, then asked what could change to make it so I was give way? RAM

CBD port side, and what is its day shape and its dimensions

Rule 19:

Picture of a radar screen N up true trails relative vectors, one target starboard quarter vector
pointing at me with ROC actions.

I paused here as I wasn’t sure if he was trying to catch me out with a scanty info situation so actually
asked for clarification. He was nice, said you have enough info I just want to see your actions and
that he wont try trick me at this stage of the exam.

19d turned to port

Asked me to complete a plot:

10:00 6nm 45 degrees

10:06 5nm 44 degrees

10:12 4nm 43 degrees

Wanted CPA their true heading, speed and my action:

Buoyage:

S cardinal no top mark: Full description

Safe water mark: Full description which side would you pass?

Preferred channel marker to stbd IALA A

Special marker

Emergency wreck

West cardinal ahead travelling south actions:

Which took us to the end of the exam…. This was a resit for me and the relief in passing I cant really
put into words. Been said before but Fred’s webinars are a must and practicing saying your
answers… its not enough to know it, you need to be able to describe it confidently. Thanks to my
study buddies, huge thanks to Fred and best of luck everyone!!!
OOW 3000gt
15 Feb 2022

Logged in 15 min before, he logged in on time. We had a bit of small talk about the weather,
he asked me how my weather was, I said sunny even though it was overcast, didn’t want
him to get into met before the formalities. So then he did a quick room check and explained
how the exam would go, him asking questions and me answering.

Q:
APEM?

A:
Information comes from SOLAS V & IMO Res.A893 & MGN 166
Appraisal, Planning, Execution, Monitoring

Q:
Plan a passage from Miami to Sardinia (Plan only)?

A:
- Drawing what we gathered in the appraisal stage on to paper
- The route may be a combination of the great circle route and rhumb lines other wise
known as a composite route. Switching to rhumb line saying before we have gone
too far North where there may be bad weather or ice warnings.
- Highlight hazards (no-go areas, isolated dangers, high traffic areas - TSS)
- Conduct chartwork (waypoints, W/O points, X-track, PI’s)
- Select lights that would be used for clearing bearings
- Obtain weather & tidal information
- Areas for switching NAVTEX for MSI broadcasts (ALRS vol 3)
- Decide on Safety Contour & Safety Depth (CATZOGS)
- Obtain Distances (calculate fuel needed)
- Obtain Times (allows us to know manning levels at the correct times)
- Contingency plans (berths, anchorages) (make them known on the plan)
- Plan complies with international regulations and legislation
- ECDIS – System Route Check
- Second opinion from Chief Officer

Q:
PI?

A:
Means of continuously monitoring a vessel’s position in relation to the passage plan.
Practiced in clear weather during straightforward passages.
Watch-keepers remain familiar with the technique.
Watch-keepers confident in its use in more demanding situations.

Q:
Your set course is 065 and the current is pushing you to the North, so you set a CTS of 070
to compensate so you can stay on your track of 065. How do you set your PI?

A:
Set PI Parallel to the set course 065
Q:
Explain what the Admiralty Tidal Tables is and the Admiralty Tidal Streams Atlas?

A:
Admiralty Tidal Tables – A publication that detail the times and heights of high and low
waters for standard and secondary ports in the UK and Ireland, Europe, the Indian Ocean,
South China Sea and Pacific Ocean for each day of the year. You can use it to predict the
height of tide at a specific time, and to predict the time of a certain tidal height.

Admiralty Tidal Streams Atlas - a quick and visual way of knowing what the tides or tidal flow
will be when out on your boat. Providing you with detailed information about tidal stream
direction and flow.

Q:
What is HW & LW?

A:
H.W - The maximum height reached by a rising Tide.
L.W - The minimum height reached by a falling tide.
You have two HW in a 24-hour period and two LW’s in a 24-hour period

Q:
What is range and how do you work it out?

A:
HW – LW = Range
You can use to decide what curve to use SP or NP, or you have to interpolate.

Q: What is this and where would it be located?

A:
Barograph
• Record variations of atmospheric pressure onto a revolving drum.
• Drum is driven by clockwork (one revolution per week).
• Shows a trend in the pressure reading
• Wind it up for power & check paper for drum
• Should be placed away from vibration, loud noise and strong gusts of wind.
Q:
What is this? Who is it maintained? Where is it placed?

A:

A binnacle is a waist-high case or stand on the deck of a ship, generally mounted in front of
the helmsman, in which navigational instruments are placed for easy and quick reference as
well as to protect the delicate instruments.

Magnetic compasses should be adjusted when:

• First installed
• Become unreliable
• Physical defects
• Collision
• Major change of latitude
• Ship has alterations effecting hard/soft iron
• Electrical equipment added/removed close to the compass
• 2 years since the last adjustment
• Deviations haven’t been maintained

Check your magnetic compass on a regular basis:

• Verify that the deviation has not altered since the last compass swing.
• Hence the compass record book that you all fill in every voyage.

Compass Checks Before Departure

• Freedom of movement of the gimbal

• Card floating freely and level - rotating without any friction.
• Liquid free of bubbles and clear
• Compass card clear
• No liquid leaks
• No tools or magnetic equipment in the area

Check compass deviation records and deviation card for each magnetic compass.
Q:
How to Remove bubbles from magnetic compass?

A:

1. Tilt the bowl until the “filter hole” comes upper most. This hole is provided on the side
of the bowl.
2. Unscrew the stud/screw provide.
3. Top up with ethyl alcohol.
4. Screw the stud/screw back into place.
5. Gently let the bowl return to upright.

Q:
Synoptic chart name everything and how do you calculate wind speed?

A:
Calculating the Wind Speed

• Find your latitude.

• We are about 55° latitude
• locate isobars either side of your position
• Measure the distance between the two isobars
• Use the geostrophic wind scale
• left axis is latitude,
• On your latitude line mark off the distance of two isobars.
• It’s about 40 kts reading of the scale.
• This is the geostrophic wind speed (600m above sea level)
• Sea level wind is 60% of the geostrophic wind speed.
• 60% of 40 kts is 24 kts of wind

Q:
What is composite sailing?

A:
A combination of great circle and parallel sailing in navigation. Composite sailing may save
time and distance over the rhumb line track without leading the vessel into danger.

Q: How do you use a gnomonic chart?

A:
Procedure to use Gnomonic and Mercator Charts for Great Circle Sailing
• Plot start & end point on the gnomonic chart
• Join two positions as a straight line. (Great circle route)
• Then take down the positions of the waypoints every 5 degrees.
• Transfer those waypoints to a Mercator chart. (appears as an arc)
• Join all waypoints as a series of rhumb lines.

Q:
Life boat monthly check & do I know of an MGN?

A:
I told him the weekly, monthly & quarterly. I didn’t know of an MGN I could look at, But I told
him I’m sure there is one, lol…

Weekly:
All survival craft, rescue boats & launching appliances visually inspected:
Condition of hooks, their attachment to the lifeboat

Monthly:
Test Davits for life boats (lower life boat to embarkation level)

Quarterly:
Life boats launched and driven (full check)
Q:
What is ISM?

A:
• Sets international standards for the safe management & operation of ships.
• Requires companies to document & implement clear procedures.

There are three parties involved:

• Owner
• Master
• Flag State

Owner / management company:

• Produce a SEP to show they are managing the ship properly.

• Appoint a DPA & a qualified master.

Master to:
• Implement the SEP
• Motivate crew to follow the SEP
• Issue orders in a clear manner
• Review the SMS
• Report its deficiencies to management

Flag State:
• Issue DOC & SMC to show compliance with ISM & SMS
• Oversee ongoing compliance with the company Code
• May ask port state to verify the proper functioning of the ship’s SMS

Q:
What is a Safety Management System (SMS)?

A:
• A structured & documented system under ISM Code.

The SMS: SOCREM

• Safety & Environmental policy (SEP)
• Operating procedures
• Communication lines
• Reporting procedures & accidents
• Emergency procedures
• Management review & Audits

Q:
You receive a MAYDAY on VHF 16, as well as a DSC. You are 100M away from land and
according to the DSC you are 20M away from the vessel in distress. What channel would
the DSC be on and what would you do?
A:
Received DSC on VHF channel 70

Receipt of a Distress Message, VHF in A2

1. Immediately acknowledge
2. Call master
3. Gather information: by voice (VHF Ch 16)
- Position
- Identity
- Number of persons
- Nature of distress
- Assistance required
4. Consider Mayday relay by any means
5. Proceed at best speed to casualty
6. Establish coms with CRS and other vessels
7. X band for SART
8. Additional look outs
9. Prep rescue boat & medical station
10. Record in GMDSS logbook

Q:
How would you send a MAYDAY RELAY?

A:
Distress Call Relay by Radiotelephone
MAYDAY RELAY (x3)
ALL STATIONS (x3)
This is
Ship name (x3) Call sign & MMSI
Following received from
ship name, call sign & MMSI
TRANSMIT ORIGINAL DISTRESS ALERT/MESSAGE
OVER

Q:
What publication would you consult for search patterns?

A:
IAMSAR Vol III

Q:
Label some of the features on a Sextant.

A:
Q:
What is a Sextant used for?

A:
Its is used to measure the angle between two terrestrial objects. It can be used to fix your
position by HAS & VSA.

It also measures the angle between the horizon and a heavenly body. You can then use 3
different methods to calculate the true bearing of the sun or healingly body and compare it
with your actual bearing to give you a compass error of high or low for Gyro. Or you can get
your deviation of a magnetic compass to check the accuracy of your deviation card.

You can also use it for celestial navigation to calculate your EP.

Q:
I then got shown a picture of the sextant with an error, he asked is the error ON or OFF?
What is the exact error? And is this acceptable? If not, what would you do to fix it?

(THIS ISN”T THE EXACT PICTURE)

A:
I was shown an error reading OFF. It was reading 45 min, decimal 4.
So I had to calculate 60 – 45.4 = 14.6 was the error OFF

It was not acceptable. To fix the error I said the following:

Index Error

When the arc is set to zero, index & horizon mirrors are not parallel to each other.

To check:
• Set the arc to zero
• Hold sextant vertically
• Look through the telescope at the horizon
• If the true and reflected horizons don’t line up (error exists)

To correct:
a) - Turn the screw at the top of the mirror
- Then re-check for side error and,
- Again for index error.

Side Error

Horizon mirror is not perpendicular with the plane of the instrument.

To check:
• Set the arc to zero
• Hold sextant horizontally
• Look through the horizon mirror at the horizon
• If the true and reflected horizons don’t line up (error exists)

To correct:
• Adjust screw on horizon mirror
• Until true and reflected horizons line up

Q:

Q:
What is this and how would you conduct a full inspection?
 A:
Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus.

Pressure inside the facemask is always above atmospheric pressure.

Demand valve set so that the pressure is always above the pressure outside.
Wearer breathes in, the demand valve allows further air to enter.

Advantages
Damage to the facemask - system will automatically increase air flow.
Keeps smoke and toxic vapours out of the mask.

Do a full visual inspection, ensure the straps have been loosened all the way. It is stored
correctly and the air is full 300 bar.

Apparatus leak test

• Switch off the demand valve.
• Open the cylinder valve slowly, close it and observe the gauge.
• Close cylinder valve, open demand valve for a whistle test.
• With demand valve off, turn on the cylinder slowly.
Check for Positive Pressure
• Put the mask on.
• Connect demand valve to mask and open valve to allow air flow.
• Lift mask, air should flow out.
• Ensure there is no air leaking from the mask when its snug on your face

Q:
CBD definition?

A:
Vessel constrained by her draught (CBD) – any power-driven vessel which, because of her
draught in relation to available depth and navigable water is unable to deviate from her
course. (Cannot be a sailboat)

Q:
Radar plot: was given 3 plots off my STB quarter, CPA of 0.5m, I had to work out W. The
other vessel was overtaking.

A
O

W
A:
If detecting another vessel by Radar alone and a ROC exists:
Avoid turning towards vessels abeam or abaft the beam

I shall make a bold alteration of course to port and monitor the situation until past
and clear.

Q:
Where is ILALA Region A?

A:
Europe, Australia, New Zealand, parts of Africa and most of Asia other than the
Philippines, Japan and Korea.

Q:
Asked all these buoys and also asked which direction I would pass depending on the
direction of buoyage and bearing.

A:

Cardinal Marks
 Isolated Danger Marks

Navigable water all around it.

Do a chart assessment and then pass it by a wider margin as practical.

Top Mark

Two black spheres in a vertical line

Shape

Pillar or Spar (Black, red, Black horizontally)

Lights

White light: Group-flashing (2)

 Safe Water Marks

Shows that there is navigable water all around the mark.

It does not mark a hazard.

Safe water marks can be used mid channel marks in which case they
should always be left on the mariners port side so that he keeps to the
starboard side of the fairway.

Marks the fixed point under a bridge

Top Mark
A red sphere (used if the buoy is not spherical)
Shape
Spherical, pillar or spar

Lights
White light:
• Occulting

• Isophase

• 1 long flash every 10 seconds

• Morse A
Region A
Port Hand Lateral Mark Starboard Hand Lateral Mark
It should be left to port when going It should be left to starboard when
in the direction of buoyage. going in the direction of buoyage.

Shape: Can, Pillar or Spar Shape: Cone, Pillar or Spar

Top Mark: Red Can Top Mark: Green Cone
Light: Red, any rhythm (NOT Light: Green, any rhythm (NOT
composite group flashing 2+1) composite group flashing 2+1)
RR – Red band or square RR – Green band or triangle

Region A
Port Hand lateral mark indicating a Starboard Hand lateral mark indicating a
preferred channel to starboard, leave it to preferred channel to port, leave it to
port if staying in the preferred channel. starboard if staying in the preferred channel.

Shape: Can, Pillar or Spar Shape: Cone, Pillar or Spar

Top Mark: Red Can Top Mark: Green Cone
Light: Red, composite group flashing Light: Green, composite group flashing (2+1)
(2+1) RR – Green band or triangle
RR – Red band or square
 Special marks

Yellow Light any rhythm that can’t be confused with a white light in the vicinity

Indicate to the mariner a special area or feature, the nature of which is apparent from
reference to a chart, sailing directions or notices to mariners, special marks.
Uses include the marking of: CROFTS

• Cables or pipelines
• Recreation zones
• ODAS buoys (Ocean data acquisition system)
group flashing 5 every 20 seconds, Fl(5)20s
• Firing military exercise zones
• TSS’s where use of conventional channel marking might cause confusion
• Spoil grounds

Another function of special marks is to define a channel within a channel.

 Emergency Wreck Mark

This is designed to provide high visual and radio aid to navigation recognition. It is
placed as close to the wreck as possible, or in a pattern around the wreck, and within
any other marks that may be subsequently deployed.

The Emergency Wreck Marking Buoy is maintained in position until:

• The wreck is well known and has been promulgated in nautical publications
• The wreck has been fully surveyed and exact details such as position and
least depth above the wreck are known.
• A permanent form of marking of the wreck has been carried out.

Characteristics

• Top mark - Upright yellow upright cross.

• Shape - pillar or spar
• Equal blue and yellow vertical stripes (min 4, max 8)
• Alternating blue and yellow flashing light – 1s on & 0.5s off (Range 4 nm)
• If multiple buoys are deployed, then the lights should be synchronised
• Racon Morse code “D” and/or AIS Transponder.

See emergency wreck marker:

• Take all way off
• Inform the master
• Do a fix
• Chart assessment

How would info about wreck marker?

• Admiralty weekly NM
• NAVTEX - ABDL
• VHF MSI broadcasts
Q:
What is this?

A:
Direction of Buoyage:
• It’s usually clockwise around a content
• Shows the direction of buoyage where it isn’t obvious

Q:
What is NAVTEX?

A:
NAVTEX

• Automated system for distributing MSI

• A small printing radio receiver
• Check ALRS Vol 3 MSI Broadcasts for area of operation
• Frequency - 518 kHz in English
• Frequency - 490 kHz in local language
• Certain information is mandatory to receive. (ABDL)
• A – Navigational warnings
• B – Met
• D – SAR, piracy
• L – Additional warnings
• C – Ice warnings
• F – Pilot Services

Q:
What do you do when you enter restricted visibility?

A:
Restricted Visibility MGN 369

• Comply with COLREGs Sections I & III

• Slow down & have engines ready
• Inform the Master & engage hand steering
• Close watertight doors
• Nav lights
• Sound signals
• Use RADAR
• Post look-outs
• Increase bridge manning levels
• Open bridge doors
• Stop noisy work
Q:
What is this and what can it tell you?

A:
Compass rose – It tells you how much variation you need to account for each year so that
you can calculate the correct variation for your current year in that area of the chart.

Q:
He then asked it could tell you anything else?

A:
So I said it also shows you North, East, South and West, and all the points in between.

Q:
How many points in a compass and how much is one point?

A:
32 points, 11.25 degrees each

Q:
What is Interaction & Bank effect?

A:
Bank effect

• Restricted waters
• Positive pressure pushes the bow away
• Suction effect pulls the midships toward the bank

Interaction

• Passing or overtaking
• Positive pressure
• Smaller ship draws closer to the larger vessel when they are in line
On to Situations: (You are always the purple PDV)

Two PDV’s in open ocean

Action by Give-way Vessel, (Keep Out of The Way) – Rule 15

I am going to take regular series of compass bearings of the approaching vessel and
if the compass bearings remain constant or does not appreciably change then risk of
collision is deemed to exist.

This is the “stand-on” vessel that shall maintain her course and speed whilst
monitoring the situation.

This is the “give-way” vessel, and she shall sound one short blast on the ships
whistle, make a bold alteration of course to starboard of about 40 to 60 degrees. She
shall monitor the situation until past and clear and then return to her original course.
You can only navigate safely within the Narrow Channel

I am going to take regular series of compass bearings of the approaching vessel and
if the compass bearings remain constant or does not appreciably change then risk of
collision is deemed to exist.

This is the “not to be impeded” vessel which shall maintain course and speed whilst
monitoring the situation.

This is the “shall not impede” vessel, it shall take early and substantial action to
allow sufficient sea room for the safe passage of the other vessel.

If the vessel not to be impeded finds itself in a close quarters situation, it shall sound
5 short rapid blasts, and if no response then the Steering and Sailing Rules apply
when there is risk of collision and will act accordingly.
You can only navigate within the Narrow channel, and you want to overtake on port
side, what signal will you sound and what should you be careful of? If he disagrees,
what will he sound?

• Sound two prolong blasts followed by two short blasts

• Be careful of interaction

• Disagree – 5 short rapid blasts

 What do you see and what will you do?

Vessel not under command (NUC) – any vessel due to exceptional circumstances is
unable to maneuver as required by these Rules and is therefore unable to keep out
the way of another vessel. (steering/engine problems) (e.g. rudder falls off)

Action by Give-way Vessel, (Keep Out of The Way) – Rule 18

I am going to take regular series of compass bearings of the approaching vessel and
if the compass bearings remain constant or does not appreciably change then risk of
collision is deemed to exist.

This is the “stand-on” vessel that shall maintain her course and speed whilst
monitoring the situation.

This is the “give-way” vessel, and she shall sound two short blast on the ships
whistle, make a bold alteration of course to port of about 40 to 60 degrees. She shall
monitor the situation until past and clear and then return to her original course.
A Vessel RAM Towing
Probably over 50m
Starboard Aspect
Length of tow greater than 200m measured from the stern of the towing vessel to the
after end of the tow.
Underway (possibly makingway)

Masthead lights - White light placed on the centreline with an arc of 225o
Shows the light from right ahead to 22.5o abaft the beam on both sides of the vessel
Visibility 5 nm

All-round lights – Must have an unbroken arc of 360o over the horizon.
Red ^ white ^ red in a vertical line equally spaced apart at no less than 2m apart.
Visibility 2 nm (3 nm if 50m and over)

Sidelights – Green light with an arc of 112.5o

Shows the light from right ahead to 22.5o abaft the beam on its respective side
Visibility 2 nm

Day shapes: Black ball ^ diamond ^ ball in a vertical line. (RAM)

The black ball shall have a diameter of at least 0.6m
The cones within the diamond shape shall have a base diameter of at least 0.6m and a
height equal to its diameter.
The vertical spacing between the shapes shall be at least 1.5m apart.

Fog Signals: Delta (intervals of no more than 2 min)

If manned towed vessel (last): (sound directly after towing vessel)

Rule 18 – I am the give-way vessel, they are the stand on vessel à PT

A PDV Towing
Under 50m
Starboard Aspect
Length of tow less than 200m measured from the stern of the towing vessel to the after
end of the tow.
Underway (possibly makingway)

Masthead lights - White light placed on the centreline with an arc of 225o
Shows the light from right ahead to 22.5o abaft the beam on both sides of the vessel
Visibility 5 nm

Sidelights – Green light with an arc of 112.5o

Shows the light from right ahead to 22.5o abaft the beam on its respective side
Visibility 2 nm

Sidelights on vessel being towed will have of a visibility of 3nm if 50m or more, 2nm if
less than 50m, and 1nm if less than 12m.

Day shapes: None

Fog Signals: Delta (intervals of no more than 2 min)

If manned towed vessel (last): (sound directly after towing vessel)

Rule 15 – I am stand-on vessel (shall, may, shall) - they are give-way vessel à STB
 A Fishing Vessel other than trawling
Length Unknown
Aspect Unknown
Outlying gear extending more than 150m on an unknown side
Underway or at anchor
OR
A Fishing Vessel other than trawling
Stern Aspect
Length Unknown
Makingway

All-round lights red ^ white must have an unbroken arc of 360o over the horizon.
Visibility 2 nm (3nm if 50m and over)

All-Round White light indicating outlying gear extended150m

Visibility 1 nm

Stern light - White light placed as close to the stern as possible with an arc of 135o
Shows the light 67.5o from right aft on each side of the vessel
Visibility 3nm if 50m or more and 2nm if less than 50m

Day shapes: Two black cones with their apexes towards each other setup vertically
and a black cone apex upwards in the direction of the gear.The cones shall have a
base diameter of at least 0.6m and a height equal to its diameter.

Fog Signals: Delta (intervals of no more than 2 min)

At Anchor: Delta (intervals of no more than 2 min)

Rule 13 – They are stand-on vessel, I. am give-way vessel à STB

A vessel engaged in pilotage duty Golf
Hauling nets or
Length Unknown Require Pilot
Starboard Aspect
Underway (possibly makingway)
Hotel
Pilot onboard

Sidelights – Green light with an arc of 112.5o

Shows the light from right ahead to 22.5o abaft the beam on its respective side
Visibility 2 nm or 3nm if 50m and over

All-round lights – White ^ red must have an unbroken arc of 360o over the horizon.
Visibility 2 nm or 3nm if 50m and over

Day shapes: Will have Pilot written on the side of the vessel.
May fly the pilot jack flag. (white ^ red)
When your vessel is carrying a pilot you must fly the hotel flag.

Fog Signals: PDV: Making way: Underway only (drifting):

(2 sec between blasts)

At anchor:
< 100m: Rapid Bell 5 sec every minute

Pilot Vessel: As above for PDV, may also blast:

Rule 15 – I am stand-on (shall, may, shall) – they are give-way vessel à STB
 A vessel CBD
Probably over 50m
Starboard Aspect
Underway (possibly makingway)

Masthead lights - White light placed on the centreline with an arc of 225o
Shows the light from right ahead to 22.5o abaft the beam
Visibility 6 nm (4.5m of vertical separation)

Sidelights – Green light with an arc of 112.5o

Shows the light from right ahead to 22.5o abaft the beam on its respective side
Visibility 3 nm

All-round red lights in a vertical line where they can best be seen. (2m spacing apart)
They must have an unbroken arc of 360o over the horizon.
Visibility 3 nm

Day shapes: A black cylinder where it can best be seen.

At least a 0.6m diameter and a height of twice its diameter.

Fog Signals: Delta (intervals of no more than 2 min)

If at Anchor:
< 100m: Rapid Bell 5 sec every minute
> 100m: Rapid Bell 5 sec at forepart à Gong 5 sec at aft, in addition may also
blast: (Romeo)

Rule 18 – They are “not to be impeded”, I am “not to impede à STB & Parallel
If there is a ROC it means you have impeded them.
You Sight a Vessel Constrained by Draught (CBD) – Rule 18
I am going to take regular series of compass bearings of the approaching vessel and
if the compass bearings remains constant or does not appreciably change then a risk
of collision is deemed to exist.

I am the “shall not impede” vessel, I shall take early action to allow sufficient sea
room for the safe passage of the other vessel.

I will make a bold reduction in speed. I shall monitor the situation until past and
clear.

THE END:
And that was that. Total time of about 90 min. The examiner was fair and pushed me in the
right direction if I didn’t fully understand what he was asking for. And he also appreciated the
fact that if I didn’t know something I told him that I didn’t know.

As everyone says, if you still in the seat you have passed, there were definitely moments in
the exam when I felt nervous and wasn’t sure````how it was going. But when he gave me a new
question I forgot about the last question and just focused on what he was asking and tried
my best to give all the knowledge I had.

Study hard and take your time when it comes to doing your radar plot, buoyage and lights
and situations. GOODLUCK
 ORAL REPORT
MARCH 2022
1 hour 15 mins
KAISAR ALI
PASS

I Logged in 15 mins before the start time he logged on 5 minutes early which was nice as staring
at a screen for 10 minutes waiting for someone to pop up feels like a life time.
Got Straight into started talking through the exam procedures and how it was going to work, told
me what I needed on the table and I if had anything else then to remove it before we started.

Talked to me about my TRB my old boats and what boat I am on now, asked me to explain a little
bit about my career and the two boats in my TRB, was fairly happy so got straight into it.

What’s the weather like where you are today?

Explained that it had been a nice high pressure over the u.k this week and it was slowly turning.

Tell me about the sextant what is it used for?

The Adjustable errors? Explained all 3 then he asked me which screw is it you adjust and which
mirror to make sure I knew what error I was correcting for.

What do you need for a TRS to form? And Indications of one forming?
Fairly standard answer for that, he was happy moved on.

Where can you obtain weather forecast from?

Went with the old school type of answers rst then added if you have internet or a have a
subscription to a weather routing service.

What’s is Diurnal Variation and how many times can you obtain a forecast from it?
Stumped me It was going well until then I took a sip of water and gave it my best answer, he
chuckled and said no, Pretty Much Gave me the answer after a couple of attempts.

Then said ok you're on a passage from France to Miami, how do you go about this?

I was con dent on this so started rattling o my best answer started with APEM got to
APPRAISAL he stopped me not even 30 seconds into it I don’t want to hear about that tell me
about monitoring stage.
Explained about checking vessels position and bridge equipment along the against the passage
plan etc.

Compass Checks how often should you check the compass?

What is Deviation and Variation? Where do you nd Them? (Ships deviation card and Compass
rose)

Ok How do you set up your Bridge for the passage? (Pre departure checks)

Started explaining making sure the charts are up to date etc.

Stopped me, How do you check/update a paper chart?

As I mentioned the NTM he then questioned me on the that.
Can T’s & P’s only be found in the Weekly Ntm?
All standard answers ^

Ok you mentioned Ecdis is your primary means on Navigation how do your set you safety depths
and contours and what are they?

What Nav Text Messages are mandatory? And where can you nd more info to add extra
messages.
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How would you set up your radar the passage? (BRGTC)
For Collision avoidance? (Sea stabilised)
For Navigation? (Ground Stabilised)

Whats is ISM?
SOCREM - Sms etc, but he wanted more what else as o cers do you do with sms I kept giving
him answers but it wasn’t what he wanted, it eventually lead on to Coswop.

What is COSWOP and why do we use it?

I think this is what he wanted me to bring up during my sms chat.

What is MLC?
Explained about HORS etc then he asked me about Young seafarers and there HOR.

Your on your Passage you have a MAN OVER BOARD, what are your actions?
Im sure you all know an answer to this by now.

You’ve dealt with that now, but there could be a Fire in the engine room what are your actions?
I answered as if there was a re in the engine room FIRE, FIND, INFROM, RESTRICT,
EXTINGUISH/ESCAPE. Explained my actions and what role every other crew member will be
doing.

What are the Roles of an OOW?

Explained a few, went onto LSA and FFE checks.

Where can you nd out this Information? For (LSA equipment and FFE Equipment)

Asked me to explain a radar plot?

I explained that you would need 3 plots so it is not scanty information if it was 2 plots or less I
would not be able to go o this for collision avoidance. Then just explained what O + A gives you
and what W + A gives you he was happy and moved on.

Then he screen shared was on to Buoyage asked a fair few di erent buoys and which way I would
pass.

Then on to Lights and Actions

CBD port side Actions? Lights colours and Arc of the lights

Told me to slow down as this is where people pass or fail.

So I wrote on my bit of paper SLOW DOWN

Sailing Vessel. Lights, sound signal etc.

RAM port side ACTIONS?

Fishing vessel engaged in trawling shooting nets. Lights, sound signal, day shape etc

DAY SHAPES + sound signal For all of them plus vessels at anchor

Can you explain rule 19 to me?

He wanted to know that also part 1 of the rules apply. Which I forgot to mention

PASSED, would like to thank all the Guys at whitehorse for the prep, and Rob Burtons prep week
and all the guys on that week couldn’t of done it without them.
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Capt. Tim Andrews

Plymouth MO

19/4/2022

Master 3000 (Y) Pass

Logged on, Examiner logged on at exactly 0900. Some discussion over the fact that I was not all that
well lit. Went through the formalities, showed passport, rules and conduct of exam. Showed round
room, then offered to put the light on and close curtains, which led to an improved lighting.

Discussed my previous boats, and history. He then gave his background and experience. Talked
about size of vessel and no of crew and passengers. Normally 12, but had successfully applied for
exemptions before for having more on occasions. From here on His bit in Black, my responses in red.

Scenario, joining a new vessel, just under 3000gt in Palma. Taking over, then potentially relocating to
Caribbean. Talk me through this.

I started from the dock, arriving with SEA, and LOA/POA.

Tell me about SEA.
Mentioned MLC, Contents of SEA, all sections of it as a contract, repatriation etc.
More about MLC
Explained the fact that it was brought in to protect the seafarers, essentially internationally
codifying existing UK legislation.
OK back to joining boat.
Discussing first impressions through challenge at gangway.
Why Challenged?
ISPS as over 500gt, also UHNW guests, as well as just good practice for keeping the vessel
secure.
Continue with observing vessel as accompanied to bridge.
OK, in Masters cabin. What next
Hand over my LOA, Certs etc. Start in to vessel certs. Did not go into a full list (knowing I
could reel them off) but he did not ask, then into logbooks, current paperwork. Crew Certs.
OK, tell me more about crew certs
Discussed comparing to crew list, ensuring all in date and appropriate to position
Yachts have international crew….
Went into medical fitness being ENG1 or other recognized (white list) STCW from
questionable sources, then on to CeCs which is what he was waiting for.
Ok previous Master has left, how do you take over the boat?
Discussed that obviously before previous master left, I had been signed in to OLB.
Ok, how?
Front cover, list of crew, Narrative.
All sections of OLB
Reeled all off.
What goes into Narrative.
Mentioned about a dozen, finishing with and anything else the master wants to be officially
recorded.
Ok back to taking over
Started with crew meeting, moved to HOD meeting. Full walk through the boat (inc Wing to
Wing) with Chief officer, ER with CE. Emphasised importance of finding out how the crew
mood and happiness etc was.
OK owner suggests relocating to Carib. Passage from a holistic point of view.
First off mentioned time of year, discussion with owner where in the Carib they wanted to
go, noting time of year, weather, and the fact that the season over there is almost at an end.
Tell me more about the season… what restricts it?
Focused in on weather. Risk of hurricane. Hurricane season, noting that the hurricane
season is not the same as it was 15 years ago. Discussed a very early crossing, and late
crossings I had done. Routing etc
Then went into HOD meet again. Discussing each HOD in turn. Standing Orders, discuss with
C/O and nav officer route and stops. C/E bunkers and spares. Durations and reserves I
expected at the other end, any concerns upcoming maintenance required. Bosun any annual
renewals coming up LSA FFE. Related to calling a stop on one occasion in pacific as not happy
with how the contractors were doing it. Getting dispensation from flag to delay. So better to
do in Palma before departing. Chef chat about duration and weather expected. Premaking
rough weather food.
He moved me on to crew: ER manning and checks. Crew for passage
Discussed the UMS and manning and checks done in ER, ref to C/E Standing orders as agreed
with Master. Call in to bridge etc. On to other crew, discussing qualification, both in terms of
actual experience as well as certification (He seemed to like that)
Randomly jumped to “ you mentioned DMLC, what is it and underwriting certificate”
Mentioned part 1 and Part 2, comes under MLC certificate, and to a lesser extent LYC cert.
Led into discussion on LYC vs LY3, and what do they cover
Mentioned previous build, and the fact they led the build in certain directions.
Only construction?
No, it is the Yacht equivalent in some ways to Solas, gives number of LSA and FFE etc, allows
yachts which do not fit into cargo ships rules to have an equivalent accepted.
OK you are back on passage, Out of Gib, South towards the Cabo Verdes…
Impending TRS what actions, what signs of it approaching?
Discussed routing services, every system onboard warning of hurricane, as well as obs,
falling 3mb over diurnal, 5 if 200nm away, vivid skies, long swell from direction, change in
trades direction, all marine life disappearing.
What do if you have obs of approaching TRS?
Mandatory reporting. Securite, and call to nearest shore stations.
What else do you mandatory report?
Ice accretion, Ice burgs not reported, wind over f10 not forecast, missing or out of place Nav
aids,
Went into ISM mentioned Masters responsibility, what is that?
Gave almost verbatim from ISM code. Discussed how master actually does review of SMS.
Mentioned that it was far more of an ongoing thing rather than a once every 6 months
chore. How SMS is updated, Master able to use his authority to increase safety while waiting
for update to SMS at management level. How would lead by example. Encouraging
participation at safety meetings etc. mixing it up, keeping people engaged. He led into Drills
and frequency. Included an annual with management company, and the drills that combined
well together for more real scenarios.
On crossing, Mate advises a deckie has not been pulling his weight. He has had a word, but
needs you to have a word.
Discussed how would go about, informal chat to start off with. See if there was underlying
issues or anything we could do to help deal with this, emphasizing that we need everyone
pulling their weight. Talked about lowest level dealing with it, options, informal, formal,
written warning. Is there a history of it?
Turns out now deckie has an alcohol issue as well, and has been bullying, and harassing.
Discussed inviting for a formal meeting. Investigations. Bring a witness if he wishes. Gross
Misconduct, dismissal, and how you do that. Noting it was dismissed from the ship.
Mentioned OLB and a note and annex… also giving deckie a copy of all noted in OLB.

Back to the passage, arrival in Antigua. First time vessel is there, so need to take a pilot and
exchange info. What would you expect agent to be looking for?
Mentioned crew list, declaration of health (particularly in covid times, clean tests, and no
symptoms) declared stores etc, documentation for vessel insurance etc. Not sure what he
was looking for here, but he seemed satisfied.

Pilot arrival, how does he fit in?

Discussed bringing into the bridge team as an essential local knowledge adviser. Noted
Master retains authority. How to integrate.

Berth to Berth is plan required in Solas. Pilot has a very different passage plan from pilot
station to berth. What do you do?
Pass to Nav officer and ask him to input and check on ECDIS, while discussing with pilot why
it is so different, not rejecting it, just need to be happy that there is good reason to follow
that route.

Pilot is rude and you don’t like the way he talks to the helm, what do you do?
Nip it in the bud early, and have him direct his instruction via myself or OOW. Diplomatically
deal with it.

Pilot is possibly intoxicated, and you suspect he is incompetent. What do you do?
Find safe place to anchor or stop, and request a different pilot.

OK, you have made it cleared in and rebunkered/restocked. You have taken guests on,
heading south to Curacao. On passage, you are woken up to be told that there is a fire in the
ER. OOW has sent a team to check. Confirmed and full alarm set off. Your actions?
Take over CON, check muster has begun, fire doors are closed, expect crew to be doing as
per muster list, team into BA, guests checked and sat down. Hoses led, all accounted for.
Send out MAYDAY. Assess Nav options. Check hi fog has auto activated. Discuss with CE the
option of FN 200. Secondary muster before activating. Ensure all ventilation closed, all fuel
etc lines are closed.

OK, fire is out, dead ship, except e-generator. What next. Deep water, no anchor option.
First try to engage a tow,
No Tow available for contract, other options?
Salvage is an option as in danger, if someone can come voluntarily and action successfully.
What form? Lloyds open form would be used.
 Tell me about Scopic. A clause introduced after Torrey Canyon, to ensure that the salvager
gets something even if not successful, if efforts have been made that prevent or reduce an
environmental disaster.

OK, who would you report to?

Listed off, Port state, Flag state, DPA, MAIB, then also insurance, and class.

Lloyds are the class we know mostly…. Can you name others?
GL-DNV, ABS, RINA, BV

What is their purpose?

To oversea and impose standards during build, to ensure that those standards are
maintained, and to survey to record this.

OK lets look at some lights and buoyage.

Buoyage –
- Preferred channel to Port IALA A
- STB Lateral IALA B what light sequence?
- W Cardinal, what top?
Moved very quickly before I could give light sequence or anything other than what is it,
very cursory, more a formality than a grilling on this.

Lights –

- NUC, not underway

- Fish not trawl, not underway
- Tow less than 50m less than 200m stb aspect
- Tow Ram, over 200m over 50m

No rules, no situations, no radar.

Thank you. You have passed. You came across as confident, and gave good precise answers. Well
prepared, and presented well.

Thank you!

Then went through the process for what happens next. He signs digitally and returns NOE that gets
sent on to me.

Many thanks for all the preparation. Really made all the difference!
OOW 3000 YACHT
MSN 1858 ANNEX B
Capt TIM ANDREWS
19 APRIL 2022

SO, THE EXAM WAS EASIER THAN EXPECTED, I’M NOT SURE IF IT’S BECAUSE I WAS PREPARED, (WHICH
YOU NEVER FEEL YOU ARE!), OR IF MY EXAMINER WAS THE BEST DUDE ON EARTH. BIT OF BOTH I RECKON.
CAPT. ANDREWS IS A FULL BLOWN NUDGER AND YOU SHOULDN’T STRESS AT ALL IF YOU GET HIM. IT’S OK
IF YOU DIGRESS A BIT AND WANDER OFF ON A BIT OF A WAFFLE AND LOSE YOUR TRAIN OF THOUGHT,
HE’LL REMIND YOU AND EVEN FINISH OFF A COUPLE OF ANSWERS FOR YOU. I THINK HE JUST WANTS
CONFIDENCE AND ASSERTIVENESS WITH YOUR ANSWERS.
THIS IS AS MUCH AS I REMEMBERED AFTER THE EXAM:

STARTED OFF 10min EARLY WITH THE BASIC PRE-EXAM CHAT FOR APPROX. 10min, ROOM TOUR etc
TOTAL MEETING TIME WAS 1:30hr.

STARTED OFF WITH JOINING BOAT AND WHAT DOCUMENTS YOU’D EXPECT TO GIVE TO A MASTER
PASSPORT, SDB, CoC, ANCILLARY TICKETS incl GMDSS GOC, SEA

WHATS IN A SEA WHY DO WE HAVE THEM:

MLC, PROTECT SEAFARERS RIGHTS, RATTLED OFF A FEW THINGS IN AN SEA, MOVED ON…..

ONTO APEM.
(RISK ASSESSMENT BERTH TO BERTH IMO a.893, BLAH BLAH, STOPPED ME HALF WAY THRU APPRAISAL)
AFTER MENTIONING UP TO DATE CHARTS, HE ASKED ME HOW I WOULD CHECK A PAPER CHART IS UP TO
DATE.
(BOTTOM LEFT, CUMULATIVE, WEEKLY etc)
ASKED ME WHAT WAS IN WEEKLY NTMs,
(RATTLED OFF THE 8 SECTIONS)
ASKED ME WHAT WAS IN ANNUAL NTMs.
(ONLY WANTED Ts & Ps AND ADM SAIL DIR)

HE THEN ASKED HOW I WOULD SETUP MY BRIDGE FOR DEPARTURE

(I MENTIONED SETTING UP ECDIS, MAKING SURE PASSAGE PLAN IS SIGNED OFF READY TO GO, SETTING UP
RADAR, ECHO SOUNDER, ENGINEERS TO GET ENGINES AND THRUSTERS READY, STEERING TEST SMS
CHECKLIST
THEN HE ASKED ME ABOUT STEERING TESTS, BUT THIS WAS ONE OF THE QUESTIONS HE PRETTY MUCH
ANSWERED FOR ME, ALTHOUGH IT WASN’T REQUIRED.

HOW TO HOLD A SAFE NAVIGATIONAL WATCH:

MGN 315, BPG, SMS, BROAD QUESTION LOADS TO SAY SMS CHECKLIST

WHEN TO CALL THE MASTER

FLASH CARD

BUNKERING OPERATIONS TALK ME THROUGH IT.

COMMS WITH PORT, OLB, SOPEP, B FLAG, COMMS WITH E/R, EXTINGUISHER, NO SMOKING SIGN, SOPEP
KIT, COMMS WITH TRUCK/PUMP etc etc SMS CHECKLIST
ISM TELL ME ABOUT IT:
HERALD OF FREE ENTERPRISE, LACK OF SOPs, BROUGHT UP SAFETY CULTURE, COMPANY SHOULD HAVE
SHIP SPECIFIC SMS, DOC AND SMC, STOPPED ME NOT LONG IN

ASKED ME WHERE I COULD FIND WEATHER REPORTS.

RATTLED OFF FLASH CARD ANSWER, HE SEEMED TO LIKE ADDING NAVTEX STATION “E” MET FORECAST

WHAT INFORMATION WOULD YOU FIND ON A ROUTING CHART

FLASH CARD, STOPPED ME AFTER A FEW

SYNOPTIC CHART: CONDITIONS OVER UK AND IRELAND, HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM WITH A TROUGH OVER
NE ENGLAND, DESCRIBE OCCLUDED FRONT, CONDITIONS IN ONCOMING WARM FRONT, CONDITIONS IN
WARM SECTOR, CONDITIONS AT COLD FRONT AND CONDITIONS AFTER COLD FRONT.
DIRECTION OF WIND IN A HIGH PRESSURE.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE MET SECTION IN NP 100 WILL GIVE YOU A CROSS SECTION OF FRONTS, REALLY EASY
TO REMEMBER.

NOT TOO SURE ABOUT THE ORDER OF QUESTIONS, BUT I THINK HE WENT ONTO CHART SYMBOLS:
NEVER KNEW PILOT BOARDING STATION, (HE SAID ITS PROBABLY BECAUSE I NEVER USED THEM COMING
FROM <500Gt VESSELS),
(MENTIONED NP 5011, 5012, WAS HAPPY WITH THAT…..)
NATURE OF SEABED, UNDERWATER CABLE, SECTOR LIGHT.
BROUGHT UP THE SYMBOL OF A TSS, POINTED TO SEPARATION ZONES ASKED WHAT THEY WERE THEN
ASKED WHAT VESSELS ARE ALLOWED TO USE ITZ.
TIDAL DIAMOND: ONE HOUR BEFORE HIGH WATER, TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW….
RIGHT THERE ON THE CHART, CAN’T GET IT WRONG
THEN ASKED ME THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPRINGS AND NEAPS
HIGH HIGHS, LOW LOWS, LOW HIGHS HIGH LOWS, MOON SUN EARTH LINEUP, THEN RIGHT ANGLES etc
COMPASS ROSE: EXPLAIN VARIATION, HOW TO WORK IT OUT, WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU NEED TO WORK
OUT COMPASS
DEVIATION

WENT ONTO BUOYS:

WHATS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IALA A AND B
I JUST SAID IALA A IS EVERYTHING BUT AMERICAS, JAPAN, PHILLIPINES AND THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS
COLOUR OF LATERAL MARKERS.
PORT LATERAL MARKER IALA A PLUS LIGHT SEQUENCE
COUPLE OF PREFERRED CHANNELS BOTH IALA A PLUS LIGHT SEQUENCE.
SPECIAL MARKS, WHEN WOULD YOU USE THEM: (CROFTS)
ISOLATED DANGER, LIGHT SEQUENCE OF SAFE WATER, AND WHAT WOULD YOU PUT ON A NEW WRECK.

BEFORE WE STARTED WITH LIGHTS HE WANTED TO KNOW IF I KNEW SCRIPT FOR ASSESSING RISK OF
COLLISION.
I AM GOING TO A REGULAR SERIES……. BLAH BLAH
RULE 7 BASIC, THEN ALL THE LIGHTS AFTER THAT WERE ROC EXISTS SO NEED TO KEEP SAYING SCRIPT.
LIGHTS AND SITUATIONS: HE ASKED TYPE, ACTION AND FOG SIGNAL FOR:
SAILING VESSEL ON PORT SIDE
TOWING >50m <200m
CBD PORT SIDE
RAM, PLUS DAYSHAPE AND WHAT VESSELS WOULD DISPLAY RAM
NUC, PLUS DAYSHAPE
>50m AGROUND, PLUS DAYSHAPE
WE DID ONE QUICK RADAR PLOT, OFF PORT BOW, RISK OF COLLISION EXISTING:
AVOID TURNING TO PORT FOR VESSELS FWD OF YOUR BOW EXCEPT FOR VESSELS BEING OVERTAKEN, I
WILL MAKE BOLD ALTERATION OF COURSE TO STBD. BOOM. MOVE ON.

MOVED BACK ONTO THEORY:

MOB, I WAS OOW, MOB OVER RADIO WHAT ARE YOUR ACTIONS.
I THOUGHT I STUMBLED A BIT ON THIS ONE, BUT NO NEGATIVE FEEDBACK ABOUT IT, PROBABLY BECAUSE
IN BUILD UP TO EXAM I ALWAYS PRACTICED DIFFERENT SCENARIOS, BUT IT ALL STAYS THE SAME REALLY.
FLASH CARD ANSWER, STOPPED WHEN I SAID GET READY FOR RECOVERY, AND HE DIDN’T PUSH FURTHER.
SMS CHECKLIST

I’M DOING A WALKAROUND, SEE BLACK SMOKE COME OUT OF CREW MESS, ACTIONS:
SAID I WOULD RAISE ALARM, ATTEMPT TO EXTINGUISH, WHILE CREW ARE MUSTERING, OSC, ASSESS
SITUATION TO SEE IF BA TEAM WOULD BE NECESSARY, STOPPED THERE, HE SEEMED FINE. SMS CHECKLIST

WHAT EXTINGUISHERS WOULD I FIND IN CREW MESS:

ABC POWDER
WHAT EXTINGUISHERS WOULD I FIND IN E/R:
MENTIONED FIXED GAS INSTALLATIONS, CO2 INSTALLATION, FOAM, ABC, CO2

THEN I THINK MY FINAL QUESTION WAS ACTIONS FOR ENTERING RESTRICTED VISIBILITY
WENT BLANK, MANAGED A FEW IMPORTANT POINTS THOUGH:
REDUCE SPEED, LIGHTS, FOG SIGNALS, CALL MASTER, CLOSE WATERTIGHT DOORS, MIGHT’VE SAID EXTRA
LOOKOUTS SMS CHECKLIST

HE THEN STOPPED ME AND SAID I HAD DONE REALLY WELL, AND HE WAS HAPPY TO PASS ME. NO
FEEDBACK APART FROM THAT AT ALL. I DIDN’T GIVE TWO HOOTS, JOB DONE.
CAPT TIM ANDREWS IS EXTREMELY FAIR, ALTHOUGH IT LOOKS LIKE HE IS EXTREMELY THOROUGH, HE
ONLY TOUCHES ON EVERYTHING AND WHEN HE THINKS YOU’RE COMFORTABLE ANSWERING THE
QUESTION, HE’LL THANK YOU AND MOVE ON.

P.S.: IMPORTANT TO REFER TO SMS FOR CHECKLIST ANSWERS IF YOU FEEL YOU’RE FORGETTING STUFF. HE
REMINDED ME ON THIS A COUPLE OF TIMLES. FURTHER ADVICE WOULD BE TO PRACTICE WHEN TO FINISH
YOUR ANSWERS, DON’T WAFFLE AND BLABBER ON… ANSWER THE QUESTION, STOP, STARE DOWN. IF
THEY WANT MORE, THEY WILL ASK.

BIG THANKS TO FRED WILSON, TOUGH LOVE IS BEST, HIS MOCKS, WEBINARS AND ONLINE PREP VIDEOS
ARE VITAL!!!
THANKS TO WHITEHORSE MARINE FOR THEIR INVALUABLE CLINICS, THEY GIVE YOU PLENTY OF SCREEN
TIME AND PRACTICE SAYING YOUR ANSWERS AND TO MY BOY ROSS KENNEDY FROM UKSA FOR HIS 1 ON
1s., HE KNOWS HIS SHIIIIIIIT.
(Everyone has a different approach, but I found that getting different perspectives from different teachers
allowed me to custom build my answers to be more time efficient and to the point.)

GOOD LUCK!
OOW Y
Kris Askey
1 hr
April 2022

PASS

Logged on 15mins prior to the start time as instructed.

The Surveyor logged on a couple of minutes after and started immediately with the
formalities of confirmation of Identity and my NOE. He also confirmed the exam we were
about the undertake.

Following this, he asked about my last vessel and position on board as well as areas
cruised.

Once I had provided the details, he launched into the first question;

The captain has asked you to undertake a Rescue boat drill with the boat alongside port.
How do you carry this out? How to you brief the crew? What are your considerations?
After giving my Answer, he asked me if we conduct dry runs? I hurriedly replied “Yes we
do!”

After this, he showed me the Radar screen (Range too high, Gain 100, etc…) and asked
me what was wrong with it. On the subject of Radar he also asked:

- How do you set up your Radars?

- What are the advantages of an X-band Radar?
- What are the different inputs of the ground and Sea Stabilised Radars?

You are navigating near the coastline and you feel the vessel shudder and vibrate. You
see mud and silt kicking up around the vessel. You have run aground. What are your
actions?

What is ISPS?
- How do you carry this out onboard your vessel?
- What does your company do the enforce this?
- What and who enforces MARSEC levels?

Shown two buoyage slides with three different cardinal/lateral markers on each. Asked to
identify what they are, what they are for, light characteristics and which way would I pass
them depending on direction of buoyage.

You’re underway and the chef calls you to ask if he can dispose of food waste over the
side, what do you tell him and what information would you refer to?

You’re joining a 2900gt vessel as the new 3rd officer; from stepping onto the dock on
approach, what do you look at? (Only went as far as meeting the master)

Shown Deviation card;

- What is this? What does it tell us? Define Deviation. How is this card produced? Who
produces this card?

Asked to explain Rule 7 - Action to avoid collision

Shown three slides with different vessel’s navigation lights - What is it? What rule? How
would you respond?

Asked to explain Rule 19

- What is restricted visibility?
- What are your actions when entering visibility?

Then shown a slide of a radar screen with 3 echos. Asked to complete a full report and
provide the information of the approaching vessel. Asked to state my actions as well.

Following my answer, he then said: “I’m happy to end the exam there. Congratulations,
you have met the standard!” He mentioned that I had answered all the questions to his
satisfaction. He then instructed me the process for filling out my pass NOE and applying
for my CoC. After asking if I had any questions for him, he wished me a good day, then
logged off.

Felt like a very straight forward standard exam with little or no curve balls. Ensure you are
on time, follow the code of conduct and ensure you have all the required equipment and
I.D.

Study hard, and best of luck!

OOW Yacht 3000
April 2022
1hr 45
Mohammed Iqbal

I joined 10min before my oral and he joined at exactly on time. We ran through the exam
conduct and he tested sharing his screen and I showed my passport and then we got stuck
into it.

I felt like I answered all his questions to the best of my knowledge. He didn’t dig deeper into
any of my answers or make any comments.

This is not the exact order of the questions.

Spoke about my experience and my current vessel.

● Joining the vessel, what are you checking for? Very in depth
● Documents to hand over to master.
● What is in your SEA
● Safety induction – General and job specific – Long in depth answer here.
● APEM – all the way through to Monitoring
● Publications – Asked about – Ocean passages of the world, Routing charts, Routing
guides, Sailing directions, port approaches and a few others. Spent some time here
● How to update a chart
● How to set up for departure
● How to set up radar for Collison
● Steering gear and Engine test
● In charge of aft deck mooring team– leaving the dock
● Duties of an OOW and while an pilot is onboard
● Maintenance and care of lines and wire
● Fire alarm onboard – Actions
● BA checks
● Bunkering with a barge, Actions
● Difference between Port and Flag state
● Compass check – Gyro and magnetic – Transits and both azimuth and amplitude
● Tides – Spring and neaps
● What tidal inform can you get from a chart
● Tidal diamond
● What is MARPOL then in depth Annex 1 and 5
● Where to get medical advice onboard
● Synoptic chart – Identify the fronts
● Passage of a low
● Sources of weather information
● Navtex
● SART, primary and secondary actions
● All distress signals. Had to give them all
 ● Ways to fix position – Mid Atlantic and coastal – Gave the full list. Including a Merpas
– Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned it but got ahead of myself and then had to
explain it and he seemed happy.
● ISM and ISPS – in depth on both.
● M notices and explain a few examples of each.
● Variation and deviation
● Ecdis – what is it and some limitations
● Safety depth and safety contour

A few more but I just can’t remember.

He said now for some rules of the road. I asked if I could go to the bathroom and I splashed
my face. All I said in my head was just take it slowly. I felt like I did well on the first section
and I didn’t want to get ahead of myself.

He shared his screen and asked how do I know if there is a risk of collision – I gave him rule 7
and then he said ROC is deemed to exist on all these situations.

The situations came fast paced, I had to identify the vessel, what rule I am applying and what
action to take.

The situations where mixed between lights and day situations. He had a deck of 48 slides. I
thought to myself Fuck!

I got about 15 day situations and about 15 lights.

From what I can remember:

● TWO PDV crossing from Starboard and Port

● Sailing vessel overtaking
● Overtaking a vessel in a narrow channel in a TSS
● Fish crossing
● Ram tow crossing from Portside
● Ram tow crossing from portside with a fishing vessel ahead – gear extending over
150m.
● CBD crossing TSS from Portside
● PDV crossing from Starboard side – TSS
● PDV under 20m crossing from portside – TSS
● Vessel exactly 22,5 abaft the beam.

There was a few more here but they were responsibly between vessels and easy actions.
He didn’t say a single word the whole time I was answering, he just flipped through the slides.
It was going faster and faster.

Lights – Identify the vessel and then action

 ● RAM Tow
● RAM underwater operations – Underway, not making way
● CBD – Starboard
● Vessel aground – Action
● A few more but I just can’t remember. So many! Though it was never going to end.

Then we went onto radar plotting got 3 situations;

Radar was set up in RM – North Up – 12mile scale

Had one target with relative vectors and true trails. Abaft my beam – overtaking
I was heading about 200
I asked if this was a full plot and he confirmed it was not scanty information.
Gave Fred’s full script and he moved on.

Relative motion, course up, 12m scale

Got two targets
Target 1 :Starboard side forward of the beam with ROC
Target 2: Starboard side abft of the beam with no ROC

Relative motion, North up, 12m scale

I was overtaking – gave full script and said could alter either to port or starboard.

He said this concluded the exam and he told me that I had passed! He smiled and said do I
have any questions? I said no and I thanked him for his time and that was it done! All over!

I would like send a massive shout out to Fred for his app and those killer Sunday sessions and
also to Whitehorse Maritime for their clinics.
OOW Yacht 3000
April 2022
1hr 45
Mohammed Iqbal

I joined 10min before my oral and he joined at exactly on time. We ran through the exam
conduct and he tested sharing his screen and I showed my passport and then we got stuck
into it.

I felt like I answered all his questions to the best of my knowledge. He didn’t dig deeper into
any of my answers or make any comments.

This is not the exact order of the questions.

Spoke about my experience and my current vessel.

● Joining the vessel, what are you checking for? Very in depth
● Documents to hand over to master.
● What is in your SEA
● Safety induction – General and job specific – Long in depth answer here.
● APEM – all the way through to Monitoring
● Publications – Asked about – Ocean passages of the world, Routing charts, Routing
guides, Sailing directions, port approaches and a few others. Spent some time here
● How to update a chart
● How to set up for departure
● How to set up radar for Collison
● Steering gear and Engine test
● In charge of aft deck mooring team– leaving the dock
● Duties of an OOW and while an pilot is onboard
● Maintenance and care of lines and wire
● Fire alarm onboard – Actions
● BA checks
● Bunkering with a barge, Actions
● Difference between Port and Flag state
● Compass check – Gyro and magnetic – Transits and both azimuth and amplitude
● Tides – Spring and neaps
● What tidal inform can you get from a chart
● Tidal diamond
● What is MARPOL then in depth Annex 1 and 5
● Where to get medical advice onboard
● Synoptic chart – Identify the fronts
● Passage of a low
● Sources of weather information
● Navtex
● SART, primary and secondary actions
● All distress signals. Had to give them all
 ● Ways to fix position – Mid Atlantic and coastal – Gave the full list. Including a Merpas
– Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned it but got ahead of myself and then had to
explain it and he seemed happy.
● ISM and ISPS – in depth on both.
● M notices and explain a few examples of each.
● Variation and deviation
● Ecdis – what is it and some limitations
● Safety depth and safety contour

A few more but I just can’t remember.

He said now for some rules of the road. I asked if I could go to the bathroom and I splashed
my face. All I said in my head was just take it slowly. I felt like I did well on the first section
and I didn’t want to get ahead of myself.

He shared his screen and asked how do I know if there is a risk of collision – I gave him rule 7
and then he said ROC is deemed to exist on all these situations.

The situations came fast paced, I had to identify the vessel, what rule I am applying and what
action to take.

The situations where mixed between lights and day situations. He had a deck of 48 slides. I
thought to myself Fuck!

I got about 15 day situations and about 15 lights.

From what I can remember:

● TWO PDV crossing from Starboard and Port

● Sailing vessel overtaking
● Overtaking a vessel in a narrow channel in a TSS
● Fish crossing
● Ram tow crossing from Portside
● Ram tow crossing from portside with a fishing vessel ahead – gear extending over
150m.
● CBD crossing TSS from Portside
● PDV crossing from Starboard side – TSS
● PDV under 20m crossing from portside – TSS
● Vessel exactly 22,5 abaft the beam.

There was a few more here but they were responsibly between vessels and easy actions.
He didn’t say a single word the whole time I was answering, he just flipped through the slides.
It was going faster and faster.

Lights – Identify the vessel and then action

 ● RAM Tow
● RAM underwater operations – Underway, not making way
● CBD – Starboard
● Vessel aground – Action
● A few more but I just can’t remember. So many! Though it was never going to end.

Then we went onto radar plotting got 3 situations;

Radar was set up in RM – North Up – 12mile scale

Had one target with relative vectors and true trails. Abaft my beam – overtaking
I was heading about 200
I asked if this was a full plot and he confirmed it was not scanty information.
Gave Fred’s full script and he moved on.

Relative motion, course up, 12m scale

Got two targets
Target 1 :Starboard side forward of the beam with ROC
Target 2: Starboard side abft of the beam with no ROC

Relative motion, North up, 12m scale

I was overtaking – gave full script and said could alter either to port or starboard.

He said this concluded the exam and he told me that I had passed! He smiled and said do I
have any questions? I said no and I thanked him for his time and that was it done! All over!

I would like send a massive shout out to Fred for his app and those killer Sunday sessions and
also to Whitehorse Maritime for their clinics.
OOW 3000
Tony Wilson
04-2022
Pass
1 hour including brief

My Microsoft teams app would not work with the link which was sent by the MCA so I had
to call on the internet and tell the examiner this but he was ok with us sorting it out.
Went over the rules for the exam and he told me to take my jacket and tie off as we not
testing how well I can dress.

Started off with buoyage

Bouys. (ARLA A, STBD lateral mark, Preferred channel to STBD). ARLA B STBD Lat, North
cardinal (no top mark, steering course 010, actions?)

Lights. VEF (trawler)UWMW, aground over 50m, Ram Tow over 200m. Wanted shapes and
sounds.

Situations (over 50m for all, ROC for all, only wanted “I take a series of compass” for the first
one)

VEF port bow.

VEF over taking me.
Almost head on, with another vessel on STBD side.
Crossing TSS, PDV port bow

What would you do when you navigating in RV, How would you set your bridge up.
Shared a radar screen, heading 125 with 2 targets on port side, only 1 ROC. Actions?
No lines or triangles were added.

Asked me rule 6.

He said I can relax now and said that he is impressed with my knowledges of the colregs

What’s SMS?

What’s in the SMS?

What information in M notices and give 2 examples of each?

Why would you set a safety contour and how?

You are the officer in charge of the pilot ladder, how would you go about this?

Taking over the 2000-0000 watch, what are you looking at?

Your gyro fails, what equipment does it effect?

You have a MOB what are you actions.

Synoptic chart, gave Lat and Long, asked for what weather would be experienced. Where
could I obtain one?

You must do a life raft drill with the crew how would you go about this?

Picture of rocket and handheld flare,HRU, EPRIB, SART. Asked for descriptions.

Suddenly he brought up my NOE, I looked at it and he said I don’t have to look so hard to
see that I have passed.

Tony is a good examiner and 100% not out to fail you.

Spent crazy amount of time with Whitehorse (Paul, Tom, Kieran and Tom) also some good
time with my study buddies (Nick and Simon)
OOW Unlimited Online Orals Report

Examiner: Doug Smith

January 2022

Time: 1h 15m- Pass

Was ready and waiting to be accepted into the call 10 minutes before the start time. Once in the
exam the examiner introduced himself and then went through all the usual stuff, phone switched
off, screen share test and the syllabus I would be examined on. He also required me to show the
room including my desk, ceiling and under the desk.

I cannot remember all the questions, but this is what I do remember in no Particular order:

§ Joining a new ship checks on the gangway?

§ Taken to meet master, what documents would you hand over?
§ Where would you find your responsibilities and job description?
§ What document would you have to sign? (Master’s standing Orders)
§ Safety Induction what would you expect to be shown in regards to LSA?
§ Chart Symbols – Pilot Boarding, M.fS.bkSh, Compass Rose, Major Light
§ Measure variation for current year?
§ What is Variation?
§ What is deviation?
§ Passage Planning – Stopped me during Appraisal Stage?
§ Asked about contents of Sail Directions?
§ Mandatory publications to be carried?
§ How to check charts are up to date? – (I gave QR method, he laughed and also asked for
another method)
§ What are CNTM?
§ Went back to Planning, what is involved in this stage and what are you putting on the chart?
§ Where to find Pilot working channels and Information?
§ Showed a radar screen and asked me to describe everything I could see on it – (There were
no errors to it, just name things like Range, RM, EBL’s and VRM and what they were set at?)
§ Follow up to the shared Radar screen, my Heading line marker was coming out of a bit of
land but it was very feint, he asked if I’d change anything to the setup. Just said I’d adjust the
Range scale and use PI’s)
§ ARPA inputs?
§ Recite Rule 5, Then asked what equipment comprises of “all available means” – ( I
mentioned Radar, ECDIS, AIS for situational awareness, and deterred to mention VHF but he
actually pushed me for it)
§ What is ISM? Contents of SMS? DPA?
§ Asked me to name all the Marpol Annex’s?
§ Went into Annex 5? GMP, Placards, GRB?
§ MOB seen on Port Bow actions?
§ What publication to get info about SAR?
§ Sending a MAYDAY via VHF A1? Full procedure from DSC to RT Call?
§ What is a designated and undesignated Distress?
§ Relieving an officer on watch in Port during loading Operations?
 § What to check during loading? – TML, Can Test, Dangerous Cargo Precautions, Loadlines,
Stresses on Hull
§ Blu Plan? Basic understanding of what it is?
§ Showed a GZ curve, everything you can ascertain from it?
§ How would an unstable GZ curve look like?
§ What is Loll?
§ What is FSE?
§ Draw load lines on ships side and Plimsoll Mark? Dimensions of Load line Marks? What each
load line mark means?
§ Showed a Hydrometer? Purpose? What is DWA? Calculations for DWA? Density of SW?
§ Classes of Fire?
§ Buoyage: Pref Channel to Port IALA B, Isolated Danger, Special Mark, Emergency Wreck, East
Cardinal heading North – (Type, Light, Action)
§ Actions on encountering Restricted Visibility?
§ Radar Plot: Heading North, 1 target directly abeam, full complete plotting speech, what OA
gives, CPA and TCPA, My action.
§ Situations: Head on with PDV, PDV Tow over 200m seen Port Bow - 17a i/ii actions, RAM
Tow V/L over 200m seen Port Bow, Sailing V/L seen port Bow (ROC speech for first one,
Actions only for the rest)
§ Lights: V/L aground over 50m, F/V not m/w, PDV Tow over 200m, (Type, Full description)

Very fair examiner and easy going, no tricks to his style of questioning just answered what I was
asked and kept my mouth shout. If he wanted more he’d ask. Big thanks to Paul at Whitehorse for
the Colregs App and weekly clinic sessions they were really helpful in brushing up my knowledge
base and getting me up to exam standard. All the best to everyone taking Exams soon.
OOW Unlimited
01/2022
Examiner Chris Roe
Duration: 1HR 10MINS
Pass

General knowledge
Join a vessel as third mate what would you expect?
Difference between accommodation ladder and gangway?
You mentioned pilot ladder explain pilot boarding arrangements?
Can you give certificate copies to the master or does it have to be original?
Explain SOLAS regulation on how many fire hoses you need?
Length of fire hoses on deck?
Pyrotechnics on bridge?
Pyrotechnics in liferaft?
Started sharing screen and showed synoptic chart, Weather present in UK?
Weather expected in anticyclone, would there be clouds?
Identify cold front, warm front, occluded front trough
How would you calculate wind speed? What is the correction factor applied for
calculating speed over the sea?
Errors in GPS?
How does AIS work?
Bridge pre departure checks?
Showed HRU tell me about it, where is painter connected, identify weak link,
expiry?
Showed SART identify, what radar?
Showed EPIRB explain how it works and what frequency?
Showed Masons Hygrometer, working principle?
Restricted visibility
What rules apply in restricted visibility?
3 plots forward of the beam stbd side actions?
Then he added 3 plots directly astern would your actions change?
You hear a fog signal forward of the beam and cannot detect on radar actions?
Actions on encountering restricted visibility?

General knowledge
When would you call the master?
SOLAS training manual contents?
Difference between variation and deviation?
Variation=3W Error=3W what Is deviation?
Sextant correctable and non-correctable errors
In port spot a Sailing vessel on fire no MAYDAY message transmitted, Actions?
Enclosed space entry (wanted a lot of detail)
MOB stbd side actions?
Master sends you to launch fast rescue craft explain procedures?

Buoyage
Identify all features and light
All cardinal buoys
Safe water
Emergency wreck buoy
Isolated danger
Special mark
He then asked if I knew why we had two IALA regions think this was just him
being curious to see my thinking behind it.
ROR day situations
Crossing stbd side
Crossing tow port side
RAM head on, which rule are you taking action under
Difference between RAM and NUC
What is safe speed?
Overtaking dead ahead
you’re being overtaking
You’re being overtaking also vessel crossing stbd side
Fishing vessel port side
Fishing vessel port side TSS
Who Can use separation zone?

Lights and sounds

Just wanted me to identify no actions.
PDV ahead under 50m
PDV stbd prob 50m+
NUC stbd
Aground
Fishing vessel astern or UNMW/anchor with outlying gear

He then stopped sharing his screen asked how I felt I had done, he then told
me I had passed and asked for my feedback on him. Chris Roe is a very friendly
examiner and puts you right at ease, most of my answers were quite brief and
he would stop your answer as soon as you demonstrate sufficient knowledge.
He also will push you in the right direction if you’re unsure. Thanks to Shields
marine school, Whitehorse and Seb Hyde for the 1 on 1s we did.
OOW Unlimited 19/01/2022

Examiner: Chris Roe

Duration: 1hr 45 min

Pass

I arrived on the call at 08:30 and he logged on at 9:01. General introduction, who he
is and went through the what nots. Showed my ID and around the room. We then
proceeded to talk about the TRB and what vessels I have been on.

● Started off by talking about the sextant and side error

● Talk to me about any other non-adjustable errors
● Principles of the sextant.
● Showed a PowerPoint of different items, identify and tell me use
o Sextant
o HRU – identify and which are would you place the painter, why. Identify
the weak link
o EPIRB – frequency?
o SART – how high would you put it?
o Barometer
o Masons Hydrometer
● Talk to me about the wet and dry bulbs. What the purpose of it.
● Synoptic Chart – Look at the UK what weather would you expect, was not the
actual date as it was in May. Tell me the wind speed and general weather
around Liverpool. Warm front, cold front, occluded front, troughs.
● What is the weather expected near the equator as the pressure as dropped by
5 on the barometer. (Anticyclones)
● Talk to me about Fog, what do you understand about it
● Restricted visibility – spoke about the checklist.
● What rules apply in restricted visibility?
● Put on the screen a radar with 3 plots forward of the beam stbd side actions?
● Then added 3 plots directly astern would your action change?
● You hear a fog signal forward of the beam but radar cannot detect, actions?
● ECDIS – talk to me about the inputs, gyro, speed etc
 ● What happens to ECDIS when one of the inputs is removed? (DR mode and
spoke about position fixing methods)
● Talk to me about Speed Logs, what errors can occur? False readings etc
● What other equipment would tell you about weather (mentioned all including
the internet and he said yes, why would you not use it)
● Difference between variation and deviation?
● Variation= 3W and Error =3W What is the deviation?
● What is the role of OOW?
● MOB Port side – actions (went through the entire checklist). Mentioned what
manoeuvre (Williamson turn, he was happy and moved on).
● Distress situation – What would you expect to be writing down. Master
decides that even though distress is nearby but because of time restrictions of
cargo we will not be assisting. What would you do? (Explained about
obligation and was happy with my answer).
● Fire on passenger balcony – Actions on bridge and in a fire team.
● Noticed an issue with lifeboat, called boatswain. He cannot fix the issue, what
are your actions?
● You are on a RO-RO, talk to me about IMDG as going to load a Class 9. Then
dangerous goods in general.
● You are on a Bulk Carrier, how do you know the hatch cover is shut fully?
● Talk to me about squat, what action counteracts squat?
● Now talk to me about Stability, difference between angle of heel and angle of
list. Righting lever?

Buoyage

● Identify all features and light colour and sequence

o All cardinal buoys
o Port Lateral Mark (IALA A)
o Starboard Lateral Mark (IALA A)
o Preferred Starboard (IALA A)
o Preferred Starboard (IALA B)
o Emergency Wreck buoy
ROR day situations

● Actions and why, according to which rule

o Crossing stbd side
o Crossing port side
o RAM ahead
o CBD – portside
o Vessel overtaking
o Vessel overtaking in channel.
o Overtaking a vessel in narrow channel. Sound signals.
o No response actions?
o Talk me through rule 9.
o Crossing stbd then vessel behind overtaking, does my action change?
o Fishing vessel crossing port side
o Fishing vessel in TSS port side.
o Definition of RAM
o Definition of NUC. (Stopped me as I mentioned the first sentence of the
definition from rule 3).

Lights

● Identify and sound signal

● PDV ahead under 50m
● Sailing Vessel less than 20m ahead
● Vessel at anchor more than 50m side aspect.
● RAM towing under 200m
● NUC
● Aground

As soon as I mentioned aground, he had enough and concluded the exam, he

stopped sharing the screen and asked how I felt I had done.

Went through the exam and how because I was very nervous at the start it took
longer but as I got into the exam my nerves disappeared. Chris Roe is very friendly
and quite funny which put me at ease. As soon as you display enough knowledge,
he would stop me and move on. Then when I was unsure, he would patiently wait for
my response or would push me in the right direction.
I would like to say thank you to everyone who has helped me along the way, and
pushed me through it all, you know who you are.

Cheers,
January 2022
Exam time: 1hr 20 mins
Surveyor: Zia Ul Haq
Exam: Officer of the Watch Unlimited
Attempt: First
Result: PASS

Logged in at 11:15 and the surveyor joined about 10 mins later. Introduced himself and
asked to see my passport, TRB and a tour of the room. Asked where I was, what ships I had
been on and if I had any questions. He said I was going to be placed on a tanker for the
exam. We then started the exam as followed:

1. You are joining the ship, what are you going to do as you stand on the quayside?
2. What is in a muster list?
3. What certification are you going to hand over to the Master?
4. Where can you find your roles and responsibility?
5. What is an SMS?
6. How would you know if your ship was ISM compliant?
7. When are the SMC and DOC inspected and by whom?
8. Showed my chart symbols:
• Reporting point
• Port hand lateral buoy
• Wreck
• Direction of buoyage
• Pilot station
• Compass rose and how to use it?
• Tidal diamond and what it is?
9. Then said I was on a chemical tanker and asked what specific certification I would
find? I was unsure what specific certification a chemical tanker would have but
mentioned I would familiarise myself when I joined the tanker with all specific
certificates.
10. Taking over the watch at sea during period of darkness?
11. What is Echo Sounder?
12. How would you set up your NAVTEX?
13. How would I ensure my ECDIS chart was up to date if it hadn’t been updated in the
last 3 months?
14. You are deep sea and your GPS fails how else can you plot your position and what
would happen to ECDIS?
15. You have a 70° alteration to starboard how would you do this?
16. What would you do if you were not tuning when rudder was 10° to starboard?
17. Steering fails what would you do?
18. Asked how else I can steer? Mentioned emergency steering with the Engineers in the
steering room and bow thrusters to avoid danger, but he wanted more which I was
unsure of.
19. During loading what would you do as you take over the Cargo Watch?
20. What is the difference between list and LOLL?
21. Asked me to draw a GZ curve with an angle of LOLL?
 22. What would you do if you ship experienced a unexpected list during loading?
23. What is load lines?
24. What is dock water?
25. Asked me to calculate DWA. FWA was 200mm and density was 1.010?
26. Plan a passage from Southampton to LA?
27. Asked to calculate True and Magnetic. Compass was 191°, Variation was 6°W and
Deviation was 3°E?
28. What to do if cook called up asking to discharge plastic and food waste overboard?
29. Showed me an image of a vessel about to berth with an onshore wind. How do you
berth?
30. Take over the watch at sea and you are unhappy with Officers actions to avoid
collision?
31. How would you know if someone was working aloft during a hand over of a watch?
32. MOB starboard side?
33. What publication can you use for MOB?
34. Would you take over the watch during an alteration of course?
35. Classes of fire?
36. Actions on discovering an electrical fire in the main switchboard room?
37. Pre-departure checks?
38. What is the role of an OOW and a Pilot?
39. Actions in restricted visibility?

Buoyage: Outbound heading 000°T

• Starboard hand lateral mark IALA A
• East cardinal mark
• Safe water mark
• Preferred channel to starboard IALA A
• North cardinal mark

ROR:
• Overtaking narrow channel
• Fishing vessel narrow channel
• PDV crossing on port side
• PDV crossing on starboard side
• PDV crossing on port side with vessel matching course and speed on starboard side
• CBD crossing port side
• Overtaken by a NUC vessel
• Vessel aground dead ahead

Radar: 3 blips on starboard quarter. Asked me to plot on radar plotting sheet and actions

Lights: Just asked what type of vessel it was and once I had mentioned one of two
specifications about the vessel he moved on
• PDV
• CBD
• NUC
 • Vessel aground
• Fishing with outlying gear
• RAM
• Tow

He then said the exam was finished and asked what I thought about it. I said I thought it was
a fair exam and I think I did well and hoped he thought the same. He said he was happy to
pass me and to just look over more type specific certification and how else you can steer in
a steering gear failure for when I come back to do my Chief Mates. He then logged out. He
was a nice examiner and would move on when he heard enough.

Huge thanks to the Officer and Crew at Princess Cruises and Whitaker Tankers and to
Kieran, Paul and Tom at Whitehorse Maritime. Your Oral Prep was invaluable.
Captain Zahid Raza

I went in 1415 and he joined 1420. He chatted about the usual and the
weather to settle the nerve. It was raining where he was in London.

Asked about my rst attempt and what went wrong.

Asked about my sea time and as my last ship was a container, I was to
assume I was on a container carrier in the appropriate questions.

In rough order.

-What documents go to the cpt.

-Taking over from previous 3rd mate on bridge wanted everything
-Set up the bridge for departure
-How do you know the ECDIS is all good?
-Safety settings in ECDIS
-Plan a passage from Glaschu to New York. Guess what… stopped at
appraisal :)
-Gnomonic chart use for GC
-Paper chart corrections
-how to know if it’s been corrected to date
-you check the chart and there’s been no updates in 4 years what do you do?
I was a wee bit shook for a second. Said that the cumulative NM has
corrections for past 2 years then he said it’s again but it’s not been updated in
4. Then he laughed and said it’s a small scale one in the middle of the ocean.
I said oh there hasn’t been any updates
-Wanted what documents I’d consult for PP
-Asked what hard copy publications are required to be carried then I said the
rest to look good.
-You are near heavy rain but not in the heavy rain but you know there’s a
vessel hidden… he was getting at ‘in or near’ for res vis and smiled when I
said 19a
-Actions when encountering res vis?
-Asked about setting up radar for rain and which one I’d use and why
-How to check compass error
-CDMVT (gave T)
-What’s better an Azi or an Amp?
fi
 Captain Zahid Raza

-Checks of a sexytant
-How do you get weather reports
-Synoptic chart what’s the weather at my mouse?
-By ballots law
-Which way do lows move in NH
-Safety tour
-What’s on the muster list
-What’s on the health and safety notice board
-What is SMS
-What requires SMS?
-Where is the SMS available on board?
-Taking over port watch
-Mob from fwd
-Fire in galley
-Send appropriate message by GMDSS (distress A1 so VHF 70&16)
-Asked about frequencies of VHF
-Asked about GMDSS checks and where I’d log them
-Where I could nd what GMDSS checks have to be carried out
-SCBA checks
-Enclosed space entry
-Leaking container in port
-IMDG code contents and how to use supplements
-Draw stable, neutral and unstable KBGM rough sketch

Wanted everything including actions.

Said I was going with direction of buoyage
-Safe water
-Iso danger
-East cardinal no top mark heading S
-North cardinal no top mark heading N (oh no)
-Iala A stbd lat
-Iala B stbd lat
-Iala B pref to stbd

Wanted all the deets including actions

-PDV from stbd
-Ram ahead with the greens and reds
-VEI sh outlying gear
-VEI trawling
-PDV pushing ahead from port
-CBD from port
fi
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Captain Zahid Raza

-Aground more than 50

-anchor more than 50 but less than 100
-towing more than 200 from port

He said we’d stop the exam there. He asked me how I think I had done and
said literally word for word “well the sun is shining now so I think I’ll pass you”
Total time was 90 mins but we stopped to chat A LOT. A very fair and helpful
examiner.

Best of luck y’all xx

 OOW Unlimited
9/02/22
Pass
Examiner Doug Smith
Time 1h 10mins

Joined on time at 9:00

Normal show me the room stu code of conduct etc

Joining your last vessel as a 3/0m

What familiarisation would you expect ?

How would you know your duties as a 3/O?

Documents to give the Captain ?

What’s in a SEA?

What would you sign?

Name some convections

Di erence between a code and a convention?

SMS/ISM Functional requirements ?

Passage Planing? Stoped me at Appraisal

What are some M notices you read recently ?

Nav charts how do you know they are updated?

Taking charge of a morning station how would you go about this ?

What ropes did you have onboard?

How would you take care of synthetic ropes? Was looking for UV/Chemical didn’t get that

Taking overt the watch?

Your on watch what are you thinking about ?

Secondary Position xing methods

What do you need for a star sight? Need a Clock\Stopwatch

Chart Symbols: Two way reporting and where to nd the correct channel, sector light, pilot
station, nature of sea bed, compass rose got me to work out the deviation for 2018, tidal diamond
what other publication would you need?

RoR
In a TSS Crossing from your port side power driven, they take no action, master wont come up
actions ?
Your in the TSS you need to get to the other side how would you do this ?
ff
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ff
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 Can you use the ITZ who can ?
Not in TSS anymore Power driven vessel ahead
Fishing vessel
Sailing Vessel

Lights
Fishing Vessel not making way or at anchor
Probably over 50m aground

Buoyage
Standard stu can’t remember, emergency wreak buoy what are the alternates? two cardinal
marks lashed together
Also got me to draw the direction of buoyage symbol

Back to General

What info can you get from a GZ curve?

Di erence between list and Loll?

Sea area a1 how would you send a distress

Di erence between undesignated and designated distress?

Finished the exam told me i passed and that if they don’t have a wreck buoy they lash two
cardinals together, and that you need a clock to do a star sight and that UV and chemicals
damage synthetic ropes. Really good examiner puts you at ease
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Orals Report
Anon
February 2022
Liverpool Office – Online
Capt N. Jobair
Pass
1hr 10 mins

Joined the teams meeting ten minutes prior as per the email, exactly at the exam time Captain Jobair
joined the meeting and introduced himself. He asked me where I was sitting (my conservatory) and if I
was warm enough because his conservatory is very cold. He asked me what the SPD was, and whether or
not it granted me exemptions from SQA writtens. He then asked me about my company and asked if he
was right in assuming most of my experience had been on tankers. After some general chat for 5 minutes
or so, he asked me if I had seen the syllabus (wanted to know the name of the MIN) and then told me the
exam would now begin. He explained to me that the postman might knock to deliver a parcel during the
exam. Not necessarily in the right order. Hope this helps.

You’ve just joined your first ship as a third mate. You’re in your cabin having dumped your bags, and
another deck officer knocks on your cabin door. Where do you expect them to take you?

The master’s cabin to hand over my documents.

What documents are these?

SEA, COC, GOC, STCW certs, ENG etc

And after this?

Familiarisation/ safety tour by the chief mate. Wanted to know what was involved. Before I could finish,
the postman had arrived so I had 5 more minutes of looking at my own face on my laptop screen.

You’ve taken over from the previous third mate, and you’re now duty officer during a cargo load. What
are your responsibilities?

Explained the responsibilities of the duty officer during a cargo watch. He wanted to hear about flag
bravo.

You mentioned SOPEP, what can you tell me about this?

Explained what SOPEP was, why it exists and what the contents of a SOPEP locker are.

What convention does this come under? Can you name any others?

MARPOL. Named the others.

Tell me about SOLAS.

Explained when it was formed, why it exists and talked about the codes.

You’re in charge of FFE maintenance. You’re checking a SCBA, tell me what you’re looking for?
Explained the visual checks of an SCBA set.

What level should the air be in the cylinder?

Explained that the MCA requirement is 80%, but my company SMS says 90%. He was happy.

You’re now on the bridge preparing for departure, what can you tell me about steering gear checks?

Explained that I would test steering gear from all positions, in all modes, and on all pumps. Explained that
as per SOLAS Ch V, steering gear shall be capable of hard over to hard over in 28 seconds.

On how many pumps?

I said one, not sure if this is the correct answer or not as he started digging a little.

You run the test, and it takes 32 seconds. What are your actions?

In the first instance, I would contact the engineers and try to get more information on why it is not
responding as it should. If there’s nothing they can do, I’ll report it to the captain.

Why would you report this to the Captain?

Because it’s written in legislation as per SOLAS Ch V, and if we can’t comply with this then we can’t sail.

He must have then asked me 3 or 4 times why I would tell the Captain.

I don’t know what he was getting at here but I stuck to my guns and eventually he moved on.

What other instances would you call the Captain?

Restricted visibility, forecasted heavy weather, Distress calls received, doubt in a colregs situation etc etc

Res Vis actions?

Checklist as per BPG/SMS.

You’re in port, and you’ve been tasked to oversee the launching, running in the water and recovery of
the port TELB. How often should you do this?

I initially messed up and said every month. He didn’t seem too phased and just asked really? That seems
a lot. I then corrected myself to three months and he simply said ‘I suppose your company must do it
more often’. He wasn’t too phased. I then went through the entire process of launching, running and
recovery of the lifeboats. He was content, but I had missed out the resetting of the hooks when the boat
is in the water. He prompted me for this in my explanation but it didn’t spring to mind, so he explained it
in the exam debrief.

You are planning a passage from Southampton to Valencia. On ECDIS, tell me how you would know the
route you’ve plotted is safe.

I explained that first I would visually check the route from start to finish, and then run the route check
function.

What info would you need to input before you used the route check function?
Safety contour, safety depth, shallow depth, deep contour etc. Ship’s draught, anti grounding cone/box.
Must have missed something out cos he then asked: anything else? He wanted me to mention that I
would set up the ECDIS alarms as they might not sound if I didn’t.

On the same passage, you need to set up NAVTEX. Where would you find information on NAVTEX?

ALRS. He then asked me how many volumes there were, and what their names were.

Tell me how you would set up NAVTEX correctly for this voyage so that I get all the relevant
information.

Explained you would choose the correct letters for the type of info you want to receive. Explained ABDL
were the mandatory ones (thank god he didn’t ask what they were for). Then told him you would use the
diagram in ALRS to identify the stations you’d need to program in for en route.

What frequency does NAVTEX receive on?

I said 518MHz, he corrected me to kHz.

GMDSS daily, weekly, monthly checks?

Explained this, but think I got one wrong so he then went on to ask

You are on fire in the middle of the Atlantic, you want to indicate distress to vessels in your vicinity.
How would you do this?

I told him that if I wanted to only send a distress to my vicinity, I could use VHF DSC and RT or MF DSC
and RT.

What channel Is the MF DSC?

2187.5? Wasn’t certain on this.

How do you send a VHF DSC distress alert?

Explained the process for designated and undesignated. I think he just wanted to hear those two words
because then he asked the next question.

Talk me through the entire VHF distress RT call and message.

Just talked through it, using the name and callsign of my last ship.

Now moved on to buoyage. He wanted the name of the buoy, the light characteristics and actions on
the following:

● IALA A port lateral (heading in the general direction of buoyage)

● Safe water mark
● East Cardinal mark (heading south)

He brought up a radar screen, with myself In the middle on a heading of 224 degrees and three targets
around me. Two were ahead of my beam, one abaft my beam.

Can you tell what type of vectors are being used on this screen?
I initially said no, because I can’t see the RADAR settings. He said really? Are you sure?

I then corrected myself and realised that my own ship didn’t have a vector, thus it must be relative.

Does risk of collision exist with any of these vessels?

The vessel abaft my beam had a CPA of zero, so I told him.

What would your actions be in this scenario?

My only options were to slow down or turn to starboard. I explained this to him and then told him I’d
turn to starboard.

He then asked me about rule 19. He wanted me to explain the principles.

I explained about safe speed, the allowed actions depending on where the other ships are, and what you
should do if you hear a sound signal that isn’t on radar.

He wasn’t happy with this, so he asked me to recite rule 19 verbatim.

I essentially repeated the above, and he said I had missed out a large part of rule 19. He was not happy at
all but moved on. I thought I had failed from this point on.

Lights and Shapes:

He showed me slides of the following, and asked for my actions. For this, I was a PDV.

● PDV, STBD asp, 2 points to port. Sound signals? Actions. It doesn’t give way, actions.

● CBD, STBD asp, 2 points to port. Day shapes? Sound signals? Actions? Explained that it’s rule 15
again but also explained my obligations under rule 18. Said I could alter to stbd or slow down.

● Trawler, Hauling nets, stbd aspect. Day shapes? Sound signals? Actions. I said alter to stbd, but
for some reason he wanted me to turn to port. I stuck to my guns though and didn’t budge
from stbd.

● Tug and tow, tug less than 50m, tow less than 200m. Stbd aspect. Day shapes? Sound signals?
You’re in a TSS, its crossing from port. Actions? The vessel wasn’t RAM so I explained my
actions if any PDV was crossing a TSS with risk of collision. As usual, they didn’t alter.

● Vessel RAM, engaged in dredging or underwater operations where an obstruction exists on

one side. Day shapes? They have divers down, flags? Which side can you pass?

● Vessel at anchor, over 50m, stbd aspect. Day shape? Sound signal? Actions? I said I’d alter to
stbd. He seemed shocked, and asked why? I said to keep my stbd side clear. He then said: I’m
going to give you an opportunity. I’ll ask you this again, take a sip of water and THINK before
you answer. Suddenly I had a lightbulb moment and knew what he was getting at, I would alter
to port so as to not run over his anchor cable (although this would never have been a risk as I
would have passed their bow in excess of 1nm).

Suddenly the exam was over and he told me that I’d passed (much to my surprise).
OOW

Anon vs steve meakings

75 mins

Pass

ID check, casual talk, room screening dadadada

Explain to me how you’d take a sextant altitude stepwise

Explain how you would practically carry out planning stage on paper chart( draw course, mark
way point, mark no go areas ddadadada)

Explain how gyro works

Explain the working principle of echo sounder including circuitry( screen to transducer and back,
given in naest notes - block diagram)

Mob action

Assume mob manoeuvre complete, person can’t be sighted, mob 15 mins ago, best search
pattern?

Where would you nd search patterns

Distress alert on MF area a3, immediate actions

What duties would you carry out on board prior to loading oil

Name the safety settings on ecdis

Explain how you would setup your radar

IALA

Identify, shape, top mark, light and action if sighted right ahead

Reg B port hand lateral

Special mark

East cardinal

Colregs

Own vessel cbd, pdv on stbd side, who is give way?

FV with gear
fi
Trawling

Ram towing >200 on port side, actions and sound signals

Aground cbd and ram day shape

Dimensions of day shapes(cone, cyl and sphere)

Tss crossing - basic

Basic RV radar plot

After an emgcy all have boarded the lifeboat and casted o , how will you survive?

Then he said criteria ful lled and you’ve passed

Really such a sweet examiner mr. meakings is. Literally will put you out of your panic before the
end of 2nd question. Wants you to give him a more practical answer as practiced on board rather
then puking words from books. He even corrected my mistakes with practicable approach to
practice on ships during end brie ng.

Must thank my mans seb hyde for the tutions on the regular, really helped me out with the exam.
fi
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Examiner name : Michelle Moro

Duration of exam: 50 minutes

Date of examination : February 2022

Oow unlimited oral report

Joined 5 minutes before the time, introduced himself check the room and documentation. After format
introduction and process straight to questions.

1. On quay joining procedures as 3rd officer.

2. What is seafarers employment agreement and what it contains.
3. Documents to handover to captain.
4. What us ism and sms.
5. Information other than appraisal (instructions from captain company and charterer) in passage
planning.
6. Gmdss weekly checks
7. Ecdis alarms and indicators and limitations.
8. Certification of ecdis.
9. Radar- sea and ground stabilised
10. Enclosed space definitions permit to work and risk assessment.
11. Day situations – roc exist – fishing vessel, pdv towing more than 200m and sailing vessel end on
12. Buoys- west cardinal, preferred channel to port region A, lateral hand mark port region B
13. Lights- anchor vessel, nuc and aground actions?
14. Rv – port bow, explained 19d I and fully rule 19
15. In general few questions like rv checklist and calling master
16. Steering gear failure, on load/off load release, free fall requirements on ship fire in
accommodation don’t forget to say shut down ventilation.

Then after radar plot stopped sharing screen and said immediately passed very quick question didn’t
gone deep best luck to all and thank to friends and family. Especially whitehorse oral reports and
paul been so helpful.
OOW Unlimited Oral Exam
Sam Twitchin
February 2022
1h 40m
Fail

Rules of the exam, show the room and cadet ship experience.
He put me on a Class 1 Passenger Ship for the exam.

 Get out of the taxi and are on the quayside. What are your thoughts?
o I carried on all the way to gangway watchman
 You mentioned mooring arrangements- what are head, stern, spring and breast lines?
 You also mentioned about a gangway watchman, talk to me about security on ships.
 What documents will you hand to the Master?
 What is an SEA and what is contained in it?
 What would happen next?
o Bridge familiarisation
 And what after that?
o Safety Familiarisation
 What do you need to sign on the bridge?
 Port watch duties
 Take over the watch at sea
 Fire in the engine room
 What fixed fire fighting systems are there?
 Drill frequency:
o Fire
o Enclosed space rescue
o Lifeboat launch
 Showed a picture of HRU – Explain
 APEM – Stopped at planning
 Set up bridge for departure
 ECDIS
o What is it?
o Standards / How do you know it is approved?
o Mandatory Alarms
 What is GPS and DGPS?
 What is AIS?
 What is GMDSS?
 Define the sea areas
 Actions on hearing VHF RT Distress from another vessel in sea area A3
 Bunkering and preparation
 What is SOPEP?
 What is SMS?
 Coastal position fixing methods
 What are PIs?
 Echo sounder alarms unexpectedly
o All equipment is fine you can’t think why it is alarming
  Stop the ship
 What is CATZOC?
 Chart variation calculation
 Chart Symbols:
o Drying height
o Wreck swept by wire
o Sector light
o Direction of buoyage
o Reporting point
o And these are the two I didn’t get quite right:

o
 (But said I would check 5011)
 What are sector lights?
 Showed synoptic chart
o Pointed to various features
o Weather expected at a Decaying Occluded Front
 Showed Masons Hygrometer in a Stevenson screen
o Identify and explain
o How to use
o What fog would this predict

 Actions on encountering restricted visibility

 First plot went though the stages, the next two all the information is there just wanted my
actions
 Situations:
o PDV Port bow
o RAM port bow
o Sailing Vessel crossing TSS
 Went through the majority of buoys, he wanted all information and action
 Lights – he wanted what it is, fog signal and what day shape it would have.
o 4 standard lights questions and then this one:

o I confused which side the two diamonds and two balls go and this was my main
failing point
Mr Twitchin is a very fair examiner, makes you at ease and will push to get information he knows
you have got, out of you. He explained that he can’t pass me today but I will pass it next time(and I
did!), talked me through how to get a new NOE and gave me lots of encouraging words to pick
myself back up.

Good Luck!
Marine office: Belfast
Examiner: Bill Bennett
Time: 1hr 20 minutes

I logged in 20 minutes before. He logged in on time and went through document and room
check. He said if anything is unclear just ask for clarification. We then began the exam.

General: What vessel did you work on and where have you sailed?

Q1: Diagram of Sextant – Label parts and read off a figure and explain errors

Q2: Talk through Passage Planning from Canaries to Antigua.

APEM

Wanted Appraisal and Planning Phases.

What type of Sailing – Great Circle and different types of charts

Q3: Asked if ECDIS or Paper Charts. How to check charts & Publications are up to date?

Q4: What are your sources of weather information?

Q5: UKHO Synoptic Chart explain weather for fronts and wind speed and direction.

Q6: What time of year do TRS occur?

Q7: Explain chart symbols: Pilot Station, Depths, Drying Heights, Tidal Diamonds, Sector
lights.

Q8: Where are drying heights measured from? Where are heights of lights measured from?
What is source datum?

Q9: Where to find variation and deviation? Calculate it.

Q10: Explain theory behind tides – Springs and Neaps and use a sketch to illustrate it.

Q11: Talk through LSA checks onboard & explain how an EPIRB works and when to test it.

Q12: SOLAS HRU explain how it works and how to set it up.

Q13: Rescue Boat Launch

Q14: MOB witnessed explain actions.

Q15: Steering system failure. Explain actions.

Q16: Fire in accommodation space explain your actions you are on the bridge.

Q17: Gyro Failure – What would you do? How to check compasses? What equptment does it
affect?
Q18: Explain how you would take over the watch.

Q19: How to fix your position Coastal and Ocean?

Q20: Explain radar errors, limitations, and setup and what would you do when joining a
vessel as well as setup for navigation and collision avoidance and differences between X and
S Band.

Q20: What are your actions as the OOW entering Restricted Visibility?

Q21: Give an overview of your understanding of ISM & ISPS

Q22: What is COSWOP? What are important sections (Risk Assessment & Permit to work)
and explain them.

Q23: Showed me a radar plot one target port fwd. of the beam. Asked me to plot on my
sheet and provide a report of what I would say to the master. He wanted true course,
speed, CPA and TCPA and action as per R19.

Q24: Situations. All two PDVs. Rule, Action, Give way, Stand – on, Why?

Crossing
Head on
Overtaking
Doubtful overtaking
TSS crossing

Q25: Lights (Size, Aspect, Special Circumstance, Underway/Making Way, Day shape, Sound
signals)

Sailing Vessel
CBD Vessel probably greater than 50m
VET
VEF outlying gear
Vessel NUC Astern
Vessel Aground less 50 & over 100m
Ram vessel less 50m

Q26: Buoyage: Light, Action and purpose.

Safe Water Mark

IALA A & B Lateral Marks
Cardinals
Isolated Danger Mark
Emergency Wreck Marker

General Feedback:

End of exam. Overall he said he was very happy with my answers and knowledge and passed
me on that basis. I felt confident the entire exam and only battled a bit with tidal theory. He
progressed the exam quickly as soon as he was happy with my knowledge on a topic.

He was strict but reasonable with his questions and made it clear if I did not understand he
would explain the question again. The only area that caught me out was tidal theory and the
diagrams as well as occurrence of Neaps and Springs. I apologized I had drawn a blank and
said I would not be able to tell him about this properly and he respected that an moved on.

I was honestly expecting a much tougher exam when it came to lights, situations and
buoyage and radar.

Take you time answering and don’t feel pressured to give quick answers. If you don’t
understand ask for clarification. Try to sound confident and trust your gut and don’t let
slipups rattle you. I would recommend you confirm what slide is being displayed when the
examiner screen shares.

Big thanks to all the help I got from Fred and his awesome apps, videos, notes and webinars.
A big thanks to the guys from Whitehorse Maritime and their quiz Apps and one on one
sessions really helped! Thanks to Brayton from The Bridge Deck for all the help with mocks
and helping me verbalize my answers! I couldn’t have done it without everyone’s help!

I would recommend using all the help you can get and using a wide variety of resources and
help from various people.
 Friday, 15 April 2022

OOW Unlimited - Deck Oral Exam (Fail)

Hull Marine Office

1415 - 1530

I joined 15min prior the due time but he joined immediately after me.

We discussed the cheating policy and I showed my room to the examiner and then
we started the examination.

- Tell me about your last vessel

- Tell me the LSA you had on your last vessel
- LSA on the bridge
- Tell me how would you do a passage plan (I told him the whole APEM process,
he was happy with the answer)

- How would you monitor your passage? (I mentioned the classic methods and I
emphasised the importance of following the passage plan, BPG, SMS c/l and
MGN315)

- Compass error calculation

- Gyro failure, actions (he was particularly happy as soon as I mentioned “manual
steering enagaged, wheel to be manned”)

- Which equipment will be affected by a gyro failure? I mentioned all of them

and the we moved on

- How ECDIS will be affected? I said that ECDIS unit will give us an audible alarm
and it will switch on DR mode

- How Radar is going to be affected? I said that it will give an alarm and switch
automatically in Heads-Up Mode

- Compass Course to Steer calculation if gyro fails

- You’re in charge of the anchor party, what would you do? I said that I would
expect to be briefed by the master as to his intensions for carrying out such
operation, SMS c/l, I would ensure there’s power on deck by contacting the E/R,
I’d ensure the personnel involved is wearing the appropriate PPE as per PPE

1
 Friday, 15 April 2022
matrix, establish proper comms and back-up comms with bridge, ensure the
forecastle is sufficiently lit.

- Ok, the master tells you to lower the anchor just above the water level, how
would you do that? Here’s where the problems started, as a cadet I was not
involved that much in anchoring since I was in charge of plotting position, let’s
say that the manual procedure for anchoring is not my strong side. I’ve
mentioned the clutch, the brakes but I was bumbling since my ideas on that were
quit confused. (He wasn’t happy, it was evident from his face)

- How would you secure the anchors? I mentioned the ghigliottine/ chain stopper
and lashings (He went very deep into anchor’s topic)

- During cargo operation the IG system fails, actions? Stop cargo operation,
sound general alarm and blah blah blah, he was happy with the answer)

- Your vessel runs aground, actions? I mentioned the SMS c/l, call the master,
BPG, assess the damage, change AIS status, make tidal calculation in order to
know when the ship will be floating again (in my head I knew that something was
missing but I was still thinking to the anchor topic, however, he wanted to hear
that I am going to stop the engine and sound the general alarm…).

- Preparation for heavy weather, action? I mentioned SMS c/l, consult BPG,
inform the master and ask him some recommendations on how to proceed since
he’s the big boy onboard, inform the E/R, adjust the speed inform galley
department, close all openings on deck, rig fencings/rails on deck (he wanted to
hear watertight doors to be closed but since I never had them onboard, I’ve
simply skipped them).

- What is Port State Control?

He then started sharing the screen

- he showed me a Hydrometer…what’s that? How would you use it? I said the
whole process (he was happy with my answer)

COLREG
- He showed me a TSS..what is that? I said the is a TSS and I quoted Rule 10
word by word (he didn’t ask me to quote it, but I could see from his face that was
quit impressed)

- You already covered all the questions that I wanted to ask you by quoting
Rule 10, let’s move on..ROR situations in daylight

2
 Friday, 15 April 2022
_towing vessel, length of tow more than 200m..actions

_PDV vessel dead ahead..actions

_ RAM engaged in underwater operations, where will you pass?

_ SV on stbd bow…actions

Buoyage
He wanted full description (lights, rithm and actions)

. Port lateral mark (A)

. Preferred channel to stbd (A)

.Preferred channel to port (A)

. N cardinal mark

. S cardinal mark

. Heading 270, you see a W cardinal mark, action

“Buoyage, Colreg and RoR situations were perfect but I’m afraid you didn’t met the
standards for anchoring, grounding and preparation for heavy weather today.”

He was a fair examiner, he was not there to fail me, I forgot to mention certain
common sense things that were quit obvious, like stopping the engine if the vessel
runs aground but if you don’t mention them, the examiner can’t determine if you
know it or not so guys make sure you take your time for answering.

I feel sorry because it was an exam totally achievable.

3
OOW Unlimited Oral Exam
Danny Hawkins
April 2022
1h 10m
Pass (2nd Attempt)

Confirmed usual teams stuff and checked room. Asked my previous experience, but did not ask
about my failed first attempt

 Picture of a magnetic compass

o What us this?
o How will you keep this in good condition?
 CDMVT calculation
 Chart symbols
o Reporting point
o Pilot station
o Direction of buoyage
o Sector light
o Drying height
o Showed a new screen, what are the numbers and letters by a lighthouse?
o If you were sailing round here what would be your thoughts?
 Wanted me to talk about there being lots of these:


o Tidal diamond
 Explain how to use
 What is the difference between tidal diamonds and tidal stream atlas?
 Masons hygrometer
 Barograph
 APEM – wanted all publications (mandatory and not) and stopped at planning
 How do you use tide tables?
 What causes spring and neap tides?
 What is ECDIS and how do you know it’s good to use?
 What would be your closest distance to land?
 Synoptic chart – approaching warm front weather
 Talk me through everything in a fire drill (not just bridge)
 You are in charge of a life raft muster station, talk me though arriving all the way to being
away and clear of the ship
 Showed me a hydrometer – how is it used?
 What is GM?
 Take over the watch at sea
 You spot a red flare during your watch at night – Actions
 Hazards of timber cargo
 Loading and carrying grain
 IMDG
 What is in IAMSAR III?
 What is COSWP and practical use
 What are M-Notices?
  Entering RV checklist
 One plot – carry on and he asked about how I would construct WOA triangle
 Two more completed plot questions
 Lights and fog signals:
o CBD
o RAM
o Towing – over 200m
o Pilot vessel
o Towing from astern
o Towing – less than 200m
o NUC, not making way
o Aground from starboard side
o Aground from port side
o Vessel engaged in fishing – Outlying gear 150+
o RAM underwater ops
 Situations:
o Towing vessel on port bow
o Fishing Vessel crossing you in Narrow channel
 What might your ship encounter in shallow water and in narrow water
 Buoyage (Identify only):
 Starboard Lateral IALA A
 Isolated Danger
 Safe Water
 West Cardinal
 North Cardinal

Mr Hawkins is a very fair examiner but he gives absolutely nothing away, there were times when he
was even shaking his head when I was getting things right! He often asked me to repeat things – not
because I was wrong but wanted to make sure I said everything he needed to hear. At the end I
realised he is a great examiner and he told me I passed and asked about what my plan was next.
OOW Unlimited – Khademul Insan

Time: 11:30 (1 hour)

Date: 20/04/2022

Should probably start by saying this is my 2nd attempt. 1st attempt was also with Mr Insan of which I
failed on the notorious TSS (which my vessel wasn’t in the TSS) question as well as lack of knowledge
on synthetic and virtual AIS.

Capt Insan joined teams at 11:30 bang on and rattled off the code of conduct. Not much in terms of
pre-game chit chat but he did ask me why I failed the first time as he did not remember my first
attempt.

- You are joining your vessel as the new third, where can you find your duties?
- Moved to bridge familiarisation – can you tell me about the errors regarding echo sounder?
- What are the inputs for ECDIS?
- How would you check your ECDIS route?
- What can you tell me about AIS?
- Can you use AIS for collision avoidance?
- You are on watch at night and the starboard navigation light breaks and does turn on,
actions?
- You are on the 8-12 watch what will you do regarding the navigation light? (Isolate power,
he suggested radars turned off etc)
- You are now on an oil tanker, how are you going to take the cargo watch?
- When would you call the Chief Officer? (Wanted before the tanks are topped off and
pressed to maximum)
- What is the difference between heel and loll?
- Tell me what equipment is in a liferaft?
- How does a sea anchor help?
- What can you tell me about onload and offload hook systems?
- How would you know you are in DR mode?
- How can you use the echo sounder for position fixing?
- Can you fix your position if you are coasting in the polar regions and the land is covered in
snow?
- Tell me how you would fix your position?
- What are the correctable errors of the sextant?
- Gnomic chart misc
- Chef wants to discharge garbage outside a special area what will you do?
- You are walking around the ship and sight a fire in the laundry room what will you do?
- What is squat?
- Pilot and Master is on the bridge, what are your responsibilities as the OOW? (Wanted usual
still maintain the safety of the vessel and her crew but as well as position fixing using PI’s)
- How to predict fog?
Buoyage (wanted type, lights and actions)

- New danger mark

- Safe Water mark

That was it.

COLREGS (wanted type of vessel and actions)

A wee animation was brought up and you had to state the action quickly

- I was a PDV and there was FV Ahead head on

- I was a CBD and there was PDV crossing to Port

Next was a top-down power point slide of the situation

- I was a PDV in a TSS with a vessel on my STBD side, a vessel astern and a vessel crossing to
Port
- I was a PDV in a narrow channel with a fishing vessel coming head on

Lights and shapes on a power point just wanted actions as ROC exists in each scenario

- VEIT on my port bow showing STBD aspect with her nets caught fast upon obstruction
- Vessel engaged in underwater operations head on, I was a PDV

Actions upon entering Restricted Visibility - I rattled off the entire rule and he seemed satisfied.
No radar plot as such.

He shared his screen and said, “looks like I have to send this back to the MCA because you’ve
passed”. Asked for feedback on how I thought the exam went. Overall, decent exam, there were
a few questions I cannot remember.

Captain Insan was a very fair examiner this time round. Unlike the first attempt where I honestly
did have a few gaps in knowledge, he did prompt if needed on this exam if there was more that
he was looking for. Advice would be to remain positive and assertive when answering, you really
know more than you think you do. Many thanks to Paul and Kieran and all the best for you
exam!
OOW Unlimited

Captain Insan

1 Hour

PASS

Started off with the rules for exam, no cheating etc, but also none of the usual tell me
about your last ship, just straight into Q’s. There are a few I missed, but this is what I
remember.

General Knowledge

Tell me what duties you would have as 3/O?

Tell me where you would find these duties?

What would you be checking if you were in charge of LSA?

Joining ship as 3rd mate, what would you expect to see at gangway?

What documents would you be carrying?

What would you expect to be checking for with handover? (bridge familiarisation)

How would you set up the bridge for departure?

Tell me about rigging pilot ladder? He wanted to know everything, don’t forget to
mention pilot has to wear PPE too!

Pilot on bridge now. Your responsibilities as OOW?

Pilot gives order which puts ship into danger. Actions?

You come up to the bridge for the 8-12 watch. What do you check before handover
and what would you expect to be given for handover? (just go through your own ship
SMS checklist for handover)

If you weren’t fit for duty, what would you do? What reasons could this be for?

Departing from port now. Talk me through what you would do for mooring
operations?

Talk me through the inventory of a fully enclosed lifeboat

How do you launch a fully enclosed lifeboat?

Difference between Off-Load and On-load?

Tell me about the weak-link? How does it work etc

Tell me about maintenance of a Powder extinguisher? What happens if left for too
long?

Tell me about Class A fires and how to extinguish

Tell me about Class B fires?

Buoyage

Just the one question!

Heading south. West Cardinal on Port side, and East Cardinal on Stbd side. Just tell
me about your actions (wasn’t interested in rhythm or lights etc)

RoR

Day time, so only day shapes. He used an animation in this part which went fast. But
don’t let that put you off. It was a struggle to see the day shapes but once they came
in you just mention and he stops the “animation”. Didn’t want sound signals in
restricted vis either, just identify and actions.

I am PDV

Tug/Tow, 200m length of tow, port side, actions?

VEIF w/ outlying gear on stbd bow, actions?

Vessel aground, dead ahead, actions?

In TSS. PDV port side crossing, actions?

In narrow channel, PDV stbd side crossing, actions?

Lights

I am CBD. PDV stbd side, actions?

I am PDV, VEIF w/ outlying gear AND stern light, actions? (this looked really weird at
first for some reason and I took a good 15 seconds to understand what was going
on)
Restricted Vis

Just the one Q.

Target dead head, O-A all at one position. I asked are we in restricted vis and for W,
to complete the plot.

W was drawn as reciprocal from O.

I initially said the target was stationary and listed the various possibilities (anchor, not
making way, fixed nav mark etc).

He asked me another series of questions about the plot which led me to believe I
had got my initial answer wrong. I understood exactly what was going on now and I
immediately changed my answer to the target being the same course and speed as
own ship.

He said are you sure, and I said yes sir, 100000 percent sir.

He said okay, the exam is finished……5 second pause and asked me how the exam
went, was it fair and if I would be a good and safe officer of the watch to which I
replied “absolutely sir!”.

He then took another pause and said well done, you’ve passed!

All and all he was a fair examiner and gave me the chance to redeem my self at the
end after I made a silly mistake.

My advice is to keep going no matter what, and don’t let poor answers (whether
objectively or only in your head!) get you down. Whilst you sit there in front of the
examiner, you have everything it takes to pass. Be confident and let them know you
are a safe OOW!
Pass

Examiner M. Iqbal

Date 04/2022

Time of start 1130

Time of exam 1 Hr 30 Mins

I entered the teams meeting 15 mins before the exam started. Mr Iqbal logged on 1131 and after
checking my ID, proceeded to explain the exam to me. After a brief introduction and scan of the
room the exam commenced.

Started off with a brief chat about my previous vessels didn’t go too much in to detail.

ROR, Buoys and lights as the examiner was concerned about the internet connection dropping out.

ROR – Daytime, Identify vsl and action to take.

● PDV stbd side crossing situation

● PDV port side crossing situation
● RAM towing <200 on port side/FV outlying gear right ahead
● SV overtaking from stbd qtr

Lights – Type of VSL action I would take

● PDV right ahead seen from port side

● CBD right ahead
● Towing vsl RAM >200 stbd side
● SV <20 using combined lantern

Radar plot – asked me actions and the course of the vsl on the radar plot.

Port side vsl ROC crossing ahead of vsl

STBD side forward of the beam but passing astern.

Buoys – Showed me a channel asked what the buoy was? Lights? How I would pass

● IALA A Port lateral buoy

● Safe water mark – Purpose?
● Isolated danger mark
● Special Mark – What does area does it highlight?
● New Danger – What could be used instead?

Moved into general knowledge from this point onwards.

● Synoptic Charts explain the weather following a cold front

● You arrive on the gangway and are bought to the master what docs would you hand over?
● What is a SEA
● How would you find out your responsibilities?
● How would you prepare the bridge for departure?
 ● What inputs feed into ECDIS? What errors might be there
● How do you set up your Radar for coastal navigation?
● How do you set up the radar for collision avoidance?
● How do you update paper charts?
● How do you update ENCS?
● Explain APEM – Stopped after appraisal
● Cargo operation – Unspecified ship, what information would you be looking to receive from
the cargo watch handover
● Sextant – Name the three adjustable errors
● What do we use a sextant for?
● What is a horizontal sextant angle?
● What is the ISM and how does it effect you as a 3rd officer
● You oversee mooring station aft explain your actions
● You come up to the bridge and take over the watch what actions must be taken
● What is M’Notices
● How do you fix position coastally
● How do you fix position in the ocean
● What is an azimuth?
● What is an amplitude?
● The Chef calls up saying he wishes to discharge garbage overboard what is your actions and
what legislation does the relate to?
● Preparing a liferaft for launch
● What would you find on the markings of a life raft
● What is the contents of the lifeboat?
● You are standing outside a totally enclosed lifeboat and are doing checks for equipment
what must you do before entering. – This caught me off guard as I went through the
procedure, and he was still hanging on for something else. He hinted that it was totally
enclosed and wanted me to mention that I should ventilate it first as it was an enclosed
space
● Bunkering operations what would you need to have prepared beforehand
● What is the contents of SOPEP
● What is a hydrometer and why do we need to know the dock water density?
● Fire alarm goes off on the bridge what procedures
● You are relieved of watch and sent down to join the fire team how would you prepare the
SCBA
● Man overboard Starboard side – Actions?

Mr Iqbal stopped the exam at this point and said that I have shown enough knowledge for him to
pass me.

I have tried to remember as many question as possible but the exam was substantial and very rapid
fire. Have confidence and do not give up if you flub a question just move on to the next and keep
your chin up.
OOW Unlimited
April 2022
Capt. Zahid Raza
1hr 40
2nd Attempt
Pass!

Logged on 15 minutes before. Capt. Raza joined 10 minutes after. Instantly made me feel at ease.
Spoke about the weather, what happened during my first attempt and where we were in the world.
Went through the usual pre-exam checks and then got going. I was to be on a container ship
throughout the exam.

1. Documents to take with you onboard

2. Contents of S.E.A
3. Talk me through what you’d look for when joining a ship – after being dropped off on the
quayside.
4. Passage planning – stopped after Appraisal
5. How would you know you have all the correct charts for your voyage?
6. How would you know all your charts were up-to-date?
7. Contents of Weekly, Cumulative and Annual Notice to Mariners
8. Taking over the deck watch during cargo operations, actions?
9. Leaking container, actions? SMPEP not SOPEP
10. Leaving port and the pilot is disembarking, talk me through the whole process from leaving
the bridge?
11. How should the pilot ladder be secured to the ship? Went into a lot of detail on this. The
examiner just wanted to teach me about checking the relevant IMO Resolutions about this
to ensure I know how the pilot ladder is correctly rigged i.e not using shackles etc.
12. Taking over a watch at night, actions?
13. Lost vessels lights as she enters a squall, actions? Rule 19a
14. Encountering R.V, actions?
15. How would you set up your radar?
16. What radar would you prefer to use?
17. How do you know which is your X-band and which is your S-band? Look at the aerial sizes on
the monkey island, S-band has the larger aerial
18. What should you do when you leave R.V? Reset your radar settings to the prevailing
conditions
19. Smoke detector goes off indicating there’s smoke coming from the galley, initial actions?
20. Full fire in the galley, actions?
21. Difference between Distress and Urgency?
22. Procedure for sending an Urgency Announcement? DSC, Call and Msg. Didn’t give me a sea
area to work with, just wanted me to talk through what I’d say and do.
23. Coastal navigation but you’re not receiving any navigation or meteorological warnings, what
could be wrong? IMARSAT-C or NAVTEX not set up correctly
24. Where would you look for NAVTEX stations?
25. Synoptic chart – the standard highlighting of different areas, wind direction around a high
pressure system etc
26. Picture of a Mason’s Hygrometer, uses?
27. Wet & dry bulb are the same temperature, what’s up?
28. CDMVT calculation, gave T V and D
29. Draw 3 rough KBGM sketches of different stability conditions – I was allowed to choose
which ones I wanted to draw
Buoyage

1. I only said my actions for cardinal marks & preferred channel markers, the rest I just
identified. Mixture of IALA A & B. Nothing tricky
a. Port hand lateral
b. Preferred channel to starboard – IALA A and B
c. Safe water mark – Uses
d. Isolated danger
e. West cardinal heading south
f. North cardinal heading east

ROR

1. PDV seen from starboard, actions?

a. 1 short blast supplemented with light
b. Broad/bold/positive alteration of course to starboard ensuring it is large enough to
be readily apparent to the other vessel observing visually or by radar
c. Pass astern of her at a safe distance
d. And monitor the effectiveness of my action until I’m finally past & clear
e. (so you don’t get asked about Rule 8 etc)
2. PDV send from port, actions?
3. NUC underway not making way, identify only
4. FVEIF underway, not making way or at anchor, identify only
5. PDV RAM TOW, actions & day shapes?
6. CBD seen from port, actions?
a. Base relationship = rule 15
b. Additional relationship = rule 18(d)
c. “Impeding safe passage or passage” = action as per rule 8(f)
7. PDV Pushing ahead, actions? Rule 15
8. Vessel at anchor >50m but less than 100m, identify only
9. Vessel aground, identify only
10. Vessel overtaking you in a narrow channel, actions? Sound signals
11. R.V - One target on my port bow, the next situation was a target on my port quarter. Action
as per rule 19(d)
12. TSS – I was in the traffic lane, had a PDV crossing from starboard, actions?
a. Get closer and you see that she’s a fishing vessel, would your actions change?
i. Base relationship = rule 18
ii. Additional relationship = rule 10(i) “impeding passage”
iii. Actions = rule 8(f)
iv. She doesn’t take action? = take action as per base relationship, rule 18

The examiner said we’d finish the exam there and told me that I’d passed! Really nice examiner who
wants to teach you about various things rather than punish you for not knowing. Remember they’re
not expecting you to know absolutely everything for your general knowledge. I hope this report
helps & good luck to anyone sitting this exam!
 ORAL REPORT

OOW UNLIMITED. FAIL - Exam 1hr30min. DATE: 06 April 2022

EXAMINER’S NAME: Capt. Shiva Bala

Joined 10 minutes early as per the Teams invite instructions, Capt. Bala introduced himself and went through the usual procedures-
show the room, confirm I am alone, no cheating etc. He asked about my sea service, what my future plans are as my sea time was
all on yachts but I am doing the Unlimited CoC-this was a good chat to break the ice before getting into it.

GENERAL:

He said we’ll skip the regular joining scenarios and get straight into passage planning as it’s a nice talking point.

Talk me through passage planning? Stopped me at Appraisal and was happy with my answer

How to check if my charts are up to date?

What are T’s & P’s?

What is ECDIS? Standard answer x1 ECDIS and paper charts as backup or x2 ECDIS which are both independent with UPS,
approved hardware and software. Carriage requirements as per SOLAS Ch 5

Where do you find variation? Variation chart or compass rose

Screenshare: Paper chart-pointed to 3 different paper chart symbols and asked if I would anchor there. All Obstructions close to
20m contour and I said I would not anchor in these positions. He was happy.

Screenshare: Compass rose-how to calculate variation? I just talked through the process-no actual calculations-he stopped me
there

Screenshare: Synoptic chart of UK - July 2019. Pointed to one spot ahead of a warm front and asked what weather I’d expect
here. Wind conditions? Sea state? I am planning a passage from UK to Florida-what kind of conditions to expect overall? He was
happy with my answers.

What is IMDG code? Gave him x2 volumes and x1 supplement, including contents and he was happy-stopped me there as I
started to list the classes of DG

Hazards of loading bulk cargo? I listed all the hazards I could think of as well as safety precautions to take.

What is BPG? What information can you find in it?

You’re OOW, how do you take over a bridge nav watch? Full handover and BPG checklist. He was keen to hear that I would
check to see if outgoing OOW is fit for duty. If I think he is/has been drunk on watch I would call the Master.

You’re OOW on the Bridge, Collision in open water. Actions? BPG checklist-he was waiting for issuing a Distress

Difference and example of MAYDAY and SECURITAY? No frequencies etc

Anchoring procedure? He wanted everything from selecting a suitable anchorage to SOP’s for foredeck operations-competent
crew/safety first etc, weather forecast and swing circle. Company SMS-stopped me there.

Name all parts of the compass on the monkey island?

How is the compass affected and how to correct?

Capt. Bala kept firing compass questions and things got tense - at this point, my pint of compass knowledge was almost
empty and he could sense it. I quickly ran out of answers.

Explain how to turn your vessel short-round? I walked through the process but contradicted myself towards the end which he
didn’t like.

What interaction would your vessel experience as you come into shallow water? Squat, the only way to alleviate squat is to
reduce speed.

What other types of interaction can you tell me about? Bank effect, bank cushion effect and interaction between two vessels in
narrow channel-we talked through a few scenarios on these for a few minutes.

MCA ORALS REPORT DECK Page 1 of 2

Radar in Res Vis, you have a target on Stbd beam and one on Port beam-both same distance from own vessel. What could this
be? Radar error

RADAR PLOT: x1 target on my Port quarter. Cpt Bala gave me all three plots and asked me to complete the triangle on my Radar
plotting sheet. (For exam purposes, I said I would’ve taken a series of compass bearings etc between plots) I completed the
triangle and showed him the plot-he was happy.

What would my actions be? Quoted Rule 19d I would a/c to Port (with sound signals)

What do you expect the other vessel’s actions to be? Quoted Rule 19d I said I would expect them to a/c to Stbd (with sound
signals) but he said I failed to recognize the other vessels actions(?)

He came back what are the hazards of loading bulk cargo here, this threw me off as I thought my answer to the same question
was sufficient. I went into more depth but there was obviously something I had missed and he was not impressed.

BUOYAGE: He wanted names, light characterises, meaning and actions. All buoys in the slides had top marks.

- East cardinal. Heading south?

- Iala A, Preferred channel to Stbd (with direction of buoyage)
- Safe Water mark/Fairway buoy-where would you find this?
Standard answers which he was happy with.

SITUATIONS: Daytime & I am PDV in all scenarios. What type of vessel is it? Actions? Can you A/C to Port?

- Open Water: CBD on Port bow. NUC on Port bow. PDV on Stbd bow.

TSS: I am PDV following the traffic lane. How do you enter and leave a lane? How do you cross a lane?

- PDV on my Stbd, crossing ahead (from outside of the lane) actions?

LIGHTS: V/L description and sound signals

- V/L aground – sound signals in Res Vis

- VEIF with gear extending to Stbd
- RAM underwater Ops - Safe to pass down Stbd side

All straight forward-no trick questions or tricky lights etc.

At this point he said we will stop the exam and asked me how I think it went. I said I felt confident with my answers but
confessed I would take another look at my notes on Compass after the exam.

Capt. Bala then said unfortunately he felt that I had too many gaps in my knowledge in compass and bulk cargo (even though he
only asked for the hazards of loading bulk?) and that he can’t pass me this time. He was very nice, he was helpful when joining the
meeting and patient throughout. He did not rush me for any answers. He was happy to spend time going through my weak areas
as well as helpful with the process of applying for a resit etc. He liked to chat about manoeuvring and interaction.

The Fail was/is frustrating because it was a pretty straight forward exam and I had just not gone too into as much depth in
Compass and possibly Bulk cargo as I should have.

On to the resit!

MCA ORALS REPORT DECK Page 2 of 2

K. Askey
OOW Unlimited
Pass
April 2022
Second attempt
50mins

A brief straightforward exam….

K. Askey has a kind manner and put me at ease. For example, he explained when he was
writing notes, it wasn't because anything was wrong but he was recording what he’d asked me
and my answers. This really helped ease my nerves and helped me concentrate.

As it was attempt 2, he gave me COLREGS first. Asked me to tell him everything about the
lights, then day shapes and fog signals. Then my actions when ROC exists and what Rule I was
acting under.

> VEIF port side. What rule? What is Rule 18?

> PDV stb side.
> NUC. Asked me some Rule 13 here.
> RAM engaged in underwater ops / dredging, head on aspect, safe to pass to sb (her port
side). Asked could I go to port.
> CBD on my stb side. Again, what Rule? I explained impeding relationship and base R15.
Then he asked me could I go to port.
> showed me a TSS diagram. Put me following traffic lane. Asked how I would cross the TSS to
reach a point X on the other side. What vessels can use the ITZ.
> Somewhere along the way he asked me what a large alteration of course consists of, how
many degrees? Didn’t fall for that one though!

The exam questions (all that I remember!):

> Tell me about passage planning. Rattled off standard APEM answer with lots of detail as per
Solas chapter 5 / reg 36 and IMO res A.893. He stopped me after planning.

> You’re approaching port. Tell me what your considerations will be as OOW
What a great question!!!
I started with notifying the whole ship via GA & making ready engine room and deck team.
Mentioned forecasted/actual met conditions, especially emphasised risk of res vis, increased
bridge manning, switching from ocean to coastal, then pilotage mode, increased frequency of
position fixing as well as different methods, etc etc. Checking all bridge equipment pre arrival,
contacting VTS and confirming pilot boarding details early. Took my time on this question, and
went into a lot of detail here which he let me do and I think helped spare me a grilling later.

> What will you brief CO on port approach?

Talked in detail about pre-arrival brief. Pilot card. Any defects. PPE considerations for crew
especially if wet & rainy, the CO intentions wrt mooring, taking tugs, pilot boarding
arrangements. I mentioned pilot & knowledge of local conditions eg depths, esp as on my ships
we were often CBD / deepdraughted vessel considerations.

> What else might you consider getting closer to the berth?
Local wind tide & current conditions and the importance of taking tugs when ship is
manoeuvring at slower speeds in tighter conditions so greater control needed etc etc. Mooring
dolphins or bollards, SWLs, how many lines & configuration etc etc. Rounded off with all in
accordance with COSWP, company SMS, RAs and checklists. He was great, gave me a small
nod every now and again and let me continue until couldn’t think of anything else.

> What is squat. How do you deal with it.

> You’re in port. Loading DG. Considerations?

> How many classes of DG are there?

> Stevedore notices a DG container leaking cargo. Actions?

> Showed me a liferaft picture. What is this, tell me all you know. How would you check it?

> How often is a liferaft serviced?

> Showed me a HRU image. How is an HRU correctly rigged?

> Talk me through launching a liferaft.

> Back in port and you’re on deck watch. Tell me your considerations

> You notice an AB up mast with no PPE. Actions?

Talked a lot about RA here, PTW procedure & at end of answer I mentioned near miss reporting
/ ship’s investigation, so then got:

> What is a RA?

> Who would be responsible for carrying out such an investigation?

> You’re sent to aft mooring station. What are your considerations?
Here I gave a LOT of detail with regards to the hazards of mooring, toolbox talk etc etc.

> He then said, anything else? What hazards do you need to be especially careful of at the AFT
end? Was after risk of lines fouling the prop, also discussed the huge danger of weight coming
on line quickly, full regard to not just those on deck but safety of line handlers ashore or on
mooring boats etc. Moved on

> You’re in sea area A3 and receive a distress DSC on Ch 70. Actions.

> Chief engineer calls up and asks if we can discharge from bilges?
What Annex are you referring to.

Then all of a sudden he said: Ok, I’ve heard enough. You’ve met the standard, congrats.

I was totally shocked. Was waiting for killer questions and they never came. Could not believe
no buoyage or RV but I was very happy to log off!

Those that helped me, thank you. Especially Whitehorse Maritime, my brilliant cadet training
manager & revision buddies!
Emily Burston

OOW Unlimited 19/01/2022

Examiner: Chris Roe

Duration: 1hr 45 min

Pass

I arrived on the call at 08:30 and he logged on at 9:01. General introduction, who he
is and went through the what nots. Showed my ID and around the room. We then
proceeded to talk about the TRB and what vessels I have been on.

• Started off by talking about the sextant and side error

• Talk to me about any other non-adjustable errors
• Principles of the sextant.
• Showed a PowerPoint of different items, identify and tell me use
o Sextant
o HRU – identify and which are would you place the painter, why. Identify
the weak link
o EPIRB – frequency?
o SART – how high would you put it?
o Barometer
o Masons Hydrometer
• Talk to me about the wet and dry bulbs. What the purpose of it.
• Synoptic Chart – Look at the UK what weather would you expect, was not the
actual date as it was in May. Tell me the wind speed and general weather
around Liverpool. Warm front, cold front, occluded front, troughs.
• What is the weather expected near the equator as the pressure as dropped by
5 on the barometer. (Anticyclones)
• Talk to me about Fog, what do you understand about it
• Restricted visibility – spoke about the checklist.
• What rules apply in restricted visibility?
• Put on the screen a radar with 3 plots forward of the beam stbd side actions?
• Then added 3 plots directly astern would your action change?
• You hear a fog signal forward of the beam but radar cannot detect, actions?
• ECDIS – talk to me about the inputs, gyro, speed etc
Emily Burston

• What happens to ECDIS when one of the inputs is removed? (DR mode and
spoke about position fixing methods)
• Talk to me about Speed Logs, what errors can occur? False readings etc
• What other equipment would tell you about weather (mentioned all including
the internet and he said yes, why would you not use it)
• Difference between variation and deviation?
• Variation= 3W and Error =3W What is the deviation?
• What is the role of OOW?
• MOB Port side – actions (went through the entire checklist). Mentioned what
manoeuvre (Williamson turn, he was happy and moved on).
• Distress situation – What would you expect to be writing down. Master
decides that even though distress is nearby but because of time restrictions of
cargo we will not be assisting. What would you do? (Explained about
obligation and was happy with my answer).
• Fire on passenger balcony – Actions on bridge and in a fire team.
• Noticed an issue with lifeboat, called boatswain. He cannot fix the issue, what
are your actions?
• You are on a RO-RO, talk to me about IMDG as going to load a Class 9. Then
dangerous goods in general.
• You are on a Bulk Carrier, how do you know the hatch cover is shut fully?
• Talk to me about squat, what action counteracts squat?
• Now talk to me about Stability, difference between angle of heel and angle of
list. Righting lever?

Buoyage

• Identify all features and light colour and sequence

o All cardinal buoys
o Port Lateral Mark (IALA A)
o Starboard Lateral Mark (IALA A)
o Preferred Starboard (IALA A)
o Preferred Starboard (IALA B)
o Emergency Wreck buoy
Emily Burston

ROR day situations

• Actions and why, according to which rule

o Crossing stbd side
o Crossing port side
o RAM ahead
o CBD – portside
o Vessel overtaking
o Vessel overtaking in channel.
o Overtaking a vessel in narrow channel. Sound signals.
o No response actions?
o Talk me through rule 9.
o Crossing stbd then vessel behind overtaking, does my action change?
o Fishing vessel crossing port side
o Fishing vessel in TSS port side.
o Definition of RAM
o Definition of NUC. (Stopped me as I mentioned the first sentence of the
definition from rule 3).

Lights

• Identify and sound signal

• PDV ahead under 50m
• Sailing Vessel less than 20m ahead
• Vessel at anchor more than 50m side aspect.
• RAM towing under 200m
• NUC
• Aground

As soon as I mentioned aground, he had enough and concluded the exam, he

stopped sharing the screen and asked how I felt I had done.

Went through the exam and how because I was very nervous at the start it took
longer but as I got into the exam my nerves disappeared. Chris Roe is very friendly
and quite funny which put me at ease. As soon as you display enough knowledge,
Emily Burston

he would stop me and move on. Then when I was unsure, he would patiently wait for
my response or would push me in the right direction.

I would like to say thank you to everyone who has helped me along the way, and
pushed me through it all, you know who you are.

Cheers,

Emily Burston.
OOW 3000, Pass
Cpt Sarah Lawlor
January 2022

Rules and regulations

Unplug PC
Show around Room
Show desk
Show ID on camera

You are Joining a new vessel, talk me through what you would expect to see on your first arrival

You mentioned SEA, what is contained inside the SEA?

You mentioned Bridge Equipment, what kind of bridge equipment would you want to know about , and what about it.

You mentioned procedures, where would you find these? SMS ( I thought I’d mentioned being shown SMS which
containted procedures, so I hesitated , but I just repeated SMS and was what she was looking for.

You have to carry out a passage plan… talk me through it

(Stopped me during appraisal phase)

Tll be about M-Notices and give me some examples

Whats the difference between flag state and port state

You are taking over a watch - procedure

(I said the whole story and ended with , once I’m happy with all the information and all info and logs are complete, I
can take over and the other officer can be relieved)

Ok, so what if you don’t feel happy? Call master

Ok, when else would you do that?

Ok, you are on watch, in open water, steering gear failure, actions?

Sorted that out, now there’s a fire in the garage, the jetskis are in there, actions?
What kind of fire extinguisher would you use?

Sorted that out, it’s your exam so it’s a tragedy watch, passenger overboard stbd side, actions?
Stopped me as I was talking about actions if you cannot see person. How would you complete search? What could you
refer to?

On the dock, fueling, mooring line breaks, fuel spill. Actions?

Colregs : PDV, CBD on port bow and others

Entering restricted vis, what are your actions?

Showed me one target, then second, then third, usual questions.

Asked me to redraw complete on plotting sheet, but rough sketch, not measuring.
It was a vessel on port quarter overtaking, actions.

Lights: All info including fog signal and day shape required. Vessel towing over 200m RAM and others. I Almost slipped
up on the day shapes. I only said the diamond on the towing vessel and forgot to mention the 3 ram shapes. She said
are there any other shapes? And I suddenly thought I hadn’t mentioned a towing diamond or I was getting confused
with vessel or partially submerged object towing, then I realised. She was fair to let me realise and as soon as I added
the RAM shapes we swiftly moved on.

IALA , A area line of buoys almost all of them covered.

Pleased to say, Pass!

OOW 3000, Pass
Cpt Sarah Lawlor
January 2022

Rules and regulations

Unplug PC
Show around Room
Show desk
Show ID on camera

You are Joining a new vessel, talk me through what you would expect to see on your first arrival

You mentioned SEA, what is contained inside the SEA?

You mentioned Bridge Equipment, what kind of bridge equipment would you want to know about , and what about it.

You mentioned procedures, where would you find these? SMS ( I thought I’d mentioned being shown SMS which
containted procedures, so I hesitated , but I just repeated SMS and was what she was looking for.

You have to carry out a passage plan… talk me through it

(Stopped me during appraisal phase)

Tll be about M-Notices and give me some examples

Whats the difference between flag state and port state

You are taking over a watch - procedure

(I said the whole story and ended with , once I’m happy with all the information and all info and logs are complete, I
can take over and the other officer can be relieved)

Ok, so what if you don’t feel happy? Call master

Ok, when else would you do that?

Ok, you are on watch, in open water, steering gear failure, actions?

Sorted that out, now there’s a fire in the garage, the jetskis are in there, actions?
What kind of fire extinguisher would you use?

Sorted that out, it’s your exam so it’s a tragedy watch, passenger overboard stbd side, actions?
Stopped me as I was talking about actions if you cannot see person. How would you complete search? What could you
refer to?

On the dock, fueling, mooring line breaks, fuel spill. Actions?

Colregs : PDV, CBD on port bow and others

Entering restricted vis, what are your actions?

Showed me one target, then second, then third, usual questions.

Asked me to redraw complete on plotting sheet, but rough sketch, not measuring.
It was a vessel on port quarter overtaking, actions.

Lights: All info including fog signal and day shape required. Vessel towing over 200m RAM and others. I Almost slipped
up on the day shapes. I only said the diamond on the towing vessel and forgot to mention the 3 ram shapes. She said
are there any other shapes? And I suddenly thought I hadn’t mentioned a towing diamond or I was getting confused
with vessel or partially submerged object towing, then I realised. She was fair to let me realise and as soon as I added
the RAM shapes we swiftly moved on.

IALA , A area line of buoys almost all of them covered.

Pleased to say, Pass!

OOW Unlimited Online Orals Report

Examiner: Doug Smith

January 2022

Time: 1h 15m- Pass

Was ready and waiting to be accepted into the call 10 minutes before the start time. Once in the
exam the examiner introduced himself and then went through all the usual stuff, phone switched
off, screen share test and the syllabus I would be examined on. He also required me to show the
room including my desk, ceiling and under the desk.

I cannot remember all the questions, but this is what I do remember in no Particular order:

§ Joining a new ship checks on the gangway?

§ Taken to meet master, what documents would you hand over?
§ Where would you find your responsibilities and job description?
§ What document would you have to sign? (Master’s standing Orders)
§ Safety Induction what would you expect to be shown in regards to LSA?
§ Chart Symbols – Pilot Boarding, M.fS.bkSh, Compass Rose, Major Light
§ Measure variation for current year?
§ What is Variation?
§ What is deviation?
§ Passage Planning – Stopped me during Appraisal Stage?
§ Asked about contents of Sail Directions?
§ Mandatory publications to be carried?
§ How to check charts are up to date? – (I gave QR method, he laughed and also asked for
another method)
§ What are CNTM?
§ Went back to Planning, what is involved in this stage and what are you putting on the chart?
§ Where to find Pilot working channels and Information?
§ Showed a radar screen and asked me to describe everything I could see on it – (There were
no errors to it, just name things like Range, RM, EBL’s and VRM and what they were set at?)
§ Follow up to the shared Radar screen, my Heading line marker was coming out of a bit of
land but it was very feint, he asked if I’d change anything to the setup. Just said I’d adjust the
Range scale and use PI’s)
§ ARPA inputs?
§ Recite Rule 5, Then asked what equipment comprises of “all available means” – ( I
mentioned Radar, ECDIS, AIS for situational awareness, and deterred to mention VHF but he
actually pushed me for it)
§ What is ISM? Contents of SMS? DPA?
§ Asked me to name all the Marpol Annex’s?
§ Went into Annex 5? GMP, Placards, GRB?
§ MOB seen on Port Bow actions?
§ What publication to get info about SAR?
§ Sending a MAYDAY via VHF A1? Full procedure from DSC to RT Call?
§ What is a designated and undesignated Distress?
§ Relieving an officer on watch in Port during loading Operations?
 § What to check during loading? – TML, Can Test, Dangerous Cargo Precautions, Loadlines,
Stresses on Hull
§ Blu Plan? Basic understanding of what it is?
§ Showed a GZ curve, everything you can ascertain from it?
§ How would an unstable GZ curve look like?
§ What is Loll?
§ What is FSE?
§ Draw load lines on ships side and Plimsoll Mark? Dimensions of Load line Marks? What each
load line mark means?
§ Showed a Hydrometer? Purpose? What is DWA? Calculations for DWA? Density of SW?
§ Classes of Fire?
§ Buoyage: Pref Channel to Port IALA B, Isolated Danger, Special Mark, Emergency Wreck, East
Cardinal heading North – (Type, Light, Action)
§ Actions on encountering Restricted Visibility?
§ Radar Plot: Heading North, 1 target directly abeam, full complete plotting speech, what OA
gives, CPA and TCPA, My action.
§ Situations: Head on with PDV, PDV Tow over 200m seen Port Bow - 17a i/ii actions, RAM
Tow V/L over 200m seen Port Bow, Sailing V/L seen port Bow (ROC speech for first one,
Actions only for the rest)
§ Lights: V/L aground over 50m, F/V not m/w, PDV Tow over 200m, (Type, Full description)

Very fair examiner and easy going, no tricks to his style of questioning just answered what I was
asked and kept my mouth shout. If he wanted more he’d ask. Big thanks to Paul at Whitehorse for
the Colregs App and weekly clinic sessions they were really helpful in brushing up my knowledge
base and getting me up to exam standard. All the best to everyone taking Exams soon.
Helen Macdonald
Examiner: Doug Smith - Falmouth
04.08.2021
1130-1330
First attempt
Fail – failing points are highlighted red

You are joining your last ship as 2nd officer what do you expect at the gangway?
• Said I’d expect a safety net under it, someone was a gangway watch, the gangway
not too steep (asked to explain so I said angle not more than 30°), good lighting, ISPS
signage
Where would you find the procedure for putting out a gangway?
• Code of Safe Working Practices
What is the ISPS code?
• International Ship and Port Facility Security code
• It defines the responsibilities of port, ships, shipping companies and governments to
enhance security
I can’t remember what the question was but I gave the levels of security:
• Level 1 – normal operations
• Level 2 – heightened security
• Level 3 – a specific threat to the port or vessel
He asked where I would find the procedures for operating in security level 2:
• I said that there was a security manual on board my last ship that only the 2nd officer
(the security officer) and captain had access to
He asked where I would find details of my responsibilities:
• I said from the off signing 2nd mates handover notes, the company job description
from the SMS, my seafarers employment agreement and the master’s standing
orders
What is the SMS and what is in it?
• Safety Management System
• Environmental protection policy
• Provides an international standard for the safety management and the operation of
ships for prevention of human injury or loss of life
• Defined levels of Authority and lines of communication
• Procedures for reporting accidents and nonconformities with the provisions of this
code
• Procedures to prepare for and respond to emergency situations
Where does the SMS come from?
• Said International Safety Management code, he then asked where does that come
from so I said the Internal Maritime Organisation
He asked what is a convention and what is a code?
• I said a convention comes from governmental bodies and the codes are
supplementary to the convention (wasn’t the best explanation)
I was then told I was on the bridge and asked to conduct a passage plan:
• I said that passage planning is a structured process as per MGN 72, I explained
appraisal stage, planning stage and I said then I would go onto execution and he
stopped me there
He asked if my last ship was paperless I said no so he asked how I know the charts are up to
date:
• Would check the weekly notice to mariners and cross check that with the paper
chart record book and would check that the previous correction number had been
put on the bottom left side of the chart
How do you find a correction from 2017?
• Check the cumulative or annual notice to mariners
What is an M notice?
• I explained what MSNs, MGNs and MINs are
He told me that we are on passage and I am relieving for the 0800 watch, what do I do?
• I said I would expect a handover from the previous officer
• I would check and sign the masters standing orders
• I would want to know what the traffic situation was (Because I didn’t say I would
look out the window to assess the traffic was a failing point)
• Status of engines
• Weather
• If we are experiencing currents
• Nav equipment status
Asked what the last M notice I read was:
• Thinking back now was he wanting me to say MGN69? But I said MGN 425
Assessment of Risks for those sleeping on “Dead Ships” I explained that on my last
vessel we spent 4 weeks in warm layup and this MGN was brought to my attention
through that
He asked if there was anywhere I could get information on relieving a watch:
• I said bridge procedures guide, think he was looking for handover checklist
He shared his screen and showed me a radar screen and asked me to explain what I saw:
• Range, x-band, north up, gain, sea and rain clutter, brilliance, the ARPA was turned
off
He asked what inputs does ARPA need?
• I said gyro and GPS but he prodded more then I said speed and heading input
Asked what the difference between sea stabilised and ground stabilised was:
• Ground stabilised – I said gives heading and speed through the water, couldn’t find
the words to say I would use it for coastal navigation
• Sea stabilised – I said it gives heading and speed through the water, I said it was used
for collision avoidance but couldn’t give the reason why
Asked me if I thought the radar was set up well:
• I said I would reduce the range, it was set up to 12nm close to land
Showed me a compass rose, asked what is was and what does it show?
• Variation
Asked me to work out the variation 3°05’W 2012(10’E) for 2018:
• 6 years x 10’E is 60’E easy peasy, in the moment I forgot that 60’ = 1° (idiot) bigger
idiot for not using my calculator I had next to me! Anyway, very annoyed I didn’t get
 that first time but then we came back to it and I got it right but it didn’t end up
helping my end result.
Asked variation and deviation was:
• Don’t know what happened to me but totally forgot, he just wanted variation is
based off the earth’s magnetism and deviation is the ship’s magnetism
Pointed out a wreck symbol dotted circle around a 50, what is it?
• A wreck at a depth of 50m below the surface
Showed two wreck symbols, what was the difference other than the depth?
• One had a line underneath, shows the wreck had been surveyed with wire
He pointed out an abbreviation on the chart, what is it?
• Just wanted me to say it shows the nature of the seabed
Pointed out a reporting point asked me what it was for:
• I said that is where I would contact the VTS to give notice of arrival or exit
Asked me where I would find the channel for VTS:
• I said Admiralty Sailing Directions or the ALRS Volume 6
Showed me a wind rose asked me what it was, where would I expect to see one?
• A routing chart
What other information is on a routing chart?
• Ice limits, load line zones, traffic schemes, prominent shipping routes
Said I have a routing chart of the Atlantic, how many charts are there?
• Said 12, one for each month in the year
Showed me a synoptic chart, asked me to identify some features and give the expected
weather:
• Low pressure system, there was an occluded front, I said it would be wet and windy
• Also pointed out a cold front and placed my ship ahead of it, asked what to expect, I
said drop in pressure, increase in wind, cloud cover, rain and drop in temperature
Asked about the meteorology equipment on board and sources of met info:
• I said barometer, Stevenson screen, anemometer, NAVTEX, Sat-c
He stopped me and wanted to know more about the Stevenson screen:
• I flawlessly described what its used for, what’s inside it (masons hygrometer) wet &
dry thermometers, take reading from them and work out the difference, depression
of the wet bulb, take that figure and use the hygrometer tables from the mariners
handbook and work out the dew point
He asked what it means when the thermometers read the same:
• I said I would check that there was enough water in the reservoir, told me there was
no error, I said I didn’t know, I would need to ask the captain or check the mariners
handbook (means that the atmosphere has reached the dew point already and
should expect fog)
Asked what messages I’d get from the NAVTEX:
• I said MSIs, navarea warnings, coastal warnings
Mentioned that in the setup of NAVTEX you can choose the messages you want, what are
the mandatory ones?
• I knew it was A, B, D and L but couldn’t tell him what each one was
Decided he was going to move onto buoyage (he didn’t ask me what actions I would give):
• Preferred channel to starboard, region B, light and rhythm
• East cardinal mark without top mark, I described the top mark, light and rhythm
• Isolated danger mark, light and rhythm, he said a fishing vessel has just sank, what
would mark this? A new danger mark, I described the colours and pattern of the
buoy, the top mark and the light & rhythm
• Special mark, light and rhythm, was also asked to describe the uses of a special mark
Then started on RoR questions:
• PDV on port side, actions: determine whether risk of collision exists, asked how I
would know – no appreciable change in bearing with decreasing range, or there may
be a bearing change depending on the size and proximity of the vessel and if they
are towing – risk of collision exists, said I would maintain my course and speed and
monitor with caution, PDV takes no action, I called master and sounded 5 short
blasts, still takes no action, I engage hand steering, sound one short blast and make a
bold alteration of course to starboard, monitoring the situation until finally past and
clear
• He almost caught me in a hole with what is a bold alteration of course, I said one
that’s enough to change my aspect to the other vessel, he was trying to get me to
give him a figure “like 20°?” I said more than that but there is no set number
He told me from now on risk of collision always exists
• Sailing vessel on port side, actions: said I would engage hand steering, sound one
short blast on the ships whistle and make a bold alteration of course to starboard,
monitoring the situation until finally past and clear
• He asked if I could have altered to port, I said yes because it wasn’t for a PDV
• Vessel CBD on port side, actions: said I would engage hand steering, sound one
short blast on the ships whistle and make a bold alteration of course to starboard,
monitoring the situation until finally past and clear (he then changed the conditions
but can’t remember what to but I remember saying I would parallel their course or
continue my alteration to starboard and do a 360)
• Could I alter to port for this situation? I said no because a vessel CBD is defined as a
PDV and shall therefore avoid an alteration of course to port for a vessel on my port
side
• Head on situation, actions: said I would engage hand steering, sound one short blast
on the ships whistle and make a bold alteration of course to starboard to pass port
to port, monitoring the situation until finally past and clear
• Was asked what I would expect the other vessel to do? I said I would expect them to
also alter to starboard
Moved onto lights:
• Vessel engaged in fishing other than trawling not making way, gave the fog signal,
asked my actions I said I would engage hand steering, sound one short blast on the
ships whistle and make a bold alteration of course to starboard, monitoring the
situation until finally past and clear, he asked again if I could alter to port, I said yes
because it is not a PDV
• Vessel aground more than 50m in length, gave fog signal and was asked actions, I
said I was stop my vessel, call the captain, check the chart and plot my position then
plan my passage back to safe water
Moved away from COLREGs and started asking me general questions again

Said I was in charge in a boat launching drill, what’s the procedure for launching the boat?
• I misunderstood and described how you would literally launch the boat
• So he asked again and I said I would carry out a risk assessment, toolbox talk, ensure
the crew are wearing the appropriate PPE, I would ensure they knew where they
were expected to go and for how long they will be in the boat, I would check the
equipment, no hydraulic oil leaks, obstructions to the davit, that the painter line
booms are out and make sure there is nothing over the side
He said it’s a good thing that the boat was out because the bosun just fell over the
starboard side of the vessel, what are my actions?
• Would throw over MOB buoy, raise the alarm, call the master, sound three long
blasts, press MOB button on GPS or ECDIS, hand steering, wheel hard over to side of
casualty, if appropriate send a distress
He asked how I would send a distress in sea area A1:
• I started by saying I’d send an RT distress call on ch.70 and a message on ch.16
• He said I don’t have time to do that
• So I said I would send an undesignated distress using the red distress button on the
radio equipment
He said I’m preparing to let go moorings at the aft station, what are my actions?
• Said I would refer to the risk assessment, conduct a toolbox talk with my mooring
team, make sure everyone knows their responsibilities, correct PPE, proper conduct
around ropes (not standing in the bite or having a foot on either side of a rope) I
would confirm communications with the bridge by radio check and wait for the
order to let go
Asked me what MARPOL is:
• International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships
• I then named all the annexes in order
He asked me about annex V:
• Talked about the garbage management plan
• Asked me how I would know about the discharge requirements, I said there is a table
in the MARPOL manual that breaks down the criteria
Asked me to give him a special area under annex V:
• I said the North Sea
Asked me to define what a special area is:
• I said it was an area of oceanographic interest and is therefore to be protected from
pollution
Said I’m entering an area of restricted visibility, what are my actions?
• I would call the master and complete the restricted vis checklist
• Call the engine room, have the watertight doors closed
• Engage hand steering
• Reassess my speed
• Post extra lookouts
• Turn on fog signal
• Turn on nav lights if they weren’t already on
• Open bridge wing doors
He then brought up a radar screen with one target, asked what I would do:
• Said I would commence systematic radar plotting
He added another target
• I would continue the plot, he asked why, because I don’t want to base my actions off
scanty radar information, this isn’t enough information
Added a third target and asked me how to finish the plot:
• Said I would construct the OAW triangle, he asked where each letter went
Said I had completed the plot, what are my actions?
• (three dots abeam on the port side) I would make a bold alteration of course to
starboard and monitor until finally past and clear, asked me what I would expect the
other vessel to do, said they should alter to starboard as well
Asked what a proper lookout is, what are the other available means?
• Radar, AIS, echo sounder…
Asked how to determine a safe speed:
• Rule 6 parts a and b

He went back to that variation question but then told me he had to fail me anyway L
1hr 20min

Pass

Edington vs Al Haq

4th attempt

Was placed on bulk carrier and offshore for the exam

Briefly my last ship and experiences

Getting out of taxi

Vessel familiarity

Bridge familiarity

Duties of 3/o and where to find them

You have mentioned sms, what is it

What is the imo code?

How would you take over a cargo watch

How would you now maintain that watch

Loading coal, what are the hazards

Now you’re on an off shore boat how would you load a DG

What is the imdg code

Can you explain segregation in a little more depth?

Now you see smoke come from the DG actions?

Can you talk to me about loading plans and why we have them

What is angle of list Vs angel of loll

Can you briefly draw the stability diagram for angle of loll

Back on your ship, it’s now listed over, actions

What is in the sopep manual

APEM (everything) – I actually said in my answer “resolution a893 was the god of passage planning if
you feel like you have missed anything" it made him laugh
Chart symbols – vessel reporting, direction of buoyage, 2 others but I can’t remember

Showed me compass rose, Variation For today please

How will you set up the bridge for departure

How does and echo sounder work

If you sailed with ECDIS and you where missing 4 weeks of updates what would you do?

The agent sends you the CD, now what

Can you tell me what the ECDIS safety settings are and explain them

What is the S band carriage requirement

What’s the difference between x and s band

Can you please tell me everything you know about SARTS seeing as you mentioned them

Underway, Lifeboat Davit requires work, what now

Why do we have permits to work

What is a risk assessment and how does it work

Cook wants to get rid of some food waste and plastics

Annex 5 discharge requirements

Heavy weather action

Restricted vis actions

MOB starboard side

Why urgency message? Can you please explain the 3 different types

Lights with follow up questions

Pdv 50m+ port side, not taking actions

VEF outlying gear 150m+ head ahead

PDV 50m+ tow 200m+ port side, actions (moved on after I said maintain course and speed and explained
it was PDV not RAM

RAM vessel port side

There might have been more I can’t remember but those are the main ones
Narrow channel

I am over taking, I asked does this vessel need to move over to allow me to over take and he said “what
do you think Mr Edington”?? (first time in the exam he called me that and not Rob), I then explained
how rule 13 says “if the vessel being over taken has to take action” and how it would affect my answer.
He said ok fair enough, yes that vessel has to move for you to pass

Sailing vessel

That damn fishing boat came back, this time starboard side, as soon as I said he should not impede ANY
vessel me he moved on

TSS

Vessel crossing port side

I’m now crossing, vessel starboard side I chose to reduce speed and allow the vessel using the lane safe
passage , he said could you do anything else? Yes I could alter to starboard and pass astern put I have
chosen to reduce my speed “fair enough”

Follow up to this was explaining how to cross a TSS at 90° to the general flow of traffic

He moved onto buoys

*note* I most nervous at this point because I knew I was having a good exam. Not at one point before
now had any question left with me going “errmm ooohh ahh ermm" the next bit took about 10 minutes
because before every answer I gave, I took a sip of water and a couple deep breaths and triple checked.

Buoyage – he would show a buoy and he want everything, what is, what it does top mark, light and
action

I asked quite politely, “sir do you mind if I make a little sketch here of these as we go if I feel the need
to? For my own understanding as I do not want to give you a wrong answer.” He said Rob be my guest

Heading north OUTBOUND region A

Safewater mark

Starboard hand cardinal

East cardinal

Isolated danger
Preferred channel to port (had to draw a sketch for this one)

Restricted vis, radar plot

1 blip starboard bow 1 blip starboard quarter

2 blips starboard bow and quarter

Now you have all 3 complete the plot.

Quoted rule 19D and said I would reduce my speed

“congratulations you’ve passed"

Overall, This exam was more of a conversion , topics followed and he never once talked down to me or
tutted or gave me any means to get anxious. He was a very decent bloke who covered a lot of topics but
didn’t grill me on any one particular thing.

SHOUTOUTS

Shout out the skipper and 2/m on my last ship I sat with for a months worth of watch’s and practiced
answering questions better! The best bit of advice I can pass on from them is slow down, compose
yourself, take a sip and then give your answer.

Paul and Alastair from Whitehorse for creating cracking content and being a friendly voice

Nauticalgyan.com for everything I needed in my GMDSS study’s

All my friends and family who I have studied with and who have supported me

Last but not least James Meadus and Ben Avery. We properly put in a solid effort the last week, the little
nuggets like “make a navigation risk assessment” really worked wonders in that exam.

All the best to every body in the future!

Emily Kyle – 08/09/21
Examiner – Plymouth
Result – Pass
Time – 1hr 30mins

Joined the call 15mins prior to the start time, examiner joined spot on at 11:30am. Went
through how the exam was going to run, what to do if the signal goes etc. Had a sort of
informal chat about sea time and before I knew it he was asking questions and we were into
the exam.
1: How would I know what my responsibilities were on board? Where would I find this? I
mentioned that I would find this in the SMS and he then went on to ask about ISM Code and
what I understood of it.
2: He sort of created a story to follow at this point… He said lets imagine the Captain has
asked you to create the passage plan from Liverpool to Rio. Talk me through it. I spoke
about APEM and he didn’t want me to go too much into detail he wanted me to just get stuck
in with what appraisal was so I did. I talked about the list of things that come with Appraisal,
told him I would draft the passage up, let the Captain take a look and once they signed it off
we were good to go.
3: What are your pre- departure checks? I told a brief overview: Steering, Bridge Gear,
Admin, Comms etc. He then asked for more in depth explanations about my Radar set up.
He asked me how I would manually tune the radar. How would I set my ECDIS up. How
would I set my GMDSS equipment up.
4: We’re ready to leave Rio now. He said he wanted to spring off the berth… What did this
mean? We spoke about mooring arrangements and spring line.
5: Anchoring. Wanted explanations about the operation, how would I carry it out, about
shackles, how long was one shackle, how would I know how many shackles are in the water
etc.
6: Passengers. What safety induction would I give to passengers?
7: What safety induction about my job would I expect myself?
8: How would I hand over the watch?
9: He brought up a synoptic chart. Wanted me to explain all the things on it (the fronts, the
pressures etc). He asked me what weather would I experience if I was to sail down to the
Atlantic based off the chart.
Rule of the Road
1: One white light. List all the things this could be. He didn’t want sound signals.
2: Inconspicuous Tow. Length of V/L was less than 50m, length of tow was more than 200m,
length of inconspicuous object was 25m or less in breadth and less than 100m in length.
Starboard aspect. Sound signal.
3: Then he added a RAM light to this V/L. Asked me how this changed things, what did this
mean.
4; Brought up a picture of a crossing situation but my V/L was CBD. He wanted to know
really in depth my understanding between giving way and impeding.
5: Brought up a TSS crossing situation. He wanted to know everything I knew about Rule 10.
Then what would my action be.
5: Brought up a radar plot. Only had one echo on so I asked for two more because I couldn’t
do anything until I had 3 plots. He wanted me to construct a triangle on my radar plotting
sheet and show him on camera. The V/L was exactly on my beam but I wanted to double
check this just in case it was forward. He told me it was directly on my beam. I then
explained what action I would take now knowing this.
6: Buoys:
Preferred Channel to Stbd. IALA A. He wanted to know top mark, lights, what would I
do if I seen this.
East Cardinal Mark. Again, wanted to know everything about this.
7; Chart Symbols:
VTS symbol. I was honest and said I wasn’t too sure but I would double check this in
Chart 5011. But I gave it a go anyway and I turned out to be right.
East Cardinal Mark again.
Back to General
10: IAMSAR. Wanted me to explain search patterns, what there names were. What type of
information was in Volume 3. What search pattern would I choose if MOB. Where would I
find information about the current/ drift etc.
11: Cargo. Talked about my PSV knowledge. Wanted me to talk about SWL, Cargo Securing
Manual. Asked me how would I lash down drill pipes. How would I make sure it was safe and
secure.

Then we carried on again a bit of an informal chat about PSV’s and he just looked down at
his paper and said well you’ve passed! Took me kind of by surprise. He told me I’d gave a
very good exam. He explained a few things out of IAMSAR that I got stuck on, then
discussed how he would sort out the NOE etc and said good luck for the future.
Very good examiner, really fair. For instance, I asked if I could take a little minute to really
look at the inconspicuous tow lights and he said absolutely that’s fine don’t worry.

Huge thank you to everyone who has helped me to get here. Feels good to have passed!
Good luck everyone J
09/09/21 11:30
Examiner Liverpool
Time 1h25m
OOW Unlimited
Result Pass

Logged on 15m prior to exam and examiner logged in about 11:25, explained mca policy,
following mgn 69, asked for ID etc etc.

You’ve joined a vessel as 3rd Officer, talk me through what happens when you’re dropped off
the taxi. Let me keep talking right through to familiarising myself with all Bridge equipment.
Master asks you to create a passage from Glasgow to New Orleans, talk me through the
passage planning process. Explained each stage of APEM in full.
Now prepare the Bridge for Departure. Again, let me continue through entire C/L
What publication would you use to set up Navtex? Why is it important? To receive MSIs
Master sends you down to mooring stations, actions?
How would you let go of the tug? Struggled with this since I’ve never taken a tug before,
seemed shocked and exclaimed have you never been to mooring stations before then I
explained the ships I worked on had like 8 thrusters and then just said check with the bosun
next time you’re onboard..
How would you take over the navigational watch? Full C/L
GPS/Gyro failure, actions? It was either GPS or Gyro failure… can’t remember
How would you maintain a proper lookout?
What is a safe speed?
What are the methods of position fixing?
Errors of a sextant?
What info would you find on a routing chart?
How do you calculate height of tide? What causes them? Just to describe, not do an actual
calculation.
What causes currents? Had to lead me to this, coreolis
What is compass error? Gave me a few examples to calculate compass to true, find the
deviation etc, to check I knew the direction to add/subtract East or West.
Now in port, how would you take over the cargo watch?
What is FSE? Causes/ Hazards?
Bunker barge comes alongside, actions for bunkering?
The fire panel alarms, actions? Masters on the Bridge to take over and sends you to fire station
as fire party team leader, how would you prepare the fire team to fight an ER fire?
What are the SCBA checks?
Fire is out of hand and Master gives order to abandon ship, how would you launch a totally
enclosed davit launched lifeboat?
Actions on receiving a distress on VHF?
Heavy weather is expected, how would you prepare?
Galley calls wanting to discharge food in plastic bags, is this allowed? Explained Annex V
discharge requirements
What legislation is this under? What annex is oil?

Instructor shared screen for all rules and buoyage. RoR was mostly day situations with a few
lights at the end.

PDV on my port side.

CBD on port side, in TSS
Taken action and now outside TSS, F/V dead ahead not to impede passage only applies inside
TSS
RAM on port side and F/V on stbd side with gear outlying >150m to stbd
RAM towing length of tow <200m
PDV exactly 2 points abaft my beam (the exactly was made very clear on the slide) not an
overtaking situation since not more than 22.5 abaft beam
Sailing v/l on stbd quarter definitely overtaking this time
V/L aground (lights). Day shape? Sound signal in restricted vis?
CBD >50m lights
Towing v/l not RAM <50m length of tow >200m
Trawling not making way/anchor lights
Dredging not making way/ anchor. Day shapes side safe to pass
Res Vis, plotted using arpa with relative vectors so no WOA triangles, completing plot, scanty
info etc. Also heading line was at 045.
One target on port bow, one on stbd bow
Target on stbd quarter. Then asked what his actions would be Other V/L was overtaking so
could go port or stbd

For buoyage I just identified, topmark, light, what its used for.
Safe water mark
Emergency wreck
Preferred channel to stbd IALA A
West cardinal. You are sailing 180 what are your actions

Examiner left me to talk through my entire spiel for each question. Knowing all BPG checklists
and your SMS checklists off pat is definitely a winner and just speaking slowly and confidently
helps show you know what you’re talking about. I recommend taking all the practice you can
verbalising your answer with friends, clinics, etc and that’s the best way to prepare for what
the exam is actually like.
Helen Macdonald
Examiner: Kristofer Askey – Hull
08.09.2021
0900-1010
Second attempt
PASS!!!!

Tell me about your last vessel

• Shout out the VOS Glamour! stated LOA, the type of work we were carrying out in
the North Sea, mentioned how many life rafts we had, we had a DC and FRC etc.
Kept on theme of LSA, tell me about what you had on board
• Life jackets, immersion suits, life buoys, FRC, DC, Jason’s cradles, mentioned the
Dacon scoop (had to explain what it was)
He was waiting for me to talk about pyrotechnics, asked me how many were on the bridge
• Nearly put my foot in it here, I started going on about line throwers but all he
wanted was 12 rocket flares as per SOLAS chapter 3
What are the 3rd officer’s responsibilities regarding LSA?
• Said it would my responsibility to regularly inspect the LSA equipment (he asked
what I’m looking for) said checking the lights on lifejackets, checking the self-igniting
light on lifebuoys, markings on all equipment legible, all expiry dates are ok, checking
the co2 and humidity of liferafts, HRUs etc.
Put me on a general cargo vessel
You are in charge of launching the lifeboat in an exercise, what do you do?
• I’ve never sailed with a lifeboat before so this was hard - Risk assessment, toolbox
talk, muster crew, PPE, ensure everyone knows their duties (was definitely beating
around the bush) said I would check the harbour pins were removed then my mind
went blank, examiner couldn’t understand how I was unsure about this so asked
where I would find instructions – I said the SOLAS manual he was happy with that
How do you prepare the bridge for sea?
• Just went through what I could remember from the pre departure checklist and he
was happy
How do you prepare for the pilot?
• Pilot card, determine whether they are boarding from quay or sea side, would need
to arrange the pilot ladder, competent person with communications, well luminated,
life buoy, manropes, height above water for pilot boat, embarking/disembarking
speed confirmed
Pilot onboard, no captain on bridge, pilot orders an alteration that would take you into
dangerous water, actions
• Would not allow the helmsman to take that order and call the captain
Asked me my responsibilities when pilot is onboard
• Normal duties, I am responsible for the vessel when I am on watch, the pilot is there
as a advisor
Showed me two paper chart symbols, what are they?
• Direction of buoyage arrow and underwater pipeline
Gyro fails and there is no spare, what are your actions?
• Would engage hand steering, inform the master, I would acknowledge all the gyro
effected equipment alarms, inform the engine room as I may need to reduce my
 speed, post extra lookouts and appoint a helmsman, work out my compass course,
plot my position on the chart, look at the gyro manual and try to troubleshoot myself
before contacting the company
What equipment is connected to the gyro?
• Auto pilot, radar, ecdis, arpa, gps etc.
How do you set up the radar for gyro failure?
• I said it would go to head up and I would set it up to navigate by magnetic compass
How do convert from compass to true?
• I explained I would need my variation from the chart, deviation and then I would
carry out a calculation, he wanted more so I said it depends on the direction of
variation and deviation, to go from compass to true I would add east and subtract
west
What is variation and deviation?
• Variation is the effect of the earths magnetism on the ships magnetic compass and
deviation is the effect of the ships own magnetism on the magnetic compass
Where do you find deviation?
• On the deviation card, what is it? It is provided to the ship by a compass adjuster and
provides the deviation for each compass heading
The bosun calls you pointing to starboard side saying man overboard, actions?
• Release starboard side MOB lifebuoy, raise the alarm, inform the captain, note
current heading, engage hand steering, appoint extra lookouts, appoint a helmsman,
rudder hard to starboard, start MOB manoeuvre, mark position on ecdis and gps,
three long blasts on ships whistle, send urgency or distress if appropriate, deploy
Oscar flag
Asked what I can refer to for guidance in this type of emergency
• I said IAMSAR manual volume III
Asked if there was anywhere I could look
• I said the emergency checklists within the safety management system

We moved on to buoyage, give top mark if not shown, light and rhythm, what is used for
and actions:
• West cardinal mark, gave top mark, light and rhythm, what is used for and actions
(heading was 000°)
• New danger mark, gave top mark, light and rhythm, what is used for (marking a new
danger not yet recorded) and actions (would call the master, check the chart for safe
side to pass but said I would be aiming to pass it on my port side at a safe distance)
• Preferred channel to starboard region B (the top mark was provided), light and
rhythm, and actions (he didn’t specify if I was following the general direction or if I
was to take primary or secondary channel so I decided myself)

Showed me another piece of a paper chart, asked what it was

• A section of a TSS
Straight into RoR with Rule 10, how to cross a TSS?
• With a heading as close to right angles to the general flow of traffic
I was following the traffic lane and had a vessel approaching ahead in the opposite direction
• Took a series of compass bearings to determine if a risk of collision exists
 • Risk of collision does exist
• I said I would call the master and sound 5 short blasts
• He said nothing changed
• I said I would engage hand steering, sound one short blast on the ships whistle and
make a bold alteration of course to starboard, monitoring the situation until finally
past and clear
(no longer in a TSS) Vessel on my starboard side, risk of collision exists, actions?
• I would engage hand steering, sound one short blast on the ships whistle and make a
bold alteration of course to starboard, monitoring the situation until finally past and
clear
• What rule are you working from? 15, tell me more
• I recited rule 15 for crossing situations
Vessel engaged in towing port side crossing, actions?
• risk of collision exists, said I would maintain my course and speed and monitor with
caution, takes no action, I called master and sounded 5 short blasts, still takes no
action, I engage hand steering, sound one short blast and make a bold alteration of
course to starboard and parallel their course, monitoring the situation until finally
past and clear
• can you alter to port, I said no, he asked why?
• rule 17c states that I shall avoid an alteration of course to port for a vessel on my
port side
RAM tow on port side, give fog signals and actions
• at intervals of no more than two minutes, one long followed by 2 short blasts and if
manned the towed vessel to sound one long followed by three short
• risk of collision exists, I engage hand steering, sound one short blast and make a bold
alteration of course to starboard and parallel their course, monitoring the situation
until finally past and clear
• can you alter to port here? I said yes, he asked why?
• I said that the definition of a RAM vessel does not include power driven vessels

What are your actions when encountering restricted vis?

• Inform master, post extra look outs, engage hand steering, appoint a helmsman,
inform the engine room, close watertight doors, start sound signals, open bridge
wing doors or turn on elephants ears, assess my speed and continue to maintain a
proper lookout

Got the usual radar plot, commence systematic radar plotting, continue, complete plot etc.
didn’t notice my heading line to being with and started to give my actions, I gave the right
actions but was so confused when he was asking me to explain but I hadn’t noticed the
heading line I assumed we were heading north. So once I figured this out he gave me the
targets on my starboard quarter and I gave my actions and explained them and he was
happy and informed me that I had met the criteria!!
Exam Date : 0900, 14th September, 2021
OOW Unlimited
Salman Rahaman Sajib (Southampton)
Result : Pass
Duration : 45 Minutes

Right on time he joined

What types of ships you’ve been ?

What was company name ?
Capacity ?
What is ISM ?
How the ISM was implemented on your fleet ?
What is SMS ?
How the SMS helped you on board ?
ISPS
C/O is in a meeting with shore personnel , what kind of information need to be
exchanged ?
Who was Safety officer ?
Who was security officer ?
What is the job for SSO & Safety officer , responsiblity related to safety and security ?
Can a vessel MARSEC level be lower than Port Facility ?
What is enclosed space ? RA for Enclosed Space .
What type of lifesaving appliance you got on board ?
Free fall lifeboat requirement ?
How often need drill and navigate in water ?
SOLAS requirement for lifejacket ?
Enclosed space
Risk assesment + PTW = Procedure ?
GMDSS weekly checks ?
Restricted visibility , What to Do ?
Fire in the Galley (keyword is Shut the Vent) ?
Steering Failure , What to do ?
What type of certificate need to operate ECDIS ?
What are the limitation & setting of ECDIS ?
Quote Rule 6 & 19 ?
APEM - Except the publication what you need for appraisal ?
Difference between voyage plan and passage plan ?
IG Plant / Deck seal / Mast riser / How you know IG working
Risk assessment of TEMPC

Also A lot of Question I forgot...... (30 Mins GK and 15 Mins RoR-Buoyage)

Rez-Viz

Port Bow TGT

Lights :

SV
Pilot VSL
CBD
RAM
Aground And Action

Buoyage :

East cardinal Marks

Preffered ch to stbd RGN A
Port hand lateral marks RGN B

Action :

PDV
FV , Trawling
SV
Towing

Special Thanks to MD SHAFIQ ISLAM (Beloved Senior) , ASAD (Study Partner),

Whitehorse Maritime Oral Reports Group And Off Course GOOGLE .

(P.S. : If you feel someone’s Oral report helped you through, After Pass/Fail Make oral
Reports for others )
 OOW- Unlimited Oral Exam

A. Swann Vs S. Balasubramanian

Date: 09/09/2021

Duration: ~ 1 Hour 10 Mins

Result: PASS

I joined the meeting the required 10 minutes before, and the examiner joined approximately 2 minutes
after me. We spent the first 10 minutes talking abut who I’d worked for, the types of vessels, trading
areas and where I’d been to college. This put me right at ease and it was good to see the examiner was
genuinely interested in my experiences as a cadet.

We then went through the ID check and the cheating policy before getting into the questions.

Q. Tell me about passage planning?

Q. You mentioned the ships maneuvering characteristics, tell me about the wheelhouse poster?

Q. You mentioned the turning circle data, how do you use this practically? What is marked on the axes
of the diagram?

Q. You mentioned the type of screw (Right hand, left hand) Why is this important?

Q. Explain transverse thrust

Q. Explain how to turn the ship short round

Q. Back to passage planning, tell me how to check your publications are up to date?

Q. What’s contained in the annual summary of notices to mariners?

Q. You’re onboard your last vessel, tell me about cargo securing arrangements.

Q. Tell me about IMDG

Q. Tell me about Ballast water management, name some methods of treatment and how they work

Q. Gyro Failure, Actions?

Q. Tell me about Variation, Deviation and compass error. Where to find each?
Buoyage – Wanted what it was, the light and actions when inbound to port

All buoys were displayed on the screen in the new MCA Animation style

• Port lateral mark region A

• East Cardinal

• Stbd Lateral mark Region B

• Isolated danger

•Safe water

•Preferred channel to port Region A

COLREGS – Wanted what it is, Day shape, Sound signal, Action

Day time scenarios:

• PDV crossing from port

• Being overtaken by PDV coming from astern – Asked if it was overtaking or crossing and how my
action would’ve changed if it was crossing, could I pass ahead?

• PDV crossing from port in a TSS

• Overtaking another vessel in a narrow channel where the other vessel would need to take
action to allow my safe passing

Lights scenarios:

• RAM Tow >200m dead ahead

• Vessel engaged in fishing not making way. Then asked who she was to keep out the way of / not
impede the passage of under rules 18, 9 & 10

• Vessel engaged in trawling not making way

A massive thanks must go to all the officers and vessel crews I’ve sailed with, the staff at Warsash, the
guys from Whitehorse who helped me over the final hurdle, and finally the cadets (and now officers)
who’ve been on the orals prep journey with me. You know who you are.
Examiner – Shivakumar Balasubramanian

Date- 2/9/2021

Times – 1hr 10

Pass!!

Logged onto the exam 10 mins before, examiner logged on at exactly 11 30, there was a bit of
internet problems his end so we spent about 10 minutes trying to get a better connection. Once the
connection was better we began. He asked me for my ID and checked the room. The examiner made
me feel comfortable and relaxed straight away. Explained that if the connection went again then I
would need to book another date which would be free of charge. He began by asking me what type
of ships I was on, once he found out I was in the North Sea he laughed and asked if I was ever sea
sick.

The questions aren’t in order, and I may have missed some out but this is what I remember;

1. Tell me about passage planning? explained it until planning and then he stopped me
2. what can you tell me about load lines?
3. can you draw the load lines for me?
4. What is the importance of load line zones?
5. if you’re travelling in the tropics what weather could you expect?
6. if you’re travelling in the polar regions what weather could you expect?
7. What are the differences between magnetic compass and gyro?
8. where would you find variation?
9. do you need to correct it? (I just explained the process he didn’t want me to do one)
10. what information would you find on the back of the variation card?
11. your picking up a pilot, what would you as an OOW be looking for?
12. if the pilot is on the bridge and instructs the helmsman to complete an manoeuvre which
you deem inappropriate or dangerous what would you do?
13. what is on the ships manoeuvring card and pilot info card? (he wanted everything my mind
went a bit blank but he moved on)
14. Put me on a big cargo ship, he said either bulk or timber, I could decide, asked me what
precautions I would take pre entry for cargo ops. (didn’t know what ship I would have
preferred after being stand by so I kind of just answered both)
15. asked me about ship to shore checklists
16. asked me for the codes for securing the cargo – (my mind went BLANK I had no idea an
began to panic, told me to take a sip of water and continue, I still couldn’t remember so he
asked me to name every code I knew, it then came to me the BLU code and the timber cargo
code, he smiled as soon as it clicked)
17. tell me everything you know about them
18. asked me about the stability of the ship and the effect of GM – Named all 3 spoke about
them all - went into a bit more detail about unstable conditions
19. what is marpol and all its annexes – just wanted me to name all of them
20. what is the garbage management plan
21. what is the different between a Safety officer and a safety rep
22. what is ISPS and the ships security plan
23. MOB – seen fall actions?
 24. Missing person not seen what manoeuvre and what to consult – explained Williamsons turn
and IAMSAR VOL. 3

went onto buoys- wanted region, characteristics and actions

1. port lat – B
2. Port lat – A
3. preferred channel port – B
4. Preferred channel stbd – A
5. isolated danger
6. safe water mark
7. E Cardinal – North was given

Situations

1. PDV – Stbd actions

2. PDV – Over taking (how to know if it was overtaking)
3. Fishing vessel in a narrow channel stbd side
4. CBD port side

RADAR

Gave me a target on my stbd quarter. Asked me to complete the plot and actions – alter to port rule
19

Lights – Wanted lights, day shape, fog signals and actions

1. PDV stbd side >50

2. vessel trawling – underway
3. vessel engaged in trawling – underway
4. vessel aground
5. vessel NUC
6. vessel engaged in towing and RAM

He then said right miss Rogers we shall stop it there. I honestly thought I had failed over the BLU
situation, so by the time it came to the COLREGS I wasn’t even thinking. He immediately said
congratulations it’s a pass. I couldn’t believe it, I had to ask him if he was sure. He said we don’t
expect you to know everything, but to have an understanding, once I realised what it was I gave him
an excellent answer and that’s all the matters. He told me it was excellent attempt, but learn all the
codes inside out for my next exam.

I want to say a huge thank you to COGC, freds oral prep and to Phillip from MAS Maritime. Just
remember to take your time answering the questions and if you get flustered have some water and
take a minute. Good luck!
OOW ORALS UNLIMITED
19TH/10/2021
EXAMINER: CHRIS ROE
DURATION:1HR20MIN
PASS

I JOIN THE MEETING 15MIN EARLIER AND EXACT 1130HRS CAPT. ROE JOINED.
NORMAL INTRODCTION FORMALITIES TOOK PLACE BTW I AND CAPT. JOE
HE ASKED ME IF I WAS ON LNG CARRIER THROUGH OUT MY CADETSHIP I
RESPONDED YES, THEN EXAM STARTS.

1.) He shared his screen showing SNOPTIC CHART and ask me:
a.) What do you see
b.) What weather is present in the England
c.) What happen between a High pressure and low pressure
We had a discussion about it a bit.
2.) He asked me what publication will I refer to for voyage planning
a.) He ask me the content of sailing direction because this was one of
the publication I mentioned.
b.) He asked me what 2volume of book I need to have on board for
communication..( ans: IAMSAR vol 3, ICS)
3.) He shared the following on screen and ask me to talk about it
a.) Hydrostatic release unit (he ask how long it last)
b.) Aneroid precision barometer (what is used for, he said you noticed
pressure reduced to 5bar at the end of watch action, I said
immediately call the captain. He ask why and whats the problem and
I said might be approaching low pressure area and storm might be
expected
c.) Stevenson screen having mason hygrometer ( I gave explanation and
he ask me why are we interested in dew point and I said to helps us
forecast fog)
d.) He then showed me a stockless anchor and ask what it is. (note guys
he said most people don’t know what it is and was happy that I was
able to identify without wasting time)
e.) Showed me EPIRB (ask frequency and the message transmited and to
who)
f.) He sowed me SART (ask me to tell what it is,, so guys standard
answer on SART)
Moved on to Rule 19
Ask if any other rule apply in rule 19 ( so guys take note quote rule 19a and
19c. he’ll be very happy)
Showed a radar plotting sheet having 3 plot starboard bow risk of collision
exist what is cap and tcpa
Same plot action ( guys state R19di & ii and say bold alteration to starboard)
He plotted another plot right astern of me and ask action ( I said make an
alteration to starboard and keep monitoring and plotting)
He moved on to general question.

4.) Open sea gyro failure, action

5.) Ask about ISM, SMS ( note guys; explain objectives and requirement and
purpose will be okay because this is what I said and he was happy and
move on)
6.) Man over board port side, action (standard answer, he’ll be happy)
7.) Errors in GPS
8.) Requirement to be fully ECDIS ( Note guys; I started from solar to explain
and he was happy)
9.) Ask about navtex and (the mandatory settings that can’t be changed
A,B,D,L I mentioned all and he was happy.)
10.) Ask about LSA & FFA requirement ( note guys read Solas chapter 2
and 3)
11.) Ask about what will be deviation and give compass error:3w and
variation:3w
12.) He ask me about SEXTANT ( so guys standard things to know in
sextant will be okay.

MOVED ON TO ROR AND BOUYAGE

1.) SHARED A SCREEN OF BOUYS
A.) PORT HAND LATERAL MARK REGION A
B.) PORT HARD LATERAL MARK REGION B PREFERRED CHANNEL TO
STARBOARD
C.) NORTH CADINAL MARK ( HEADING 90* action)
D.) EAST CARDINAL MARK
E.) SOUTH CARDINAL
F.) EAST AND WEST CARDINAL MARK IN A CHANNEL
G.) ISOLATED DANGER MARK
H.) SAFE WATER MARK
2.) CONTINUED WITH SHARED SCREEN FOR ROR, I WAS ON PDV FOR ALL
SCENARIO
 A.) CLEAR VISIBILITY DAYTIME, OPEN WATER, PDV 4 POINT PORT BOW,
WHAT IS IT AND ACTION
B.) PDV 1 POINT TO PORT, YOU ARE OVERTAKING. WHAT IS IT AND
ACTION.
C.) VESSEL ENGAGED IN FISHING 4 POINT OFF PORT BOW, ACTION.
D.) NARROW CHANNEL, VESSEL ENGAGED IN FISHING 4 POINT OFF PORT
BOW, ACTION
E.) PDV 1 POINT TO PORT YOU ARE OVERTAKING, ACTION
F.) TSS, VESSEL BEHIND YOU, OVER TAKING SITUATION, ACTION.
G.) SAME SITUATION BUT ANOTHER VESSLE 4 POINT STARBOARD BOW
CROSSING,ACTION
H.) FISHING VSL CROSSING IN A TSS FROM PORT SIDE, ACTION,WHY
WOULD NOT GO TO STARBOARD.
3.) CONTINUE TO SHARE SCREEN FOR LIGHT IDENTIFICATION
A.) POWER DRING VESSEL PROBABLE 50M OR MORE IN LENGTH
B.) SAILING VESSEL, VIEWED HEAD ON
C.) VESSEL AT ANCHOR
D.) VESSEL CBD
E.) VESSEL NUC
F.) VESSEL AGROUND
G.) PDV ENGAGED IN TOWING

THIS WHAT I CAN REMEMBER GUYS AND I HOPE THIS HELP YOU.

I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST.

IN ALL THE EXAMS WENT WELL AND CAPT. CHRIS ROE IS VERY NICE.
ANKIT DINDE VS M.IQBAL-OOW Unlimited Examination-26/10/2021

Examiner:-Muhammad Iqbal.

Duration for:-1Hour 25min

1) Imagine you have passed this exam, you are qualified as a third officer and your joining your first
ship .Take it from there.......

2)what is the validity of ENG1?

2)Your are now onboard, what documents must you hand over to the master

3)What info u find from the reliving officer?

3)You are asked to create a passage plan , how would you do this?

4)GPS failed in costal water what are your actions?

5)what are tides? what causes them? what is spring and neap tides?

6)what are currents ?what causes them?

7)how will set up a NAVTEX?

8)What checks you will do on SCBA? what is whistle test?

9)what is deviation? and what is varitaion?

10)where you will find the deviation?

11)how will you carry out steering gear test?

12)how will you set up a RADAR for collision avoidance purpose? which radar the SART is tested?

13)what is use of SEXTANT?

14)How will you carry out pump room entry?

15)what is GHA? What is declination?

16)what is FSC? and how to reduce it?

17)what is angle of loll?

18)how you will launched lifeboat?

19)How you will come to know the anchor is draging?

20)You are as a duty officer, what are your duties while loading heavy lift onboard?

21) what is amplitude? how u calculate it?

22)you are in sea area A2 you receive a distress alert Actions?

23) How to correct the paper charts

24) what are M NOTICES? Explain MSN?

25)What are the precautions u will take on ECDIS?

26)MOB on stbd side actions?

27)Aft moorning stations duty?

28)Talk me through operations for taking and letting go for tug?

29)pre bunkering checks?

30)There is an oil spill from bunker Actions?

31)what happen when ship goes from SW to FW?

32)What is the relation of density with draught?

33) What are the hours of rest as per MLC?

34)What is the deck seal? and are p/v valves?

35)MARPOL? Discharge requirement for garbage?

36)What are high level alarms? how you test them?

37) How you do Performance monitor test for radar?

ROR

How you will make sure risk of collision exist?

Quote rule 5

Quote rule6

Vessel on 3 points on port bow actions?

Ram vessel at 2 point on port bow and vessel engaged in fishing with outlying gear more than 150m
on head on ?,identify both vessels? and your actions?

I'm on PDV and sailing vessel overtaking me actions?

I'm on a PDV and another PDV exact at 22.5degree abaft the abeam Actions?

CBD from port side Actions?

PDV from stbd side Actions?

RESTRICITED VISIBILITY
I'm heading 220 and the vessel at stbd quater actions? what that vessel is doing?

Identify the lights and Actions

sailing vessel U/W PMW seen from port side actions?

RAM with pdv towing vessel more than 50M and tow vessel more than 200m with stbd aspect
actions?

Aground vessel more than 50m actions? fog signal?

Buoyages

south cardinal mark buoy and my vessel heading 180

west cardinal mark buoy and my vessel heading 180

Throughout the exam I answered each question with as much knowledge I had and threw everything
I had at him, this led to the examiner cutting each answer short, there was very few answers where I
got to say all I wanted to say! Stay calm throughout and don’t rush any questions, you have time to
think and take a sip of water if you need to. Don’t let one badly answered question affect the rest of
your exam! Treat each question as its own .Be calm and try to give the answer in short.

I hope this helps, Good luck!

December 2021

OOW Unlimited

CAPT. KAISER ALI

Fail

Met instruments >

Masons Hygrometer, asked what it measures & how information helps you? I said dew point and
predicting sea fog, he asked where would I get sea temp from? I said sea bucket (strictly) he replied
no way would you start getting a bucket out & throwing over side, you’d ask engineers.

He asked what else would you need hydrometer for? I thought about this for a sec and he said don’t
worry if you don’t know this, tanker people won’t be so used to this, when he referenced cargo I said
you’d need to know the moisture limit of the air in case it might taint susceptible cargo such as grain
rotting or moulding, or def need to monitor it in the case of DG such as coal, he said, kind of, along
the right lines quite simply you’d need to know whether to ventilate your cargo holds or not.

PAB. Asked me what it was and used for. He then asked whether you add or subtract the correction.
I couldn’t remember off the top of my head, (brain immediately went to how for flight safety we
always round QNH down) but thought about this and said the PAB is mounted at bridge level, higher
than sea level, therefore the pressure at sea level must be more so ADD the correction and he said
yes, logical thinking.

Compass. Asked me how you’d check it pre-departure. I went through visual checks e.g. lit up, bowl
free play of movement on gimbals, azimuth ring, liquid topped up, presence of Kelvin’s spheres,
Flinders bar, heeling bucket, athwartship & fore & aft corrector magnets etc, & how the layout of
magnets would be found on the back of the compass card. I didn’t talk about operational / compass
error checks. He didn’t ask anymore and moved on. Later on during feedback he came back to this
and said id not said how to do operational compass checks, which was so frustrating as I thought he
would ask me if he wanted me to talk about it. In feedback mentioned I’d not talked about checking
periscope height (?? - we have digital display of mag compass brg on our bridge)

Passage Planning > said that was all fine

ECDIS > asked me safety depth & contour. Don’t think he liked my answer as then asked me get
paper & draw an ECDIS isolated danger SYMBOL. My nervous brain immediately went to buoyage, so
I drew the symbol for an isolated danger BUOY aka two black balls, rather than the isolated danger
magenta screwhead that he was looking for. He later told me that was a failing point.

Bridge Preps for departure > I broke this down into 3 areas, steering gear, propulsion checks and
ancillary bridge equipment checks. Mentioned company SMS checklists as well as bridge procedures
guide. He said it was good how I’d structured that. He asked what chapter you’d find steering gear
rudder swinging check time? I had an absolute brain meltdown here and said Chapter 2 thinking of
construction of the ship’s components but of course is Chapter 5 Safety of Nav.

Radar set up > He asked me radar inputs & set up? I said normally on leaving port we’d use one for
nav and one for collision avoidance, and you’d use inputs SOG for nav and STW for aspect. He later
said although that answer was correct I lacked confidence in how I’d answered.
AIS set up / info > fine

NAVTEX > I talked about setting up ABDL, he said fine, what about around coast of Australia? I
vaguely remembered from GMDSS that Aus didn’t promulgate via NAVTEX but couldn’t remember
for the life of me what it had instead but said I’d check ALRS

Taking over watch > all fine

Rigging pilot ladder > all fine

MARPOL > He asked me how MARPOL was enforced on my ship. Good question with the freedom to
go where I wanted with it. I talked about discharge requirements for tankers, he later said be VERY
CAREFUL when talking about discharges from cargo or machinery areas. I’d mentioned ORB Parts 1
and 2 and what they were for so clearly I didn’t explain this well enough or made the distinction
clear but thought I had talked about different discharge requirements for oil coming different parts
of the ship so felt v frustrated about that one. I also spoke about garbage segregation, GRB and
disposal ashore vs incineration & records.

ISM > asked me what id use ISM for on ship, I said it covers safe operations of ships, preventing
accidents and prevention of pollution. From SMS would give SOPS, RAs, PTW system and from SMS
you’d get your job description, roles & responsibilities as well as PMS to record maintenance,
inspections & deficits. Talked about also ISM would give you structure of authority on board, lines of
comms, and DPA. Also you’d find details of alarms & emergency procedures.

ISPS > this is when it went absolutely nuclear. I think he asked me what certificate a ship would have
to confirm they complied with ISPS. I mentioned ISSC and also said DOS. He asked in what instance a
DOS would be issued and what info would be on it. I gave a few examples, if it wasn’t a SOLAS port, if
a port and ship were operating at different security levels but couldn’t give all 8 scenarios. He
wasn’t really happy with my answers and asked me how long an ISSC is valid for. I stated 3 or 5 years
but wasn’t sure

He then really went to town and started asking me the process of ship certification, validity,
inspection & audits, I mentioned HSSC, he asked me what certificate you’d need to show your ship
complied with MLC. I couldn’t answer so at this point he said sorry, you won’t make the standard
today and I am terminating the exam.
OOW Unlimited Deck
Examiner: Sarah Lawson
Marine Office: Cardiff
Time Taken: 1h

Into
Asked for a government ID and to confirm that it was the OOW Unlimited deck exam I was
expecting to sit.
Mentioned exam rules as per candidate code of conduct, asked to be shown around the
room.
Asked about my last ship (which was a passenger) and because it’s an unlimited ticket told
me for the purposes of the following questions I was on a bulk carrier.

- Joining your ship in South Africa. Agent has dropped you off at the quayside. What
would you expect to see and what would you be looking at?
- Stopped me when I got to gangway security and asked why I would expect to be
asked for ID. Stopped again when I was talking about the ship's security plan, asked
what it is, what requires us to have one and what are the contents of it.
- What certificates would you hand over to the Captain?
- Was told the previous 3rd Officer had already departed, where would you find details
about your role as 3rd Officer?
- What would you expect during a bridge familiarisation - what would you want to
know?
- How would you plan a passage from South Africa to the UK? Stopped me half way
through the Appraisal stage of APEM to talk about chart updates to paper charts and
ECDIS.
- Sources of weather forecasting onboard?
- What are M-Notices and what was the last one you read?

Emergency Response
- Gyro failure in open sea using the autopilot
- Fire in the main switchboard room
- MOB on stbd side

Buoyage
(wanted as many details I could give about the buoy - lights/topmarks/what it means/actions)
- IALA A stbd lateral
- IALA A preferred channel to stbd
- South cardinal ahead on a Northerly heading
- West cardinal ahead on an easterly heading
- Emergency wreck mark

COLREGS
(Wanted Initial actions for the first question, subsequent situations only main action taken)
- PDV on stbd side
- PDV on port side, when closer day shape for CBD came into view
- Sailing vessel on port side
- PDV dead ahead on reciprocal course
 - TSS following traffic lane, PDV crossing from stbd side
RADAR Plotting & Rule 19
- VSL on Stbd quarter (wanted a rough labeled diagram on plotting sheet for WO WA)
- Vsl on Port bow

Lights & Shapes & Fog Signals (No actions just identify)
- PDV <50m ahead aspect
- RAM, TOW - Tug <50m, Tow >200m stbd aspect
- CBD >50m stbd aspect
- NUC ahead aspect, making way
- Aground >50m & fog signal if >100m
- Trawling <50m port aspect making way
- Fishing making way
OOW Unlimited Deck
Dec 2021
Examiner: Anon
Time taken: 1hr20

The examiner introduced themselves, told me about their role at the MCA and confirmed
that it was the OOW Unlimited Deck exam that I was intending to sit. They asked if I was
aware of the new syllabus and were pleased when I quoted MIN 653.

Tell me a little about yourself and experience at sea?

How would you check that ECDIS is working correctly?

Why does ECDIS require a gyro and speed log input if we have GPS?

How would you conduct a safe navigational watch?

Record keeping during a navigational watch? What needs to be recorded in the official
logbook?

You are the Safety Officer, what are your duties? You have three powers? The examiner
wanted to hear that as the Safety Officer you can make recommendations that the company
are obligated to follow.

Who are MAIB, what do they do?

Bosun reports to you while on watch that he has seen a crew member up the mast without
harness, actions?

How to conduct a cargo watch? Unknown cargo to be added to blank manifest how would
you know where to load the cargo? Where would you load dangerous goods? What would
you need from the stevedore?

Slide of synoptic chart, what is the difference between synoptic and analysis charts?

Describe what you can see on the radar screen? The radar screen is very unclear, could not
tell if ground or sea stabilised. Multiple ARPA targets with the same course and speed as
own ship. The examiner wanted to hear that the radar is corrupt, I would call the Captain.

Flag Delta, identify and meaning.

Crossing situation, both PDV.

What is a safe CPA? Factors for determining a safe CPA?

PDV ahead on reciprocal course.

PDV starboard aspect on port bow.

NUC starboard aspect on port bow. Is this a usual occurrence, anything else you would do?
Looking for me to call the Captain.

Buoyage – IALA A, preferred channel to starboard. Identify and light sequence.

Lights - Vessel engaged in trawling

Lights – Vessel engaged in fishing, outlying gear, underway or at anchor. Vessel is stopped
6nm ahead in TSS, you are following the lane, actions?
As per rule 10, a vessel engaged in fishing shall not impede my passage. I would expect
them to take early action to allow sufficient sea-room for my safe passage, however as they
are stopped I will call the Captain. 5 short and rapid, take action myself. The examiner was
not happy with this, they questioned why I did not take action straight away rather than
sounding 5 short. The examiner later explained that my obligation under rule 18 does not
change in a TSS, as a PDV I am required to keep out the way of a vessel engaged in fishing,
where risk of collision exists I should not be waiting for the fishing vessel to take action,
regardless of their responsibilities.

Lights - Pilot vessel. Fog signal?

Lights – 3 or 4 further vessels, identify, didn’t want fog signal. I am unable to remember the
exact situations but they were all straightforward.

Discuss a recent M notice you have read.

OOW Unlimited
01/2022
Examiner Chris Roe
Duration: 1HR 10MINS
Pass

General knowledge
Join a vessel as third mate what would you expect?
Difference between accommodation ladder and gangway?
You mentioned pilot ladder explain pilot boarding arrangements?
Can you give certificate copies to the master or does it have to be original?
Explain SOLAS regulation on how many fire hoses you need?
Length of fire hoses on deck?
Pyrotechnics on bridge?
Pyrotechnics in liferaft?
Started sharing screen and showed synoptic chart, Weather present in UK?
Weather expected in anticyclone, would there be clouds?
Identify cold front, warm front, occluded front trough
How would you calculate wind speed? What is the correction factor applied for
calculating speed over the sea?
Errors in GPS?
How does AIS work?
Bridge pre departure checks?
Showed HRU tell me about it, where is painter connected, identify weak link,
expiry?
Showed SART identify, what radar?
Showed EPIRB explain how it works and what frequency?
Showed Masons Hygrometer, working principle?
Restricted visibility
What rules apply in restricted visibility?
3 plots forward of the beam stbd side actions?
Then he added 3 plots directly astern would your actions change?
You hear a fog signal forward of the beam and cannot detect on radar actions?
Actions on encountering restricted visibility?

General knowledge
When would you call the master?
SOLAS training manual contents?
Difference between variation and deviation?
Variation=3W Error=3W what Is deviation?
Sextant correctable and non-correctable errors
In port spot a Sailing vessel on fire no MAYDAY message transmitted, Actions?
Enclosed space entry (wanted a lot of detail)
MOB stbd side actions?
Master sends you to launch fast rescue craft explain procedures?

Buoyage
Identify all features and light
All cardinal buoys
Safe water
Emergency wreck buoy
Isolated danger
Special mark
He then asked if I knew why we had two IALA regions think this was just him
being curious to see my thinking behind it.
ROR day situations
Crossing stbd side
Crossing tow port side
RAM head on, which rule are you taking action under
Difference between RAM and NUC
What is safe speed?
Overtaking dead ahead
you’re being overtaking
You’re being overtaking also vessel crossing stbd side
Fishing vessel port side
Fishing vessel port side TSS
Who Can use separation zone?

Lights and sounds

Just wanted me to identify no actions.
PDV ahead under 50m
PDV stbd prob 50m+
NUC stbd
Aground
Fishing vessel astern or UNMW/anchor with outlying gear

He then stopped sharing his screen asked how I felt I had done, he then told
me I had passed and asked for my feedback on him. Chris Roe is a very friendly
examiner and puts you right at ease, most of my answers were quite brief and
he would stop your answer as soon as you demonstrate sufficient knowledge.
He also will push you in the right direction if you’re unsure. Thanks to Shields
marine school, Whitehorse and Seb Hyde for the 1 on 1s we did.
January 2022
Exam time: 1hr 20 mins
Surveyor: Zia Ul Haq
Exam: Officer of the Watch Unlimited
Attempt: First
Result: PASS

Logged in at 11:15 and the surveyor joined about 10 mins later. Introduced himself and
asked to see my passport, TRB and a tour of the room. Asked where I was, what ships I had
been on and if I had any questions. He said I was going to be placed on a tanker for the
exam. We then started the exam as followed:

1. You are joining the ship, what are you going to do as you stand on the quayside?
2. What is in a muster list?
3. What certification are you going to hand over to the Master?
4. Where can you find your roles and responsibility?
5. What is an SMS?
6. How would you know if your ship was ISM compliant?
7. When are the SMC and DOC inspected and by whom?
8. Showed my chart symbols:
• Reporting point
• Port hand lateral buoy
• Wreck
• Direction of buoyage
• Pilot station
• Compass rose and how to use it?
• Tidal diamond and what it is?
9. Then said I was on a chemical tanker and asked what specific certification I would
find? I was unsure what specific certification a chemical tanker would have but
mentioned I would familiarise myself when I joined the tanker with all specific
certificates.
10. Taking over the watch at sea during period of darkness?
11. What is Echo Sounder?
12. How would you set up your NAVTEX?
13. How would I ensure my ECDIS chart was up to date if it hadn’t been updated in the
last 3 months?
14. You are deep sea and your GPS fails how else can you plot your position and what
would happen to ECDIS?
15. You have a 70° alteration to starboard how would you do this?
16. What would you do if you were not tuning when rudder was 10° to starboard?
17. Steering fails what would you do?
18. Asked how else I can steer? Mentioned emergency steering with the Engineers in the
steering room and bow thrusters to avoid danger, but he wanted more which I was
unsure of.
19. During loading what would you do as you take over the Cargo Watch?
20. What is the difference between list and LOLL?
21. Asked me to draw a GZ curve with an angle of LOLL?
 22. What would you do if you ship experienced a unexpected list during loading?
23. What is load lines?
24. What is dock water?
25. Asked me to calculate DWA. FWA was 200mm and density was 1.010?
26. Plan a passage from Southampton to LA?
27. Asked to calculate True and Magnetic. Compass was 191°, Variation was 6°W and
Deviation was 3°E?
28. What to do if cook called up asking to discharge plastic and food waste overboard?
29. Showed me an image of a vessel about to berth with an onshore wind. How do you
berth?
30. Take over the watch at sea and you are unhappy with Officers actions to avoid
collision?
31. How would you know if someone was working aloft during a hand over of a watch?
32. MOB starboard side?
33. What publication can you use for MOB?
34. Would you take over the watch during an alteration of course?
35. Classes of fire?
36. Actions on discovering an electrical fire in the main switchboard room?
37. Pre-departure checks?
38. What is the role of an OOW and a Pilot?
39. Actions in restricted visibility?

Buoyage: Outbound heading 000°T

• Starboard hand lateral mark IALA A
• East cardinal mark
• Safe water mark
• Preferred channel to starboard IALA A
• North cardinal mark

ROR:
• Overtaking narrow channel
• Fishing vessel narrow channel
• PDV crossing on port side
• PDV crossing on starboard side
• PDV crossing on port side with vessel matching course and speed on starboard side
• CBD crossing port side
• Overtaken by a NUC vessel
• Vessel aground dead ahead

Radar: 3 blips on starboard quarter. Asked me to plot on radar plotting sheet and actions

Lights: Just asked what type of vessel it was and once I had mentioned one of two
specifications about the vessel he moved on
• PDV
• CBD
• NUC
 • Vessel aground
• Fishing with outlying gear
• RAM
• Tow

He then said the exam was finished and asked what I thought about it. I said I thought it was
a fair exam and I think I did well and hoped he thought the same. He said he was happy to
pass me and to just look over more type specific certification and how else you can steer in
a steering gear failure for when I come back to do my Chief Mates. He then logged out. He
was a nice examiner and would move on when he heard enough.

Huge thanks to the Officer and Crew at Princess Cruises and Whitaker Tankers and to
Kieran, Paul and Tom at Whitehorse Maritime. Your Oral Prep was invaluable.
Captain Zahid Raza

I went in 1415 and he joined 1420. He chatted about the usual and the
weather to settle the nerve. It was raining where he was in London.

Asked about my rst attempt and what went wrong.

Asked about my sea time and as my last ship was a container, I was to
assume I was on a container carrier in the appropriate questions.

In rough order.

-What documents go to the cpt.

-Taking over from previous 3rd mate on bridge wanted everything
-Set up the bridge for departure
-How do you know the ECDIS is all good?
-Safety settings in ECDIS
-Plan a passage from Glaschu to New York. Guess what… stopped at
appraisal :)
-Gnomonic chart use for GC
-Paper chart corrections
-how to know if it’s been corrected to date
-you check the chart and there’s been no updates in 4 years what do you do?
I was a wee bit shook for a second. Said that the cumulative NM has
corrections for past 2 years then he said it’s again but it’s not been updated in
4. Then he laughed and said it’s a small scale one in the middle of the ocean.
I said oh there hasn’t been any updates
-Wanted what documents I’d consult for PP
-Asked what hard copy publications are required to be carried then I said the
rest to look good.
-You are near heavy rain but not in the heavy rain but you know there’s a
vessel hidden… he was getting at ‘in or near’ for res vis and smiled when I
said 19a
-Actions when encountering res vis?
-Asked about setting up radar for rain and which one I’d use and why
-How to check compass error
-CDMVT (gave T)
-What’s better an Azi or an Amp?
fi
 Captain Zahid Raza

-Checks of a sexytant
-How do you get weather reports
-Synoptic chart what’s the weather at my mouse?
-By ballots law
-Which way do lows move in NH
-Safety tour
-What’s on the muster list
-What’s on the health and safety notice board
-What is SMS
-What requires SMS?
-Where is the SMS available on board?
-Taking over port watch
-Mob from fwd
-Fire in galley
-Send appropriate message by GMDSS (distress A1 so VHF 70&16)
-Asked about frequencies of VHF
-Asked about GMDSS checks and where I’d log them
-Where I could nd what GMDSS checks have to be carried out
-SCBA checks
-Enclosed space entry
-Leaking container in port
-IMDG code contents and how to use supplements
-Draw stable, neutral and unstable KBGM rough sketch

Wanted everything including actions.

Said I was going with direction of buoyage
-Safe water
-Iso danger
-East cardinal no top mark heading S
-North cardinal no top mark heading N (oh no)
-Iala A stbd lat
-Iala B stbd lat
-Iala B pref to stbd

Wanted all the deets including actions

-PDV from stbd
-Ram ahead with the greens and reds
-VEI sh outlying gear
-VEI trawling
-PDV pushing ahead from port
-CBD from port
fi
fi
Captain Zahid Raza

-Aground more than 50

-anchor more than 50 but less than 100
-towing more than 200 from port

He said we’d stop the exam there. He asked me how I think I had done and
said literally word for word “well the sun is shining now so I think I’ll pass you”
Total time was 90 mins but we stopped to chat A LOT. A very fair and helpful
examiner.

Best of luck y’all xx

 OOW Unlimited
9/02/22
Pass
Examiner Doug Smith
Time 1h 10mins

Joined on time at 9:00

Normal show me the room stu code of conduct etc

Joining your last vessel as a 3/0m

What familiarisation would you expect ?

How would you know your duties as a 3/O?

Documents to give the Captain ?

What’s in a SEA?

What would you sign?

Name some convections

Di erence between a code and a convention?

SMS/ISM Functional requirements ?

Passage Planing? Stoped me at Appraisal

What are some M notices you read recently ?

Nav charts how do you know they are updated?

Taking charge of a morning station how would you go about this ?

What ropes did you have onboard?

How would you take care of synthetic ropes? Was looking for UV/Chemical didn’t get that

Taking overt the watch?

Your on watch what are you thinking about ?

Secondary Position xing methods

What do you need for a star sight? Need a Clock\Stopwatch

Chart Symbols: Two way reporting and where to nd the correct channel, sector light, pilot
station, nature of sea bed, compass rose got me to work out the deviation for 2018, tidal diamond
what other publication would you need?

RoR
In a TSS Crossing from your port side power driven, they take no action, master wont come up
actions ?
Your in the TSS you need to get to the other side how would you do this ?
ff
fi
ff
fi
 Can you use the ITZ who can ?
Not in TSS anymore Power driven vessel ahead
Fishing vessel
Sailing Vessel

Lights
Fishing Vessel not making way or at anchor
Probably over 50m aground

Buoyage
Standard stu can’t remember, emergency wreak buoy what are the alternates? two cardinal
marks lashed together
Also got me to draw the direction of buoyage symbol

Back to General

What info can you get from a GZ curve?

Di erence between list and Loll?

Sea area a1 how would you send a distress

Di erence between undesignated and designated distress?

Finished the exam told me i passed and that if they don’t have a wreck buoy they lash two
cardinals together, and that you need a clock to do a star sight and that UV and chemicals
damage synthetic ropes. Really good examiner puts you at ease
ff
ff
ff
Orals Report
Anon
February 2022
Liverpool Office – Online
Capt N. Jobair
Pass
1hr 10 mins

Joined the teams meeting ten minutes prior as per the email, exactly at the exam time Captain Jobair
joined the meeting and introduced himself. He asked me where I was sitting (my conservatory) and if I
was warm enough because his conservatory is very cold. He asked me what the SPD was, and whether or
not it granted me exemptions from SQA writtens. He then asked me about my company and asked if he
was right in assuming most of my experience had been on tankers. After some general chat for 5 minutes
or so, he asked me if I had seen the syllabus (wanted to know the name of the MIN) and then told me the
exam would now begin. He explained to me that the postman might knock to deliver a parcel during the
exam. Not necessarily in the right order. Hope this helps.

You’ve just joined your first ship as a third mate. You’re in your cabin having dumped your bags, and
another deck officer knocks on your cabin door. Where do you expect them to take you?

The master’s cabin to hand over my documents.

What documents are these?

SEA, COC, GOC, STCW certs, ENG etc

And after this?

Familiarisation/ safety tour by the chief mate. Wanted to know what was involved. Before I could finish,
the postman had arrived so I had 5 more minutes of looking at my own face on my laptop screen.

You’ve taken over from the previous third mate, and you’re now duty officer during a cargo load. What
are your responsibilities?

Explained the responsibilities of the duty officer during a cargo watch. He wanted to hear about flag
bravo.

You mentioned SOPEP, what can you tell me about this?

Explained what SOPEP was, why it exists and what the contents of a SOPEP locker are.

What convention does this come under? Can you name any others?

MARPOL. Named the others.

Tell me about SOLAS.

Explained when it was formed, why it exists and talked about the codes.

You’re in charge of FFE maintenance. You’re checking a SCBA, tell me what you’re looking for?
Explained the visual checks of an SCBA set.

What level should the air be in the cylinder?

Explained that the MCA requirement is 80%, but my company SMS says 90%. He was happy.

You’re now on the bridge preparing for departure, what can you tell me about steering gear checks?

Explained that I would test steering gear from all positions, in all modes, and on all pumps. Explained that
as per SOLAS Ch V, steering gear shall be capable of hard over to hard over in 28 seconds.

On how many pumps?

I said one, not sure if this is the correct answer or not as he started digging a little.

You run the test, and it takes 32 seconds. What are your actions?

In the first instance, I would contact the engineers and try to get more information on why it is not
responding as it should. If there’s nothing they can do, I’ll report it to the captain.

Why would you report this to the Captain?

Because it’s written in legislation as per SOLAS Ch V, and if we can’t comply with this then we can’t sail.

He must have then asked me 3 or 4 times why I would tell the Captain.

I don’t know what he was getting at here but I stuck to my guns and eventually he moved on.

What other instances would you call the Captain?

Restricted visibility, forecasted heavy weather, Distress calls received, doubt in a colregs situation etc etc

Res Vis actions?

Checklist as per BPG/SMS.

You’re in port, and you’ve been tasked to oversee the launching, running in the water and recovery of
the port TELB. How often should you do this?

I initially messed up and said every month. He didn’t seem too phased and just asked really? That seems
a lot. I then corrected myself to three months and he simply said ‘I suppose your company must do it
more often’. He wasn’t too phased. I then went through the entire process of launching, running and
recovery of the lifeboats. He was content, but I had missed out the resetting of the hooks when the boat
is in the water. He prompted me for this in my explanation but it didn’t spring to mind, so he explained it
in the exam debrief.

You are planning a passage from Southampton to Valencia. On ECDIS, tell me how you would know the
route you’ve plotted is safe.

I explained that first I would visually check the route from start to finish, and then run the route check
function.

What info would you need to input before you used the route check function?
Safety contour, safety depth, shallow depth, deep contour etc. Ship’s draught, anti grounding cone/box.
Must have missed something out cos he then asked: anything else? He wanted me to mention that I
would set up the ECDIS alarms as they might not sound if I didn’t.

On the same passage, you need to set up NAVTEX. Where would you find information on NAVTEX?

ALRS. He then asked me how many volumes there were, and what their names were.

Tell me how you would set up NAVTEX correctly for this voyage so that I get all the relevant
information.

Explained you would choose the correct letters for the type of info you want to receive. Explained ABDL
were the mandatory ones (thank god he didn’t ask what they were for). Then told him you would use the
diagram in ALRS to identify the stations you’d need to program in for en route.

What frequency does NAVTEX receive on?

I said 518MHz, he corrected me to kHz.

GMDSS daily, weekly, monthly checks?

Explained this, but think I got one wrong so he then went on to ask

You are on fire in the middle of the Atlantic, you want to indicate distress to vessels in your vicinity.
How would you do this?

I told him that if I wanted to only send a distress to my vicinity, I could use VHF DSC and RT or MF DSC
and RT.

What channel Is the MF DSC?

2187.5? Wasn’t certain on this.

How do you send a VHF DSC distress alert?

Explained the process for designated and undesignated. I think he just wanted to hear those two words
because then he asked the next question.

Talk me through the entire VHF distress RT call and message.

Just talked through it, using the name and callsign of my last ship.

Now moved on to buoyage. He wanted the name of the buoy, the light characteristics and actions on
the following:

● IALA A port lateral (heading in the general direction of buoyage)

● Safe water mark
● East Cardinal mark (heading south)

He brought up a radar screen, with myself In the middle on a heading of 224 degrees and three targets
around me. Two were ahead of my beam, one abaft my beam.

Can you tell what type of vectors are being used on this screen?
I initially said no, because I can’t see the RADAR settings. He said really? Are you sure?

I then corrected myself and realised that my own ship didn’t have a vector, thus it must be relative.

Does risk of collision exist with any of these vessels?

The vessel abaft my beam had a CPA of zero, so I told him.

What would your actions be in this scenario?

My only options were to slow down or turn to starboard. I explained this to him and then told him I’d
turn to starboard.

He then asked me about rule 19. He wanted me to explain the principles.

I explained about safe speed, the allowed actions depending on where the other ships are, and what you
should do if you hear a sound signal that isn’t on radar.

He wasn’t happy with this, so he asked me to recite rule 19 verbatim.

I essentially repeated the above, and he said I had missed out a large part of rule 19. He was not happy at
all but moved on. I thought I had failed from this point on.

Lights and Shapes:

He showed me slides of the following, and asked for my actions. For this, I was a PDV.

● PDV, STBD asp, 2 points to port. Sound signals? Actions. It doesn’t give way, actions.

● CBD, STBD asp, 2 points to port. Day shapes? Sound signals? Actions? Explained that it’s rule 15
again but also explained my obligations under rule 18. Said I could alter to stbd or slow down.

● Trawler, Hauling nets, stbd aspect. Day shapes? Sound signals? Actions. I said alter to stbd, but
for some reason he wanted me to turn to port. I stuck to my guns though and didn’t budge
from stbd.

● Tug and tow, tug less than 50m, tow less than 200m. Stbd aspect. Day shapes? Sound signals?
You’re in a TSS, its crossing from port. Actions? The vessel wasn’t RAM so I explained my
actions if any PDV was crossing a TSS with risk of collision. As usual, they didn’t alter.

● Vessel RAM, engaged in dredging or underwater operations where an obstruction exists on

one side. Day shapes? They have divers down, flags? Which side can you pass?

● Vessel at anchor, over 50m, stbd aspect. Day shape? Sound signal? Actions? I said I’d alter to
stbd. He seemed shocked, and asked why? I said to keep my stbd side clear. He then said: I’m
going to give you an opportunity. I’ll ask you this again, take a sip of water and THINK before
you answer. Suddenly I had a lightbulb moment and knew what he was getting at, I would alter
to port so as to not run over his anchor cable (although this would never have been a risk as I
would have passed their bow in excess of 1nm).

Suddenly the exam was over and he told me that I’d passed (much to my surprise).
Examiner name : Michelle Moro

Duration of exam: 50 minutes

Date of examination : February 2022

Oow unlimited oral report

Joined 5 minutes before the time, introduced himself check the room and documentation. After format
introduction and process straight to questions.

1. On quay joining procedures as 3rd officer.

2. What is seafarers employment agreement and what it contains.
3. Documents to handover to captain.
4. What us ism and sms.
5. Information other than appraisal (instructions from captain company and charterer) in passage
planning.
6. Gmdss weekly checks
7. Ecdis alarms and indicators and limitations.
8. Certification of ecdis.
9. Radar- sea and ground stabilised
10. Enclosed space definitions permit to work and risk assessment.
11. Day situations – roc exist – fishing vessel, pdv towing more than 200m and sailing vessel end on
12. Buoys- west cardinal, preferred channel to port region A, lateral hand mark port region B
13. Lights- anchor vessel, nuc and aground actions?
14. Rv – port bow, explained 19d I and fully rule 19
15. In general few questions like rv checklist and calling master
16. Steering gear failure, on load/off load release, free fall requirements on ship fire in
accommodation don’t forget to say shut down ventilation.

Then after radar plot stopped sharing screen and said immediately passed very quick question didn’t
gone deep best luck to all and thank to friends and family. Especially whitehorse oral reports and
paul been so helpful.
OOW 3000gt
15 Feb 2022

Logged in 15 min before, he logged in on time. We had a bit of small talk about the weather,
he asked me how my weather was, I said sunny even though it was overcast, didn’t want
him to get into met before the formalities. So then he did a quick room check and explained
how the exam would go, him asking questions and me answering.

Q:
APEM?

A:
Information comes from SOLAS V & IMO Res.A893 & MGN 166
Appraisal, Planning, Execution, Monitoring

Q:
Plan a passage from Miami to Sardinia (Plan only)?

A:
- Drawing what we gathered in the appraisal stage on to paper
- The route may be a combination of the great circle route and rhumb lines other wise
known as a composite route. Switching to rhumb line saying before we have gone
too far North where there may be bad weather or ice warnings.
- Highlight hazards (no-go areas, isolated dangers, high traffic areas - TSS)
- Conduct chartwork (waypoints, W/O points, X-track, PI’s)
- Select lights that would be used for clearing bearings
- Obtain weather & tidal information
- Areas for switching NAVTEX for MSI broadcasts (ALRS vol 3)
- Decide on Safety Contour & Safety Depth (CATZOGS)
- Obtain Distances (calculate fuel needed)
- Obtain Times (allows us to know manning levels at the correct times)
- Contingency plans (berths, anchorages) (make them known on the plan)
- Plan complies with international regulations and legislation
- ECDIS – System Route Check
- Second opinion from Chief Officer

Q:
PI?

A:
Means of continuously monitoring a vessel’s position in relation to the passage plan.
Practiced in clear weather during straightforward passages.
Watch-keepers remain familiar with the technique.
Watch-keepers confident in its use in more demanding situations.

Q:
Your set course is 065 and the current is pushing you to the North, so you set a CTS of 070
to compensate so you can stay on your track of 065. How do you set your PI?

A:
Set PI Parallel to the set course 065
Q:
Explain what the Admiralty Tidal Tables is and the Admiralty Tidal Streams Atlas?

A:
Admiralty Tidal Tables – A publication that detail the times and heights of high and low
waters for standard and secondary ports in the UK and Ireland, Europe, the Indian Ocean,
South China Sea and Pacific Ocean for each day of the year. You can use it to predict the
height of tide at a specific time, and to predict the time of a certain tidal height.

Admiralty Tidal Streams Atlas - a quick and visual way of knowing what the tides or tidal flow
will be when out on your boat. Providing you with detailed information about tidal stream
direction and flow.

Q:
What is HW & LW?

A:
H.W - The maximum height reached by a rising Tide.
L.W - The minimum height reached by a falling tide.
You have two HW in a 24-hour period and two LW’s in a 24-hour period

Q:
What is range and how do you work it out?

A:
HW – LW = Range
You can use to decide what curve to use SP or NP, or you have to interpolate.

Q: What is this and where would it be located?

A:
Barograph
• Record variations of atmospheric pressure onto a revolving drum.
• Drum is driven by clockwork (one revolution per week).
• Shows a trend in the pressure reading
• Wind it up for power & check paper for drum
• Should be placed away from vibration, loud noise and strong gusts of wind.
Q:
What is this? Who is it maintained? Where is it placed?

A:

A binnacle is a waist-high case or stand on the deck of a ship, generally mounted in front of
the helmsman, in which navigational instruments are placed for easy and quick reference as
well as to protect the delicate instruments.

Magnetic compasses should be adjusted when:

• First installed
• Become unreliable
• Physical defects
• Collision
• Major change of latitude
• Ship has alterations effecting hard/soft iron
• Electrical equipment added/removed close to the compass
• 2 years since the last adjustment
• Deviations haven’t been maintained

Check your magnetic compass on a regular basis:

• Verify that the deviation has not altered since the last compass swing.
• Hence the compass record book that you all fill in every voyage.

Compass Checks Before Departure

• Freedom of movement of the gimbal

• Card floating freely and level - rotating without any friction.
• Liquid free of bubbles and clear
• Compass card clear
• No liquid leaks
• No tools or magnetic equipment in the area

Check compass deviation records and deviation card for each magnetic compass.
Q:
How to Remove bubbles from magnetic compass?

A:

1. Tilt the bowl until the “filter hole” comes upper most. This hole is provided on the side
of the bowl.
2. Unscrew the stud/screw provide.
3. Top up with ethyl alcohol.
4. Screw the stud/screw back into place.
5. Gently let the bowl return to upright.

Q:
Synoptic chart name everything and how do you calculate wind speed?

A:
Calculating the Wind Speed

• Find your latitude.

• We are about 55° latitude
• locate isobars either side of your position
• Measure the distance between the two isobars
• Use the geostrophic wind scale
• left axis is latitude,
• On your latitude line mark off the distance of two isobars.
• It’s about 40 kts reading of the scale.
• This is the geostrophic wind speed (600m above sea level)
• Sea level wind is 60% of the geostrophic wind speed.
• 60% of 40 kts is 24 kts of wind

Q:
What is composite sailing?

A:
A combination of great circle and parallel sailing in navigation. Composite sailing may save
time and distance over the rhumb line track without leading the vessel into danger.

Q: How do you use a gnomonic chart?

A:
Procedure to use Gnomonic and Mercator Charts for Great Circle Sailing
• Plot start & end point on the gnomonic chart
• Join two positions as a straight line. (Great circle route)
• Then take down the positions of the waypoints every 5 degrees.
• Transfer those waypoints to a Mercator chart. (appears as an arc)
• Join all waypoints as a series of rhumb lines.

Q:
Life boat monthly check & do I know of an MGN?

A:
I told him the weekly, monthly & quarterly. I didn’t know of an MGN I could look at, But I told
him I’m sure there is one, lol…

Weekly:
All survival craft, rescue boats & launching appliances visually inspected:
Condition of hooks, their attachment to the lifeboat

Monthly:
Test Davits for life boats (lower life boat to embarkation level)

Quarterly:
Life boats launched and driven (full check)
Q:
What is ISM?

A:
• Sets international standards for the safe management & operation of ships.
• Requires companies to document & implement clear procedures.

There are three parties involved:

• Owner
• Master
• Flag State

Owner / management company:

• Produce a SEP to show they are managing the ship properly.

• Appoint a DPA & a qualified master.

Master to:
• Implement the SEP
• Motivate crew to follow the SEP
• Issue orders in a clear manner
• Review the SMS
• Report its deficiencies to management

Flag State:
• Issue DOC & SMC to show compliance with ISM & SMS
• Oversee ongoing compliance with the company Code
• May ask port state to verify the proper functioning of the ship’s SMS

Q:
What is a Safety Management System (SMS)?

A:
• A structured & documented system under ISM Code.

The SMS: SOCREM

• Safety & Environmental policy (SEP)
• Operating procedures
• Communication lines
• Reporting procedures & accidents
• Emergency procedures
• Management review & Audits

Q:
You receive a MAYDAY on VHF 16, as well as a DSC. You are 100M away from land and
according to the DSC you are 20M away from the vessel in distress. What channel would
the DSC be on and what would you do?
A:
Received DSC on VHF channel 70

Receipt of a Distress Message, VHF in A2

1. Immediately acknowledge
2. Call master
3. Gather information: by voice (VHF Ch 16)
- Position
- Identity
- Number of persons
- Nature of distress
- Assistance required
4. Consider Mayday relay by any means
5. Proceed at best speed to casualty
6. Establish coms with CRS and other vessels
7. X band for SART
8. Additional look outs
9. Prep rescue boat & medical station
10. Record in GMDSS logbook

Q:
How would you send a MAYDAY RELAY?

A:
Distress Call Relay by Radiotelephone
MAYDAY RELAY (x3)
ALL STATIONS (x3)
This is
Ship name (x3) Call sign & MMSI
Following received from
ship name, call sign & MMSI
TRANSMIT ORIGINAL DISTRESS ALERT/MESSAGE
OVER

Q:
What publication would you consult for search patterns?

A:
IAMSAR Vol III

Q:
Label some of the features on a Sextant.

A:
Q:
What is a Sextant used for?

A:
Its is used to measure the angle between two terrestrial objects. It can be used to fix your
position by HAS & VSA.

It also measures the angle between the horizon and a heavenly body. You can then use 3
different methods to calculate the true bearing of the sun or healingly body and compare it
with your actual bearing to give you a compass error of high or low for Gyro. Or you can get
your deviation of a magnetic compass to check the accuracy of your deviation card.

You can also use it for celestial navigation to calculate your EP.

Q:
I then got shown a picture of the sextant with an error, he asked is the error ON or OFF?
What is the exact error? And is this acceptable? If not, what would you do to fix it?

(THIS ISN”T THE EXACT PICTURE)

A:
I was shown an error reading OFF. It was reading 45 min, decimal 4.
So I had to calculate 60 – 45.4 = 14.6 was the error OFF

It was not acceptable. To fix the error I said the following:

Index Error

When the arc is set to zero, index & horizon mirrors are not parallel to each other.

To check:
• Set the arc to zero
• Hold sextant vertically
• Look through the telescope at the horizon
• If the true and reflected horizons don’t line up (error exists)

To correct:
a) - Turn the screw at the top of the mirror
- Then re-check for side error and,
- Again for index error.

Side Error

Horizon mirror is not perpendicular with the plane of the instrument.

To check:
• Set the arc to zero
• Hold sextant horizontally
• Look through the horizon mirror at the horizon
• If the true and reflected horizons don’t line up (error exists)

To correct:
• Adjust screw on horizon mirror
• Until true and reflected horizons line up

Q:

Q:
What is this and how would you conduct a full inspection?
 A:
Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus.

Pressure inside the facemask is always above atmospheric pressure.

Demand valve set so that the pressure is always above the pressure outside.
Wearer breathes in, the demand valve allows further air to enter.

Advantages
Damage to the facemask - system will automatically increase air flow.
Keeps smoke and toxic vapours out of the mask.

Do a full visual inspection, ensure the straps have been loosened all the way. It is stored
correctly and the air is full 300 bar.

Apparatus leak test

• Switch off the demand valve.
• Open the cylinder valve slowly, close it and observe the gauge.
• Close cylinder valve, open demand valve for a whistle test.
• With demand valve off, turn on the cylinder slowly.
Check for Positive Pressure
• Put the mask on.
• Connect demand valve to mask and open valve to allow air flow.
• Lift mask, air should flow out.
• Ensure there is no air leaking from the mask when its snug on your face

Q:
CBD definition?

A:
Vessel constrained by her draught (CBD) – any power-driven vessel which, because of her
draught in relation to available depth and navigable water is unable to deviate from her
course. (Cannot be a sailboat)

Q:
Radar plot: was given 3 plots off my STB quarter, CPA of 0.5m, I had to work out W. The
other vessel was overtaking.

A
O

W
A:
If detecting another vessel by Radar alone and a ROC exists:
Avoid turning towards vessels abeam or abaft the beam

I shall make a bold alteration of course to port and monitor the situation until past
and clear.

Q:
Where is ILALA Region A?

A:
Europe, Australia, New Zealand, parts of Africa and most of Asia other than the
Philippines, Japan and Korea.

Q:
Asked all these buoys and also asked which direction I would pass depending on the
direction of buoyage and bearing.

A:

Cardinal Marks
 Isolated Danger Marks

Navigable water all around it.

Do a chart assessment and then pass it by a wider margin as practical.

Top Mark

Two black spheres in a vertical line

Shape

Pillar or Spar (Black, red, Black horizontally)

Lights

White light: Group-flashing (2)

 Safe Water Marks

Shows that there is navigable water all around the mark.

It does not mark a hazard.

Safe water marks can be used mid channel marks in which case they
should always be left on the mariners port side so that he keeps to the
starboard side of the fairway.

Marks the fixed point under a bridge

Top Mark
A red sphere (used if the buoy is not spherical)
Shape
Spherical, pillar or spar

Lights
White light:
• Occulting

• Isophase

• 1 long flash every 10 seconds

• Morse A
Region A
Port Hand Lateral Mark Starboard Hand Lateral Mark
It should be left to port when going It should be left to starboard when
in the direction of buoyage. going in the direction of buoyage.

Shape: Can, Pillar or Spar Shape: Cone, Pillar or Spar

Top Mark: Red Can Top Mark: Green Cone
Light: Red, any rhythm (NOT Light: Green, any rhythm (NOT
composite group flashing 2+1) composite group flashing 2+1)
RR – Red band or square RR – Green band or triangle

Region A
Port Hand lateral mark indicating a Starboard Hand lateral mark indicating a
preferred channel to starboard, leave it to preferred channel to port, leave it to
port if staying in the preferred channel. starboard if staying in the preferred channel.

Shape: Can, Pillar or Spar Shape: Cone, Pillar or Spar

Top Mark: Red Can Top Mark: Green Cone
Light: Red, composite group flashing Light: Green, composite group flashing (2+1)
(2+1) RR – Green band or triangle
RR – Red band or square
 Special marks

Yellow Light any rhythm that can’t be confused with a white light in the vicinity

Indicate to the mariner a special area or feature, the nature of which is apparent from
reference to a chart, sailing directions or notices to mariners, special marks.
Uses include the marking of: CROFTS

• Cables or pipelines
• Recreation zones
• ODAS buoys (Ocean data acquisition system)
group flashing 5 every 20 seconds, Fl(5)20s
• Firing military exercise zones
• TSS’s where use of conventional channel marking might cause confusion
• Spoil grounds

Another function of special marks is to define a channel within a channel.

 Emergency Wreck Mark

This is designed to provide high visual and radio aid to navigation recognition. It is
placed as close to the wreck as possible, or in a pattern around the wreck, and within
any other marks that may be subsequently deployed.

The Emergency Wreck Marking Buoy is maintained in position until:

• The wreck is well known and has been promulgated in nautical publications
• The wreck has been fully surveyed and exact details such as position and
least depth above the wreck are known.
• A permanent form of marking of the wreck has been carried out.

Characteristics

• Top mark - Upright yellow upright cross.

• Shape - pillar or spar
• Equal blue and yellow vertical stripes (min 4, max 8)
• Alternating blue and yellow flashing light – 1s on & 0.5s off (Range 4 nm)
• If multiple buoys are deployed, then the lights should be synchronised
• Racon Morse code “D” and/or AIS Transponder.

See emergency wreck marker:

• Take all way off
• Inform the master
• Do a fix
• Chart assessment

How would info about wreck marker?

• Admiralty weekly NM
• NAVTEX - ABDL
• VHF MSI broadcasts
Q:
What is this?

A:
Direction of Buoyage:
• It’s usually clockwise around a content
• Shows the direction of buoyage where it isn’t obvious

Q:
What is NAVTEX?

A:
NAVTEX

• Automated system for distributing MSI

• A small printing radio receiver
• Check ALRS Vol 3 MSI Broadcasts for area of operation
• Frequency - 518 kHz in English
• Frequency - 490 kHz in local language
• Certain information is mandatory to receive. (ABDL)
• A – Navigational warnings
• B – Met
• D – SAR, piracy
• L – Additional warnings
• C – Ice warnings
• F – Pilot Services

Q:
What do you do when you enter restricted visibility?

A:
Restricted Visibility MGN 369

• Comply with COLREGs Sections I & III

• Slow down & have engines ready
• Inform the Master & engage hand steering
• Close watertight doors
• Nav lights
• Sound signals
• Use RADAR
• Post look-outs
• Increase bridge manning levels
• Open bridge doors
• Stop noisy work
Q:
What is this and what can it tell you?

A:
Compass rose – It tells you how much variation you need to account for each year so that
you can calculate the correct variation for your current year in that area of the chart.

Q:
He then asked it could tell you anything else?

A:
So I said it also shows you North, East, South and West, and all the points in between.

Q:
How many points in a compass and how much is one point?

A:
32 points, 11.25 degrees each

Q:
What is Interaction & Bank effect?

A:
Bank effect

• Restricted waters
• Positive pressure pushes the bow away
• Suction effect pulls the midships toward the bank

Interaction

• Passing or overtaking
• Positive pressure
• Smaller ship draws closer to the larger vessel when they are in line
On to Situations: (You are always the purple PDV)

Two PDV’s in open ocean

Action by Give-way Vessel, (Keep Out of The Way) – Rule 15

I am going to take regular series of compass bearings of the approaching vessel and
if the compass bearings remain constant or does not appreciably change then risk of
collision is deemed to exist.

This is the “stand-on” vessel that shall maintain her course and speed whilst
monitoring the situation.

This is the “give-way” vessel, and she shall sound one short blast on the ships
whistle, make a bold alteration of course to starboard of about 40 to 60 degrees. She
shall monitor the situation until past and clear and then return to her original course.
You can only navigate safely within the Narrow Channel

I am going to take regular series of compass bearings of the approaching vessel and
if the compass bearings remain constant or does not appreciably change then risk of
collision is deemed to exist.

This is the “not to be impeded” vessel which shall maintain course and speed whilst
monitoring the situation.

This is the “shall not impede” vessel, it shall take early and substantial action to
allow sufficient sea room for the safe passage of the other vessel.

If the vessel not to be impeded finds itself in a close quarters situation, it shall sound
5 short rapid blasts, and if no response then the Steering and Sailing Rules apply
when there is risk of collision and will act accordingly.
You can only navigate within the Narrow channel, and you want to overtake on port
side, what signal will you sound and what should you be careful of? If he disagrees,
what will he sound?

• Sound two prolong blasts followed by two short blasts

• Be careful of interaction

• Disagree – 5 short rapid blasts

 What do you see and what will you do?

Vessel not under command (NUC) – any vessel due to exceptional circumstances is
unable to maneuver as required by these Rules and is therefore unable to keep out
the way of another vessel. (steering/engine problems) (e.g. rudder falls off)

Action by Give-way Vessel, (Keep Out of The Way) – Rule 18

I am going to take regular series of compass bearings of the approaching vessel and
if the compass bearings remain constant or does not appreciably change then risk of
collision is deemed to exist.

This is the “stand-on” vessel that shall maintain her course and speed whilst
monitoring the situation.

This is the “give-way” vessel, and she shall sound two short blast on the ships
whistle, make a bold alteration of course to port of about 40 to 60 degrees. She shall
monitor the situation until past and clear and then return to her original course.
A Vessel RAM Towing
Probably over 50m
Starboard Aspect
Length of tow greater than 200m measured from the stern of the towing vessel to the
after end of the tow.
Underway (possibly makingway)

Masthead lights - White light placed on the centreline with an arc of 225o
Shows the light from right ahead to 22.5o abaft the beam on both sides of the vessel
Visibility 5 nm

All-round lights – Must have an unbroken arc of 360o over the horizon.
Red ^ white ^ red in a vertical line equally spaced apart at no less than 2m apart.
Visibility 2 nm (3 nm if 50m and over)

Sidelights – Green light with an arc of 112.5o

Shows the light from right ahead to 22.5o abaft the beam on its respective side
Visibility 2 nm

Day shapes: Black ball ^ diamond ^ ball in a vertical line. (RAM)

The black ball shall have a diameter of at least 0.6m
The cones within the diamond shape shall have a base diameter of at least 0.6m and a
height equal to its diameter.
The vertical spacing between the shapes shall be at least 1.5m apart.

Fog Signals: Delta (intervals of no more than 2 min)

If manned towed vessel (last): (sound directly after towing vessel)

Rule 18 – I am the give-way vessel, they are the stand on vessel à PT

A PDV Towing
Under 50m
Starboard Aspect
Length of tow less than 200m measured from the stern of the towing vessel to the after
end of the tow.
Underway (possibly makingway)

Masthead lights - White light placed on the centreline with an arc of 225o
Shows the light from right ahead to 22.5o abaft the beam on both sides of the vessel
Visibility 5 nm

Sidelights – Green light with an arc of 112.5o

Shows the light from right ahead to 22.5o abaft the beam on its respective side
Visibility 2 nm

Sidelights on vessel being towed will have of a visibility of 3nm if 50m or more, 2nm if
less than 50m, and 1nm if less than 12m.

Day shapes: None

Fog Signals: Delta (intervals of no more than 2 min)

If manned towed vessel (last): (sound directly after towing vessel)

Rule 15 – I am stand-on vessel (shall, may, shall) - they are give-way vessel à STB
 A Fishing Vessel other than trawling
Length Unknown
Aspect Unknown
Outlying gear extending more than 150m on an unknown side
Underway or at anchor
OR
A Fishing Vessel other than trawling
Stern Aspect
Length Unknown
Makingway

All-round lights red ^ white must have an unbroken arc of 360o over the horizon.
Visibility 2 nm (3nm if 50m and over)

All-Round White light indicating outlying gear extended150m

Visibility 1 nm

Stern light - White light placed as close to the stern as possible with an arc of 135o
Shows the light 67.5o from right aft on each side of the vessel
Visibility 3nm if 50m or more and 2nm if less than 50m

Day shapes: Two black cones with their apexes towards each other setup vertically
and a black cone apex upwards in the direction of the gear.The cones shall have a
base diameter of at least 0.6m and a height equal to its diameter.

Fog Signals: Delta (intervals of no more than 2 min)

At Anchor: Delta (intervals of no more than 2 min)

Rule 13 – They are stand-on vessel, I. am give-way vessel à STB

A vessel engaged in pilotage duty Golf
Hauling nets or
Length Unknown Require Pilot
Starboard Aspect
Underway (possibly makingway)
Hotel
Pilot onboard

Sidelights – Green light with an arc of 112.5o

Shows the light from right ahead to 22.5o abaft the beam on its respective side
Visibility 2 nm or 3nm if 50m and over

All-round lights – White ^ red must have an unbroken arc of 360o over the horizon.
Visibility 2 nm or 3nm if 50m and over

Day shapes: Will have Pilot written on the side of the vessel.
May fly the pilot jack flag. (white ^ red)
When your vessel is carrying a pilot you must fly the hotel flag.

Fog Signals: PDV: Making way: Underway only (drifting):

(2 sec between blasts)

At anchor:
< 100m: Rapid Bell 5 sec every minute

Pilot Vessel: As above for PDV, may also blast:

Rule 15 – I am stand-on (shall, may, shall) – they are give-way vessel à STB
 A vessel CBD
Probably over 50m
Starboard Aspect
Underway (possibly makingway)

Masthead lights - White light placed on the centreline with an arc of 225o
Shows the light from right ahead to 22.5o abaft the beam
Visibility 6 nm (4.5m of vertical separation)

Sidelights – Green light with an arc of 112.5o

Shows the light from right ahead to 22.5o abaft the beam on its respective side
Visibility 3 nm

All-round red lights in a vertical line where they can best be seen. (2m spacing apart)
They must have an unbroken arc of 360o over the horizon.
Visibility 3 nm

Day shapes: A black cylinder where it can best be seen.

At least a 0.6m diameter and a height of twice its diameter.

Fog Signals: Delta (intervals of no more than 2 min)

If at Anchor:
< 100m: Rapid Bell 5 sec every minute
> 100m: Rapid Bell 5 sec at forepart à Gong 5 sec at aft, in addition may also
blast: (Romeo)

Rule 18 – They are “not to be impeded”, I am “not to impede à STB & Parallel
If there is a ROC it means you have impeded them.
You Sight a Vessel Constrained by Draught (CBD) – Rule 18
I am going to take regular series of compass bearings of the approaching vessel and
if the compass bearings remains constant or does not appreciably change then a risk
of collision is deemed to exist.

I am the “shall not impede” vessel, I shall take early action to allow sufficient sea
room for the safe passage of the other vessel.

I will make a bold reduction in speed. I shall monitor the situation until past and
clear.

THE END:
And that was that. Total time of about 90 min. The examiner was fair and pushed me in the
right direction if I didn’t fully understand what he was asking for. And he also appreciated the
fact that if I didn’t know something I told him that I didn’t know.

As everyone says, if you still in the seat you have passed, there were definitely moments in
the exam when I felt nervous and wasn’t sure````how it was going. But when he gave me a new
question I forgot about the last question and just focused on what he was asking and tried
my best to give all the knowledge I had.

Study hard and take your time when it comes to doing your radar plot, buoyage and lights
and situations. GOODLUCK