[Marmot]

An MCA Master Mariner will be every bit as highly experienced and qualified as the USCG Equivalent. … There is no such qualification as a Yacht Master Mariner. The current upper level yacht qualification is a Master Class 4 Endorsed for service on Yachts.

I should have put a little cynical icon in there. I thought it was obvious that my reference to master mariner of yachts was tongue in cheek. But thinking back on it and judging by the number of CVs that cross my desk from holders of MCA/RYA yacht limited certificates and USCG 100 ton guys who describe themselves as “master mariners” it looks like I should have made it clear that I was being sarcastic.

The international standard for unlimited licenses is very high and thanks to STCW is becoming a real standard rather than a stew of varying requirements. This is reflected in the acceptance of certificates within the “white list” members. Unfortunately for those employing limited license holders there is a wide gulf in the qualifications and experience required to obtain a certificate.

A Commercial Ticket can be endorsed for use aboard yachts but a yacht Ticket cannot be endorsed for use on Commercial ships.

Yes, and that is a product of that wide gulf in qualifications and experience. As a result of what I can only describe as a fit of misplaced benevolence (or some kind of altered state of reality induced by too close a relationship with a yacht training firm or two) the MCA instituted the yacht license scheme and created a dead-end subclass of mini-mariners without making it very clear that the participants in this system sacrifice professional alternatives for a rapid climb up a very short ladder.

I know of a yacht where the GT is over 4000. The Master was very willing to take on as bosun a guy who had done the last 18 months of the build as the only deck crew for most of it but only held a Y4 Ticket. The MCA told him in no uncertain terms tat this would not be permitted under any circumstances.

There are a couple of issues in that case. The prospective bosun had no documented training or experience applicable or acceptable to the MCA for service on vessels over 3000 tons, the barrier beyond which international law requires a much higher standard of training and verifiable experience as a mariner performing in a professional crew environment.

The other issue is that Y4 is a yacht limited engineer certificate and is not a deck certificate. The bosun is the senior member of the unlicensed deck crew and as such has a role in training and supervision of those under him. He is also responsible to ensure safe working conditions are maintained and deck equipment is safe to operate and fit for the service intended. Regardless of how good the guy might be, the regulations enforce the concept that crewmembers required by the Safe Manning Certificate must have a certain level of training and experience before being assigned those duties.

The Master and other members of the Bridge Team had also indicated that they were willing to work with this guy and help him through into the commercial qualification world but this was also knocked on the head at birth.

It is a shame that international standardization and the requirements for formal training have effectively closed the route to advancement taken by generations of “hawsepipers. The merchant fleet is losing a priceless resource by pricing self-improvers out of the industry. This also closes a door to the holders of yacht limited licenses. Is this “fair” to the Y4 bosun wannabe? Maybe not, but it certainly is fair to those who would depend on his experience and knowledge to keep them safe.