Types of Ship Jobs
Knowing the different types of jobs available aboard a modern ship is important if considering a career at sea. There are many different types of ships patrolling the world's waters, and their vastly different purposes lead to crews specialized to achieve these different aims. Despite these differences, nearly all ships have officers, deckhands and cooks.
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Officers
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Officers are responsible for the running of the ship. While other crewman are likely to be hired on for short periods, officers often work on one vessel for years. A typical officer crew includes a captain, first officer, second officer and an apprentice. The captain is in charge of the entire ship and is the premier authority aboard. His responsibilities include the well-being of the crew, decisions about what courses to sail, and customs and cargo paperwork when the ship docks. He sometimes owns the ship, but sometimes works for a large company. A captain of a large oil vessel can earn more than $145,000 annually. The first officer assumes these duties if the captain is unable to, and is also often in charge of the cargo hold. He can earn $75,000 a year on an oil ship. A second officer's responsibilities include overseeing ship maintenance and navigation. An apprentice officer is just one step above a deckhand, but learns how to run the ship while serving in this position. These lower officers make much less money than more experienced officers, often little more than the $24,000 to $44,000 salary of a deckhand.
Deckhand
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Nearly every vessel needs deckhands in order to set sail. Deckhands are the main work force aboard ship, and have a wide range of responsibilities. Deckhands wash the deck, stand watch, tie the ship to other ships or to a port, load and unload cargo, oil machinery, and handle lifeboats in an emergency. On passenger vessels, deckhands play a role in passenger safety by keeping an eye out for passengers behaving unsafely.
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Cook
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Passengers and crew need to eat, and the cook is the one who provides the food. If the ship is very large or is a passenger ship, it may have an entire kitchen staff supervised by a chief cook. The chief cook plans the menu, handles the cutting of meat, and also prepares meals. On a smaller vessel, the cook may be the entire kitchen staff. Cooks don't require any formal training , but there are schools that offer training to prospective shipboard cooks, such as the Food and Maritime Trade High School in New York.
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References
- Photo Credit ship image by Mat Hayward from Fotolia.com
