Thanks for this. I was interested in seeing where my shipboard experience as a Navy officer might compare. On my third ship I was the Asst First Lieutenant, then later the First Lieutenant and Deck Department head. Deck was the largest department on the ship (around 200 people) that included all the cargo and weapons handlers as well as those handling the refueling rigs and operating with the helicopter detachment on the flight deck. My ship carried fuel, ammunition, food and other supplies. I was also the Safety Officer, the Officer of the Deck for special sea details (entering and leaving port and underway replenishments), as well as acting as one if the three Tactical Action Officers when needed for combat operations. Supervising maintenance and training also took up much time, as well as other administrative duties. Fortunately, we had enough qualified officers that we were in a 4 section watch rotation. From what you described, it seems as though my duties would be akin to the First Officer, although with added military responsibilities. In between the Commanding Officer/Captain and the Department Heads is the Executive Officer (XO). This position is largely administrative in nature, but is a stepping stone to bring the CO. On none of my three ships was the XO ever a watch stander, either underway or in port. Oh, one other duty if the department head was to control of the department operating budget. My last ship was just under 800 feet long and 54,000 long tons fully loaded, a little under 19,000 long tons unloaded.
Thank you. We appreciate this, both hubby and I are retired Military, this is really interesting. Most importantly, we sail on Princess ALOT. Be safe 👍🥂🥂😁
Interesting to read that a couple of cruise ships where heading on a rescue mission to remove residents from the island where the volcano is acting up.
Congrats! Always found it interesting how stripes differ on cruise ships: the Master of a cruise ship has the stripes of an admiral, not a captain, and the heads of departments (staff captain, hotel manager, etc.) have the rank of captain (4 stripes).
As Hotel General Manager, I have 4 stripes, the Captain has 4 stripes as well as the rising sun on his epaulet. Commodore of the Fleet, Rick Nash, as the senior captain, has 4 stripes and the rising sun but his outer stripe is a double stripe.
Interesting to compare P&O with other shipping lines. On Holland America Line only deck officers had a curl on the stripes. Us engineers just had straight stripes. HAL also used blue as the distinguishing colour for environmental officers as green was used by Comms/IT officers. The Island escape (which was a subsidiary of Thompson cruises) had a diamond instead of a curl, and it was worn by both deck and engine departments.
PSA When cruise start back up anyone who who will not give respect you ALL staff should walk to Plank! Make sure you give everyone the UPMOST respect! They work hard to keep you safe! Thank you this has been your PSA!
Very interesting, will be sure to pay more attention to epaulettes next cruise! Loved the pics of you with your different ranks, your parents must be very proud of their boy! Thanks for this educational video, always enjoy your stuff.
hey hey hey So the ranks that we have as a merchant sailor we have 4 Colours Black (deck) Purple (Engineer) Green (System Engineer) White (Logistics and Supply) Blue (Communications) 1 Gold strip - 3rd Officer 2 Gold Strips - 2nd officer 2 1/2 Gold Stripes - 1st Officer 3 Gold strips - Chief Officer 4 Gold Strips Captain
Ohhh thanks for letting me know . I was little bit confused. I have one question.. will you please tell me are captains allowed to videocall their families?
Excellent information, Having been on a few Cruises myself, the engineering officers were the easiest to pick out since most of them were wearing coveralls with the rank stripes on their shoulders, But all of the others were a bit confusing, Thanks for the information, I hope that you have a safe and wonderful Deployment on board your ship.
Thank U for a clear, precise presentation IN the olden days, I heard the only Officer title ( on cargo vessels) is the one with the Green stripes... Radio Officer. The others are: Master, Mates ( 1st, 2nd, 3rd), Engineers (Chief, 2nd, 3rd, jrs) and Cadets of both departments. Pls be careful and stay safe. Request to give a decent advance notice b4 yr next live session.
Thanks for that. Very interesting to see and understand a little more of the rankings and epaulette stripes we see onboard. Looking forward to being on the sea again, hopefully, this year.
Ok the TH-cam algorithm recommended your channel and I've been binging your videos lately. I worked shoreside for a cruise line for 10 years and I know more about the officer life from your videos than I ever learned while working there! Video ideas: have you considered doing incident analysis of past incidents like the Norwegian dream or the infamous Concordia? It would be interesting to hear your commentary on some of those incidents. Also you could do reactions to ship videos like posideon, jack and Jill, or even titanic lol. Maybe check out 74 gear or mentour aviation TH-cam channels they do those types of videos on aviation disasters or movies on planes and they're very interesting/ fun!
Hi Rachel, thanks for the great feedback. I was actually discussing a lot of your suggested topics just this week, so I am sure I will cover them at some point. Thanks for watching!
I am a second officer but on LPG Tanker, worked on the passenger ship Marco Polo from 2009 to 2012, the ship belonged to the company Cruise & Maritime Voyages )))
Well done as always with all your videos and looking forward to be out at sea again and can’t wait to see all the crew on the ships too. Also getting excited about the Australia 🇦🇺 Day Cruise next year hoping to see Pacific Explorer coming into Sydney Harbour and all the festivities of Australia Day and watch all that goes on that special day of every year. Love the videos of all that you and you crew mates do on board it gives us some idea of what all of you do on board your ship all the best with what ever you do for your work
Hi Alfie Great to know who's who on a liner and seeing you - so handsome and look forward to more. Its still a little confusing but - if I join as a medic I will know my colours LOL Warm regards Richard
FUN FACT!...(...ish...)...I was told that the purple of the engineering branch, was a sign of mourning for those of the that branch that perished aboard titanic. Purple is a colour of morning...apparently.
I don't have your stripes but I was working with two of the younger italian captain s with princess recently and to my surprise Indirectly I had more seniorty working on italian cruise ships. My first experience was in 1975 with the old ITALIAN LINE on the Raffellio and Michelangelo ships
I don't remember hearing you explain what "COC" stands for. Thanks. I enjoy your videos during this time of the pandemic when we cannot cruise. VIcarious cruise fun. Thanks again!!
So now I have to watch Titanic and check out the badges on officer shirts :-) Do you get a supply of badges for yoru rak sew them youself on shirts you buy, or does the cruise company sell you custom shirts to your size with your level of badge sewed in? Are they a problem to wash? Do you also have a "formal" uniform if youre invited at Captain's table or other formal occasion with youe rank-specific badge on it? And day to day, do you know the bridge crew sufficiently that you don't refer to their badges, or are they really used by bridge crew to see who is who because there are so many you can't know everyone's rtank?. (I can understand outside bridge the rest of ship's crew not knowing you, but curious on bridge itself). Once outside the bridge, soes your senior 2nd officer give you any authority of other crew members (ordering cook to do X for instance, and cook would follow your authority based on striped on your shirt) ? Is such authority well defined in terms of who you can order to do stuff and what you can order?
The rank/badges are on epaulets, which is a cloth sleeve, the shirts, which are specialty shirts have a piece of cloth from the shoulder towards the neck which fastens with a button, the epaulet slides onto that piece of cloth and then you button it in place. So the black epaulets are not washed with the shirt. The rank on the dress uniforms, called mess kits in the military, or mess dress in some cases, have the rank for officers around the bottom of the sleeves, circling all the way round. For non officer it is embroidered on the sleeve, between the elbow and shoulder.
Hi JF, as Kate rightfully said they are detachable. The only difference is that at Princess and P&O Australia, we do not have our ranks on our sleeves for either our formal uniform/mess kits or our 12A's. We instead still wear them on our shoulders using boards, as pictured in the thumbnail of this video and when I show a picture of me as Cadet and 2nd Officer. That being said, the majority of companies do use the system described by Kate
@@SameShipDifferentDay So if your rank is detacheable, is there trading of those? Is there an issue crews losing them and needing a replacement? are you given only one set that you must cherish, or are they easy to get if you lose them?
Hi Alfie, Really indepth and informative videos. Well done! As a suggestion for future topics could you do a little history on the Pacific Explorer nee (Dawn Princess) and any news of when you expect to weigh anchor and head Down Under.
Very interesting learning the ranks. I'm interested to know if you are seconded to a particular brand at the end or your study before going to sea or did you apply to join Princess/P & O Australia particularly? Love your informative videos, thank you.
Thanks alfie for the education I love ships and cruising and I learn a lot from your TH-cam videos now I can tell who’s who and I understand what they meanI have a question to all cruise lines have the same striping patterns?
Thanks Billy, I'm glad you're enjoying the content. Unfortunately it can vary quite significantly, but you'll find deck and tech are most consistent being the most traditional ranks
Totally off topic question: The La Souffrière volcano is focsing evacuation of St Vincent/Grenadine. Some cruise lines have offered to help move people off the island. Could a ship in warm layup such as yours be allowed to do this? From a safety point of few, how many passengers per crewmember are allowed? Or how does it work to determine how many crewmembers are needed for a certain passenger load from purely safety point of view (not comfort, hotel), thinking about evacuation in case of sinking, fire etc). Is this based on number of lifeboats needed to evacuate? 1 crew per lifeboat + 1 to launch it, or does it need more? If you have 2 ships in warm layup, can one lend crews to the other to do this, or is warm layup staffing already at bare minimum with no employees to spare?
Great video! If you could I'd love to know the different rank levels within the medical department, I'm in the process of applying to be a paramedic with the Carnival/Princess brand and have heard that would be an officer but would love to know a bit more.
I enjoyed your presentation but have what might be unexpected takeaways . First I've never seen a sun above a captain stripes on ships that I've been on So that let's me know the different ships do have different ways of showing who their officers are and I find that interesting. The other thing I heard you say is you were thinking you might not be working another contract this year because of training that you wanted to get but I'm wondering if that means there's already been a determination that the ships not going to Australia this year. I have a cruise that's supposed to end in Australia Shortly before Christmas 2021 and so I've been getting everyone's opinion on whether or not they think this will happen So I'm wondering if you have an opinion on that as well?
Hi Gwen, my rotation has no correlation to the restart of cruising. I would still join a ship whether we had passengers or not. On this occasion I will just take an extended leave for personal educational reasons. With regards to your cruise, I believe Christmas is still very realistic but we need to keep a close eye on the vaccine roll-out and government regulations. I hope it all goes as planned for you!
@@SameShipDifferentDay I hope your training goes well It has been interesting watching your videos to learn more about how that works. I just watched your Coral Princess videos before the shut down and your description does make it very real. I'm glad you did okay with that. I worry about self-centered irresponsible types of cruisers getting back onboard and really hope the ships require vaccines to keep from having those covid out break problems again.
Hi Allie, thx for the info! I am married to an Airline Captain, and he has earned his stripes every day ! I am a retired Flight Attendant ! We have earned our wings every day ! It is every interesting to learn about your education ! we love Princess and can’t wait to cruise again! Hope to meet you someday ! God Bless you ! 🥰 Coming from Cleveland Ohio!
Still find it strange that only the HAL has different ranks in the deck department. In short: 3/O, 1 stripe, Assistant of the watch (OOW license) 2/O, 2 stripes, Head of watch (C/O license) 1/O=Safety Officer, 3 stripes, no watch-keeping (Master license) Staff Capt: 4 stripes Captian: 4,5 stripes (4 and one double one more or less) Also we don’t have senior ranks and you won’t get promoted because of license status.
The colours between the stripes are those the Royal Navy used up until the Second World War when they abolished them except for the red stripes for medics.
I understood that the "loop" or "curl" was introduced in mid 19th century by the Royal Navy and a kind of very simple symbol for a crown. It was adopted by serveral navies of monarchies (or nowadays former moncharies e.g. Greece) but not the navies of a republic (e.g. USA, France). So when Spain became a Republic 1931-1936, the Spanish navy got rid of the loop, just to reintroduce it after Franco won the civil war and formally reinstated the monarchy, but not the king...
Stripes are interesting. They are visual identifiers of what that person's "job" is. There is no conflict there. When it comes to - what he mentioned - the relationship between responsibilities and authority - that's where it can become problematic. Most international legal agreements are based on the concept of "mutually binding" You cannot impose responsibilities on one part for which the other party is not equally responsible for. I wish more "employees" would know and use their rights to file for "unilateral breach of contract" by a boss who assigns responsibility but undermines or even strips them of their authority on issues.
I see where you’re hanging out off Singapore. It doesn’t look very sheltered? I guess you plan to be out of the area by typhoon season? Are there storms between monsoon an typhoon season? Do you have plans in case you have to dodge a storm, or do you plan to ride it out at anchor? How about fuel vs ballast? Do you keep the fuel full through the pandemic or do you put water in empty tanks for stability? Or do you ride light? If I had been a sailor, I probably would have been an engineer. I am an engineer, just not a marine one, but marine engineering is fascinating.
I se that Singapore has an equatorial climate, so is relatively immune to powerful storms. It will be interesting to see if the new more wobbly polar vortex will reduce this immunity.
Hi, weather wise it couldn't be more perfect at the moment, but if it does start to deteriorate with the change in season then an alternate position may be considered by the company. If we see a large storm forecast then a tactical decision may be made to temporarily move to a more sheltered area, but it will depend on the circumstance. Fuel wise, we are bunkering every month during a service call in Singapore. We 'fill up' - approx 1200MT - and then head back to our anchor position, as the fuel reduces onboard we do need to ballast some double bottom ballast tanks for stability reasons, however we would never use a designated fuel tank for ballast
The Gold ring on the ranks is called the Executive Curl Or The Elliots Eye - their is lots of stores what its for or why its there but most common is because you have received a commission in the Royal Navy by HM of Great Britain and random fact did you know you can actually put it on backwards
Hi Alfie, what are the procedures for treating a dental problem/emergency for a passenger or crew member? I have been on a cruise that had a medical evacuation. I don't expect cruise ships would carry a dentist. Would this be a subject you could cover in your videos?
Hi Leslie. I was thinking to cover a medical evacuation at some stage. Dentist wise, we do not have one on board, however the medical team would treat it - to the best of their ability - and then the guest/crew would be sent ashore for treatment at the next available opportunity
Two years ago on the Caribbean Princess I saw someone with three stripes and a propeller on his epaulets. I assumed the person was a first officer in the Technical Department. Is this propeller emblem still used on Carnival Corp. ships? Related topic: transfer between different Carnival Corp. lines. Is this something that normally happens with officers offered contracts based on Carnival Corp. needs at the time, or do you get to pick the line for your next contract? Here's hoping you get get sailing again soon. I imagine confirming the anchor is still holding the ship in place gets old fast.
Hi William, I haven't come across that epaulette at Princess, but I would also assume technical related. It may have been a visitor from another brand onboard for the day? I think it is likely that these are still used in other companies. The cross brand pooling doesn't happen very much for deck and tech, we only transfer between Princess and P&O Australia, however the medical team can transfer to any ship in the HA Group (Holland America, Princess, P&O Aus & Seabourn). We can request if we have a preference but usually it happens somewhat randomly. You would not find any officer pooling between HA Group and any other group or brand under Carnival Corp, but that's not to say it doesn't happen between other brands
I was wondering. In the US Merchant Marine, the officers also hold special Navy Reserve commissions. Do the other countries such as the UK do the same thing?
They aren't called "stripes", Alfie..... they are called "rings"! Alfie here is a 2 1/2 ringer... and the word "ring" comes from the ring around the cuff on reefer jackets.
Happy Sunday Alfie. Even with your description of all the bars etc. It's still going to take me some study time to remember who is who. (wink, wink) My question for you is. Even though you're going to wait a few more years. When you do take the next Masters license course to get to the next position. Do you have to take that position? Or can you turn it down? Is it frowned upon to turn it down a promotion? And have you ever met the Commodore? Is there more than one for Carnival Corporation? Hope you are all safe and sound there in Singapore area.
Hi, it is possible to turn down a promotion, I have seen it happen on several occasions. Different ranks offer different advantages and disadvantages, so some people prefer to stay put and potentially avoid a more administrative role. However for the most part people are happy to move forward in their career. If you turn down a promotion and then change your mind, you may find it more difficult to find an opening. I sailed under Commodore Romano on the Regal Princess back in 2016, and yes I believe several other brands under Carnival Corp have a commodore
wow that was really interesting thanks for sharing #SameShipDifferentDay :) i was wondering, what does being a deck member entail? What are some of your duties please? Also i always thought growing up, im 51 now, that the captain of a cruise ship, stood there with a wooden wheel steering the ship, but i was told recently that it isn't the captain that actually steers the ship, that its someone else and a lot of the ships direction is done on auto pilot. Can you please confirm? Very interested in this side of it :)
It would be interesting to know what your training involves for each of your licences. Would it be possible to get a technical tour of the equipment in the bridge maybe? (Bit nerdy I know, but as an avid cruiser and airline captain it would be nice to see what you have to work with.)
Hi Darren, I'll definitely keep you guys involved with the training aspect while I'm going though it later this year. For the bridge equipment, it's a tricky one as filming is not permitted on the Bridge. I'm looking to see how I can do it almost "virtually"
@@SameShipDifferentDay I completely understand. Always a shame though as there is such little information out there about modern bridge systems. I really appreciate all the work you put in for your channel though, I am really enjoying it.
Well different Cruise Line different type of stripe for the capten.I Saw in Carnival has different for the capten. But the other rank pretty much the same.
Hi Brenden. I attended Fleetwood Nautical College completing a 3 year cadetship and qualifying with an Unlimited Officer of the Watch (OOW) Certificate of Competency (CoC) and a Foundation Degree in Nautical Science
Very interesting talk on a subject not that well known,i thought that the half sun was an older style P.O. badge not used for some time,watching a documentary shot on the British India ship Dwarka around 1979 the Captain and his Officers wear the P.O. cap badge not the B.I. badge or the half sun.Would be interesting to hear your opinion of the advance of A.I. in the shipping sector,i would think it would not be as much a threat to the crews of cruise ships but the days of the cargo ship Seaman sadly could well be numbered.
what kind of background checks are done on the environmental officer, is it the same as the other staff members ( deck officers) ? Who pays for it? What are the major requirments to work cruise ships? Do all staff require some kind of sailing experience?
thanks for the update Alfie, having spent most of my sea time on tankers up to Ch Officer, its interesting to see what it is like on the self discharging cargo side of the business! Question, is it normal progress on cruise ships to go to safety officer as a step between 1st Officer and Staff Captain or is it a case of 1st Officer or Safety Officer...?
Hi David. It depends on the company. In mine it’s a define step up to Safety and then onto Staff Captain. Some companies rotate the safety officer position between those of the same rank (if they have multiple)
Ents don't tend to wear stripes, but as we all know, stripes mean deck privileges, As the Production Manager I enjoyed the privileges of a two and half strip officer. Working on a cruise ship, deck privileges are everything... Well, that and access to the ents PM account of course... lol
Somehow my comment disappeared . To all who don`t understand what I was trying to say is that in some countries you can`t achieve that so fast because of the regulations . You finish highschool at 18 years old and then you have to go to college , academy , for 4 years that`s already 22 and then you have to make 1 year of apprentice ship and only after that you can take your officer licence . To take your senior officer licence ( CHIEF OFFICER ) you have to spend 2 years in rank . So with that being said this gentlemen is privileged and honestly sorry to say not so experienced as a person who goes through all this steps .
Hi Tucker, so I was fortunate enough that the regulations changed in my favour following the completion of my 3 year cadetship. My cadetship took place 18-21, made up of 18 months college time and a minimum of 12 months onboard experience. I ended up with 14 months I think. At the end of my cadetship I qualified with a OOW unlimited licence and a Foundation Degree in Nautical Science. It was this degree route (which include sitting exams for Chief Mate) that allowed me to return for my Chief Mate Exam with 12 months sea time sailing on an OOW licence. I managed to accumulate this in just over 15 months. Our Chief Mate CoC is not automatically issued and I had to sit the same face to face oral exam that any other OOW would. The reason I pushed myself so hard is because in my company, you cannot hold my own watch until you are 2nd Officer, which you cannot be without a Chief Mate licence, so it was necessary to achieve this in order to essentially be allowed to carry out the job of an OOW on any other ship type in the Merchant Navy. For this duty I felt very experienced. I did not sail as 2/O until I was 23
@@SameShipDifferentDay I am sorry mate I didn`t mean to offend you , it is just my opinion it`s nothing personal . Congrats and good luck for the future
@@Tuck31r don't worry, no offence taken. I hope I've cleared up my path. I'd agree that I probably wouldn't expect or want to see a Chief Mate in rank with just 12 months sailing as OOW, but I'm certainly glad I had the opportunity to take the exam! Thank you
Hi. Could you make a video of a real responsibility of third officer at cruise vessel. Cause there are almost nothing in the net about 3rd officer's work at cruise vessels ( duty, reports, what kinda pre-arrival documents need to prepare and etc.) One thing for sure I know, that there are several 3rd officers on the board of cruise vessel. Thanks in advance.
I ve never been interested to be an officer on cruise vessel (presently officer on oil tankers), but damn its funny to hear storys from fellow officers working on tankers who want to switch to cruise vessels where they have been rejected by recruiters and the reason being is that they dont have enough experience. As I understood, there are junior and senior officer always on the bridge at the same time on board of cruise vessel. Workload that officers on tankers have is sometimes not normal, 6on 6off watches for days, sometimes weeks and plus sole cargo watch in CCR . Of course you are most of the time alone on the bridge and in CCR and then to be rejected by someone sitting in the office who probably never been on sea is just ridiculous. One of my good friend has experience on container, general cargo, bulk, product and crude oil vessel and he applied for a lower rank on a cruise and still he was not even selected for a interview.
As much as I’d love to work as a cruise worker unfortunately I am disabled (Autism, ADHD, DSED, PTSD just to name a few) and take medication that I could end up in the hospital without (it has happened before). I was at one point training to become an airport ramp agent but unfortunately the FAA didn’t like the medications that I take and I failed my drug test. I tried to get it reversed because I do have prescriptions but they’re all like “You’re on meth. Bye!” I don’t think that whoever does all the drug test people who does the testing and stuff for ships would accept me anyways. It’s hard having mental disabilities but I’ve learned where I stand in this world
If a passenger reads the shoulder boards and tries to get your attention by calling "excuse me, Commander" do you generally know they mean you? Do passengers get a decoder ring saying "he's not a lieutenant commander, he's senior second officer?"
@@SameShipDifferentDay Is promotion to Captain strictly based on merit or is it also affected by "politics"? Like becoming a judge - all judges are lawyers, but not all lawyers can become a judge.
We have more ranks on cruise ships. The 1st officer on here is three stripe and that would be the same for a Chief Officer on cargo ships. 2nd engineers have 2 stripes
Great to see you back again, loving all that you bring to us, please keep on going from a retired Royal Marine.
👊👊👍
I love when you take the time to educate us. It’s so interesting. The next time I sail, I’m going to be looking for the colors between the stripes.
It's always good to get your updates. Thanks so much!
Thanks for this. I was interested in seeing where my shipboard experience as a Navy officer might compare. On my third ship I was the Asst First Lieutenant, then later the First Lieutenant and Deck Department head. Deck was the largest department on the ship (around 200 people) that included all the cargo and weapons handlers as well as those handling the refueling rigs and operating with the helicopter detachment on the flight deck. My ship carried fuel, ammunition, food and other supplies. I was also the Safety Officer, the Officer of the Deck for special sea details (entering and leaving port and underway replenishments), as well as acting as one if the three Tactical Action Officers when needed for combat operations. Supervising maintenance and training also took up much time, as well as other administrative duties. Fortunately, we had enough qualified officers that we were in a 4 section watch rotation.
From what you described, it seems as though my duties would be akin to the First Officer, although with added military responsibilities. In between the Commanding Officer/Captain and the Department Heads is the Executive Officer (XO). This position is largely administrative in nature, but is a stepping stone to bring the CO. On none of my three ships was the XO ever a watch stander, either underway or in port. Oh, one other duty if the department head was to control of the department operating budget.
My last ship was just under 800 feet long and 54,000 long tons fully loaded, a little under 19,000 long tons unloaded.
Thank you Alfie for explaining the ranks, I enjoyed the education. great to see you back on board
Thank you. We appreciate this, both hubby and I are retired Military, this is really interesting. Most importantly, we sail on Princess ALOT. Be safe 👍🥂🥂😁
Interesting to read that a couple of cruise ships where heading on a rescue mission to remove residents from the island where the volcano is acting up.
Glad to see you. I hope you are well and enjoying the new way of life on board.
In the Navy, we call that "hoop" an executive curl. "Executive" = the executive (or deck) department.
Thank you so, so much! Very helpful! It will really come in handy when I'm on the Enchanted Princess in November (fingers crossed).
Well done Alfie, well done. Hope to see you onboard as first officer. From your friends in passenger services!
Congrats! Always found it interesting how stripes differ on cruise ships: the Master of a cruise ship has the stripes of an admiral, not a captain, and the heads of departments (staff captain, hotel manager, etc.) have the rank of captain (4 stripes).
As Hotel General Manager, I have 4 stripes, the Captain has 4 stripes as well as the rising sun on his epaulet. Commodore of the Fleet, Rick Nash, as the senior captain, has 4 stripes and the rising sun but his outer stripe is a double stripe.
Great explanation of the ranks. Thanks Alfie
Interesting to compare P&O with other shipping lines. On Holland America Line only deck officers had a curl on the stripes. Us engineers just had straight stripes. HAL also used blue as the distinguishing colour for environmental officers as green was used by Comms/IT officers.
The Island escape (which was a subsidiary of Thompson cruises) had a diamond instead of a curl, and it was worn by both deck and engine departments.
PSA When cruise start back up anyone who who will not give respect you ALL staff should walk to Plank! Make sure you give everyone the UPMOST respect! They work hard to keep you safe! Thank you this has been your PSA!
Very interesting, will be sure to pay more attention to epaulettes next cruise! Loved the pics of you with your different ranks, your parents must be very proud of their boy! Thanks for this educational video, always enjoy your stuff.
I didn't realise that officers are on contract, I thought they'd be all permanent. Very informative.
every bady need rest on land haha
Depends which company you work for :)
hey hey hey
So the ranks that we have as a merchant sailor we have 4 Colours Black (deck) Purple (Engineer) Green (System Engineer) White (Logistics and Supply) Blue (Communications)
1 Gold strip - 3rd Officer
2 Gold Strips - 2nd officer
2 1/2 Gold Stripes - 1st Officer
3 Gold strips - Chief Officer
4 Gold Strips Captain
Ohhh thanks for letting me know . I was little bit confused. I have one question.. will you please tell me are captains allowed to videocall their families?
@@NehaGuptaa_01 we all can there is Wifi on board ship and we are inland out of port all the time.
@@KurtisCunningham thanks a lot
Tremendous video. Who knew??? But I'll definitely pay attention in the future. Might even pull out some old photo's and take a peek at the stripes.
Excellent information, Having been on a few Cruises myself, the engineering officers were the easiest to pick out since most of them were wearing coveralls with the rank stripes on their shoulders,
But all of the others were a bit confusing, Thanks for the information,
I hope that you have a safe and wonderful Deployment on board your ship.
Interesting. As a former US merchant marine we didn't have that many positions. Captain, chief mate, 2nd mate, and 1 to 2 third mates officers wise.
Cruise ships tend to have a lot more officers than cargo ships. I've worked both, and I found it a lot easier on the smaller ships.
Thank U for a clear, precise presentation IN the olden days, I heard the only Officer title ( on cargo vessels) is the one with the Green stripes... Radio Officer. The others are: Master, Mates ( 1st, 2nd, 3rd), Engineers (Chief, 2nd, 3rd, jrs) and Cadets of both departments. Pls be careful and stay safe. Request to give a decent advance notice b4 yr next live session.
Thanks for that. Very interesting to see and understand a little more of the rankings and epaulette stripes we see onboard. Looking forward to being on the sea again, hopefully, this year.
Ok the TH-cam algorithm recommended your channel and I've been binging your videos lately. I worked shoreside for a cruise line for 10 years and I know more about the officer life from your videos than I ever learned while working there!
Video ideas: have you considered doing incident analysis of past incidents like the Norwegian dream or the infamous Concordia? It would be interesting to hear your commentary on some of those incidents. Also you could do reactions to ship videos like posideon, jack and Jill, or even titanic lol. Maybe check out 74 gear or mentour aviation TH-cam channels they do those types of videos on aviation disasters or movies on planes and they're very interesting/ fun!
Hi Rachel, thanks for the great feedback. I was actually discussing a lot of your suggested topics just this week, so I am sure I will cover them at some point. Thanks for watching!
I am a second officer but on LPG Tanker, worked on the passenger ship Marco Polo from 2009 to 2012, the ship belonged to the company Cruise & Maritime Voyages )))
Well done as always with all your videos and looking forward to be out at sea again and can’t wait to see all the crew on the ships too. Also getting excited about the Australia 🇦🇺 Day Cruise next year hoping to see Pacific Explorer coming into Sydney Harbour and all the festivities of Australia Day and watch all that goes on that special day of every year. Love the videos of all that you and you crew mates do on board it gives us some idea of what all of you do on board your ship all the best with what ever you do for your work
Hey Alfie lookin much better mate!! Perhaps you can tell us something about the securityteam on board?
Green colour between the rings used to denote the electrical branch, but no longer.. but still today, electrical staff on board are called "Greenies".
Congratulations on your postings
Great information. I'm going to keep an eye out for green flash.
Interesting. Thanks for the information. Hope you are well!
Interesting video. Hopefully I will remember it when I eventually get back on a ship
I'll have to bookmark this video and watch it again before I sail in March 2022.
Please do!
Hi Alfie
Great to know who's who on a liner and seeing you - so handsome and look forward to more.
Its still a little confusing but - if I join as a medic I will know my colours LOL
Warm regards
Richard
Very Interesting Alfie. Love your videos. Take care.
Thank you for another great video. Have a good day.
FUN FACT!...(...ish...)...I was told that the purple of the engineering branch, was a sign of mourning for those of the that branch that perished aboard titanic. Purple is a colour of morning...apparently.
I don't have your stripes but I was working with two of the younger italian captain s with princess recently and to my surprise Indirectly I had more seniorty working on italian cruise ships. My first experience was in 1975 with the old ITALIAN LINE on the Raffellio and Michelangelo ships
Hey i think you know much about cruise . Would you please let me know more about this ?
Thanks for the info. Maybe I will see you as captain someday.
Interesting! Great mini stripes lesson. Thanks Alfie! 🚢💗🇨🇦
Great information, another great vid 👍👍
I don't remember hearing you explain what "COC" stands for. Thanks. I enjoy your videos during this time of the pandemic when we cannot cruise. VIcarious cruise fun. Thanks again!!
Hi Bruce. It’s stands for Certificate of Competency. It’s like our driving licence for ships
So now I have to watch Titanic and check out the badges on officer shirts :-)
Do you get a supply of badges for yoru rak sew them youself on shirts you buy, or does the cruise company sell you custom shirts to your size with your level of badge sewed in? Are they a problem to wash?
Do you also have a "formal" uniform if youre invited at Captain's table or other formal occasion with youe rank-specific badge on it?
And day to day, do you know the bridge crew sufficiently that you don't refer to their badges, or are they really used by bridge crew to see who is who because there are so many you can't know everyone's rtank?. (I can understand outside bridge the rest of ship's crew not knowing you, but curious on bridge itself).
Once outside the bridge, soes your senior 2nd officer give you any authority of other crew members (ordering cook to do X for instance, and cook would follow your authority based on striped on your shirt) ? Is such authority well defined in terms of who you can order to do stuff and what you can order?
The rank/badges are on epaulets, which is a cloth sleeve, the shirts, which are specialty shirts have a piece of cloth from the shoulder towards the neck which fastens with a button, the epaulet slides onto that piece of cloth and then you button it in place. So the black epaulets are not washed with the shirt. The rank on the dress uniforms, called mess kits in the military, or mess dress in some cases, have the rank for officers around the bottom of the sleeves, circling all the way round. For non officer it is embroidered on the sleeve, between the elbow and shoulder.
Hi JF, as Kate rightfully said they are detachable. The only difference is that at Princess and P&O Australia, we do not have our ranks on our sleeves for either our formal uniform/mess kits or our 12A's. We instead still wear them on our shoulders using boards, as pictured in the thumbnail of this video and when I show a picture of me as Cadet and 2nd Officer. That being said, the majority of companies do use the system described by Kate
@@SameShipDifferentDay So if your rank is detacheable, is there trading of those? Is there an issue crews losing them and needing a replacement? are you given only one set that you must cherish, or are they easy to get if you lose them?
Hi Alfie, Really indepth and informative videos. Well done! As a suggestion for future topics could you do a little history on the Pacific Explorer nee (Dawn Princess) and any news of when you expect to weigh anchor and head Down Under.
I worked the DP, was my first ship way back in 98
Hi Love your videos thankyou so much for putting them all up.Can we have a Video of what the bridge looks like during the night please?
Im just about to embark a career on cruise ships, as a technical stores manager after a 19 year career at sea elsewhere. Looking forward to it.
Very interesting and informative. Thanks.
Very interesting learning the ranks. I'm interested to know if you are seconded to a particular brand at the end or your study before going to sea or did you apply to join Princess/P & O Australia particularly? Love your informative videos, thank you.
I applied directly to Princess, among other brands, before starting a cadetship and they sponsored me all the way through.
Thanks alfie for the education I love ships and cruising and I learn a lot from your TH-cam videos now I can tell who’s who and I understand what they meanI have a question to all cruise lines have the same striping patterns?
Thanks Billy, I'm glad you're enjoying the content. Unfortunately it can vary quite significantly, but you'll find deck and tech are most consistent being the most traditional ranks
Totally off topic question:
The La Souffrière volcano is focsing evacuation of St Vincent/Grenadine. Some cruise lines have offered to help move people off the island. Could a ship in warm layup such as yours be allowed to do this? From a safety point of few, how many passengers per crewmember are allowed? Or how does it work to determine how many crewmembers are needed for a certain passenger load from purely safety point of view (not comfort, hotel), thinking about evacuation in case of sinking, fire etc). Is this based on number of lifeboats needed to evacuate? 1 crew per lifeboat + 1 to launch it, or does it need more?
If you have 2 ships in warm layup, can one lend crews to the other to do this, or is warm layup staffing already at bare minimum with no employees to spare?
Go all the way kid. 💪
Great video! If you could I'd love to know the different rank levels within the medical department, I'm in the process of applying to be a paramedic with the Carnival/Princess brand and have heard that would be an officer but would love to know a bit more.
I enjoyed your presentation but have what might be unexpected takeaways . First I've never seen a sun above a captain stripes on ships that I've been on So that let's me know the different ships do have different ways of showing who their officers are and I find that interesting. The other thing I heard you say is you were thinking you might not be working another contract this year because of training that you wanted to get but I'm wondering if that means there's already been a determination that the ships not going to Australia this year. I have a cruise that's supposed to end in Australia Shortly before Christmas 2021 and so I've been getting everyone's opinion on whether or not they think this will happen So I'm wondering if you have an opinion on that as well?
Hi Gwen, my rotation has no correlation to the restart of cruising. I would still join a ship whether we had passengers or not. On this occasion I will just take an extended leave for personal educational reasons. With regards to your cruise, I believe Christmas is still very realistic but we need to keep a close eye on the vaccine roll-out and government regulations. I hope it all goes as planned for you!
@@SameShipDifferentDay I hope your training goes well
It has been interesting watching your videos to learn more about how that works. I just watched your Coral Princess videos before the shut down and your description does make it very real. I'm glad you did okay with that. I worry about self-centered irresponsible types of cruisers getting back onboard and really hope the ships require vaccines to keep from having those covid out break problems again.
Hi Allie, thx for the info!
I am married to an Airline Captain, and he has earned his stripes every day ! I am a retired Flight Attendant ! We have earned our wings every day !
It is every interesting to learn about your education ! we love Princess and can’t wait to cruise again!
Hope to meet you someday ! God Bless you ! 🥰
Coming from Cleveland Ohio!
Still find it strange that only the HAL has different ranks in the deck department.
In short:
3/O, 1 stripe, Assistant of the watch (OOW license)
2/O, 2 stripes, Head of watch (C/O license)
1/O=Safety Officer, 3 stripes, no watch-keeping (Master license)
Staff Capt: 4 stripes
Captian: 4,5 stripes (4 and one double one more or less)
Also we don’t have senior ranks and you won’t get promoted because of license status.
Thank you second officer
The colours between the stripes are those the Royal Navy used up until the Second World War when they abolished them except for the red stripes for medics.
I understood that the "loop" or "curl" was introduced in mid 19th century by the Royal Navy and a kind of very simple symbol for a crown. It was adopted by serveral navies of monarchies (or nowadays former moncharies e.g. Greece) but not the navies of a republic (e.g. USA, France). So when Spain became a Republic 1931-1936, the Spanish navy got rid of the loop, just to reintroduce it after Franco won the civil war and formally reinstated the monarchy, but not the king...
Stripes are interesting. They are visual identifiers of what that person's "job" is. There is no conflict there. When it comes to - what he mentioned - the relationship between responsibilities and authority - that's where it can become problematic.
Most international legal agreements are based on the concept of "mutually binding" You cannot impose responsibilities on one part for which the other party is not equally responsible for.
I wish more "employees" would know and use their rights to file for "unilateral breach of contract" by a boss who assigns responsibility but undermines or even strips them of their authority on issues.
Awesome information 👍❤️
I see where you’re hanging out off Singapore. It doesn’t look very sheltered? I guess you plan to be out of the area by typhoon season? Are there storms between monsoon an typhoon season? Do you have plans in case you have to dodge a storm, or do you plan to ride it out at anchor? How about fuel vs ballast? Do you keep the fuel full through the pandemic or do you put water in empty tanks for stability? Or do you ride light? If I had been a sailor, I probably would have been an engineer. I am an engineer, just not a marine one, but marine engineering is fascinating.
I se that Singapore has an equatorial climate, so is relatively immune to powerful storms. It will be interesting to see if the new more wobbly polar vortex will reduce this immunity.
Hi, weather wise it couldn't be more perfect at the moment, but if it does start to deteriorate with the change in season then an alternate position may be considered by the company. If we see a large storm forecast then a tactical decision may be made to temporarily move to a more sheltered area, but it will depend on the circumstance. Fuel wise, we are bunkering every month during a service call in Singapore. We 'fill up' - approx 1200MT - and then head back to our anchor position, as the fuel reduces onboard we do need to ballast some double bottom ballast tanks for stability reasons, however we would never use a designated fuel tank for ballast
The Gold ring on the ranks is called the Executive Curl Or The Elliots Eye - their is lots of stores what its for or why its there but most common is because you have received a commission in the Royal Navy by HM of Great Britain and random fact did you know you can actually put it on backwards
Hi Alfie, what are the procedures for treating a dental problem/emergency for a passenger or crew member? I have been on a cruise that had a medical evacuation. I don't expect cruise ships would carry a dentist. Would this be a subject you could cover in your videos?
Hi Leslie. I was thinking to cover a medical evacuation at some stage. Dentist wise, we do not have one on board, however the medical team would treat it - to the best of their ability - and then the guest/crew would be sent ashore for treatment at the next available opportunity
Another great video. Are the stripes/colors/loops consistent across different cruise lines?
Some of them are more consistent than others! Deck and technical are likely to be most similar across brands
Two years ago on the Caribbean Princess I saw someone with three stripes and a propeller on his epaulets. I assumed the person was a first officer in the Technical Department. Is this propeller emblem still used on Carnival Corp. ships?
Related topic: transfer between different Carnival Corp. lines. Is this something that normally happens with officers offered contracts based on Carnival Corp. needs at the time, or do you get to pick the line for your next contract?
Here's hoping you get get sailing again soon. I imagine confirming the anchor is still holding the ship in place gets old fast.
Hi William, I haven't come across that epaulette at Princess, but I would also assume technical related. It may have been a visitor from another brand onboard for the day? I think it is likely that these are still used in other companies.
The cross brand pooling doesn't happen very much for deck and tech, we only transfer between Princess and P&O Australia, however the medical team can transfer to any ship in the HA Group (Holland America, Princess, P&O Aus & Seabourn). We can request if we have a preference but usually it happens somewhat randomly. You would not find any officer pooling between HA Group and any other group or brand under Carnival Corp, but that's not to say it doesn't happen between other brands
@@SameShipDifferentDay In the US, epaulettes with propellors are typically worn by the Engineering department.
I was wondering. In the US Merchant Marine, the officers also hold special Navy Reserve commissions. Do the other countries such as the UK do the same thing?
Hi John, not automatically, however I do believe it's a possibility for those that want to
@@SameShipDifferentDay Here in Argentina is the same, you don't hold it automatically anymore but you can join voluntarily if you want to.
They aren't called "stripes", Alfie..... they are called "rings"! Alfie here is a 2 1/2 ringer... and the word "ring" comes from the ring around the cuff on reefer jackets.
Love this
Hopefully we will see you become master :)
Happy Sunday Alfie.
Even with your description of all the bars etc. It's still going to take me some study time to remember who is who. (wink, wink)
My question for you is. Even though you're going to wait a few more years. When you do take the next Masters license course to get to the next position. Do you have to take that position? Or can you turn it down? Is it frowned upon to turn it down a promotion?
And have you ever met the Commodore? Is there more than one for Carnival Corporation?
Hope you are all safe and sound there in Singapore area.
Hi, it is possible to turn down a promotion, I have seen it happen on several occasions. Different ranks offer different advantages and disadvantages, so some people prefer to stay put and potentially avoid a more administrative role. However for the most part people are happy to move forward in their career. If you turn down a promotion and then change your mind, you may find it more difficult to find an opening. I sailed under Commodore Romano on the Regal Princess back in 2016, and yes I believe several other brands under Carnival Corp have a commodore
please make a video on the benifits an officer of your rank gets while on board.
Are these ranks universal for all cruise lines? I find these fascinating.❤❤❤. I wish the best for you! Best wishes from Texas.
wow that was really interesting thanks for sharing #SameShipDifferentDay :) i was wondering, what does being a deck member entail? What are some of your duties please? Also i always thought growing up, im 51 now, that the captain of a cruise ship, stood there with a wooden wheel steering the ship, but i was told recently that it isn't the captain that actually steers the ship, that its someone else and a lot of the ships direction is done on auto pilot. Can you please confirm? Very interested in this side of it :)
It would be interesting to know what your training involves for each of your licences. Would it be possible to get a technical tour of the equipment in the bridge maybe? (Bit nerdy I know, but as an avid cruiser and airline captain it would be nice to see what you have to work with.)
Hi Darren, I'll definitely keep you guys involved with the training aspect while I'm going though it later this year. For the bridge equipment, it's a tricky one as filming is not permitted on the Bridge. I'm looking to see how I can do it almost "virtually"
@@SameShipDifferentDay I completely understand. Always a shame though as there is such little information out there about modern bridge systems. I really appreciate all the work you put in for your channel though, I am really enjoying it.
Congratulations Alfie, or do I have to call you Alfred now?
so Ltcd? what is w the loop, in Au insignias? oh 2:00 nm. nice one. always wondered. so *no loop, no coc* . got it. important to know at sea.
jc
Well different Cruise Line different type of stripe for the capten.I Saw in Carnival has different for the capten. But the other rank pretty much the same.
What schooling did you go through to become a bridge officer? What college did you graduate from and for what did you study?
Hi Brenden. I attended Fleetwood Nautical College completing a 3 year cadetship and qualifying with an Unlimited Officer of the Watch (OOW) Certificate of Competency (CoC) and a Foundation Degree in Nautical Science
Very interesting talk on a subject not that well known,i thought that the half sun was an older style P.O. badge not used for some time,watching a documentary shot on the British India ship Dwarka around 1979 the Captain and his Officers wear the P.O. cap badge not the B.I. badge or the half sun.Would be interesting to hear your opinion of the advance of A.I. in the shipping sector,i would think it would not be as much a threat to the crews of cruise ships but the days of the cargo ship Seaman sadly could well be numbered.
very informative
what kind of background checks are done on the environmental officer, is it the same as the other staff members ( deck officers) ? Who pays for it?
What are the major requirments to work cruise ships? Do all staff require some kind of sailing experience?
thanks for the update Alfie, having spent most of my sea time on tankers up to Ch Officer, its interesting to see what it is like on the self discharging cargo side of the business! Question, is it normal progress on cruise ships to go to safety officer as a step between 1st Officer and Staff Captain or is it a case of 1st Officer or Safety Officer...?
Hi David. It depends on the company. In mine it’s a define step up to Safety and then onto Staff Captain. Some companies rotate the safety officer position between those of the same rank (if they have multiple)
Ents don't tend to wear stripes, but as we all know, stripes mean deck privileges, As the Production Manager I enjoyed the privileges of a two and half strip officer. Working on a cruise ship, deck privileges are everything... Well, that and access to the ents PM account of course... lol
whiting to see the inside and outside of your ship.
Somehow my comment disappeared . To all who don`t understand what I was trying to say is that in some countries you can`t achieve that so fast because of the regulations . You finish highschool at 18 years old and then you have to go to college , academy , for 4 years that`s already 22 and then you have to make 1 year of apprentice ship and only after that you can take your officer licence . To take your senior officer licence ( CHIEF OFFICER ) you have to spend 2 years in rank . So with that being said this gentlemen is privileged and honestly sorry to say not so experienced as a person who goes through all this steps .
Hi Tucker, so I was fortunate enough that the regulations changed in my favour following the completion of my 3 year cadetship. My cadetship took place 18-21, made up of 18 months college time and a minimum of 12 months onboard experience. I ended up with 14 months I think. At the end of my cadetship I qualified with a OOW unlimited licence and a Foundation Degree in Nautical Science. It was this degree route (which include sitting exams for Chief Mate) that allowed me to return for my Chief Mate Exam with 12 months sea time sailing on an OOW licence. I managed to accumulate this in just over 15 months. Our Chief Mate CoC is not automatically issued and I had to sit the same face to face oral exam that any other OOW would. The reason I pushed myself so hard is because in my company, you cannot hold my own watch until you are 2nd Officer, which you cannot be without a Chief Mate licence, so it was necessary to achieve this in order to essentially be allowed to carry out the job of an OOW on any other ship type in the Merchant Navy. For this duty I felt very experienced. I did not sail as 2/O until I was 23
@@SameShipDifferentDay I am sorry mate I didn`t mean to offend you , it is just my opinion it`s nothing personal . Congrats and good luck for the future
@@Tuck31r don't worry, no offence taken. I hope I've cleared up my path. I'd agree that I probably wouldn't expect or want to see a Chief Mate in rank with just 12 months sailing as OOW, but I'm certainly glad I had the opportunity to take the exam! Thank you
interesting post. Thanks
Hi.
Could you make a video of a real responsibility of third officer at cruise vessel. Cause there are almost nothing in the net about 3rd officer's work at cruise vessels ( duty, reports, what kinda pre-arrival documents need to prepare and etc.) One thing for sure I know, that there are several 3rd officers on the board of cruise vessel. Thanks in advance.
Hi Alfie, what happened to the sour grapes comments earlier? In my opinion their comments were uncalled for.
Hi Scott, not sure. Possibly removed by the commenter. Thank you
@@SameShipDifferentDay thank you. Have a good day.
How did you get a cruise ship job ?? Can you make a video on that please 🥺
how do military quals transfer to civ life?
jc
very informative video, butt one question how many people are involved with just the sailing of the ship, ie deck, engineering etc but not hotel etc
Hi Mike. At the moment we are at around 75 deck and tech onboard keeping the ship running. For normal operations you can almost double that
@@SameShipDifferentDay thanks
I wanted to go to sea. Very interesting. Would like to know your story how you got to were you are. Good videos 👍
I ve never been interested to be an officer on cruise vessel (presently officer on oil tankers), but damn its funny to hear storys from fellow officers working on tankers who want to switch to cruise vessels where they have been rejected by recruiters and the reason being is that they dont have enough experience. As I understood, there are junior and senior officer always on the bridge at the same time on board of cruise vessel. Workload that officers on tankers have is sometimes not normal, 6on 6off watches for days, sometimes weeks and plus sole cargo watch in CCR . Of course you are most of the time alone on the bridge and in CCR and then to be rejected by someone sitting in the office who probably never been on sea is just ridiculous. One of my good friend has experience on container, general cargo, bulk, product and crude oil vessel and he applied for a lower rank on a cruise and still he was not even selected for a interview.
As much as I’d love to work as a cruise worker unfortunately I am disabled (Autism, ADHD, DSED, PTSD just to name a few) and take medication that I could end up in the hospital without (it has happened before). I was at one point training to become an airport ramp agent but unfortunately the FAA didn’t like the medications that I take and I failed my drug test. I tried to get it reversed because I do have prescriptions but they’re all like “You’re on meth. Bye!” I don’t think that whoever does all the drug test people who does the testing and stuff for ships would accept me anyways. It’s hard having mental disabilities but I’ve learned where I stand in this world
Are you from Australia or England. Do you ever do the Alaska run via Vancouver
If a passenger reads the shoulder boards and tries to get your attention by calling "excuse me, Commander" do you generally know they mean you? Do passengers get a decoder ring saying "he's not a lieutenant commander, he's senior second officer?"
Chief Makoi is Chief Engineer on board a cargo ship
Great TH-cam channel, spends most of his video time in overalls and civilian clothes on shore leave
Is it true that in order to be promoted to the rank of Captain you have to be able to sing the theme song to "The Love Boat" in 2 different languages?
I hope so
@@SameShipDifferentDay Is promotion to Captain strictly based on merit or is it also affected by "politics"? Like becoming a judge - all judges are lawyers, but not all lawyers can become a judge.
I thought 3 stripes was Chief Officer, or 2nd Engineer? Apols if you explain that later in the vid
We have more ranks on cruise ships. The 1st officer on here is three stripe and that would be the same for a Chief Officer on cargo ships. 2nd engineers have 2 stripes
@@SameShipDifferentDay Do you have First Engineers then? The Offshore vessel industry seems to have gone down that route (Ch.Eng, 1st.Eng etc)
I love your videos... you communicate awesomely and eloquently ... I do however think you should be a model! ;) your gorgeous! xx