How to become Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessel in 2024

Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessel Command or supervise operations of ships and water vessels, such as tugboats and ferryboats. Required to hold license issued by U.S. Coast Guard.

Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessel is Also Know as

In different settings, Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessel is titled as

  • Boat Captain
  • Captain
  • Ferry Boat Captain
  • First Mate
  • Harbor Pilot
  • Mate
  • River Pilot
  • Ship Pilot
  • Tugboat Captain
  • Vessel Master

Education and Training of Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessel

Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessel is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessel

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Education Required for Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessel

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Degrees Related to Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessel

Training Required for Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessel

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessel in different industries are

What Do Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessel do?

  • Direct courses and speeds of ships, based on specialized knowledge of local winds, weather, water depths, tides, currents, and hazards.
  • Prevent ships under navigational control from engaging in unsafe operations.
  • Serve as a vessel's docking master upon arrival at a port or at a berth.
  • Consult maps, charts, weather reports, or navigation equipment to determine and direct ship movements.
  • Steer and operate vessels, using radios, depth finders, radars, lights, buoys, or lighthouses.
  • Operate ship-to-shore radios to exchange information needed for ship operations.
  • Dock or undock vessels, sometimes maneuvering through narrow spaces, such as locks.
  • Stand watches on vessels during specified periods while vessels are under way.
  • Inspect vessels to ensure efficient and safe operation of vessels and equipment and conformance to regulations.
  • Read gauges to verify sufficient levels of hydraulic fluid, air pressure, or oxygen.
  • Report to appropriate authorities any violations of federal or state pilotage laws.
  • Provide assistance in maritime rescue operations.
  • Signal passing vessels, using whistles, flashing lights, flags, or radios.
  • Measure depths of water, using depth-measuring equipment.
  • Maintain boats or equipment on board, such as engines, winches, navigational systems, fire extinguishers, or life preservers.
  • Signal crew members or deckhands to rig tow lines, open or close gates or ramps, or pull guard chains across entries.
  • Advise ships' masters on harbor rules and customs procedures.
  • Maintain records of daily activities, personnel reports, ship positions and movements, ports of call, weather and sea conditions, pollution control efforts, or cargo or passenger status.
  • Observe loading or unloading of cargo or equipment to ensure that handling and storage are performed according to specifications.
  • Calculate sightings of land, using electronic sounding devices and following contour lines on charts.
  • Learn to operate new technology systems and procedures through instruction, simulators, or models.
  • Direct or coordinate crew members or workers performing activities such as loading or unloading cargo, steering vessels, operating engines, or operating, maintaining, or repairing ship equipment.
  • Arrange for ships to be fueled, restocked with supplies, or repaired.
  • Supervise crews in cleaning or maintaining decks, superstructures, or bridges.
  • Purchase supplies or equipment.
  • Tow and maneuver barges or signal tugboats to tow barges to destinations.
  • Perform various marine duties, such as checking for oil spills or other pollutants around ports or harbors or patrolling beaches.
  • Assign watches or living quarters to crew members.
  • Interview and hire crew members.
  • Conduct safety drills such as man overboard or fire drills.

Qualities of Good Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessel

  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.

Tools Used by Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessel

  • Accommodation ladder
  • Anchors
  • Automatic radar plotting aids ARPA
  • Bolt cutters
  • Bridge to bridge radiotelephones
  • Bulk carriers
  • Carbon dioxide CO2 fire extinguishing systems
  • Carbon dioxide CO2 flooding systems
  • Cargo derricks
  • Centrifugal cargo pumps
  • Chain cargo falls
  • Chemical tankers
  • Claw hammers
  • Container lift trucks
  • Container ships
  • Crescent wrenches
  • Cruise ships
  • Desktop computers
  • Differential global positioning satellite DGPS positioning systems
  • Differential global positioning systems DGPS
  • Dividers
  • Drafting triangles
  • Dry chemical fire extinguishers
  • Dynamic positioning DP systems
  • Echo sounders
  • Electric deck cranes
  • Electric mooring winches
  • Electric telegraphs
  • Electric windlasses
  • Electronic chart display and information systems ECDIS
  • Emergency fire pumps
  • Emergency generators
  • Fathometer sonar equipment
  • Ferries
  • Fire alarm switches
  • Fire pumps
  • Firefighting suits
  • First aid kits
  • Fixed fire suppression systems
  • Foam fire extinguishers
  • Foam fire extinguishing systems
  • Gantry cranes
  • Gear pumps
  • Global Navigation Satellite System GNSS
  • Global positioning systems GPS
  • Grabbing cranes
  • Gyrocompasses
  • Hand capstans
  • Hand punches
  • Hand windlasses
  • High frequency HF radiotelephone systems
  • Hydraulic capstans
  • Hydraulic deck cranes
  • Hydraulic mooring winches
  • Hydraulic windlasses
  • Immersion suits
  • Integrated bridge systems
  • Laptop computers
  • Life buoys
  • Life jackets
  • Life rafts
  • Life vests
  • Lifeboat davits
  • Lifting slings
  • Lifting spreaders
  • Line throwing appliances
  • Locking jaw pliers
  • Long range navigation LORAN systems
  • Long range navigation LORAN-C systems
  • Magnet hoists
  • Magnetic compasses
  • Manual winches
  • Mechanical pilot hoists
  • Mechanical telegraphs
  • Mooring cables
  • Mooring chains
  • Mooring lines
  • Mooring winches
  • Natural fiber mooring ropes
  • Navigational compasses
  • Night vision binoculars
  • Oil tanker ships
  • Parallel plotters
  • Parallel rules
  • Personal computers
  • Pilot ladders
  • Pipe wrenches
  • Portable carbon dioxide fire extinguishers
  • Portable dry chemical fire extinguishers
  • Portable water fire extinguishers
  • Pyrotechnic distress signals
  • Radio communications system
  • Radio direction finders RDF
  • Rescue boats
  • Rescue slings
  • Respirators
  • Rotary displacement pumps
  • Safety belts
  • Safety glasses
  • Safety harnesses
  • Safety helmets
  • Safety lanyards
  • Screw displacement pump
  • Screw displacement pumps
  • Semaphores
  • Sextants
  • Sharpening steels
  • Sheave blocks
  • Ship alarm systems
  • Ship anchor chocks
  • Ship's whistles
  • Ship-to-shore radios
  • Shipboard radar
  • Signal flags
  • Signal light controls
  • Signal lights
  • Sounding rods
  • Sounding tapes
  • Spanner wrenches
  • Spanners
  • Steam winches
  • Steering control systems
  • Surveillance binoculars
  • Synthetic mooring ropes
  • Thermal protective aids TPA
  • Totally enclosed motor propelled survival craft TEMPSC
  • Tugboats
  • Two way radios
  • Ultra high frequency UHF radiotelephone systems
  • Very high frequency VHF radiotelephone system
  • Very high frequency VHF radiotelephone systems
  • Very high frequency VHF radiotelephones
  • Voice pipes
  • Voyage management systems VMS
  • Water mist systems
  • Wind gauges
  • WING GAUGES
  • Workshop vises

Technology Skills required for Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessel

  • Apple macOS
  • Autodesk Revit
  • Computerized maintenance management system CMMS
  • FURUNO navigational chart software
  • Groundwater modeling system GMS
  • Jeppesen Marine Nobeltec Admiral
  • JRC navigation software
  • KNMI TurboWin
  • Log book software
  • Maptech The CAPN
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office Outlook
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Word
  • Navigational chart software
  • SHIPNEXT