Good afternoon. New to this forum but been on the river for goin on ten years now. I’ve had my apprentice mates license for going on 4 years and have 1060 days in. My boss is telling me that with 1080 days I can upgrade my license directly to master. I can not find any info on this and I am wondering 1) if any of you can point me to the info I am seeking and 2) if you think he’s just blowing smoke. Any input is much appreciated.
Thank you!
Never heard of going from apprentice right to master , but with all that time , you could have a master of towing ,if you submitted for a mate of towing three years ago
Not possible. You can get there two ways: Mate of towing vessels and 1 more year as Mate, or Mate 500 and one year as Mate to Master 500. Both options require completing a TOAR.
You might get LIMITED master of towing with that time and completing a TOAR. It will be limited to specific area, often not more than 25 miles of river.
I apologize. We just had a meeting and he says it would be an unlimited mate/pilot. Does this sound correct? And that you for your responses.
No
No, it’s not correct. All paths to master of towing ( not limited) require time as Mate.
He corrected himself, mate not master.
Yes, I misread. You could have answered the question, but apparently you were only interested in pointing out my error.
MATE of towing vessels takes a total of 12 months as Apprentice Mate/Pilot with at least 3 on the route applied for. You need to complete the TOAR for the route. There is no exam. See 46 CFR 11.465.
I don’t know the requirements for those licenses off the top of my head and I didn’t have very long to be on gCaptain to spend time looking it up. Plus, everyone always prefers to have you give the answer anyway.