Okay I know y’all have to be tired of sea time questions. But I couldn’t find anything on here, so here goes…
I’m 12 weeks short of my sea time (AB/OS seatime) for third oceans. But I have a lot of watchman time I never included because I assumed it wouldn’t count. According to the cfr- it’s 3 years in deck dept with a minimum of 180 days bridge watch keeping duties… So it got me wondering if my watchman time would count. It was on the run, not in yards, if that helps.
TL;DR
Does Deck/Watchman time count for anything towards a third mate oceans?
Absolutely it counts. And if you’ve got 180 days of watchman time, that would cover your 180 days of watchkeeping duties.
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Watchman on the Great Lakes means something different than you’re use to deep sea. AB Watch deep sea equivalent is called “Wheelsman” up there. “Watchman” is more like an OS, or AB-Maintenance dayworker. Therefore it won’t count for the watchkeeping duties.
Can only assume OP has a Great Lakes background thinking “watchman” time won’t count, and categorizing “deck/watchman” together, and even using the term vs simply watch or watchstander
But yes, it all counts as deck seatime, in which you need 1,080 days in the deck department. Checklists are your friend.
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Just to clarify a watchman on cruise ship or any off shore passenger vessel, does Deck work and has punch stations hourly to ensure the boat is safe. And I only said Deck/watchman because on the seatime letter it’s listed under deck dept, position -watchman. I hope that helps, thanks for the help, love the community here
That should hopefully qualify as time in the deck department. The requirement is not 1,080 days of bridge watch, just 1,080 days working on deck.
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I’ve been a watchman on a cruise ship. It counts.
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