Signing onto a ship you have never sailed on before, especially as a licensed officer can have someone full of Anxiety. Lifeboats / Davit systems, been on over 10 different ships. Always a different davit system. Life boats, some are easy to change the fuel and some leave you scratching your head at whoever designed such garbage. Engine room plants, a whole assortment of various machinery. Most of the time, is different that your last ship. While mariners can step onboard and get familar and be competent to operate a plant with a brief turnover. There is a difference between that level of “familiarized” vs Proficient. Example, you move into a new house and while your familiar with where all the light switches are. You may stumble around looking for a light switch. After awhile though you just instinctively know where all the light switched are and could find them all blind folded. Has anyone ever signed on a ship and felt like the expectation demanded that you be at a proficiency level, when by all realistic practical measures any person could only be at a familiar level ?
It’s always fun when a bunch of newbies join a couple of days before a Port State Inspection.
it is even more fun to be the newbie, joining a ship. The first time starting the lifeboat in front of the captain, chief engineer, and a few inspectors. Then after successfully getting the vessel through the inspections. Get transferred to a different ship only to have to do the process again