I know there is a CFR requiring Ocean going vessels to issue a Certificate of Discharge but I seem to remember reading about a Letter of Sea time being acceptable in lieu of a Certificate of Discharge from a company not that does not normally issue a COD like say an Inland company…
[QUOTE=Mike Bolinger;175775]I know there is a CFR requiring Ocean going vessels to issue a Certificate of Discharge but I seem to remember reading about a Letter of Sea time being acceptable in lieu of a Certificate of Discharge from a company not that does not normally issue a COD like say an Inland company…[/QUOTE]
go to nmc website. print out CG718a. “master” has no choice but to sign. keep original. office gets 2 copies. they retain one, other gets mailed to USCG.
will get less scrutiny from USCG than cooked up company letter.
keep forever.
Ok, thank you for that.
guess I will come armed with one of those next time I decide to work “outlaw” for awhile.
cant get the company to follow serious federal laws why would they care about a piss ant USMM?
I have the US Code on COD’s for documented seaman departing a ship but that is a whole different class of people and education than we are dealing with here.
Its all good.
I got enough days in with a “mom and pop op” that is owned by a God fearing family so I achieved my goal of racking up enough days on paper to save for my next renewal.
I only do that long enough until I get my 180 (12 hr days) days then I quit counting.
I go by “years” now or how many “Issues” you are on; which is a number you have to come up with yourself by dividing your total licensed sea time by 5 because there is no longer an “Issue Number” on your “License”, or more accurately, your “MMC”.
A very good Majority of the “Masters” I have worked with over the years were cool ass Ol’ School Cap’ns.
Never knew until now (25+ years) that a Master of a vessel could write your letter of sea time.
Too bad we can’t write our own sea time like fellas that own sail boats or Inspected vessels usually well less that 100 Ton.
I think the pay stubs speak for themselves…that is if they are written in Greek or “code”.
I think there is another form you can submit with a paystub that is easy enough to understand and get credit also.
I had a CFR that I printed out and hung onto for years that specified that no matter the route (Offshore or Inland) that they had to provide "the seaman with a Certificate of Discharge or a Letter of Seatime acceptable to the USCG for sea time documentation.
In other words they can’t play games with what is rightfully yours like your pay.
I have almost owned a couple boats via legal wage lien on one or two outlaws that wanted to play games with my pay.
They saw the light pretty quick after an email or two with my attorney.
But they are coming up short on what I know I saw in writing at one time specifying that is was a Federal law that a company must provide the Seaman with a COD upon departure from the vessel or for some companies a Letter of Seatime upon “the Seaman’s request”.
I lost it and have not been able to find it since.
I love CFR’s.
They were always the “gimme” questions on the test but you saved them for last because it took so long to flip through multiple pages and CFR’s or USC’s to find the answer.
Almost like doing a celestial LOP “Ol’ school”.
The company is required to report your sea time to the USCG via a certificate of discharge.
It doesn’t matter that you’re running Inland tugs, certificate of discharges are still technically required.
46 CFR 14.311 is close but no Cuban.
It is referring to a vessel going out of service and other circumstances.
It is in the same area as this though.
I can use this to get me closer to navigate the endless abyss with a place to start though.
But we are red hot now though, I can feel it.
I know I had it in print at one time to refer to…but you know how the CFR’s are to navigate…so after I lost the print out I had I gave up trying to find it again…until now I haven’t needed to refer to it…
And it probably won’t do any good if I do find it but I just want to know that I am right and the other skunk in this pissin’ match is wrong.
But ya know…in the end we’ll both still come out stinkin’ won’t we?
[QUOTE=Mike Bolinger;175808]46 CFR 14.311 is close but no Cuban.
It is referring to a vessel going out of service and other circumstances.[/QUOTE]
Not true, read it again. Pay particular attention to the words “at the end of each voyage”.
“(a) At the end of each foreign, intercoastal, and coastwise voyage by a vessel of the United States, or of each voyage by such a vessel that sails exclusively on bays or sounds…, the shipping company may electronically transmit the data from the certificates of discharge to the electronic address provided by the Coast Guard in §14.103 of this part.”