Hawsepiper is an informal maritime industry term used to refer to a merchant ship’s officer who began his or her career as an unlicensed merchant seaman and did not attend a traditional maritime college/academy to earn the officer license. In the United States, after accumulating enough sea time in a qualified rating, taking required training courses, and completing on-board assessments, the mariner can apply to the United States Coast Guard for a license as a Third Mate or Third Assistant Engineer.If approved the applicant must then successfully pass comprehensive license examination before being issued the license.
A ship’s hawsepipe is the pipe passing through the bow section of a ship that the anchor chain passes through. Hawsepiper refers to climbing up the hawsepipe, a nautical metaphor for climbing up the ship’s rank structure. This is in turn derived from the traditional British Naval usage of “came up through the hawsehole,” referring to sailors who first entered the ship as foremast jacks before becoming officers, metaphorically by climbing up the hawser without great honor or respect, rather than being received directly onto the quarterdeck.
Several merchant seamen’s unions offer their membership the required training to help them advance.[1] Similarly, some employers offer financial assistance to pay for the training for their employees. Otherwise, the mariner is responsible for the cost of the required training.
Since the requirements of STCW '95 have been enacted there have been complaints that the hawsepiper progression path has been made too difficult because of the cost in time and money to meet formal classroom training requirements. These critics assert that the newer requirements will eventually lead to a shortage of qualified mariners, especially in places like the United States.[2]
The U.S. military rough equivalent to this term is mustang.
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I don’t care if you are a hawsepiper or an academy guy, if you don’t have oil field and DP experience don’t expect to be put in the wheel house at a top company right off the bat. Just because you have sailed on your ticket doesn’t mean shit on an OSV.
You better get used to more and more companies hiring academy guys straight to the wheelhouse because in ten years or so, hause piping will a thing of the past. In the rest of the maritime industry (other than OSV), hause pipers are kinda rare.
And you sir are a fucking idiot. We are the backbone of the industry and never going away. When the DP system goes tits up when you’ve got several hoses on deck and you’re landing a heavy lift with the boat bowed up in 20-25knt winds and 6ft seas you will thank the lord that we are standing there to save your ass.
But lets be honest you’re just trying to get on an OSV so you can get you’re DP time so you can jump to drill ships. The OSV companies are wise to you guys, so it’s not in there best interest to hire you.
But lets be honest you’re just trying to get on an OSV so you can get you’re DP time so you can jump to drill ships. The OSV companies are wise to you guys, so it’s not in there best interest to hire you.[/QUOTE]
Hey now, don’t throw all of us into that category! I like the boat handling and don’t have a desire to head to the rigs.
I was just being a dick. With a lot of generalities being thrown around from the academy guys I thought I would throw one back for the hawsepipers.
With more and more MPSV being US built I do see there being a need for unlimited guys in the gulf that are not just on rigs. Kind of where I see myself in another 10 years or so.
I was just coming from the standpoint that Texas A&M and Mass maritime are putting in DP simulators and will be pumping out graduates with DP on their license which will flood the oil field( some of the other academies maybe too, but I know those two are for sure)… I wasn’t trying to knock down the hawsepipers by saying they aren’t good enough, or that academy guys are better.
They won’t have DP on their license. Nobody does, its seperate. They may have intro and if they can get a ship with DP for the school, have enough time to take advanced but there is no way they will get the 210 days on DP to get their ticket.
Cadets get no credit for their time towards DP when they intern here even though we are DP 2.
A simulator at school will get you the intro DP class which anyone with $1500 can get on their own.
[QUOTE=rigdvr;104779]They won’t have DP on their license. Nobody does, its seperate. They may have intro and if they can get a ship with DP for the school, have enough time to take advanced but there is no way they will get the 210 days on DP to get their ticket.
Cadets get no credit for their time towards DP when they intern here even though we are DP 2.
A simulator at school will get you the intro DP class which anyone with $1500 can get on their own.[/QUOTE]
The academies should offer DP training — for all of us — at reasonable cost.
According to the NI website, a candidate in a license training program may take DP Induction and accumulate 30 days of DP seatime, but that’s all, until he actually receives his STCW Certificate.
At most, the academy kids would be able to take DP Advanced the week after they receive their licenses. This would be a huge leg up for them.
My current ship (oceans unlimited) has more hawsepipers than ring knockers. My academy grad captain said it best recently, “I like hawsepipers more and more. The academies are graduating a lot of twits these days.”