New to the merchant seaman ind

Thanks again… I should be getting that thank you icon soon. It’ll make it easier. LOL

Entry level work in Jacksonville MAY…MAY be found on small pushboats that work the St. Johns river and the AICW. They do not pay much around here, maybe $100- $150 a day for an OS. Some ocean going tugs leave out of here also (Elsbeth 2, Elsbeth 3, Rhea, all Smith Maritime, El Puma Grande, Rio Bravo, Cheetah…all MOBRO) but you may need STCW Basic Safety for going offshore on some of them. Also, WEEKS is doing some dredging in the river out near Mile Point and may have occasional openings through their home office. WEEKS tugs working the dredging project here now are ; “Katherine”, “Robert”, “Robert Burton” and a few others. I recommend also going to the industrial area down by the Hart bridge, next to Metropolitan park, and say hello with all your documentation. There are always a few boats docked there and a small office trailer (company??).

Additional companies to go to around Jax/ Palatka/Green Cove Springs are :

MOBRO (pushboats and tugs), Cross State Towing (inland pushboats), SunState/ Colonial Oil (inland pushboats-tank barges), Hal Jones construction (has a few small pushboats) they are presently working on the Hart bridge fendering system upgrade. Water taxis downtown maybe need line handler/ deck hands. Their company name is SS Marine Taxi, maybe you could go take a taxi ride and say hello to the Captain and get some insight. McAllister and Moran tugs do ship docking, but you may need Able Seaman for that position. I think your best bet to get your foot in the door locally is either MOBRO or Cross State towing. You won’t get rich, but it is a start in the industry. There is a tug named Spence that leaves out of the Tallyrand docks with a container barge that I believe is on dedicated runs to somewhere in the Carib. Also, Crowley Invader class tugs tow the big TMT barges offshore to the islands and must be joined through the union (SIU). Maybe that is something you could work your way up to. I left out all of the addresses and phone numbers assuming you could look them up. Good luck job hunting !

All hail salty sailor for being experienced but not a jaded douche. Hard to come by in this house.

[QUOTE=desertrat85;101502]All hail salty sailor for being experienced but not a jaded douche. Hard to come by in this house.[/QUOTE]

HAHA…such a funny little man…

but be very careful because terrible accidents often happen to such funny little things without any warning at all

//youtu.be/octpAkyPm-o

and we wouldn’t want you to explode or anything!

MOBRO pay sucks but when I sailed with them once I was the most experienced deckhand and I had a year and a half…

[QUOTE=desertrat85;101502]All hail salty sailor for being experienced but not a jaded douche. Hard to come by in this house.[/QUOTE]

It’s ironic, in the same amount of time it takes to write a response to a newbie to degrade, abuse and insult them, a more positive and helpful post can be wrote.

YES, I understand, there are some folks on gCaptain that got their original license issuance from the Dept of Commerce, not the USCG!

no it doesn’t and it is not nearly as amusing either

YES, I understand, there are some folks on gCaptain that got their original license issuance from the Dept of Commerce, not the USCG!

and so what’s yer pernt?

but yer ok in my book there S.S, …any man with a WWII WSA recruiting poster as his avatar is a good egg and don’t any of you lousy mugs forget it!

[QUOTE=SaltySailor;101545]It’s ironic, in the same amount of time it takes to write a response to a newbie to degrade, abuse and insult them, a more positive and helpful post can be wrote.

YES, I understand, there are some folks on gCaptain that got their original license issuance from the Dept of Commerce, not the USCG![/QUOTE]

Calm down SS. The jabs were mild and made to point out that newbies should not just register and have their first post ask how to get hired into the glamorous field of maritime.

If we simply gave the OP a detailed roadmap, without any real effort or demonstrated interest on his part, the Old Salts would be answering the same question weekly from every ocean romantic with internet access. The result would be a less useful forum for everyone as it fills up with “noise”.

John is partly to blame for this however as he has repeatedly ignored requests to make the “Read me first” thread a sticky.The answer to the OP’s question was right there. Having that valuable thread difficult to find is just asking for more of the same unproductive banter.

[QUOTE=c.captain;101552]no it doesn’t and it is not nearly as amusing either

and so what’s yer pernt?

but yer ok in my book there S.S, …any man with a WWII WSA recruiting poster as his avatar is a good egg and don’t any of you lousy mugs forget it![/QUOTE]

I should say this: Some of the folks that come here, to this forum may not be all that net (or forum) savvy… Yes, it would be a GREAT help if we did have an entire sticky/category for newbies/FAQ’s, as it does get tiring to answer questions, which to us seem beyond basic…

The 2nd part of my post was just a joke and inside one at that, as I doubt any newbies, and even some saltier dogs, don’t know that the US Dept of Commerce used to issue seamans docs…

Thanks for the feedback about my avatar!