Just got a letter from the NMC saying that because my sea time says master it will not count toward my upgrade. Lol. I hold a 1600 master 6000itc and 3rd mate unlimited oceans upgrading to 2nd mate AGT OC. NMC says I need time as a OICNW to qualify. I thought I was an OICNW but I guess I was wrong. Got it straightened out but has anyone else came across this. I thought I was going to die laughing when she was reading this off to me. Long story short I will need a letter stating that I do indeed hold a watch. Awesome!
And for the smart asses I know a real ship master does not hold a watch.
Mud boat life
Well, at least you could laugh about it. Btw, a real ship Master holds ALL the watches. On call 24/7 has to have all the answers in any situation, and is responsible for all screw ups.
Once had them tell me the seatime I submitted was beyond the scope of my current license (it wasnt) and invalid… But not that I’d be written up or any enforcement done.
I’m thinking future sea-time letters will have to be written in the stupidest terms. “500 days as master (captain[oicnw]) upon near coastal waters (inset a copy of every days log).”
Uhh and they’d still find something wrong with it.
[QUOTE=CaptHH;120482]Just got a letter from the NMC saying that because my sea time says master it will not count toward my upgrade. Lol. I hold a 1600 master 6000itc and 3rd mate unlimited oceans upgrading to 2nd mate AGT OC. NMC says I need time as a OICNW to qualify. I thought I was an OICNW but I guess I was wrong. Got it straightened out but has anyone else came across this. I thought I was going to die laughing when she was reading this off to me. Long story short I will need a letter stating that I do indeed hold a watch. Awesome!
And for the smart asses I know a real ship master does not hold a watch.
Mud boat life[/QUOTE]
no worse than the time I renewed my C/M license (before red book), and the new Z-card they sent me said “Any unlicensed rating in the deck department EXCLUDING AB.”
I had to fight the Memphis REC for nearly 2 months to get them to correct it.
I had to scream and hollar for 3 months straight to get them to admit that a 200-ton near coastal mate was the same thing, as far as the exams were concerned, as a 100-ton inland master. They did eventually concede but only after I threw their own book at them (46 CFR 11.910-2). That’s really the best strategy and I am so grateful to the person who pointed it out to me, I would not have otherwise succeeded. If you can find a reason for your argument in the CFR’s the NMC cannot and will not say “no”.
[QUOTE=CaptHH;120482]Just got a letter from the NMC saying that because my sea time says master it will not count toward my upgrade. Lol. I hold a 1600 master 6000itc and 3rd mate unlimited oceans upgrading to 2nd mate AGT OC. NMC says I need time as a OICNW to qualify. I thought I was an OICNW but I guess I was wrong. Got it straightened out but has anyone else came across this. I thought I was going to die laughing when she was reading this off to me. Long story short I will need a letter stating that I do indeed hold a watch. Awesome!
And for the smart asses I know a real ship master does not hold a watch.
Mud boat life[/QUOTE]
I had the exact same thing happen to me when I was submitting my paper work for Chief Mate. My sea time letter was listed as master and I had to have it changed to say OICNW.
[QUOTE=CaptHH;120482]Just got a letter from the NMC saying that because my sea time says master it will not count toward my upgrade. Lol. I hold a 1600 master 6000itc and 3rd mate unlimited oceans upgrading to 2nd mate AGT OC. NMC says I need time as a OICNW to qualify. I thought I was an OICNW but I guess I was wrong. Got it straightened out but has anyone else came across this. I thought I was going to die laughing when she was reading this off to me. Long story short I will need a letter stating that I do indeed hold a watch. Awesome!
And for the smart asses I know a real ship master does not hold a watch.
Mud boat life[/QUOTE]
Yeah, no big surprise there. Being that every licensed Captain is called Captain in the Gulf of Mexico, the stupidity obviously doesn’t start or stop at NMC. Better off instructing that office to provide a seatime letter that is accurate to your rating. Most OSV operators will put Captain or Master, because you are getting paid for that Master license, although not even working in that capacity. I had the same at one time and asked for it to be corrected before NMC had a chance to ask.
[QUOTE=PaddyWest2012;120513]I had to scream and hollar for 3 months straight to get them to admit that a 200-ton near coastal mate was the same thing, as far as the exams were concerned, as a 100-ton inland master. [/QUOTE]
They aren’t the same. For 100 and 200 ton licenses, the exams are the same for mate and Master 100 Tons, and the same for mate 200 and master 200. Unlike other license, with licenses 200 tons and under, the additional subjects come in when you cross from any 100 ton license to any 200 ton license, not from mate to master. See footnote 7 in the license exam subject table in 46 CFR Table 11.910-2. That note only appears in the columns for 100/200 tons, and designates what subjects are required for 200 tons and not for 100 tons.
During evaluation recently, I had to have an employer that I worked for rewrite a letter for me. I was working as an AB on a tug, but on the sea letter it listed me as deckhand. My evaluator said that even though I held an AB at the time, it’s not the same. From what I saw on the checklists on the NMC’s website, it says to meet the criteria “boatswain, quartermaster, etc” or equivalent while holding certification as an AB. My evaluator didn’t budge on this even after pointing it out.
Luckily this employer from ten years ago rewrote the letter with ease. However since they gave me my original letter they log time as eight hour days instead of twelve and for whatever reason I ended up with 12 less days than my original letter. lol.