So I’ve been working on crew boats in the gulf of mexico since 2010 and just recently switched over to ship assist tugs and wanted to get my towing endorsement. So about 2 weeks ago I applied for my mate pilot of tow and receive bad news today about my seatime letter. I was told by the uscg the letter must state Master on the seatime or it does not count. I have over 1280 day as captain, releaf captain or mate but these days dont count. At the company I work at only the master of the vessel time shows master. Has anyone going through this and if so what did yall do? I was told that if the letter says Captain I’m good but that’s not something the uscg told me. I’m trying to get hold of my old manager and see if theres anything he can do for me.
Following this one. It does say master, not master, mate , or equivelant for mate pilot of towing.
If you have tonnage on your license, I think getting a national 500 or 1600 is the most direct route to master of tow. After that it’s Toar and route time 30 days I believe.
Following for information
Presumably, you must hold Master 100 or Master 200.
This is the problem where a bunch people down in the bayou use non-standard local jargon that has no legally recognized meaning.
If you sailed as Master, the guy in command, then get a seatime letter saying that you were the master.
If you sailed as a “relief captain”, I don’t know what that means, so I’m not surprised that the USCG doesn’t know either. If you were the dude in command, get a letter saying you were master. If you were not in command, but merely in charge of the watch while the master slept, get a letter saying you were the Mate.
You are not going to get Mate of Towing with crewboat Seatime.
As said before, your best bet is to first upgrade to Master 500, then with 90 days of tugboat seatime and a completed TOAR and by passing the exam, you can get Master of Towing. Which is far easier than it should be, but that is what USCG regulations foolishly allow,
It’s possible. But as NMC has noted, the time must be as Master. See 46 CFR 11.464(f):
Those holding any endorsement as a master of self-propelled vessels of any tonnage that is less than 200 GRT, except for the limited masters endorsements specified in §§11.429 and 11.456 of this subpart, may obtain an endorsement as mate (pilot) of towing vessels by meeting the following requirements:
(1) Providing proof of 36 months of service as a master…
(A TOAR and at least 30 days on towing vessels is also required) When considered in context of this regulation, NMC is right, and service other than Master cannot be used for Mate of Towing Vessels for this option. NMC may be legitimately unsure of what capacity you served in. I have seen instances where time was described as “Relief Captain” when they were serving at the same time on the same boat as the “permanent” captain. The term is legitimately vague and shouldn’t be used. in a service letter for the Coast Guard.
The others above are correct, if you don’t have time as Master, your quickest path to Mate or Master on towing vessels is via Master 500. If you do have it, then the option above might be easier.
The company I work for only list one capt as master even when hes off the boat the relief capt is not master hes the relief so even though I was running as master my seatime only shows relief. That’s why I’m asking my manager to have it change not be cause I’m trying to bet the system. My time is my time. I can run a boat! It’s not like I’ve been sitting in some office and expecting someone to give me something I actually worked for it!
This has been discussed on this forum in the past and is a ludicrous concept. Despite how your company may view the job title, if you are the person onboard acting as Captain, you are the Master. The other guy may be the permanent Master and you are the relief but both of you should be equal in the eyes of the Coast Guard as having sailed Master for that particular company.
Given a job market already flooded with licenses, it’s a good thing that the bayou boat companies don’t know the proper maritime titles to give their employees, and that “4th captains” are no longer getting seatime credit as Master from the USCG.
For real captain with actual boat handling skills flooded job market does not mater. For the people that make stupid comments it probably cause your job scared