I’m about to turn 16 and get my TWIC and MMC and I was wondering if any Tug Companies or Inland companies hire Minors for OS jobs during summers. I wanna get some time as a OS before (hopefully) attending CMA. Thanks
You’re much more likely to get a job on a small local ferry, dinner boat, something like that. I don’t think you’ll have an easy time finding a “real” OS job, especially without a personal referral. It’s great that you got your TWIC and MMC lined up though.
Tug companies no. Dinner boats, water taxis, ferry boats definitely will hire you. I started on a dinner boat when I was 16.
[QUOTE=mariner22;120402]I’m about to turn 16 and get my TWIC and MMC and I was wondering if any Tug Companies or Inland companies hire Minors for OS jobs during summers. I wanna get some time as a OS before (hopefully) attending CMA. Thanks[/QUOTE]
Good for you for getting your TWIC and MMC so early. Well done, I wish I had had the knowledge and presence of mind to do that myself at that age. I agree with what has been said above, no workboat will hire you until you’re 18, which severely limits your options. Dinner boats are nice and all and the money’s not bad if you get with the right outfit but as a future merchant mariner the best place for you to go at your age to advance your seamanship skills and get some sea time to put towards a license one day would be a tall ship. There’s hundreds of them in the US, almost all of them take minors as young as 13 and many of them operate seasonly so the programs would suit your school schedule.
The pay isn’t great but you’re 16, you can have money when you’re a couple years older! You might have to do a season as a “student trainee” before getting a paid position but if you work hard the benefits will come soon enough. There’s little or no future in a career on a tall ship but the skills that you’ll learn and the character that you’ll build before entering a maritime academy, whether CMA or otherwise, are second to none. It is an excellent platform on which to build a future of going to sea full time, even if you never step foot on another sailing ship as long as you live. I began tall ship sailing when I was 14 and entered a maritime academy when I was 18. I no longer work on a tall ship but the nautical knowledge and confidence that my years before the mast gave me were an unparalleled advantage over my classmates and I was consistently in the top quarter of my major and class.
Which ever path you choose just remember, when you’re first getting started out all sea time is good sea time so at the end of the day don’t be too picky!!!
Here is the link to the American Sail Training Association’s website, I highly recommend checking out their “billet bank” to see what jobs are being offered: