Deck officer

[Biggles Wader]

Kukri has not been posting on the forum for a long time now, which is a shame and I hope he returns at some point.



That's what did for me. Aged 14 (so circa 1968) I wanted to be a radio officer in the Merchant Navy, and was looking into going off to nautical school for training. I must have somehow gained some inkling that eyesight could potentially be an issue. I had excellent vision in one eye but was blind in the other, which had never troubled me, and I couldn't think how it could be a constraint in practice in that role. I was unable to find anything definitive about what the eyesight standards were, so ended up trekking up to the Board of Trade office in a grand building in East London to take the test.

The upshot was I couldn't be a radio officer, which was quite a blow to me at the time. They said I could be a catering officer or deck hand, but those weren't at all what I had in mind. (Who knows where I'd be now, or what my life would have been, had I passed? )

Shame about Kukri.
If you had got in as a Radio Officer back in 1970ish you would have seen the best of times in the Merchant Navy. The RO job was brilliant especially if you got on a cargo liner or tramp. You only worked when the ship was at sea so nearly every day in port was a day off with endless trips ashore to sample the delights of the world. Easy to run short of money though. Short career as the job was abolished as new technology took over in the late 80s. Some ROs retrained as electricians or deck officers but those jobs were scarce by then too. Most swallowed the anchor. Money can't buy the memories and experiences from those times.