Merchant navy

[Bilgediver]

Yes, that would seem to make sense.

Also, the pdf on the MCA website you link to does not expressly say that colur blind = unfit. If you actually search through the ML5 form itself, the doctor will have to answer "yes" to question 5a. That means you will have to be examined by an MCA assessor. I don't read that as "you can't work in the Merchant Navy", but I would expect there to be some restriction as to the posts you could do.

You need to investigate further before giving up hope.

The colour blindness test is mainly to do with that old tradition we have at sea where at night we screw up our eyes to look at ships around us and deduce what is going on by where the red green and white lights appear to be! Be a bit of a problem if you can't tell red from green. Especially if trying to head through a sea off PoP PoPPing Bolinder powered fishing boats as you make an early morning departure from The Shimonoseki Straits.

Still use the eyeballs from time to time while learning how to get all that info into the AIS so it knows front is back and back is front and how much cargo and port of destination, and that is when you can get the ships lappy from the skippers wife to program it!

Yep the stewards and cook might mix up the peppers and the engineers have a problem between the fine and superfine injector lapping paste but the MCA ain t bothered with that or how you tint the ladies hair. There are a few jobs out there even if colour blind.



On the rigs there is the drilling side where they start off as roughnecks and move up over time sometimes losing the odd finger as they go. There is a marine side which has engineers(they prefer to be called mechanics) and deck officers who like to be called barge engineers. There are also Sub sea engineers who deal with those mysterious big chunks of hardware that live on the bottom of the sea as well as the bits between. They have often graduated from various sources of engineers. We must not forget the all important crane drivers either. Only the Barge engineers and those aspiring to be such have to know red from green.

Many other folk are provided by third party contractors and this includes the catering crew and divers.

This is really a young mans job however unfortunately the young prefer a life ashore and so the average age of rig crews is on the up and up. Must be careful about mentioning the age of some of the ones I see waiting in the terminal at EDI heading for Saudi and Cairo. Can be a long wait when there is snow on the runway!!!

 

[Woodlouse]

Read this document. It tells a different story.

That only applies to skippers taking paying passengers. In the industry that means charter boats. Basically you cannot get a commercial endorsement if you are colour blind. But that doesn't stop you from being anything up to mate on reasonable sized boats. The sort of boats you need big commercial tickets for a mates role are the sort of boats that you don't want to work on unless you wish to sign your life away.

 

[Signed Out]

Offshore, other.

Offshore doesn't just mean rigs and oil.

Look into survey perhaps. I don't know your quals, but you may even be able to avoid going to big school (again?) with your computer skills in certain areas- data processing maybe.

Also there are geophysics (looking at mud'n rock), geotechnics (poking and prodding it), ROV (playing with expensive remote control toys and watching pirated movies all the time), charting (AutoCADding till your eyes pop), marine environmental techs, ad alotum.

Yes, there's medicals, but I am sure colour-blindness is a non-issue here. Certainly a right bunch of freaks in this field.

Don't even have to go far- mucho work right near you at moment.

PM if you want more info.

 

[Angele]

Extract from MCA form MSN 1765 (M):Seafarer Medical Examination System and Medical and Eyesight Standards

6.3 Eyesight Standards

6.3.1 The approved doctor must also ensure that the seafarer meets the visual acuity and colour vision standards and will include testing during the medical examination. This includes screening for colour vision, using Ishihara plates. It is essential that seafarers applying for certificates of competency as deck or dual career (merchant/fishing) officers have full colour vision. A deck applicant who fails the Ishihara test may arrange for their colour vision to be re-tested free of charge, using the Holmes Wright B Lantern, at one of the MCA Marine Offices that offer lantern tests (listed at Annex C). Failure in this test will mean that a medical certificate may only be issued with a restriction precluding navigational watch/lookout duties.

6.3.2 Applicants intending to work as engineer or radio officers must also meet the colour vision requirements and those who fail the Ishihara test may be re-tested by any registered optometrist using the Farnsworth D15 or City University tests. Failure in these tests will mean that a certificate will only be issued with a restriction precluding work with coloured cables and equipment.

6.3.3 In view of the importance of meeting the eyesight standards, anyone considering a seagoing career is strongly advised to have a full sight test by an optometrist before beginning training to ensure that they meet the standards.

So, you can't do navigational or watch duties, radio operator or engineer.

Anything else on a boat you fancy doing?

And can potential employers refuse to employ you (or prefer other candidates who meet the sight requirements) for roles that do not require colour sightedness?

 

[[2574]]

You lazy bugger! Its people like you who are bringing this country down!!!


On yer bike!!

I was just about to say something rude about you going up to ditch crawling country in response to that but I've just watched Dylan's latest and I have to say that the East Coast looks just stunning in his vids so I'm thinking you're going yo enjoy it. I'll have to satisfy my need to retaliate with a common old insult - bugger 'orf!

 

[Woodlouse]

Extract from MCA form MSN 1765 (M):Seafarer Medical Examination System and Medical and Eyesight Standards



So, you can't do navigational or watch duties, radio operator or engineer.

Anything else on a boat you fancy doing?

And can potential employers refuse to employ you (or prefer other candidates who meet the sight requirements) for roles that do not require colour sightedness?

If the boat is not commercial then you can do what ever you like regardless of tickets, ability or physical fitness. On a private boat it's up to the owner who he employs.

Getting a job on big boats though will generally require an STCW95. But again, if you go for privately owned it's not a legal requirement. But it does give you many, many more options.

 

[reginaldon]

You're right about the RN though. I don't like pop culture, fighting, or drinking till I puke, so I'd never last in that game. My dad has fond memories of his 22 years, but my mate hated every minute of his 4.
==========================================================

You don't have to go down that road - I did my National Service in the Andrew with time in the Reserve - I neither smoked (with RN Bluelines at 9/- for 200 and worth a 50% increase in my pay) nor drank I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the RN and would have stayed in if I had not been 'keeping company with the young lady who became swmbo. After a few comments about my abstemious habits and Christian witness I was soon to be a pretty popular guy, but I certainly did not court it.

 

[Spuddy]

Colour blind ? Became an artist - hasn't held Tracy Emin back

 

[WindermereColvic]

Ok so a pile of alternative career options isn't what you asked for. But...Try for a job (or indeed set up) with one of those gap year travel companies...You seem to have the right skill set in as much as your clealy literate (facinating blog), creative (the Y&B vid) good with fancy websites, and most importantly, you've been and done a load of the things that these companies promote (Sure ive seen pics of you climbing, hicking, moterbikeing, sailing, genraly risking life and limb ).....

 

[prr]

Ive heard said theres a doctor in Plymouth who'll give a ENG1 to a corpse, so long as the fees been paid. Colour blindness can sometimes be overlooked, in an otherwise normal, fit & healthy person. Its a case of finding the right doctor.

 

[nathanlee]

Ive heard said theres a doctor in Plymouth who'll give a ENG1 to a corpse

Ooh. I wonder if he does marriages...

 

[PaulJS]

Ooh. I wonder if he does marriages...

???

An ENG1 is an MCA Merchant Navy medical certificate... There are only certain doctors allowed to issue them, there's a list on a MIM or GI which can be accessed online via the MCA website. There's almost definitely one near you.
I was lucky and recently found the only doctor in Saudi who's authorised to perform ENG1 medicals, who incidentally is not on the above list!
To be honest Nathan, it all depends on how bad your colour blindness is. I sailed with one Engineer who, when driving used to stop at the pink lights and go when they turned blue!
Some good suggestions above, but maybe worth keeping in mind that offshore work generally has a better remuneration and leave schedule than onshore.

 

[tmh900]

To be honest Nathan, it all depends on how bad your colour blindness is.

I'd like to think there is such pragmatism - and the alternative tests that Angele quoted perform such a function.

I have a red-green defect. When I started my first carrer in electronics I failed the medical (identifiying numbers in the mass of coloured dots), but I was given a simple extra test to match up coloured wires and interpret the colour codes on resistors - which I passed no probs.

Never had a problem with traffic lights - one obviously red the other obviously green (and the purple one in the middle). You give me red text on a green background and all I see is a horrible fuzz.

I have not done much night sailing, but the only discernable effect I could see relative to folks with no colour vision defect was that from a fair distance flashing red or green lights appeared weaker in colour and harder to identify.

 

[Babylon]

Don't limit your imagination!

Nathan

You've got to get a job, but that doesn't mean your options are limited to office work or something at sea. There's an awful lot of other work you could do, or a career to build that would be satisfying and rewarding in its own right, while allowing you live aboard and go sailing in your free time.

As a boat-owner, you already have an increasing range of 'transferrable' manual skills. You could get a job at a boat-yard (or heaven-forefend a marina), or ashore. You could get college qualifications part-time (plumbing, electrics, constructional, etc). Fully skilled and self-employed you could be earning £20 to £50 an hour, depending on your trade and what part of the country you work in. Just yourself and a van. That'll enable you to work through the winter and save, then cruise through the summer - round Britain, Jester, etc?

Then there are a host of other shore-based jobs/careers (although these will limit the amount of time off you can have and when), both public (what's left of it) and private sector.

You're still young. You need to wear down some shoe-leather. Get about. You'd be surprised at how many openings you can find just by casually speaking to people! You don't know what lies around the next corner - but unless you go there you'll never find out.

Babs

 

[alant]

Yes, that would seem to make sense.

Also, the pdf on the MCA website you link to does not expressly say that colur blind = unfit. If you actually search through the ML5 form itself, the doctor will have to answer "yes" to question 5a. That means you will have to be examined by an MCA assessor. I don't read that as "you can't work in the Merchant Navy", but I would expect there to be some restriction as to the posts you could do.

You need to investigate further before giving up hope.

ML5 does not cover what the MCA call "going to sea", which means 60 Nm offshore, requiring an ENG 1 Medical.

 

[alant]

Nathan

You've got to get a job, but that doesn't mean your options are limited to office work or something at sea. There's an awful lot of other work you could do, or a career to build that would be satisfying and rewarding in its own right, while allowing you live aboard and go sailing in your free time.

As a boat-owner, you already have an increasing range of 'transferrable' manual skills. You could get a job at a boat-yard (or heaven-forefend a marina), or ashore. You could get college qualifications part-time (plumbing, electrics, constructional, etc). Fully skilled and self-employed you could be earning £20 to £50 an hour, depending on your trade and what part of the country you work in. Just yourself and a van. That'll enable you to work through the winter and save, then cruise through the summer - round Britain, Jester, etc?

Then there are a host of other shore-based jobs/careers (although these will limit the amount of time off you can have and when), both public (what's left of it) and private sector.

You're still young. You need to wear down some shoe-leather. Get about. You'd be surprised at how many openings you can find just by casually speaking to people! You don't know what lies around the next corner - but unless you go there you'll never find out.

Babs

Would you really want your boat wired by someone with colour blindness?

 

[Babylon]

Is colour the new black & white?

Would you really want your boat wired by someone with colour blindness?

It shouldn't really matter, should it?

If the person only saw in black and white, then it would be an issue. (Having said that, I used to irritate an old girlfriend by successfully enjoying watching snooker on an old B&W telly.)

But if the colour-blind person has always 'seen' orange when everyone else has always 'seen' blue, etc, then what difference would that make?

Nathan, just how colour-blind are you?

 

[Signed Out]

Ok so a pile of alternative career options isn't what you asked for. But...Try for a job (or indeed set up) with one of those gap year travel companies...You seem to have the right skill set in as much as your clealy literate (facinating blog), creative (the Y&B vid) good with fancy websites, and most importantly, you've been and done a load of the things that these companies promote (Sure ive seen pics of you climbing, hicking, moterbikeing, sailing, genraly risking life and limb ).....

I got the impression that this was exactly what Nathan was asking for; last line-
"Can anybody think of any options?".

As opposed to pages of going of about the finer points of what I recall is a fairly Mickey Mouse medical (albeit a M. Mouse esq. medical with a colour blindness test).

Seems to me that in the offshore industry, talents, skills and abilities can get people into the field despite certain "drawbacks" if some of the folk I work with are anything to go by. Despite the UKOOA/Norwegian Offshore meds being harsher than the ENG1.

Merchant Navy's a fine business but it won't make you the money that other things will, at least for a good few years. Nor will the leisure market.

Howsabout some reverse engineering and joining the self-steering market?!