For some, the profession of a sailor is shrouded in romance. Immediately one imagines endless landscapes, foreign countries and high salaries. However, people who managed to connect their lives with work on the ship say that everything is not so rosy.
Who is a sailor?
This is any member of a crew engaged in voyages on civilian or military vessels. Sailor is a common name that unites representatives of different professions sailing the endless blue spaces. This is an ordinary sailor, a cook, and a captain.
The profession of a sailor has enormous social significance. Most common in port cities. On an international ship, the crew may consist of representatives of different nationalities, including Russians. But according to the sailors themselves, most often Filipinos engage in this profession.
Peculiarities
The work may seem simple only at first glance. The profession of a sailor is fraught with some dangers. For example, while visiting different countries, a crew member may contract a disease for which he has not developed immunity due to living in a different climate.
Working at sea involves not entirely comfortable conditions. You will have to do routine work day after day, without the opportunity to change the environment. It is also necessary to tolerate pitching and vibration.
However, not everything is so pessimistic. For some, contemplation of beautiful landscapes, inhaling fresh salty air and the opportunity to visit distant countries bring joy.
The profession of a seafarer is available to those who have the skills necessary to work on a ship. There are no extra or random people in the merchant and military fleets. Each crew member performs his own functions.
If the profession of a long-distance sailor is attractive to you, you need to be prepared to be away from home for months. The voyage can last 4-6 months. Not every potential candidate is willing to spend so much time away from friends and family.
How to become a sailor?
Choosing a life's work is not easy. The profession of a sailor is attractive for children because of the opportunity to travel far and learn new things. Some preschoolers dream of doing this job.
If, having matured, they do not change their minds and do not change their choice, it will be possible to obtain a specialty related to shipping at one of the many maritime educational institutions. A few years of training can turn a beginner into an excellent sailor.
There are many specialties that are not directly related to shipping, but are also necessary on a ship - cook, mechanic, mechanic, etc. You can master these professions in regular educational institutions, and after graduation, no one forbids you to connect your life with the sea.
Experienced specialists say that this is not just a job, but the meaning of life. Otherwise, what could force a person to set sail, leaving his usual life on the mainland?
Prospects
The ship's crew is divided into engine and deck crew, and maintenance personnel are also present on the ship. To take a junior position, that is, to become a sailor on a ship, it is enough to take specialized courses. You can find them at trading ports or maritime educational institutions.
Having received a certificate based on the results of training, a newly minted sailor can get a job at the port and, having gained the necessary practice, join the crew of one of the ships.
To become an officer, you will have to enroll in a nautical university or school. After completing the education, the future employee can get a job on a cruise ship or merchant ship.
The prospects for the profession also include the fact that a seafarer can work on Russian ships or join an international team. However, in the second case, he must be ready to master a foreign language.
Those who are interested in becoming a naval sailor will also receive training. For example, at the Nakhimov School.
If a future specialist wants to become part of a merchant fleet team, he needs not only to undergo training at a university, but also to gain experience. After working as an ordinary sailor for a year, a recent graduate will be allowed to take exams before the qualification commission. If he successfully passes such exams, he will be given a working diploma. In parallel with this, you will need to obtain several additional certificates. Based on all these documents, the potential candidate gets the opportunity to get a job in his specialty.
Salary
The amount of a seafarer’s income depends on whether he works on a Russian or foreign ship. Instead of using a complex scale, we will try to explain this difference with a few examples.
According to official sources, the salary of a captain working on a cargo ship can be 500,000 rubles. However, the Ministry of Social Development does not specify which shipping company pays such generous remuneration to the seamen.
As mentioned above, the amount of salaries depends on the shipowner company. For example, in some companies a captain in a similar position earns from 180 to 225 thousand.
In some companies, the income of seafarers is disproportionately lower. For example, in the port of Kaliningrad, the average salary for tugboat captains is 11-15 thousand.
If we talk about sailors, then specialists working under the Russian flag earn from 30 thousand rubles.
The range of salaries for seafarers is very wide and depends on several factors.
What boy in his childhood did not dream of becoming a sailor? Every person associates this profession with masculinity and romanticism.
Profession sailor: description
A seaman is a worker who serves on a ship or vessel. This profession is quite broad and has many directions. Such as the captain of the ship, pilot, navigator.
Profession seafarer
Those going on long voyages are called “long-distance sailors.” The duration of such flights is usually more than one year. Serving as a long-distance seafarer is difficult both physically and psychologically.
This is a constant separation from home, a huge probability of divorce in the family, during such a voyage a person can change dramatically, moreover, this work is considered one of the most risky. Everyone knows that in recent years, cases of piracy and kidnapping have increased significantly, and the issuance of weapons to the crew is prohibited. A fire hose is the only defensive weapon on a seagoing vessel.
Pros and cons of the sailor profession
But why are young people always so drawn to comprehend the vastness of the sea? What is attractive about this profession? Undoubtedly, the most important advantage of the sailor profession is its romanticism. This feeling has been known since childhood, when we reread with reverent feeling the books of Jules Verne, which instilled in children a love of sea adventures and a desire to see the vast world with their own eyes. But all the romance disappears on the very first day of work on the ship.
In addition, the profession of a sailor instills in people perseverance of character and fighting spirit. The sea strengthens a person’s spirit, helps to cope with difficulties, teaches to value life and human relationships.
But everything would be fine if it were not for the presence of minor disadvantages, as in any other profession.
The first disadvantage and the hardest one is the long separation from loved ones and close people. Not everyone is able to live away from their home. But as they say, separation is the surest test of a relationship. Some people pass this test, while others are left with broken dreams and feelings.
The second disadvantage is the strong psychological stress. A sea vessel is like a “floating prison” of a lighter regime, but you still can’t get out anywhere. The ship's workers are constantly in the same team, so it is very important to maintain friendly relations with everyone so that work is a joy and does not cause additional stress and psychological stress.
Health is greatly undermined on a sea vessel due to difficult working conditions. There is no clear distribution of the work schedule and sometimes you have to work overtime, and this results in constant lack of sleep, fatigue, and excessive nervousness.
As already noted, working at sea is a big risk. You can return from a trip and not earn any money, or even worse, get captured by pirates, remain disabled, risk dying from an acute attack of appendicitis in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, risk contracting malaria. However, there is risk in any profession, and those who do not take risks miss the chance to fulfill their dreams.
Demand for the sailor profession
The profession of a sailor is in demand as long as a person has the physical strength and health to do so. Otherwise, this work will acquire a land-based focus and he will only have to write unfulfilled dreams in his memoirs. Therefore, if a person has decided to enroll in a maritime university, it is advisable to also master some earthly profession, just in case. Anything can happen in today's life.
Profession seaman training
To become a sailor, it is enough to complete one year of nautical courses. After this, graduates end up on Russian ships, or on foreign ones if they have excellent knowledge of the English language.
Those who decide to become naval officers graduate from higher maritime educational institutions, where they receive a base of theoretical knowledge and gain practical experience.
A distinctive feature of any maritime educational institution is the high cost of training. But, as they say, this is a price to pay for the opportunity to receive good money in the future.
Profession seaman salary
The starting salary for sailors in Russian companies is about $1,000 per month. In foreign countries, of course, it is higher. But not every person is called to the sea solely because of the desire for money. There are people for whom the sea is a calling.
You might be interested.
A sailor is a person who works on a transport or special vessel or serves on a Navy ship. A sailor is a maritime profession.
Sailor is a general definition of occupation. Depending on the functions performed or specialization, seafarers can be divided into more precise professions, for example: captain, navigator, pilot, sailor, etc. Depending on which team (service, unit) the seafarers belong to on a ship or ship, they belong to this or several teams, such as the deck team.
The deck crew prepares cargo holds and deck mechanisms for operation - greasing, cleaning, painting. Deck officers plot the course on charts, check equipment, train the crew, maintain a running watch at sea and supervise the loading of the ship in port.
A sailor must be able to swim. How good? You need to be able to swim so that you can swim yourself and tow your unconscious comrade. Every five years this is checked, and the time it takes to swim across the pool is recorded.
Sailors cannot be irresponsible: they have been entrusted with too much.
People on the ship work according to the schedule “6 hours of work - 6 hours of rest.”
In recent years, incidents of piracy and kidnapping have become more frequent - even in Europe. However, it is prohibited to issue weapons to crews. A fire extinguishing hose is all that a ship has in its defensive arsenal.
Education
To become a sailor or motor mechanic, it is enough to complete a one-year course at a nautical school. Its graduates usually end up working on Russian ships. Those wishing to work under a foreign flag must have satisfactory knowledge of English and work experience.
Those who decide to become a naval officer enroll in higher nautical educational institutions, where they study, gaining work experience during practice. There are also correspondence departments where already working sailors study. Graduates of maritime universities have every chance of getting a job directly in a foreign company.
English is studied in depth in maritime educational institutions: this language is recognized as the international language in the fleet. All documents are drawn up in English, radio conversations are conducted, and communication takes place in mixed crews recruited in different countries.
There are no sailors in poor health at sea: not a single doctor will take on such responsibility - to release a sick person on a voyage.
Work at sea is traditionally considered a man's job. And yet, what positions can girls who want to receive a maritime education on an equal basis with men expect to get in the future? Traditionally, this is a barmaid, a cook, an orderly (cleaning lady), but it can also be, for example, a navigator.
Sailor- a person who works in maritime transport or a maritime transport worker. This is how dryly Wiktionary defines such a multifaceted profession.
Today, almost everyone is wondering how to earn more money, buy an apartment, a car and be able to relax without denying themselves anything. A navigator is one of the few professions capable of satisfying such needs. The job is controversial because it has many pros and also many cons. The most important thing is that the sooner you start, the faster you will achieve success.
A significant plus work at sea is a high level of wages, which is almost impossible to achieve on shore.
The shipowner pays all costs associated with flights, travel and hotels, food and work clothes for its personnel.
With hard work, a huge plus is the opportunity to see the world, in the truest sense of the word. In addition to the fact that sailors have the opportunity to see the beauty of the sea itself, they can go ashore in their free time and see the sights of the cities they visit. Sailors always manage to communicate with people who live in these countries. Port workers are in most cases happy to talk about their country or ask about the seafarer's country.
Each seafarer chooses the duration of his vacation himself, except in cases where he has a long-term contract with the company and it pays for his stay both on vacation and at work. But this is more of a plus than a minus in this area. There is no profession on the shore that can boast of such conditions.
Having gained experience at sea, seafarers sometimes look for vacancies on land. Enterprises operating in the maritime field will often give preference to hiring an experienced seafarer. The salary level at these enterprises is also quite high.
There are quite a lot of disadvantages in work, as well as advantages. The biggest disadvantage is separation from family for a long time. Most often, the flight lasts at least six months and this is really quite difficult, but during the vacation you don’t have to leave.
The working day on the ship is not standardized; this applies to the cook, the sailor, and the mechanic. Most often it lasts 12 hours, there are no days off. Also, work does not cancel the shift; some companies provide for shift 6 after 6 hours, in others 4 hours after eight.
It must be admitted that working at sea is dangerous and requires strict adherence to safety regulations. There are no doctors on the ships - at most a first aid kit, so it is almost impossible to get qualified help right away. This is especially important for seafarers who transport toxic, dangerous, flammable acids, oils, and so on.
And this is not to mention the constant pitching and storms - very difficult tests for beginners.
Another important point that simply needs to be mentioned is that becoming a sailor is expensive! It is really expensive to study, initially through courses, at a nautical school, college or university. Constant investments will be required:
- the need to undergo an annual medical examination officially and for money;
- certificates that need to be constantly updated;
- the need to confirm diplomas;
- regular retraining;
And he himself will require not the last investment leaving for flight, many companies charge one or even two monthly salaries for shipping.
Enclosed space and a very limited social circle is also not an easy test, especially on outdated ships with narrow, small cabins, with shared showers and toilets. Although modern ships have additional amenities - saunas, gyms, swimming pools.
We should also not forget about the danger from pirates; unfortunately, even in the 21st century this is possible. There are truly dangerous areas for merchant ships to navigate, especially since weapons are prohibited on board the ship. Ships become easy prey for them. But there is no need to despair; after all, good companies can afford armed security for ships in dangerous areas.
Depending on the shipowner, or rather on the country of origin, taxes may be withdrawn from employees, but they may well not be paid. Taking into account the fact that our country does not receive taxes from the salaries of sailors, you can forget about pensions and rely only on your own strength.
As mentioned above, you should start your seafaring career as early as possible. This is explained very simply:
- the younger you are, the easier it is to learn;
- the opportunity to receive education in a specialty before starting a family;
- reach the peak of your career before age 30;
So, if you are still interested in such a romantic profession, think about how to go to sea. In the modern world, the Internet is replete with vacancies for seamen of all kinds of crewing (Crewing is the implementation of activities to recruit seamen for sea vessels).
Where to begin?
- Use a search engine to search for crewing companies and register wherever possible.
- Subscribe to newsletters for vacancies from companies.
- Fill out the Application form for all the vacancies you like and call to ensure that your application has been received.
- Don’t just rely on the newsletter; check the existing vacancies periodically.
- In spring and early summer there are more chances to go on a flight (many people want to relax in the summer).
- If you are invited to an interview, take with you a complete package of documents and their copies.
- Learning English is a surefire way to earn more.
Companies providing recruitment services for ships are divided into small groups:
- A group of reputable companies. As a rule, these are companies with spacious offices, working for large shipowners with high salaries, more often they have an independent medical examination, there is no contract fee, experience in a similar position and knowledge of English are required.
- A group of ordinary companies. More often, these are small offices with a couple of employees, who will almost certainly charge a fee for leaving on a flight; they often charge a fee for additional expenses; they do not require knowledge of English; sometimes they charge a fee unofficially. It is precisely from such companies that you can really escape on your first voyage.
- A group of charlatans. There are many scammers in this area, the Internet is yours - look for people who have worked with the company you are interested in. Sailors are a separate community ready to help and talk about crewing and working for shipowners. In addition, there are websites publishing the Black List of crewing companies, shipowners and vessels. The requirement to pay for your services before actually signing a contract is the main sign of fraud.
Having decided to become a sailor, you should understand that this is a profession for the future. So - seven feet under the keel!