CADETS CORNER
Your first watch at sea: be ready, not just early.
Arriving fifteen minutes early is a good start. Arriving with your brain still under the duvet needs a little more preparation.
You have found the bridge. You have checked the time. You are wearing proper shoes. Excellent. Now comes the important part: understanding what you are there to do.
Your first bridge watch at sea as a deck cadet is not a four-hour sightseeing appointment. It is supervised training in how the bridge team keeps the vessel safe — and how you can contribute without getting ahead of your competence.
This guide focuses on watchkeeping underway on oceangoing merchant ships, mainly for deck cadets, with a separate note for engine cadets. Port watches are a different subject for another article. Your ship’s procedures, standing orders, training arrangements and the Officer of the Watch’s instructions always come first.
First, know your role. A cadet is not automatically a qualified watchkeeping officer or a substitute for a required qualified lookout. Your duties must match your training, authorisation and supervision. The OOW remains responsible for the navigational watch.
1. Wake up before you turn up
Our practical starting suggestion is to plan to wake about an hour before your watch, so you can wash, dress, eat if appropriate and arrive properly alert rather than sprinting upstairs with one shoe questioning its career choices.
This is a preparation tip, not a statutory one-hour rule. Plan your sleep around the actual schedule and discuss any difficulty getting sufficient rest. An early alarm does not fix a lack of sleep, and coffee does not cancel fatigue.
Confirm ship’s time, your reporting time and who you report to. If you are unwell or too fatigued to perform safely, tell the responsible officer promptly rather than trying to hide it.
2. Be on the bridge at least fifteen minutes early — or earlier if instructed
For a new deck cadet, at least fifteen minutes before the scheduled watch is a useful practical target, subject to your ship’s reporting arrangements. Arrive quietly, report your presence and use the time to understand the situation and observe the handover.
At night, allow enough time for your eyes to adapt. Fifteen minutes is not a guarantee of full dark adaptation; it can take longer, particularly after exposure to bright light. Follow the vessel’s requirements and tell the OOW if you cannot yet see adequately for the assigned task.
Do not bring a bright phone screen onto a dark bridge, switch on unnecessary lights or change display brightness without permission. You are joining the night watch, not opening a photography studio.
Early reporting must be planned properly. Required attendance, briefings and handover form part of duty time and must be accounted for under the applicable work/rest arrangements. “Come early” is not permission to ignore rest requirements.
3. Watch the handover. Understand the conversation.
Observe how the outgoing and incoming officers exchange information and use the vessel’s bridge watch handover checklist, whether paper-based or electronic. A checklist supports an informed handover; a row of ticks is not the whole conversation.
Listen for the ship’s position and intended track, traffic, weather and visibility, upcoming hazards, equipment status and the Master’s relevant instructions. Notice how the officers build a shared picture, not just exchange a signature.
Ask afterwards, when appropriate: “What needs particular attention during this watch?” Do not interrupt a critical exchange for a non-urgent lesson. Urgent safety concerns, however, should be raised immediately.
You are observing and learning the process. Do not sign as the relieving OOW or assume responsibility you are not qualified and authorised to take.
4. Know what is coming — not only what is outside now
You may not yet know the route or recognise the names being discussed. Ask the OOW at a suitable moment:
- Are we expecting heavier traffic, fishing activity or a coastal approach?
- Are there route changes, visibility concerns or other busy periods ahead?
- Where should I position myself, and what exactly should I report?
- Which training activities, if any, are appropriate during this watch?
Understanding the expected workload helps you adapt. A quiet horizon now does not promise a quiet watch later.
5. When the situation is busy, the notebook can wait
Traffic, restricted visibility, coastal navigation or any developing situation require focus. Support the OOW through the tasks assigned to you: observation, reporting and other authorised assistance within your competence.
If you are assigned lookout duties, give them your full attention. Do not write study notes, read manuals, complete paperwork or use a personal phone. Keep your eyes and ears available; no personal headphones.
Report observations promptly and clearly using the bridge team’s agreed method. If uncertain what you have seen or heard, say so. Do not wait until you have invented a confident explanation.
This applies in open water too. “There is not much traffic” does not release you from lookout duties. Another activity can begin only after the OOW has expressly reassigned or released you and ensured the required watchkeeping coverage remains in place.
Your notebook is useful. A timely observation can be more useful. Know which one the moment requires.
6. Learn the equipment — without becoming hypnotised by it
During an authorised training opportunity, learn how the radar, ECDIS and other bridge equipment support the watch. Ask what information is being used, what its limitations are and how it is cross-checked.
Do not change settings, acknowledge alarms or operate controls without the appropriate permission and instruction. An interesting button is not an invitation.
Look outside as well as at the displays. Learn to connect the actual scene with the information presented by the equipment. Being able to follow five button presses is not the same as understanding the result.
7. A suitable quiet period can become a proper lesson
When conditions and workload permit, the OOW may arrange supervised training after ensuring your assigned watchkeeping tasks are covered. This is an opportunity — not something you start independently because the sea looks empty.
Depending on the programme and conditions, you might practise star recognition, discuss celestial navigation, work with a sextant or compare conventional methods with electronic information.
Stars are not enough on their own for every sextant exercise: conventional star sights also need a usable horizon, often making twilight particularly suitable. Choose the exercise with your supervisor and follow the instrument’s safety instructions. Never sight the Sun without the correct procedure and suitable filters.
A short, well-timed lesson is better than trying to bring the entire sky down while the OOW is managing a developing traffic situation.
8. Paperwork is work. It is not the purpose of your watch.
A junior officer may ask you to update a crew list, scan documents or help with another administrative task. These jobs matter. But they must not displace navigation, assigned lookout duties or your planned training.
If tasks compete, explain it respectfully: “I am assigned lookout at the moment. When would you like me to do this?” Let the responsible officer set priorities; do not try to do both halfway.
Even during a quiet passage, non-navigation paperwork belongs only in a suitable authorised time and place, without distracting the bridge team. It is not automatically acceptable simply because the vessel is offshore.
For the cadet’s watchkeeping mindset: stay on your feet, stay engaged. Do not settle into a chair, disappear behind a screen or treat the bridge as an office lounge. Follow your vessel’s standing orders, assigned station and any approved seating or accessibility arrangements. The point is active, attentive participation — not looking busy while missing what is happening.
9. Engine cadets: the control room is not the whole engine room
Engineering watch arrangements at sea vary. Some ships maintain a manned machinery watch; others operate approved periodically unattended machinery spaces (UMS) with duty-engineer arrangements. Your training follows the actual system onboard. Engine watches are not limited to port.
Whether you are assigned a watch, daywork or a supervised training period, understand the purpose of engine-room rounds. With your supervisor, learn:
- Which machinery is running, which is on standby and why.
- How the relevant piping and support systems connect.
- What the prescribed readings and local observations tell you.
- Which changes or abnormalities must be reported and to whom.
The Engine Control Room is important, but looking at a screen is not a substitute for the rounds required by the ship’s procedures. Equally, do not leave an assigned control-room station just to demonstrate enthusiasm.
Rounds need authorisation, appropriate supervision, PPE and required hearing protection, plus the vessel’s communication and lone-working precautions. No wandering through machinery spaces, touching equipment or operating valves to “see what happens”.
A round is a learning and observation task, not a competition to return with the highest step count.
10. Finish the watch properly. Learn afterwards.
Do not disappear when the clock reaches the hour. Follow the reporting and relief arrangements, pass on relevant observations and leave your assigned station only when properly relieved or released.
Afterwards, when safe and off the task, record one useful lesson and one question for a suitable later discussion. Our cadet notebook guide can help you organise it. If you are unsure about an instruction, revisit why asking again is part of learning onboard.
Keep your personal records organised away from the watch. Download Wave — The Seafarers’ Digital Wallet to organise your certificates and sea-service records, access documents offline and follow your career progress. It is your personal maritime wallet, not a bridge logbook or a replacement for your official training record book.
Your watch is not measured only in hours spent on the bridge.
Be rested. Be ready. Understand your role. Pay attention. The goal is to become someone the team can rely on — not simply someone who arrived early.
