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Fuck this, I'm going to sea

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All Acting Regiment

18:17 / 26.02.08

Right, as anyone will know who follows my sporadic outbursts on here, I've had no luck with finding work, either in the sense of a job to provide money nor any luck as regards the writing. Could whinge, can't be bothered. It's been a shit situation for several years now and I've decided that the world in general has decided, in the instance, to team up with the footballers from when I was at school (as opposed to the English teachers) in being decidedly anti-me.

So I've been reading a lot of Joseph Conrad recently and I've decided that a career at sea is quite the thing. Now, how would one go about getting out on the ships? Presumably one needs to know some special skills and so forth. Does anyone here have any experience?

Leigh Monster loses its cool

18:29 / 26.02.08

I worked as a deckhand last summer on a brigantine with no experience. It was a $100/month stipend, which was fine because I didn't need to pay for food or lodging. This was a sail-training ship; you can make actual money if you work on a commercial yacht. I found the job here, under billet bank. These listings will all be American. I don't know if that's feasible for you or not, but there's probably an English sail training association as well.

Leigh Monster loses its cool

18:36 / 26.02.08

Here 'tis:

Association of Sea Training Organisations, job listings

You know, though, if you're at all claustrophobic, agoraphobic, prone to motion sickness, or averse to highly structured environments, this might be less fun than it sounds.

18:36 / 26.02.08

I knew that this had been brought up before somewhere. I believe it's possible to get a job on a ship without experience (I did), but you should probably expect it to be low-paying, menial, fairly industrial, and probably thankless work with some pretty rough folk (the last which can be very good and very bad, like everybody else, just unique kinds of good and bad you should be prepared for). That is, unless you have some particular skills that can translate to a better job, something like diesel engine skills maybe, or if you want to work on a cruise ship, things like musical theater or waiting skills. Maybe that's not the salty life you were thinking of? Like many things in life, it's probably not as romantic as you might hope, but that doesn't exclude it from being interesting or something you could learn a great deal from.

18:44 / 26.02.08

Well, cross-posting there, and I see that Leigh's job sounds not too bad, really. Maybe you can be leaning out over a rail, holding a rope hanging from a mast with one hand and shielding your squinting eyes from the summer sun with the other, as you scan the horizon from the deck of a sailing vessel, thinking of your journal entry for that night after an exciting and eventful day, after all. That would be nice.

Leigh Monster loses its cool

18:57 / 26.02.08

Yeah, my job would actually have been wonderful if I hadn't had to deal with bilgewater and my first mate. I was basically a camp counselor plus riggings monkey.

There are non-job ways to get on ships, as well. Before working on the brigantine I was a guest-type thingy on the Amerigo Vespucci, which is an Italian full-rigged ship, quite possibly the Most Beautiful Vessel Evar. I was the only English-speaker and one of three people on board who weren't in the Italian Navy, so it was quite a culture shock, and of course it only lasted a couple weeks as opposed to however long your job would last you. But it was free, except for the ticket to Italy which was like 60 euro return on Ryanair. You'd probably have to join your national sail training association. I think I've still got the email address for the person who coordinates this--pm me if you're interested.

19:21 / 26.02.08

I don't have a link for this, but apparently deep sea fishing pays pretty well. Three months of life-threatening situations in the North Sea, punctuated by long interludes of boredom, generates enough cash to keep you going for the rest of the year, it seems.

Bill Druummond did it for a bit; I'd suggest that you don't though, AAR, because ... well really, it would be terrible if anything happened to you.

If you're totally stuck, why not volunteer for work on a kibbutz in Israel? Pick the right one (the further south you go the better) and you're looking at about six hours a day picking oranges, bed and board covered, with enough left of your wages to go to Egypt if you liked. Or sink a couple of subsidised cold ones in the bar nightly. Or both; these things are not mutually exclusive.

Once you're there, someone will tell you about a moshav; the labour in those places is back-breaking, I gather, but if you want to make a lot of cash short-term with no especial skills, it's an option.

The thing is, volunteer work in Israel is not going to look like a blot on anyone's CV, even if all you're doing is goofing off, basically.

All Acting Regiment

09:35 / 27.02.08

Except there's no way I intend to help that particular state in any non-coerced way. Thaknyou for the information, all of you, however!

My Mom Thinks I'm Cool

12:51 / 27.02.08

As I learned, the Merchant Marines thing is a little bit of a dead-end. You can't join unless you're in a fairly specific age range, I think it's like 18-25.

Which is too bad, because it's exactly what I was looking for - a kind of training program that qualifies you to work on real live ships doing shipping work between the US and everywhere else.

Many of the sailing jobs, for instance, are for boats that are just around for historical or touristy or educational reasons - not that it wouldn't be rad to learn how to sail, but I was looking for more of a "work your way around the world" occupation.

*

14:40 / 27.02.08

Fishing is deadly work. Seriously.

So, two friends have sailing experience. One was a fisherman for six weeks or so, at the end of which time he had an infection in his hands so bad that he had to be hospitalized or risk losing them. He has also run away from debts on a liveaboard in the Bahamas (that lasted six months, for the last of which he and his friend were eating seaweed with pilfered ketchup packets from landside fast food joints and eventually decided the army was better than this). The other was a lighting and sound designer for the entertainment department aboard a cruise ship, which lasted a month before he was miserable and needed to get to land. Not because of seasickness, but because of absolute lack of privacy, totally dull work (he's a technical theatre professional; they wanted him to make the speakers plug in and shine a spot on the Elvis impersonator of the night), and outside of work absolutely nothing to do (you don't think they have internet in the middle of the ocean, do you?). The main problem seemed to be being at work for weeks on end, not being able to go home at the end of the day.

As much as I like the idea of having a floating island on which I can sustainably farm, with satellite internet and solar sails, working aboard someone else's ship sounds like pure hell from which there is no escape until you put in.

*

14:42 / 27.02.08

Oh, and the good news about the former fisherman; his hands are fine now and he's an acupuncturist. I think he might still teach sailing on the side.

ONLY NICE THINGS

14:43 / 27.02.08

As much as I like the idea of having a floating island on which I can sustainably farm, with satellite internet and solar sails, working aboard someone else's ship sounds like pure hell from which there is no escape until you put in.

Or put out.

I'm just sayin'.

18:53 / 27.02.08

Except there's no way I intend to help that particular state in any non-coerced way.

But you imply that, if offered the chance, you would work 'for' the British Government...

Also, if ethics are an issue, I'd like to mention that much of the world's fish stocks are at collapse levels and, though Moby Dick is a cool book, helping towards the extiction of a species (or, more likely, a few species) is Not Cool. Please don't work as a fisherman.

*

21:45 / 27.02.08

A career as a cabin boy, on the other hand, has a long and honorable history for people like me. At least if folk songs are any indication. Thanks for the tip, Haus.

22:55 / 01.03.08

AG: volunteer work in Israel is not going to look like a blot on anyone's CV

This is an excellent point and I'd advise really, really thinking about your CV, here. I know that it's bleak to look for jobs and not get them - this is something I have done repeatedly - but if the nautical life doesn't work out for you or you get bored after two years, you're going to want to come back and start again with the application forms, and the cover letters, and the interviews. With these things, it's generally best if you can somehow relate what you've been doing for the last few years to what you want to do for the next few.

Even if you just want enough money to stay alive and write when you come back, there are still going to be barriers to entry (in any job) in terms of the skill sets you're going to have to demonstrate. Have you thought about what kinds of skills you want or expect to get from life at sea?

Essentially, it's worth thinking about the options that you might be closing off and ways that you could not do that. I'm trying not to be a massive downer if you definitely do want to do this, but it's kind of my area and if you're doing something because it's difficult to get a job now, considering the prospect of five years down the line might be a helpful way of thinking about your options.

01:11 / 02.03.08

Vincennes speaks the truth-thing.

Also - there are many plenty of jobs in MCR. You don't even have to look hard. Sure you'll be in a call centre, but don't pretend that it's a matter of 'Perfect Job I Want Or Nothing'. You're out of uni now, you're meant to get a crap job you hate.

If it makes things more appealing for you, you can pretend it is like a rites of passage or something.

14:58 / 03.03.08

Why not sign up to Sea Shepherd and save the whales?

http://www.seashepherd.org/volunteer/volunteer.html

21:31 / 04.03.08

Except there's no way I intend to help that particular state in any non-coerced way.

It'd be a mistake to assume that everyone in Israel feels the same way about the political situation. As I'm sure you know.

What I'd be concerned about, were I you, AAR, is signing a binding contract that'll conceivably take you away from friends, family and so on for a couple of years; you might find a few months out of the country'll do just as well. Let's face it, if that doesn't work out, you could always sign up for something more involved.

Also, it's worth pointing out that great, or even awful, novels are written by characters who for the most part sit around alone in their rooms - there is no substitute for this, the hard-backed chair, the ominous scotch bottle, the whole thing of just sitting down and getting on with it. If you've got nothing in particular to write about at the moment, if you're looking for subjects then really, you shouldn't bother.

Give it a couple of years of doing whatever you like, embracing the modern world without comment and then see.

I say this, of course, as the sort of character that lurks about the edges of book launches these days, in the hope that, say, 'T-Rex Eat T-Mobile - The Modern Condition' will find a sympathetic reader.

(I've had interest, alarmingly, but nothing's really gelled, so far.)

My Mom Thinks I'm Cool

17:58 / 09.06.08

so as I mentioned in the Happy thread, I decided to go the old-fashioned sailing historical boat route after all. for one thing, it's free, and I'm arguably doing something good for the community as a volunteer. also, it seems like most of the experience I'll get on this ship will translate directly into experience on ships that don't have sails, so it could still lead to me working my way around the world kind of thing.

and it's fun! I'm learning lots of weird sailing vocabulary and historical stuff.

as grant pointed out, we sort of have a sailing thread, so I thought I'd add a post here...maybe more if things develop that seem story worthy.

19:45 / 09.06.08

Tell about the vocab and historical stuff, please.

My Mom Thinks I'm Cool

15:39 / 10.06.08

vocab:

mainly the thing is that there's 8000 ropes on a ship and when the captain yells "ready the main halyards!" you have to know which ropes to go stand by. most of the terminology I learned was about ropes.

halyards are the thickest ropes. they pull the sails up and down.

sheets are ropes used to change the directions of the sails.

but then there's two of each used for every sail, so you have to know which of the pair is the one they need you at. the Pioneer has trapezoidal sails rather than triangular...he told us the name of that but I forgot. according to wikipedia they're Gaff sails? anyway, so there's a Peak and a Throat halyard for each sail, depending on whether you're raising the back end or the front end. and you have to keep one higher than the other when raising and lowering, so the sail doesn't bind up and break stuff.

...anyway, I'm sure you don't want a list of all the words I learned - and I forgot about half of them anyway. but it's like that.

as for history, I'll be able to tell much more if I go on a few educational sails with the tourists...

16:01 / 10.06.08

I actually do like hearing about the words, but yeah, if you want to come back after a few sails, that would be great. This was fun, thanks.

17:43 / 10.06.08

Tell me about the Pioneer!!

How long? How many masts? What era??

17:52 / 10.06.08

AHOY!

My Mom Thinks I'm Cool

18:54 / 10.06.08

the Pioneer isn't huge. I think I heard the number 65 feet. I was hoping we were going to be on something gigantic like the nearby Peking or Wavertree, but I guess those just sit in the port for onboard walking tours.

um, let's see. two big quadrilateral sails, the Main and the Fore, and then two little triangular sails in front, the Jib and the Something Else I Forgot. I think that makes it a two-master.

okay, looks like >100 feet? maybe the 65 number was just the distance between two parts of the deck.

also, it's apparently "the only iron-hulled American merchant sailing vessel still in existence." though it was rebuilt with a steel hull, so I'm not sure how that's true.

built in 1885. and there's other data on that page.

19:28 / 10.06.08

Oooooo - its centerboard is bigger than ME!

Is that headsail a genoa? Or is that just a newfangled racing thing?

23:26 / 10.06.08

"that headsail" being the "Something I Forgot," and the second "that" being a "genoa."

My Mom Thinks I'm Cool

12:39 / 11.06.08

headsail! that sounds right.

there were more words like the four corners of the sail and how to declare directions around the boat like "two points forward of the port beam"...or something like that. but I don't remember them as clearly as I'd like.

today I need to get my drug test so that I can officially be allowed by the US Coast Guard to crew a boat. then, more training. hopefully this saturday.

14:04 / 11.06.08

Huh - a jib is a kind of headsail (sails flown in front of the frontmost mast).

I only know small boats, really, and I have no idea what the corners of a sail would be called. I know what a lug is, though. (Or a gaff.)

I know what the port beam is. What's a point?

My Mom Thinks I'm Cool

16:26 / 11.06.08

points are just for directions. I think he said the rule is that you only get two (three?) points and then you pick a new point of reference. like compass points.

so "two points forward of the port beam" would mean something like almost halfway between the hard port side of the boat and the prow. it's for calling out directions to the captain, as in "sailboat to port, don't hit it" kind of stuff. if it were another point forward from there, you'd instead say "two points abaft (aft?) of whatever" (I forget what the name of the next bit was.)

he also said the points system was pretty complicated to remember and it'd be fine to just raise your hand to get his attention and then point at something. the Pioneer uses a (probably common?) set of hand signals for tugboat, sailboat, motorboat, etc. I probably remember a couple of them.

16:59 / 11.06.08

(I forget what the name of the next bit was.)

Port bow? Or is there a "rail" in there somewhere?

03:09 / 12.06.08

------------------------
It should, however, be understood that seamanship cannot be learnt from books or lectures alone; it is an art that can always be improved upon with something fresh to learn each time one goes afloat. That is one of the fascinating things about sailing; there is no finality, for conditions are never quite the same, and the older we become the more clearly do we realize the limitations of our skill and knowledge. But that should not deter anyone from taking up the sport late in life, for with a little concentration and in a comparatively short period of practical handling, the novice can acquire sufficient knowledge to enable him to keep off the mud, avoid collisions, and make reasonably good progress in the desired direction; it is on the finer points of helmsmanship and seamanship that a lifetime can be spent attempting to reach perfection.

- Cruising Under Sail, Eric C. Hiscock, 1965.
------------------------

03:11 / 12.06.08

I found that totally at random tonight. I was looking at berths on ship plans.

15:58 / 13.06.08

I'm sorry, I know I should stop, but look! You can make old navigational tools from cards and string! Or even fancier ones with a couple of dowels!

(Although figuring out how to use them to find where you are makes my head hurt a little... although this helps.)

My Mom Thinks I'm Cool

17:29 / 13.06.08

I can't go on my second training sail this weekend because I'm waiting for the Coast Guard to approve my drug test, but I may spend some time at the docks dressed up for THE PIRATE FESTIVAL with a bunch of kids running around going Argh! and pirate flags on the Pioneer and other idiots like me dressed up like pirates. if they'll let me help without my second training sail.

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