# "The Captain always goes down with the ship" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 13, 2006, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-captain-always-goes-down-with-the-ship/339809 "2006-01-13T13:33:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 77
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2023, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-captain-always-goes-down-with-the-ship/339809/77 "2023-11-21T20:43:34Z")
> [@Snipe70e](#): > > he 1st major step is to become a 3rd mate. To become a 3rd mate you need 3 years of sea time in the different unlicensed deck positions. Then you have to pass a major test. It use to take about 5 days 8 hours each day for the test. Then sail as a 3rd for a year (365 days under articles) on a freighter or tanker over 6000 tons for an unlimited license. Take another more difficult test to become a 2nd mate. Do the same as a 2nd mate for a year. Then take the 1st mates test. Sail a year as a 1st mate. Then take and pass the masters test. For cruse ships it is almost the same. But a year as a licensed officer on a cruise ship only counts as 6 months. So it will take 2 years to up grade each license it time is spent only on cruise ships. > > But once you get your master’s ticket you will not become s ship’s captain on a cruise ship. That is for the senior captains. Someone with a captains ticket will be promoted in the company to the position of Staff captain for sometime before being promoted to the Captain of a cruise ship. A thread I started some years back: > [@The career path of a container ship captain?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-career-path-of-a-container-ship-captain/705164): > > Recently watched [Captain Phillips,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Phillips_(film)) which got me to wondering: how does one go about becoming the captain of a massive ocean-going vessel? Another thread on the subject: > [@What experience does the typical modern Cruise Ship Captain have?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-experience-does-the-typical-modern-cruise-ship-captain-have/816481): > > A lot of commercial airline pilots tend to be (at least in the past) former military due to their years of experience and training. Do you tend to see former military (either actual captains or other officers) as cruise ship captains or non-military but still experience boat captains? In general are cruise ship captains people who were in another shipping job and were enticed to join the cruise ship company, or are they people already with the company who were promoted from within to become cap… --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-captain-always-goes-down-with-the-ship/339809)._