>>1897448I can’t answer anything about non American flag vessels but I do know that they pay extremely low compared with American.
The unlicensed crews on international vessels are largely Philippinos, Indian and Turks.
The issue with getting on an American ship as an OS/wiper is that there’s like less than 100 deep sea American flagged ships in service these days. So there’s just not that many ships at all. Then there’s the fact that crews are typically less than 30 people even on the biggest ships. More common is around 20.
There’s just no need for warm bodies without any skills or training doing scut work.
Crewing requirements will explicitly list the number of AB and oiler, so those qualifications are in demand but there’s almost never a requirement for unqualified/entry level ratings.
There’s also the fact that anything that actually goes “to sea” needs STCW certification for its crews, so you need either RFPEW or whatever the RFP for deck is. Just getting this requires some sea time, so there’s a catch-22 that’s usually only circumvented by a class or training school.
The easiest way to get “to sea” imo is to look at Alaskan and pacific coast tugs. They play rather loose with the STCW regs, operating beyond the 12 mile line all the time but don’t require the full STCW stuff, usually just basic training.
Dunlap, Western Towboat, Olympic and Centerline are some off the top of my head.
Check job sites like Indeed for “deckhand cook” listings and you’ll probably find entry level jobs. Deckhand cook is the entry level position for most coastal tug companies.
Or if you’re dead set on big ships join SIU and go through their full training program, or MSC if they’ve got listings for OS.
