From the MM&P Hiring Hall
Carlton Bartlett, 33, sails as 2nd or 3rd Mate on container ships - mostly navigation officer. He as been working since winter of 2018
“I kind of grew up on it [the water] , lived on a sailboat with my father for the first 15 years of my life. And then started going to college. It was right after the 2008 crash so, I was pretty worried about getting full-time employment, and decided to get the training, get my license, and start shipping in the merchant marine.”
…
“[I like being on the ocean], I do. I just recently got off and wanted to stay home for a bit, but after about two or three months on land I start getting the itch again, seeing the big waves and the motion of the ocean. I always end up going back.”
…
“All my friends are always asking me what’s the scariest thing I have ever seen out there, but no one ever asks me the most beautiful. So, one time I was going down the west coast of Central America, and we were passing through the ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone) where it’s all stormy. We were off of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, the entire sea had bio luminescence, the most I’ve ever seen, and we were having lightening strikes, like one every two seconds. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, one reflecting the other. It kind of looked like I was on a spaceship.”
…
“I have seen big waves, but after awhile big waves are more scary than interesting. I just did my first hitch as a Chief Mate, going through a storm as a Chief Mate where you’re responsible for all that is a lot different than as a Second Mate.”
…
“[A story] from the last Captain I sailed with. He was a Mainer, he was from Maine, but he was originally from Alabama. He was saying that when he was 18, he worked the shrimp boats, and some old captains were showing him the old weather tricks. There’s one called the “Marching Elephant”. If you’re seeing a sunrise, and you start seeing these clouds, and they kind of look like marching elephants - one holding the other’s tail, and it’s red, you’re about to have a bad day.”
…
“I was on a 250 meter boat, but it was wide. They’re brand new, they just got built last year, so they are still figuring them out - how they ride, and like. I think that ship had only been through two storms so, they’re still figuring out what the best course of action is when going into storms. It’s not like the old school ships from the ‘70s when they were built like brick shit houses, you could plow through seas and still keep speed up.”
“The ships I was just on were built in China, and it kind of showed. They were already breaking down after a year. The scaffolding, how thick the steel was supposed to be, was set in the plans, [but] we kept bunching holes in the hatch covers. Then we measure it, and it was like thirty percent less than what was called for in the yard. But once you’re on, once it’s out (the ship), it’s set in stone. I don’t know if it comes from the company that commissions it, or the shipyard says we’ll do this. They give them a good price on the bid, but that’s how they make their end work by doing a little less here, a little less there. If you do one millimeter less on the paint coat on the hull, that’s like tens of thousands of dollars in paint you’re not using. But you’re still charging for it.”
…
“Every ship has its own reputation. What’ll happen is you’ll get a guy on there who’s making it not so fun, or easy to sail with, and it takes years for the ship to shake it once that person leaves.”
“Sometimes a guy’s [saying] there’s no overtime on that ship, and all of sudden you get none of the ABs (Able Body seaman) because they’re trying to make money, not sit in their rooms.”
Carlton Bartlett’ 10 Oct 2025.
Photos: Robert Gumpert