Brian Bernard, Chief Mate (MM&P)
Brian Bernard, Chief Mate. MM&P hiring hall, Oakland, California 18 November 2025
“I sail East Coast and West Coast. There's a total different vibe East Coast to West Coast. West Coast is much more laidback, much more first-name basis, where East Coast it's Mr. Mate, no first-name basis. And I really appreciate the West Coast. I like to call people by their first names and be called by my first name. It's just a better way to work.”
I’m Brian Bernard, I’m 67 and have been sailing for 40 years. I sail chief mate, and have a masters license.
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I had a business for 25 years, so I kind of stayed ashore for a while, and I started sailing again about 2019. When I had the business I only sailed second mate because I needed to get time off the ship to run my business, [which] I started to raise my kids.
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I sail containers, or RoRo containers. Either one - I sail on everything. I started off on tankers. I did all my third mate time in the 80s on tankers in the Persian Gulf, and product and chemical tankers around the coast. But I've been on container cargo ships since 1989.
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[Over the years things have] changed a bit. I mean, the captain's chair is now the mate's chair. When I first went to sea, you stood your watch, you very rarely sat. But now everyone sits in a chair, and it's much more easygoing.
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I sail East Coast and West Coast, and there's a total different vibe East Coast to West Coast. West Coast is much more laidback. Much more first-name basis, where as the East Coast it's Mr. Mate - no first-name basis. And I really appreciate the West Coast. I like to call people by their first names and be called by my first name. It's just a better way to work.
So that's a big change. It was very rare that you were called by your first name when I first started sailing in the 80s. Now it's pretty standard unless you head to the East Coast where they seem to have reverted back to old ways.
I was on a Crowley ship last year, and I sat in a chair and they said, “Oh, that's the captain's chair. Yeah, you can sit in this chair, Bro, but we don't sit on watch.” I looked at him and said, “I'm sorry but I'm 65 years old and I’m on my feet eight hours a day off the ship, so I'm gonna sit out on the bridge.” I was just really shocked when someone actually said that's the captain's chair. But when I first went out to sea, the captain's chair was the captain's chair, and no one sat in it. Now it's considered the mate's chair. So, little things like that.
There was a lot more drinking when I first went to sea. I'd sail with captains who would disappear in their room. You'd hear the bottles clinking around, and wouldn't see them until arrival in Asia, or in Europe, or whatever. A lot less of that now, In fact, you hardly see it.
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People are a lot more healthy now. Back then I flew 10 people off ships because they were sick. Back then you used to have a medical form every five years. Now you need it every two years. It's whittled out the people, and I haven't flown anyone off a ship in 15 years because of that. I think they're policing things a little better, as far as health reasons.
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I've always sailed on container ships. I did sail on two break-bulk ships [designed for transporting cargo too large, heavy, or that otherwise won’t fit in the ship’s hold], so that was hugely different. I was in the Persian Gulf War for one and break-bulk, and my first MMP ship was a break-bulk ship flying Diego Garcia. One was in ‘89 and one was in ’91, so prior and during the Persian Gulf War.
That was a lot of fun where you would put pallets on board. Now they're all containers, and they were pretty much all containers then.
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My favorite ports – I don’t really have one.
When I had my business I only sailed out of Oakland, so I was home every other week to see my kids. When I could see my kids that was my favorite port.
When I was single, it was probably Manila. Anywhere in the Philippines when you’re a young man - a young and stupid man.
But, you know, I've been all over the world, so I've been to a lot of great ports, but you don't get a lot of time.
I've been real lucky to be on a lot of ships. My second ship was a grain ship, and we were anchored in Manila Bay for 70 days. That was a blast. You know, that was a lot of fun. I went to the Philippines a lot, so I enjoyed going to the Philippines when I was single and young.
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Biggest adjustment when I gave up sailing, [loosing] my TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday). My TGIF [when sailing] is my Monday, and then four months later is by Friday, so my TGIF is three to four months.
I mean weekends were really hard. I never got used to weekends. By Saturday I was getting bummed about having to go back to work the next day. And I run a business so I had everything going on.
But I did sail two months a year, that was tough. And I night mate a ton, so I was able to keep my pension credits going.
I always planned on coming back to sea and the sailing life. I sailed chief mate in the early 90s and then started the business in the mid-90s and sold it in 2019, so...
I love going to sea now because I don't have my business, and my kids are all out of the house (My kids don’t sail – a nurse, a lawyer, and an entrepreneur).
When I had young kids, I hated it. But now I love it.
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Brian Bernard, Chief Mate
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Photo: Robert Gumpert
Transcription: Michele Colyer