What Do Junior Marine Engineers Really Do?
The junior marine engineer, like all other engineers on the ship, is supposed to work with his own hands. When the ship is sailing, he is supposed to keep a watch in the engine room with either third or second engineer. He mainly assists the engineer in-charge of the watch in daily routine checks and other necessary maintenance work. After a few months of thorough familiarization of the engine room he might be asked to keep an independent watch of the engine room with the assistance of a motorman. If he is not working in shifts, he might be asked to do day work, which is like a normal eight-to-five job, not to mention the emergency hours and extra time that come along with it. A junior engineer is always on his toes or for that matter forced to be, assisting second, third, and even fourth engineers apart from the regular watch keeping. This means that there are no definite rest hours and the working hours are also extremely flexible. Most of the work is of practical nature, inside the
