MN Engineering Cadet

After 5 days from completing my HNC I've been told it's back to sea for me. I'll miss Christmas and new years! Shame! The time of the year that means loads to me, oh well.

Hey everyone! 

How's things? I can't believe I haven't been on here for nearly a good 7 months to a year. Incredible. 

As some of you might remember this time last year I was on the North Ocean 102. This moment in time I've nearly completed the Phase 3 course at Fleetwood Nautical College. I've got 3 months left and I have to complete my graded unit. 

In the same year, I've lost 10st. So I'm no longer a large fellow as some of my previous pictures have represented. 

I go back to sea for 5 months in January. Who knows where. 

I'll try to come back on here more,

Many thanks,

Hey guys,

I'm still waiting to join my ship. I can't believe I've been home for nearly four weeks. I'm so bored it's unbelievable. The longer I have to wait to join my ship the more likely I'm going to miss Christmas and new years. I start my HNC on the 6th Jan so I hope it all goes well. 

Hey guys,

As the title says I've been home for two weeks already and I'm so bored. I've seen most of my friends and they are working full time which is lame as I have to spend 60% of the day not doing anything. On the good side though I've found out where I'm meeting my ship. I'm going to Batam in Indonesia. Which is exciting. I'm not sure who the company is or what cargo they transport but I should know in the next few days. I've sent my passport off to get my Indonesian visa so all should be good in the next few days.

It's finally got to the point where I've got one week left at Fleetwood Nautical Campus. It's been a long 6 months here and to have an opportunity to go home before I go to sea is possibly the best reward I can have. I've had a lot of highs and lows throughout the course and I think I've come out the other side not only feeling inspired about going to sea but also cherishing the little things in life. 

Even though it has been a struggle and stressful on times I often think where I could be now. Still in my old job? No direction in life, no ambitions or goals. Who knows. I am glad though I took the leap though, even if it did mean selling most of my stuff in order to get here. In all honesty I do think sometimes how lucky I am to be in this career at sea.

In all fairness I can't wait to see some of my friends when I get home. Sometimes I do feel that everyone just drifts further apart. I feel that when I am qualified and I do leave this place. I won't be moving back to Neath. Things would have moved on without me and It wouldn't be right. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there. 

Anyway, I've got Engineering Workshop in the morning where this weeks session will be on valves. So that should be fun. I've got 2 exams left one on Friday for Basic Engineering Principles and Strength of Materials on Monday. 

Thanks for sticking with my blog over the last few months, you guys have been great. I'll keep you updated as I head home next week and I'll try and post what I do in my free time and when I find out about my ship and where it goes.

All the Best 

Hi there, today was the second session on the pumps in the workshop. After stripping down 5 types of pumps and seeing how they work we found that there are several types that can be used. The categories we found were Positive Displacement Pumps and Rotodynamic. These two categories included Axial, Screw, Centrifugal and Gear pumps. 

The information and the investigation that was carried out was written up in a report and is in the process of being handed in. It was a great insight to see how many types of pumps and their role. 

That's it for now guys, take care and I'll update you soon!