Deckhand CV Examples & Writing Guide

This sample is for a deckhand with six years across an estuary ferry, North Sea supply vessels and Thames tugs, who has upgraded to Able Seafarer Deck and is working towards a Boatmaster Licence. The name and companies are made up. Copy the shape, then swap in your own vessels, tonnage and certificate details.

Commercial deck work in the UK is certificate-gated. Get these right on the CV, with the certificate titles exactly as they appear on the documents themselves.

• STCW Basic Training: Personal Survival Techniques (PST), Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting (FPFF), Elementary First Aid (EFA) and Personal Safety and Social Responsibilities (PSSR), usually taken with Proficiency in Security Awareness (PSA) at an MCA-approved centre. PST and FPFF need refreshing every five years.
• Deck ratings issued by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA): Navigational Watch Rating (STCW II/4) and Able Seafarer Deck (STCW II/5), each requiring documented sea service, with the Efficient Deck Hand (EDH) certificate as a common step. Write the exact certificate rather than just "AB".
• ENG1 seafarer medical certificate from an MCA-approved doctor. It is valid for up to two years, so list the expiry date.
• A clean drug and alcohol record. Most operators run random testing under their own policy; say that yours is clean.
• Inland and harbour work: on rivers and estuaries such as the tidal Thames, the person in charge of a tug or passenger vessel needs a Boatmaster Licence, so deckhands working towards one should say so. Small commercial workboats operate under the MCA's Workboat Code.
• Add-ons that get you hired faster: Proficiency in Survival Craft and Rescue Boats (PSCRB), fast rescue boat, Proficiency in Designated Security Duties, RYA Powerboat Level 2, GWO Sea Survival for offshore wind crew transfer vessels, and a slinger/signaller ticket.

Sea service is counted in days aboard and recorded in your discharge book and in sea service testimonials signed by the master. The Navigational Watch Rating needs a set amount of approved sea service, and Able Seafarer Deck needs more on top of it. Check the current requirement in MCA guidance before you apply for an upgrade, and keep your testimonials, because a crewing office will ask for them.

“First thing I look at is the certificate and whether the STCW and medical are live. Second thing is days at sea and whether they finished their hitches. A deckhand who has done four hundred days and never quit mid-hitch is worth three who look good on paper.”

A deckhand CV is judged on where you sailed, not just how long. Each job entry should carry the vessel type, size, route and rotation, because those tell a marine superintendent what you can already do.

1. 1Name the vessel type: harbour tug, Thames tug and barge, platform supply vessel, crew transfer vessel (offshore wind), multicat workboat, passenger ferry, trip boat, fishing vessel, research vessel, motor yacht, sailing yacht.
2. 2Give the size in the way that trade uses it. Gross tonnage and bollard pull for tugs and commercial vessels, length overall in metres for workboats and yachts, passenger capacity for ferries and trip boats.
3. 3State the route or waters: tidal rivers and estuaries, harbour limits, UK coastal, North Sea, near-coastal, unlimited, Mediterranean and Caribbean seasons for yachts.
4. 4Write the rotation: 2 on / 2 off, 4 on / 4 off, week on / week off, 6-on 6-off watches, day work only. This is how the crewing office schedules you.
5. 5Give days of sea service, since it decides your next certificate. Roughly 1,100 days over five years reads well and is checkable against your discharge book and testimonials.
6. 6Say whether you completed every trip or contract. Leaving mid-trip is the maritime equivalent of being sacked and it is the first thing a reference call uncovers.

Searching for the deckhand job description and copying it is the most common mistake here. The duties are the same on every boat; what differs is the volume, the conditions and your safety record.

Superyacht recruitment runs through crew agencies in Antibes, Palma and Fort Lauderdale, and yachting CVs follow their own conventions. Several standard UK CV rules are reversed here, so do not send a commercial deckhand CV to a yacht agency.

• A photo is expected. A clean head-and-shoulders shot in a plain polo shirt, in good light, no sunglasses, no crop from a night out. This is standard in yachting and agencies will ask for it.
• One page only. Yacht CVs are one page, with the photo top left or top right and a boat list rather than long paragraphs.
• List vessels by length overall, motor or sail, private or charter, and the crew size. "52m motor yacht, private, 13 crew" is the format an agency reads.
• Certificates that matter: STCW Basic Training, an ENG1 seafarer medical, RYA Powerboat Level 2 for tender driving, an RYA Personal Watercraft certificate, and Proficiency in Security Awareness.
• Skills that get a junior hired: chamois and washdown discipline, teak care, varnishing, detailing, tender driving, watersports toys, line handling and passerelle work.
• Say your nationality, visa status (a US B1/B2 matters for the Florida and Caribbean season, and Schengen limits matter for the Mediterranean on a UK passport), and whether you have any visible tattoos, since some programmes ask.
• Dayworking in a yachting hub for a season is a legitimate route in and belongs on the CV. List the boats you daywork on with dates.

Boats take on new deckhands constantly, especially tug and workboat companies, ferries, trip boat operators, fishing vessels and dayworking yachts. What they want to know is whether you will still be there on day nine.

1. 1Get STCW Basic Training first. It takes about a week at an MCA-approved centre and most commercial operators cannot put you on a boat without it. Having it already is a real advantage over other applicants.
2. 2Book your ENG1 medical with an MCA-approved doctor, and put the course and medical dates on the CV if any certificate has not arrived yet.
3. 3Ask how your sea service will be recorded (discharge book and testimonials) and be honest about drug and alcohol testing. Most commercial operators run random testing.
4. 4Pull forward any work that maps: construction and rigging, roofing, farm work, warehouse, oil and gas, commercial fishing, Armed Forces service, lifeguarding, welding. Give shift lengths, weights handled and safety records.
5. 5Mention time on the water in any form: dinghy sailing, RYA courses, a sailing club, kayak guiding, jet ski hire, marina work, boatyard labour. It shows you will not be seasick and useless on day one.
6. 6Say plainly what you can accept: trip length, being away from home for weeks, night watches, no phone signal, shared cabins. Crewing offices lose new starters to exactly these things.
7. 7Keep it to one page and lead with the certificates you hold.

• One page for most commercial deck work, one page for a yacht CV, two pages only if you have ten years and several certificates.
• Certificates on the contact line, then a short personal statement, then vessels in reverse order. Skills and certificates in full at the bottom.
• Plain single-column layout, PDF, named with your surname and rating. Many towage and offshore companies now run applications through an applicant tracking system that mangles columns.
• Use the exact words from the advert: deckhand, AB, able seafarer, OS, ordinary seaman, NWR, EDH, STCW, ENG1, trip, rotation, ship-handling, towage, barge, PSV, CTV, workboat.
• Include a mobile number that works in port and an email you check on rotation. Crewing offices call with a joining date and a short window.
• No photo on a UK commercial CV. A photo is expected on a yacht CV. Those are two different worlds and you should not mix them.
• List two referees with phone numbers, ideally a master or marine superintendent. Maritime recruitment runs on phone calls between people who know each other.