Week 3
17 July 2006

Captain – Scott Dunaway

Captain Scott is originally from Winnie, Texas, population 4,000, a town located between Beaumont and Houston. Now, however, he makes his home in Chile’s central mid-valley district.   He has been working at sea for almost 27 years and is employed by Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO).

Career path: Captain Scott began his career in the Coast Guard. He retired from the Coast Guard in 1997. After that, the Captain spent some time on land to be with his family. He worked as a truck driver and a youth minister. When he decided to return to the sea, more than 3 years had passed. This meant he had to spend another 6 months at sea in order to make his previous sea time count towards licensing requirements. He started as a deckhand handling cargo. With the help of loans, the he was able to take 3 months off work in order to study for his license.  Because of his experience in the Coast Guard, Captain Scott was able to receive a chief mate unlimited license rather than being restricted to vessels of less than 1600 tons. Later he qualified for a captain’s license. The ship the Nathaniel B. Palmer intrigued him and when offered the chance to serve as captain, he was ready.

13 February, 2004 Scott Dunaway, then as Chief Mate, pilots the Nathaniel B. Palmer  with Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic (TEA) Program Link

Thoughts on jobs: Career paths do not always rise directly up to the next level of more responsibility or higher pay. Captain Scott had to restart his career as a deckhand in order to get his licenses. Think about your past and present employment. What do you want to be doing in the future? Will you have to take “steps back” in order to move forward? Are you “ready” and “qualified” for the job you want if it were to become available now?

Snow in July on the Nathaniel B. Palmer	Nathaniel B. Palmer

Job duties: Capitan Scott’s typical day can be very different from captains in other areas. He walks the ship up to 3x a day to make sure that all is running smoothly. He needs to check all the navigation plans and charts and make sure it is “safe” for the vessel to continue on its course. As the captain, he  has to consider a number of factors in making this determination:

• The Weather – What are the current weather conditions? What will the conditions be like in 12 hours?
  
  
• The Coastline – When maneuvering around islands, how close to land is it safe to take the ship?
  
  
• The Seafloor – What are the depths? Are there any pinnacles?
  
  
• The Ocean Currents – On a research vessel, scientists may have planned to take samples at a particular longitude and latitude. However, the current flow may make seas too rough to travel to a particular location at a specific time.
  
  
• The Nautical History of the Area – What problems have other ships faced in this area?
  
  
• The Changing Antarctic Ice – Ice conditions are constantly changing. The ice sheet surrounding Antarctica is much broader in the winter than in the summer. There is no complete system that tells the captain what the ice is like in a particular area. Technology only provides a partial picture. Sometimes it is necessary to wait for daylight in order to make a determination of which way it is safe to go.
  
  
• Validity of charts – Some of the charts still in use have depths listed that were measured in the 1800’s. One chart from the “old days”, but still in use, has an island (Franklin Island) 7 miles away from its actual location.
  
  

It is the captain’s duty to consider all these factors and make decisions that not only affect the efficiency of the research mission, but also affect the safety of all those on board.

Extension Activity:  If a ship captain does not fulfill his obligations, his ship could be damaged and/or lives could be lost. What job are you interested in? What are the responsibilities at that job? What could be the consequences of not fulfilling or being careless with those responsibilities? (Your answer should include more than “I would get fired”.)

Job forecast:  Although training requirements are increasing for maritime jobs, there are plenty of  jobs available right now. It is becoming much more difficult for people to work their way up the career ladder, so maritime education and training are necessary. Because of a high demand for trained people, salaries are very good.

Icebergs off the Nathaniel B. Palmer

Parting Thoughts:

Scott’s biggest adrenaline rush as sea was saving people from icy waters. Scott was working in the Coast Guard in Alaska during the 1982 storm that capsized a number of fishing boats, resulting in an unusually high number of deaths. He not only rescued others, but ended up having to be rescued after falling unconscious from the icy water. He says you never forget the look in people’s eyes as you pull them out of the waters, and they realize you have just saved them from an almost certain death.