Top 12 Ordinary Seaman Skills to Put on Your Resume

Crafting a sharp, seaworthy resume matters for ordinary seamen chasing solid berths and steady rotations. Spotlight the right skills and you show you can pull your weight, follow orders, and keep the ship safe when conditions turn ugly or the clock runs long.

Ordinary Seaman Skills

1. Knot Tying
2. Navigation Basics
3. Safety Procedures
4. Deck Maintenance
5. Firefighting Training
6. First Aid/CPR
7. Mooring Operations
8. Cargo Handling
9. Watchkeeping
10. Survival Techniques
11. Seamanship Skills
12. Radar Operation

1. Knot Tying

Knot tying is the craft of fastening, joining, and securing lines with dependable knots and hitches. An Ordinary Seaman relies on it for mooring, rigging, lashings, and quick problem-solving on a moving deck.

Why It's Important

Good knots keep gear in place, lines safe, and operations smooth. Bad knots slip, jam, or fail at the worst time. The difference shows up fast in heavy weather and tight maneuvers.

How to Improve Knot Tying Skills

1. Learn the essentials: Bowline, clove hitch, round turn and two half hitches, sheet bend, rolling hitch, reef knot.

2. Practice daily: Tie blindfolded, with wet line, and under time pressure. Build muscle memory.

3. Use visual guides: Study step-by-step animations or diagrams from reputable maritime training sources.

4. Apply on deck: Use the right knot for the job. Ask a senior hand to check your work.

5. Review and refine: Focus on dressing knots cleanly and untying efficiently after load.

6. Stay current: Learn variants and whipping/seizing methods for different rope materials.

How to Display Knot Tying Skills on Your Resume

2. Navigation Basics

Navigation basics cover charts, buoyage, compass use, position fixing, GPS familiarity, helm orders, look-out duties, and the signals and rules that keep ships from colliding.

Why It's Important

Every safe passage rests on sound navigation. Even when electronics behave, you need to read the water and the chart, know the rules, and back up the bridge team.

How to Improve Navigation Basics Skills

1. Chart work: Learn symbols, soundings, scale, and dangers. Plot bearings, courses, and DR positions.

2. Compass competence: Understand magnetic versus true, deviation, and simple corrections.

3. Electronics: Get comfortable with GPS and electronic charts. Cross-check with paper when possible.

4. Rules of the Road (COLREGs): Study lights, shapes, sound signals, and steering rules until they’re second nature.

5. Bridge routine: Practice clear helm responses, position reporting, and handovers during watches.

How to Display Navigation Basics Skills on Your Resume

3. Safety Procedures

Safety procedures are the habits, drills, and protocols that keep people, cargo, and the vessel out of harm’s way. From PPE to lockout/tagout to muster and abandon-ship routines.

Why It's Important

Ships are unforgiving. A strong safety culture stops small oversights from snowballing into injuries, spills, or worse.

How to Improve Safety Procedures Skills

1. Train routinely: Drills for fire, man overboard, abandon ship, security, and first aid—no shortcuts.

2. Know the rules: Understand your company SMS, ISM Code requirements, and how they apply on deck.

3. Use PPE correctly: Right gear for the task—gloves, eye protection, hearing protection, fall arrest, respirators.

4. Risk assess: Stop, identify hazards, choose controls, then proceed. Update as conditions change.

5. Report and learn: Near-misses matter. Share lessons, fix root causes, and improve procedures.

6. Emergency readiness: Know alarms, stations, duties, and equipment locations cold.

How to Display Safety Procedures Skills on Your Resume

4. Deck Maintenance

Deck maintenance means cleaning, chipping, painting, greasing, renewing lashings, and keeping fittings serviceable so the ship stays safe and work-ready.

Why It's Important

Well-kept decks prevent slips, corrosion, and equipment failures. That’s fewer accidents and less downtime.

How to Improve Deck Maintenance Skills

1. Clean methodically: Remove salt and grime with fresh water and mild detergent. Keep scuppers clear.

2. Inspect often: Spot rust blooms, worn nonskid, cracked coatings, seized shackles, and chafed lines early.

3. Prep right: Chip, scrape, sand, degrease, and prime before coating. Follow cure times.

4. Fight rust: Neutralize corrosion, apply protective systems suited to the environment, and touch up promptly.

5. Work safely: Ventilate, use PPE, manage slips/trips, and secure work areas.

6. Stow gear: Clean, label, and store tools and chemicals properly. Tidy deck, fewer incidents.

How to Display Deck Maintenance Skills on Your Resume

5. Firefighting Training

Firefighting training covers fire behavior, classes of fires, extinguishing agents, hose handling, BA sets, alarms, and coordinated response on board.

Why It's Important

Fire at sea escalates quickly. Training builds speed, coordination, and confidence—key to protecting life, cargo, and the vessel while meeting regulatory standards.

How to Improve Firefighting Training Skills

1. Simulate realistically: Train with shipboard scenarios—confined spaces, smoke, heat, and low visibility.

2. Blend e-learning and hands-on: Study fundamentals, then drill until actions are automatic.

3. Use current equipment: Practice with the exact extinguishers, hoses, nozzles, and breathing apparatus you’ll carry. Follow International Maritime Organization guidance and your company SMS.

4. Drill unannounced: Build muscle memory and shorten response times under pressure.

5. Debrief well: Honest feedback, clear takeaways, and immediate corrections.

How to Display Firefighting Training Skills on Your Resume

6. First Aid/CPR

First Aid/CPR equips you to stabilize injuries and sudden illness until advanced care is reached. On board, that may be hours away. Skills include scene assessment, bleeding control, shock management, CPR with AED, choking response, and treating hypothermia or heat illness.

Why It's Important

When distance is the delay, immediate care saves lives and prevents minor injuries from turning major.

How to Improve First Aid/CPR Skills

1. Certify and recertify: Take recognized courses that align with maritime requirements and refresh before expiry.

2. Drill often: Use manikins, AED trainers, and realistic scenarios. Time your responses.

3. Know your kit: Learn the contents and layout of the ship’s medical supplies and how to request telemedical advice.

4. Integrate with drills: Fold first aid into fire, MOB, and abandon-ship exercises.

5. Review updates: Procedures evolve. Keep pace with guideline changes.

6. Reflect after incidents: What went well, what didn’t, what to fix now.

How to Display First Aid/CPR Skills on Your Resume

7. Mooring Operations

Mooring operations secure or release the vessel at a berth or buoy using lines, wires, or chains, with winches, capstans, stoppers, and strong teamwork.

Why It's Important

Safe mooring protects crew, terminal, ship, and environment. One mistake can snap a line or shift a ship.

How to Improve Mooring Operations Skills

1. Prioritize safety: Identify snap-back zones, keep clear, use proper PPE, and follow clear signals.

2. Train and brief: Know the plan, line leads, equipment status, and roles before operations begin.

3. Communicate cleanly: Short, standard phrases over radio or hand signals. Acknowledge orders.

4. Maintain gear: Inspect lines for chafe and stiffness, test brakes, lubricate moving parts, and replace worn fittings.

5. Respect command: Follow the officer in charge and work as a coordinated unit.

6. Keep learning: Review incident learnings and update practices as equipment and standards evolve.

How to Display Mooring Operations Skills on Your Resume

8. Cargo Handling

Cargo handling covers loading, stowage, securing, monitoring, and discharge. Ordinary Seamen assist with gear, safety, and steady coordination.

Why It's Important

Proper handling prevents damage, delays, and injuries. It also keeps the ship stable and compliant with procedures.

How to Improve Cargo Handling Skills

1. Know the cargo: Understand hazards, weight, center of gravity, and special requirements.

2. Follow procedures: Apply ship and terminal guidelines and stowage/securing standards.

3. Use equipment correctly: Learn slings, hooks, spreaders, forklifts, and cranes under supervision.

4. Inspect and maintain: Check lashing gear, test SWLs, and retire damaged equipment.

5. Communicate: Clear signals and coordinated moves with deck and crane teams.

6. Lead with safety: Establish exclusion zones, wear PPE, and keep clear of suspended loads.

How to Display Cargo Handling Skills on Your Resume

9. Watchkeeping

Watchkeeping means maintaining a vigilant lookout, monitoring instruments, making rounds, logging activity, and alerting the bridge team to anything that threatens safe navigation or security.

Why It's Important

Tired eyes miss small warnings. Good watchkeepers catch problems early—traffic, weather, machinery, security risks.

How to Improve Watchkeeping Skills

1. Stay alert: No distractions. Follow lookout practices consistent with COLREGs Rule 5.

2. Know your duties: Follow the SMS and standing orders. Understand escalation thresholds.

3. Communicate fast and clear: Use standard phrases and report changes promptly.

4. Train consistently: Practice equipment checks, alarms, and emergency responses per STCW guidance.

5. Manage fatigue: Respect rest hours and hydration. The Maritime Labour Convention (MLC, 2006) standards exist for a reason.

6. Use aids wisely: ECDIS, radar, AIS—know their limits and cross-check with visual bearings.

How to Display Watchkeeping Skills on Your Resume

10. Survival Techniques

Survival techniques include donning immersion suits, boarding and managing liferafts, signaling, water and ration management, basic first aid, and firefighting fundamentals when everything goes sideways.

Why It's Important

When the ship is no longer safe, these skills turn panic into a plan and buy time for rescue.

How to Improve Survival Techniques Skills

1. Swim and float: Practice swimming, treading water, and heat conservation positions.

2. First aid for the elements: Treat hypothermia, burns, dehydration, and seasickness.

3. Signal smart: Use flares, mirrors, whistles, EPIRBs, and SARTs correctly.

4. Liferaft and lifeboat drills: Launch, board, right a capsized raft, organize duties, and manage morale.

5. Personal Survival Techniques course: Complete STCW-compliant training with practical water sessions.

6. Basic navigation: Use compass and simple dead reckoning to make sensible decisions if adrift.

7. Water and rations: Collect, purify, and ration supplies deliberately.

8. Practice regularly: Refresh often so the motions are automatic in cold and darkness.

How to Display Survival Techniques Skills on Your Resume

11. Seamanship Skills

Seamanship bundles the everyday skills of life at sea: knotwork, splicing, steering, lookout, line handling, maintenance, safe operations, and respect for procedure and weather.

Why It's Important

Sound seamanship keeps crews safe, ships efficient, and careers moving forward. It’s the backbone of trust on deck.

How to Improve Seamanship Skills

1. Learn continuously: Take courses in safety, navigation, and ship operations that align with recognized standards.

2. Get hands-on: Ask for reps at the wheel, on the lines, during drills, and during maintenance tasks.

3. Master nav tools: Practice with compass, bearings, log entries, and electronic aids under guidance.

4. Complete mandatory training: Finish STCW basic safety modules and refreshers as required.

5. Find mentors: Shadow experienced crew. Short tips from them save long headaches later.

6. Read and observe: Study manuals, procedures, and the ship itself. Small details matter.

7. Stay fit: Strength, stamina, and balance reduce injuries and improve performance.

8. Know regulations: Understand the why behind policies—compliance supports safety and efficiency.

How to Display Seamanship Skills on Your Resume

12. Radar Operation

Radar operation uses radio waves to spot and track targets and weather, measure range and bearing, and support collision avoidance alongside visual lookouts and other nav aids.

Why It's Important

In fog, rain, and darkness, radar extends your senses and gives the bridge team time to maneuver early.

How to Improve Radar Operation Skills

1. Start with fundamentals: Power-up sequence, range scales, gain/sea/rain clutter, EBL/VRM, and target interpretation.

2. Practice in clear weather: Compare the picture to shoreline and traffic you can see. Build confidence.

3. Use advanced features: Learn guard zones, MARPA/ARPA, trails, and target vectors. Confirm with AIS and visuals.

4. Read the weather: Distinguish precipitation from land echoes and adjust settings as conditions shift.

5. Prioritize avoidance: Apply safe CPA/TCPA margins, steady monitoring, and early, obvious maneuvers per the rules.

6. Take formal instruction: Complete radar training aligned with your vessel’s equipment and procedures.

How to Display Radar Operation Skills on Your Resume