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AUS-M500-Y-L1.4

The oral, and the paperwork

Everything up to here is collectable: sea time, course certificates, a radio ticket, a medical. The oral is the part that cannot be collected. An examiner sits opposite you and establishes whether you can be trusted with a vessel.

Entry & progression

MO74 calls it "a final assessment". AMSA calls it an oral examination. It is the same thing, and it is the last gate. You cannot book it until AMSA tells you to.

The sequence — and it only runs one way

From application to certificate

  1. Assemble the evidence: qualifying certificate, sea service (company letters), approved course, short courses, GMDSS, ECDIS, certificate of medical fitness.
  2. Submit seafarer form 419 to AMSA.
  3. AMSA assesses the application and issues you an assessment letter.
  4. That letter tells you to book the oral examination. Not before.
  5. Sit the oral examination — MO74's final assessment.
  6. AMSA issues the certificate of competency.

WARNING — You cannot book the oral first The assessment letter is not a formality — it is the instrument that authorises the booking. Candidates who try to line up an examination date before AMSA has assessed the application find the date is not theirs to take. Form 419 first. Assessment letter second. Oral third.

The medical

The international certificate of medical fitness is AMSA form 303 (examination report form 232). Only an authorised Medical Inspector of Seafarers may perform it, it is administered by Sonic HealthPlus on AMSA's behalf, and all examinations must be booked through the central booking system. AMSA is blunt about the consequence: "Medical examinations booked directly with an MIS, rather than via the central booking system's 1300 number, will be deemed invalid."

Validity is generally 2 years — 1 year if you are under 18 or 55 or over.

CAUTION — The initial medical must be done in Australia For initial issue of a certificate of competency, the medical must be obtained in Australia. Only revalidation medicals may be done overseas, in an agreement country. If you are working a Mediterranean or Caribbean season and intending to apply for this ticket, you will be coming home for the medical. Build it into the plan.

Colour vision

If you are red-green colour impaired, a master certificate is restricted to daylight hours. The restriction can be removed by re-test on Ishihara, or by an ophthalmologist using the Holmes-Wright lantern test. A daylight-only master's ticket is not much of a master's ticket. Find out early.

The sailing vessel endorsement

MO74 s8(1): a yacht certificate holder performing master duties on a sailing vessel must also hold a sailing vessel endorsement. AMSA issues two — "sailing vessels—fore and aft" and "sailing vessels—square rigged".

An officer in charge of a navigation watch on a sailing vessel does not need the endorsement — but must have completed the training required by the vessel's safety management system and be considered competent by the master. So: keeping a watch on a sailing yacht, no endorsement. Commanding one, endorsement.

Every year, someone is offered command of a sailing yacht, produces a Master <500 (Yachts) certificate, and discovers on the day that it is not enough. Do not be that person.

Practice questions

5 questions
recallcore

recall · core

The correct sequence for the final assessment is: (a) Book the oral, then submit form 419, then receive the assessment letter (b) Submit form 419, receive the assessment letter, then book the oral (c) Receive the assessment letter, then submit form 419, then book the oral (d) Book the oral and submit form 419 together

recallcore

recall · core

MO74 refers to the final gate as 'a final assessment'. AMSA calls it: (a) An AMSA Mandated Practical Assessment (AMPA) (b) A task book sign-off (c) An oral examination (d) A revalidation course

recallcore

recall · core

For INITIAL issue of an AMSA certificate of competency, the certificate of medical fitness must be obtained: (a) Anywhere, by any registered general practitioner (b) In Australia (c) In an agreement country of the candidate's choice (d) In the flag state of the vessel served on

recallcore

recall · core

A Master <500 GT (Yachts) holder is offered command of a 40 m fore-and-aft rigged sailing yacht. Under MO74 s8(1) they must: (a) Do nothing further — the certificate covers all yachts under 500 GT (b) Obtain a Master <200 GT (Yachts) endorsement (c) Complete the training in the vessel's SMS and be considered competent by the master (d) Also hold a sailing vessel endorsement

recallcore

recall · core

A candidate found to be red-green colour impaired will have a master certificate: (a) Refused outright (b) Restricted to daylight hours, unless removed by Ishihara re-test or the Holmes-Wright lantern test (c) Issued with no restriction, as colour vision is not assessed for deck certificates (d) Restricted to vessels under 24 m

AI-drafted catalogue content pending SME review. Sea service and course requirements change; verify with AMSA before relying on this for a career decision.

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