Master < 500-1600 GRT, Revision & Practice Exams

Your vessel is broken down and rolling in heavy seas. How can you reduce the danger of capsizing?

1. Move all passengers to the stern
2. Move all passengers to one side of the boat
3. Rigging a sea anchor ✓
4. Constantly shifting the rudder

Why: A sea anchor streamed from the bow holds the vessel's head into the seas, keeping her from lying beam-on in the trough where rolling and capsize risk are greatest. Shifting passengers or working the rudder will not control a powerless vessel.

What is the minimum number of bolts required in a permanently connected flange oil hose coupling?

1. A bolt must be used in every hole. ✓
2. 6
3. 4
4. 3

An icebreaker assisting a vessel through an ice field would display a visual signal consisting of the code letter "E" (Echo). What does this signal indicate?

1. I am altering my course to port
2. My vessel is stopped and making no way through the water
3. I am altering my course to starboard ✓
4. I am operating astern propulsion

U.S. regulations require all tankships of 150 GT and above and all other ships of 400 GT and above, to prepare and maintain which of the following?

1. A USCG approved shipboard oil pollution emergency plan ✓
2. A USCG approved oil discharge plan
3. A USCG approved vapor recovery procedures plan
4. A USCG approved synthetic plastic discharge plan

Why: U.S. regulations implementing MARPOL (33 CFR 151.26) require a Coast Guard approved Shipboard Oil Pollution Emergency Plan (SOPEP) on oceangoing tankships of 150 GT and above and other ships of 400 GT and above.

When taking a Pilot from a pilot vessel in a seaway, which way should you head your vessel if the ladder is on the leeward side?

1. Sea on the weather bow and ship moving ahead slowly ✓
2. Sea on the lee quarter with ship moving ahead slowly
3. Bow to the sea and no way on your vessel
4. Sea on the quarter with sternway on the ship

As the propeller turns, voids are formed on the trailing and leading edges of the propeller blades causing a loss of propulsive efficiency, pitting of the blades, and vibration. Which term defines this effect?

1. Advance
2. Edging
3. Slip
4. Cavitation ✓

Ship's officers should check every cargo compartment after it is filled with bulk grain to ensure which of the following?

1. All lighting circuits are energized
2. All spaces are filled ✓
3. The correct grade of cargo has been loaded
4. The heavier grade is in the lower hold

To determine the weight capacity of a deck in a cargo hold, which reference would you refer to?

1. The deck capacity plan ✓
2. The cubic capacity tables
3. The general arrangement plan
4. The deadweight scale

How should a look-out, in the merchant service, report sightings?

1. Gyro bearings
2. True bearings
3. Relative bearings ✓
4. Magnetic bearings

Why: Lookouts report contacts in relative bearings measured from the bow (e.g., 'broad on the starboard bow'). No compass is needed at the lookout station, and the bridge instantly knows where to look relative to the ship's head.

Your vessel is loaded with nonhygroscopic cargoes and is going from a cold to a warm climate. Which action should you take to avoid sweat damage while on the voyage?

1. Start the intake blowers
2. Start the exhaust blowers
3. Do not ventilate the cargo holds ✓
4. Ventilate the cargo holds

When attempting to enter a compartment containing a fire, which method of applying water is best?

1. Sweeping the compartment with a fog stream ✓
2. Solid stream directed toward the overhead
3. Straight stream directed into the center of the fire
4. High-velocity fog stream directed toward the overhead

Your cargo vessel is transiting pirate waters with a temporary security team onboard. The ship has been attacked and starts sinking. The decision has been made to abandon ship. During the muster, the security force leader is determined to be missing. What initial action should be taken?

1. Presume the security force leader is staying behind to defend the ship
2. Designate a crew member to search for the security force leader ✓
3. Designate a security team member to search for the security force leader
4. Presume the security force leader was killed in action

What quality of a diesel fuel is most significant for efficient combustion?

1. Volatility ✓
2. Flash point
3. Specific heat
4. Viscosity

Why should all electrical appliances aboard a vessel be grounded and ground fault protected?

1. To protect personnel from electrical shock ✓
2. To increase their operating efficiency
3. To prevent them from falling when the vessel rolls
4. To prevent unauthorized personnel from operating them

Your vessel is damaged and on an even keel. There is no trim. The freeboard is reduced to less than 1 foot. The rolling period is very long, and the vessel is sluggish in returning from a roll. Which action would you take FIRST to improve stability?

1. Pump out the peak tanks simultaneously.
2. In calm seas lower the lifeboats to the water and keep them alongside. ✓
3. Rig the jumbo boom and use it to jettison heavy deck cargo.
4. Press up a centerline double bottom that is now filled to 15% capacity.

How does good housekeeping prevent fires on a vessel?

1. Allowing better access in an emergency
2. Eliminating trip hazards
3. Improving personnel qualifications
4. Eliminating potential fuel sources ✓

Why: Fire needs fuel, heat, and oxygen. Good housekeeping removes accumulated trash, oily rags, and spilled flammables, the fuel side of the fire triangle, so ignition sources have nothing to start on.

The distress message of a ship should include considerable information which might facilitate the rescue. Which is TRUE concerning the information?

1. The message must be sent to a Coast Guard station FIRST
2. The information is ALWAYS included in the initial distress message and repeated as required
3. The information should be transmitted as a series of short messages, if time allows ✓
4. The distress message shall include the vessel's draft

Which is TRUE of the term negative slip on a vessel?

1. The ship is moving slower than the theoretical propeller speed
2. The distance a vessel travels when all propulsion has been stopped
3. The distance a vessel travels in the same direction when rudder has been applied
4. The ship is moving faster than the theoretical propeller speed ✓

You are the person in charge of a lifeboat when land is sighted. Due to a medical emergency, you have made the decision to beach the lifeboat through the surf. Which of the following is of greatest consideration in making this decision?

1. if there is a supply of freshwater near the landing area
2. the likelihood of broaching or capsizing the survival craft ✓
3. the likelihood of the landing area being inhabited
4. if the surf appears less rough from the sea

Where there are multiple accident victims, which type of injury should be the first to receive emergency treatment?

1. Burns
2. Eye injuries
3. Major multiple fractures
4. Severe shock ✓

What is a wobbling tail shaft an indication of?

1. Shallow water
2. A tight tail shaft gland
3. A worn stern bearing or misalignment ✓
4. An engine that is misfiring

When a vessel is stationary and in a hogging condition, the main deck is under which type of stress?

1. Compression
2. Racking
3. Shear
4. Tension ✓

A situation has occurred where it becomes necessary for you to be towed. What action should be taken to prevent your vessel from yawing?

1. Shift weight to the center of the boat
2. Shift weight to the bow
3. Throw excess weight overboard
4. Shift weight to the stern ✓

Why: Shifting weight aft sets the stern deeper, increasing drag aft so the towed vessel trails straight behind the towline like a weathervane instead of sheering from side to side.

What is the spoken emergency signal for a distress signal over a VHF radio?

1. Pan
2. Red Alert
3. Security
4. Mayday ✓

Use the material in Section 1, the blue pages, of the Stability Data Reference Book. If the KG is 24.2 feet, and the drafts are: FWD 22'-04", AFT 23'-00"; at what angle will the vessel lose positive stability?

1. 72°
2. 78° ✓
3. 86°
4. 92°

What is the purpose of the "reference hand" on an aneroid barometer?

1. To adjust the barometer
2. To indicate any change in the reading of the barometer ✓
3. To provide a correction for height above sea level
4. To provide a correction for temperature changes

If the gyrocompass error is east, what describes the error and the correction to be made to gyrocompass headings to obtain true headings?

1. The readings are too low (small numerically) and the amount of the error must be added to the compass to obtain true ✓
2. The readings are too high (large numerically) and the amount of the error must be added to the compass to obtain true
3. The readings are too low and the amount of the error must be subtracted from the compass to obtain true
4. The readings are too high and the amount of the error must be subtracted from the compass to obtain true

By what means are indications of the master gyrocompass sent to remote repeaters?

1. by transmitter ✓
2. by azimuth motor
3. by phantom element
4. by follow-up system

Which type of weather could you expect soon after seeing "hook" or "comma" shaped cirrus clouds?

1. Rain with the approach of a warm front ✓
2. Continuing fog and rain
3. The formation of a tropical depression
4. Clearing with the approach of a cold front

Which is the difference between the DR position and a fix, both of which have the same time?

1. Leeway
2. Variation
3. Deviation
4. Current ✓

Which is the reference datum used in determining the heights of land features on most charts?

1. Mean low water
2. Half-tide level
3. Mean sea level
4. Mean high water ✓

The velocity of the wind, its steady direction, and the amount of time it has blown determines what about a wind driven current?

1. Its deflection
2. Its speed ✓
3. Its temperature
4. Its density

Which is the region containing 3/4 of the mass of the atmosphere and to which are confined such phenomena as clouds, storms, precipitation and changing weather conditions?

1. The tropopause
2. The troposphere ✓
3. The stratopause
4. The stratosphere

Why: The troposphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere, contains about three quarters of its mass and nearly all its water vapor, so clouds, precipitation, storms, and changing weather occur there.

Entering a harbor, you take a bearing on a range and get 338° per gyrocompass (pgc). The true bearing from the chart is 340°T. Variation for the area is 14°E. Your course is 329° per standard magnetic compass (psc) and 338°pgc. What is the deviation on this heading?

1. 3°E
2. 3°W ✓
3. 5°E
4. 5°W

You will find daily information about the duration of slack water in a port on the Atlantic Coast in which publication?

1. Tidal Current Tables ✓
2. American Practical Navigator
3. Tide Tables
4. Sailing Directions

Which term is given to the mechanical lifting of air by the upslope slant of the terrain?

1. Vertical lifting
2. Convective lifting
3. Topographic lifting ✓
4. Advective lifting

Which defines the term relative humidity?

1. The ratio of the actual vapor content at the current temperature to the air's vapor holding capability ✓
2. The maximum vapor content the air is capable of holding
3. The relation of the moisture content of the air to barometric pressure
4. The maximum vapor content the air is capable of holding at 70 degrees

Which statement is TRUE concerning equatorial tides?

1. They are used as the basis for the vulgar establishment of the port.
2. They occur when the Moon is at maximum declination north or south.
3. The difference in height between consecutive high or low tides is at a minimum. ✓
4. They occur when the Sun is at minimum declination north or south.

A safe water daymark has what shape?

1. Diamond
2. Octagonal ✓
3. Circular
4. Triangular

Why: Safe water daymarks are octagonal and colored red and white. Triangles are starboard-hand marks and squares are port-hand marks, so safe water gets its own distinctive eight-sided shape.

Radar makes the most accurate determination of the __________.

1. size of a target
2. shape of a target
3. distance to a target ✓
4. direction of a target

As a warm front approaches how does barometric pressure change?

1. Pressure falls ✓
2. Pressure is steady
3. Pressure rises
4. Pressure is uncertain

If the current and wind are in opposite directions, what does the sea surface indicate?

1. The surface indicates a greatly reduced wind speed
2. The surface indicates a lower wind speed than what really exists
3. The surface indicates a higher wind speed than what really exists ✓
4. The surface does not change, each cancels the other

The light characteristic of flashing is used in the Aids to Navigation System on the Western Rivers. Which example is required to utilize this characteristic?

1. Daymarks with no lateral significance
2. Preferred channel buoys
3. Lights marking the right descending bank ✓
4. Lights marking the left descending bank

Which agency publishes the Light Lists?

1. United States Coast Guard ✓
2. National Ocean Service
3. Oceanographic Office
4. Army Corps of Engineers

Why: The U.S. Coast Guard publishes the Light List, describing lights, buoys, and other aids to navigation in U.S. waters. Charts and tide data come from the National Ocean Service.

The datum from which the predicted heights of tides are reckoned in the tide tables is the same as that used for the charts of the locality. The depression of the datum below mean sea level for Hampton Roads, Virginia is __________.

1. 4.1 feet
2. 1.2 feet ✓
3. between -.7 and +.5 feet
4. between 1.9 and 3.2 feet

What happens to the barometric pressure after a cold front passes?

1. Drops, and the temperature drops
2. Rises, and the temperature drops ✓
3. Rises, and the temperature rises
4. Drops, and the temperature rises

The error in a sextant altitude caused by refraction is greatest when the celestial body is in which location?

1. Rising above 45o elevation
2. High in the sky
3. At or near transit
4. Near the horizon ✓

In which months will the North Equatorial Countercurrent be strongest?

1. July and August ✓
2. April and May
3. January and February
4. October and November

Under the U.S. Aids to Navigation System, which category is a yellow buoy?

1. A safe water buoy
2. A special mark ✓
3. A cardinal mark
4. A junction buoy

Which is TRUE of the dangerous semicircle of a hurricane in the Northern Hemisphere?

1. It is measured from true north clockwise to 180°T
2. It is the area between the ship's heading and the bearing to the eye
3. It is measured from true north counterclockwise to 180°T
4. It is the area of the storm that is to the right of the storm's track ✓

What does a barometer showing falling pressure indicate?

1. The approach of a high-pressure system
2. A low dew point
3. The approach of a low-pressure system ✓
4. A high dew point

What is NOT an advantage of the rhumb line track over a great circle track?

1. Easily plotted on a Mercator chart
2. Negligible increase in distance on east-west courses near the equator
3. Does not require constant course changes
4. Plots as a straight line on Lambert conformal charts ✓

Which theoretical minimum number of measurements from satellites does a GPS receiver need in order to provide an exact three-dimensional position?

1. Five
2. Four ✓
3. Three
4. Two

If your propeller is racing in rough weather, which action should you take?

1. Stop your engine until the rough weather passes
2. Ignore it, this is acceptable in rough weather
3. Decrease your engine speed ✓
4. Increase your engine speed

Why: Racing happens when pitching lifts the propeller near or out of the water, letting it overspeed and shock-load the shaft and engine. Reducing engine speed limits the overspeeding while keeping steerageway, unlike stopping entirely.

Why is a VLCC (100,000 DWT+) with a 30,000 Shaft Horsepower Steam Turbine slow to respond to engine movements, and has less stopping power than normal ships?

1. They have a bigger propeller
2. They have smaller power to weight ratio ✓
3. They have larger power to weight ratio
4. They possess smaller propellers

Why: A loaded VLCC has enormous displacement but comparatively modest horsepower, a small power-to-weight ratio, so the engine has little leverage over the ship's huge momentum, making her slow to respond and hard to stop.

In safety and risk assessment, what two factors are used to evaluate a hazard's risk?

1. Probability of getting disciplined and forbearance of failing to file a report
2. Forbearance of the possible consequences and improbability of occurrence
3. Improbability of being caught and forbearance of failing to file a report
4. Severity of the possible consequences and probability of occurrence ✓

According to the Chemical Data Guide, the flash point for the grade B flammable liquid piperylene is __________.

1. -20°F ✓
2. 43°C
3. 108°F
4. not available

Which of the signals listed is required to be displayed at night while bunkering at a dock?

1. One red light over a white light
2. Two red lights
3. One red light ✓
4. One red light over a yellow light

A drill must be conducted in the use of the line throwing appliance. How often is this drill required to be conducted?

1. 2 months
2. 3 months ✓
3. 4 months
4. 5 months

Why: Regulations require a drill in the use of the line-throwing appliance at least once every three months.

Which is the primary method by which water spray puts out fires?

1. By removing the oxygen
2. Diluting combustible vapors
3. Cooling the fire below the ignition temperature ✓
4. By removing combustible material

Which statement is TRUE concerning the "flash point" of a substance?

1. It is the temperature at which the released vapors will fall within the explosive range.
2. It is lower than the ignition temperature. ✓
3. It is the temperature at which a substance will spontaneously ignite.
4. It is the temperature at which a substance, when ignited, will continue to burn.

Why: Flash point is the lowest temperature at which a liquid gives off vapor that will flash from an external ignition source. It is below the ignition (autoignition) temperature, where the substance ignites by itself, and below the fire point.

Which is TRUE when navigating a vessel?

1. You should assume a wreck buoy is directly over the wreck
2. You should never rely on a floating aid to maintain its exact position ✓
3. You can always rely on a buoy to show proper light characteristics
4. You can always rely on a buoy to be on station

If a weather bulletin shows the center of a low-pressure system to be 100 miles due east of you, what winds can you expect in the Southern Hemisphere?

1. North-northeasterly
2. South-southwesterly ✓
3. South-southeasterly
4. North-northwesterly

Which term is given to the upward slope of a vessels bottom from the keel to the bilge?

1. Rise of floor ✓
2. Rake
3. Sheer
4. Camber

Your drafts are: FWD 23'-03", AFT 27'-01". Use the blue pages of the Stability Data Reference Book to determine the vessels displacement if you are in fresh water.

1. 12,550 tons
2. 12,900 tons ✓
3. 13,200 tons
4. 13,350 tons

The SS AMERICAN MARINER is ready to bunker with drafts of FWD 11'-01", AFT 15'-01". After all bunkers are on board, soundings indicate the tonnages shown in table ST-0086 below. Use the white pages of The Stability Data Reference Book to determine the free surface correction.

1. 0.68 foot ✓
2. 0.85 foot
3. 0.97 foot
4. 1.30 feet

The SS AMERICAN MARINER is ready to sail with the load shown in table ST-0078 below. Use the white pages of The Stability Data Reference Book to determine the available GM.

1. Available GM 3.1 ft ✓
2. Available GM 3.6 ft
3. Available GM 3.8 ft
4. Available GM 3.3 ft

As a general rule, how will your vessel lie when it is drifting in a locale where there is no current?

1. The bow to the wind
2. With the wind on the quarter
3. The beam to the wind ✓
4. The stern to the wind

You are signing on a crew. You can determine the minimum number and qualifications of the crew that you are required to carry by consulting which document?

1. Articles of Agreement
2. Fo'c'sle card
3. Certificate of Inspection ✓
4. Crew list

The Immigration and Naturalization Service is concerned with which document on a vessel making preliminary entry into a U.S. port from a foreign port?

1. Shipping Articles
2. Curio List
3. Crew List form I-418 ✓
4. Certified Cargo Manifest

What is the operating principal of a flash type evaporator?

1. Sea water is heated to boiling temperature under a vacuum.
2. Heated sea water is injected into a vacuum chamber. ✓
3. Sea water is passed over heated plates in a thin film.
4. Sea water is forced through a heated eductor.

Using the information in Section 1, the blue pages, of the Stability Data Reference Book, determine the danger angle for permanent list if the KG is 21.2 feet and the drafts are: FWD 27'-11", AFT 28'-07".

1. 19°
2. 72°
3. 24° ✓
4. 52°

The sailing drafts are: FWD 23'-02", AFT 24'-06" and the GM is 2.8 feet. Use the information in Section 1, the blue pages, of the Stability Data Reference Book to determine the available righting arm at 30° inclination.

1. 1.3 feet
2. 2.5 feet ✓
3. 3.2 feet
4. 3.7 feet

Your vessel measures 122 feet long by 18 feet in beam. If the natural rolling period at a draft of 6'-09" is 5 seconds, what is the GM?

1. 2.1 feet
2. 2.5 feet ✓
3. 1.4 feet
4. 2.9 feet

In a following sea, a wave has overtaken your vessel and thrown the stern to starboard. To continue along your original course, which action should you take?

1. Increase speed
2. Use more left rudder
3. Use more right rudder ✓
4. Decrease speed

Why: When a following sea kicks the stern to starboard, the bow swings to port off course. Right rudder checks that swing and brings the bow back. Changing speed alone does not correct the yaw.

When abandoning ship and jumping into the water from a substantial height without a life jacket, you should __________.

1. hold your arms firmly at your sides and jump feet first
2. jump feet first, holding your knees to your chest
3. jump feet first, covering your nose and mouth with one hand and grasping the opposing upper arm with the other ✓
4. dive headfirst, using your hands to break the surface of the water

While underway in thick fog you are on watch and hear the cry "man overboard". Which type of maneuver should you make?

1. Williamson turn ✓
2. figure eight turn
3. Racetrack turn
4. Round turn

Your vessel is running in a following sea. Which term defines the motion your vessel is experiencing?

1. Yawing ✓
2. Heaving to
3. Pounding
4. Reduced speed

Your vessel is off a lee shore in heavy weather and laboring. Which action should you take?

1. Heave to in the trough of the sea.
2. Put the sea and wind on either quarter and proceed at increased speed.
3. Put the bow directly into the sea and proceed at full speed.
4. Put the sea and wind about two points on either bow and reduce speed. ✓

Why: Taking the seas about two points on the bow at reduced speed eases pounding, keeps steerageway, and works the vessel away from the lee shore. Full speed into the sea causes pounding; lying in the trough invites capsizing.

You are heading into the sea during rough weather. What may happen if there is too much weight forward in your small boat?

1. The craft will broach
2. The craft will rise rapidly over the wave
3. The craft may plunge into the wave ✓
4. The craft will list severely

Why: Excess weight forward depresses the bow so it cannot rise to oncoming waves; heading into a sea, the craft may plunge into the wave and ship heavy water.

Which is usually the most gentle way of riding out a severe storm on a larger vessel?

1. Rig a sea anchor
2. Hove to
3. Head into the seas at slow speeds
4. Running before the seas ✓

Your sailing drafts are: FWD 19'-06", AFT 20'-10" and the GM is 3.3 feet. What will be the angle of list if the #2 starboard deep tank (capacity 100 tons, VCG 19.1 feet, and 24 feet off the centerline) is filled? (Use the data in Section 1, the blue pages, of the Stability Data Reference Book)

1. Less than 1°
2. 2°
3. 4° ✓
4. 6°

Which basic category of water level fluctuations on the Great Lakes is the most regular?

1. Outflow fluctuations
2. Short-term fluctuations
3. Seasonal fluctuations ✓
4. Long-term fluctuations

On the Great Lakes, which defines the term "controlling depth"?

1. The designed dredging depth of a channel constructed by the Corps. of Engineers
2. The minimum amount of tail water available behind a dam
3. The distance in units of the chart (feet, meters or fathoms) from the reference datum to the bottom
4. The least depth within the limits of the channel which restricts the navigation ✓

A vessel operating on the Great Lakes, and whose position is south of an approaching eastward-moving storm center, would NOT experience which condition?

1. A southwest to west wind ✓
2. A falling barometer
3. Either rain or snow
4. The lowering clouds and drizzle

You are transiting the Straits of Mackinac by way of an improved channel. You have information which indicates that the channel's Federal project depth is 28 ft. Which of the following statements is true with regards to this channel?

1. The least depth within the limits of the channel is 28 ft.
2. The maximum depth which may be expected within the limits of the channel is 28 ft.
3. The design dredging depth of the channel is 28 ft. ✓
4. The channel has 28 ft. in the center but lesser depths may exist in the remainder of the channel.