June 2026
A Day In The Life 1983 to 2026
Captain Mark (Joe) Haynes MNI
After an exciting couple of years on the Ambuscade from Jan 81 to Oct 82, I went back to HMS Vernon and joined the Seamanship section until Jan 83 working in the section as an AB. Due to an incident onboard, I was emergency drafted to Illustrious in Jan 83 and stayed there until Jan 1986, I got my hook in 1985and a spell in Royal Arthur, while on Illustrious I met my now wife and I was sent to Dryad in 1986 assisting in the running of new entry basic training. During this time, I was invited to try to become an SD officer by my then DO, it never happened for various reasons. In Jan 87 I was drafted to HMS Hermione, which was short lived as we took her to Rosyth and everybody swapped ship to HMS Jupiter in August 1987. I remained on the Jupiter until March 1989 and eventually left the RN in May 1989.
After a slow start to civvy life, I got accepted by Vosper Thorneycroft as an AB on the trial’s warship team, working on 2 Saudi Arabian minesweepers being built in Woolston, Southampton, that covered March 1990 to August 1991. During that time, I went to the Nautical College in Warsash to get some civilian equivalent certificates such as basic sea survival, firefighting and first aid. It was at this point I saw an article in a Merchant Navy newspaper looking for deck crew people who wanted to get a watchkeeping certificate to become a deck officer, this sounded interesting, so I applied for a scholarship and got it much to my surprise. (Slater Fund)
In October 1991 I started a period of freelancing as an Able Seaman in the MN and continuing my studies for an OOW cert by correspondence course from South Shields Nautical College. I worked on several different types of vessels in this period, Ro Ro’s, passenger ferries and container ships. During my initial time with P&O Containers, I was called into the office to discuss the OOW course that I was studying towards, and it was agreed that if I did 2 six week trips back to back, they would fund me through college with basic pay, it seemed a fair deal at the time, so I agreed and went to Warsash college and completed my first OOW certificate, and went back to sea in 1993 as a 3rd Mate on a 34,000 grt container vessel working between the USA and Persian Gulf.
Between 1993 and 1997 I worked on container ships, while doing more college time and exams on my leave periods until I was promoted to 2nd mate in late 97, by this time I had left P&O and was working for Maersk. I was promoted to Chief Officer in 2005 while working in Central America and made permanent C/O on the same ship with same Captain, fortunately we got on very well and still do. In 2007 I was selected to be the Chief Officer on a newbuild container ship, with the same Captain, we went through team
building with the whole crew and officers, and then we spent 6 months in the shipyard in Germany building the Maersk Brooklyn, (48,853 grt) we took this ship from keel laying, through build and sea trials and eventually service from Europe to the Far East. We were both (the Captain and I) sent to Korea to do the same job on another new container ship, we did the same process working between South America and the Far East. Then in 2011 while working in Brazil, I was promoted to Captain myself and given the ship as back-to-back Master with my friend and colleague.
In 2012, the container trade took a sharp decline, and while still working on a large container ship at anchor off Hong Kong or Taiwan going nowhere, I decided to change from a liner service to the offshore sector and so transferred from Maersk Line to Maersk Supply Offshore. This was a totally different style of vessel and operation, so I adapted my experience and went full on into the offshore, oil and gas sector. During my time in Maersk Offshore I worked in the North Sea, off Angola and Congo.
I departed Maersk in late 2013 and started working for Saudi Aramco as a vetting inspector in Tanajib and Ras Tanura, this was a 6 week on and 3 weeks off rotation, I did get command of 2 ships under the Aramco flag, and many of the contacted vessels used by Aramco, these were rig inspection and maintenance vessels. I lasted until March 2018 and came home, for personal reasons.
In late 2018 I was approached by a London Based Marine Warranty company to assist in the Nord Stream pipeline project, this entailed inspections of all vessels used on the project, so I spent a lot of time in the Baltic states area, but only on short visits.
In 2023 I semi-retired for family reasons, and started my own company, working from home as a Marine Consultant, and this is where I was contacted by the charity Clyde Naval Heritage (via Peter Mosse) to assist in the recovery of HMS Ambuscade from Karachi, and as of now, we have managed to get the ship surveyed for suitability and condition for a possible tow or lift back to Glasgow.
So, from Seaman Sonar in 1981 to retired Master Mariner in 2011/2026, I think I can safely say I have been from bottom to top in my chosen industry, but I am still working and learning.
PS Burt Lancaster, I take my hat off to you, I couldn’t deal with cargo that talks to you as passengers do !
Link to My Photos
