Made a Mistake Onboard as a Cadet: What to Do Before You Panic

A deck cadet on r/IndianMariners shared this situation recently, and it is worth addressing directly because it is more common than it appears:

He was mustered before departure to check container lashings in his allotted bays. It was dark and snowing. He checked and reported clear. Almost a week into the voyage, he discovered that a container at the top of a seven-tier bay had improperly seated twistlocks — a genuine safety issue that cannot be rectified at sea.

His options as he saw them: tell his Chief Officer and face a “scolding of a lifetime, lose trust, and even get sacked” — or wait four weeks until port, hoping no one noticed.

Other crewmembers advised him not to speak about it.

He told his C/O. The C/O told him not to repeat it. That was the end of it.

This outcome was predictable to anyone with experience on ships. But to a cadet less than two months into his first contract, it was not obvious. The fear was real. This article is for every cadet in that position.

What the ISM Code Actually Says About Cadet Liability

The International Safety Management Code — the ISM Code — governs safety management on ships internationally. Under ISM, the responsibility for safety management rests with the company (the ship manager or owner) and with the Master of the vessel. Not with the deck cadet.

A cadet is a trainee. They are not a licensed officer. They are not a watchkeeping officer. Their role is to learn under supervision. When a cadet is assigned to check lashings, the Chief Officer retains supervisory responsibility for that task. A cadet discovering a deficiency and reporting it is acting exactly as ISM requires.

What ISM explicitly requires of everyone onboard — including cadets — is to report unsafe conditions. Section 9 of the ISM Code deals specifically with reports of non-conformities, accidents and hazardous situations. The obligation to report is explicit. The obligation to cover up is nowhere.

The comment from a senior mariner in the thread captured it cleanly: “Nobody can sack you for this. You are a cadet and you joined for training. If your C/O reports to the company regarding this, he will get scolding from the company for relying on you for such stuff.”

This is accurate. Assigning a cadet the primary responsibility for cargo lashing checks — without adequate supervision in poor weather conditions — is a failure at the officer level, not a failure at the cadet level.

The Real Risk of Concealment

The cadet’s instinct toward concealment is understandable. The actual risk calculation, however, runs completely the other way.

If the deficiency is discovered before port: A safety inspector, a company superintendent, or another crew member finds the improperly seated twistlock. Now the question is why it was not reported when discovered. The cadet who knew and said nothing is now implicated in a cover-up, not just a mistake. This is the dismissible offence.

If an incident occurs involving the container: A container with improperly seated twistlocks is at risk in heavy weather. If a container falls, it becomes a maritime casualty investigation. The investigation will determine when the deficiency was first known. A cadet who knew and concealed it is in a profoundly worse position legally and professionally than a cadet who reported it immediately.

The company’s safety management system requires reporting. Under ISM, companies are audited on their non-conformance reporting. A company that has a culture of suppressing non-conformances fails audits. Companies take this seriously. A cadet who reports a problem is functioning within the system. A cadet who conceals a problem is outside it.

What “Sacking a Cadet” Actually Requires

For a cadet to be formally dismissed from a ship, the company must have documented, serious grounds. In Indian maritime law and in standard crewing agreements, dismissal requires:

• Gross negligence that endangered the vessel or crew
• Deliberate violation of standing orders
• Criminal behaviour
• A pattern of repeated documented failures

A single missed check on a lashing inspection during difficult weather conditions, reported honestly as soon as discovered, meets none of these criteria. It is the kind of mistake that every officer on every ship has made at some point in their career — usually multiple times.

The sentiment from r/IndianMariners was unanimous: “You’re a cadet. They can’t sack you for this silly mistake. Be honest and let your Chief Officer know.” That advice is both practically correct and legally grounded.

The Broader Pattern: Why Cadets Fear Honest Reporting

The culture of fear around reporting mistakes is not created by ISM or by company policy. It is created by individual officer behaviour — specifically, the behaviour of officers who respond to cadet reports with disproportionate anger, public humiliation, or threats of negative evaluations.

This is a real problem in Indian merchant navy culture. The senior officers who shout, who berate, who tell cadets their future depends on silence — these officers are themselves violating ISM culture principles. A safety management culture is built on psychological safety to report. Officers who destroy that safety on their ships are creating the exact conditions for serious incidents.

If you are a cadet on a vessel where honest reporting is genuinely met with threats to your employment, document what is happening. The DG Shipping grievance mechanism at 9004048406 and the ITF (International Transport Workers Federation) are both resources that exist for exactly this kind of situation.

Most ships are not like this. Most Chief Officers and Chief Engineers want cadets to report problems — because unseen problems become their problems. The vessel that the r/IndianMariners cadet was on clearly had a C/O who responded appropriately. That is the norm, not the exception.

What to Do in the First Few Weeks Onboard

The pattern of first-contract cadet anxiety is predictable. You are in a new environment. The hierarchy is unfamiliar. The technical knowledge from pre-sea training meets the reality of an actual ship. Mistakes happen.

A few principles that hold across almost every situation:

Report to your immediate superior immediately. Do not wait. Do not hope it resolves itself. Do not ask a rating or an AB for advice first. Your Chief Officer is your immediate superior. Go to them directly.

State facts, not excuses. “I found an improperly seated twistlock in Bay 12. I missed it during my pre-departure check. I discovered it this morning.” That is the report. Not a long explanation of the weather or your inexperience. The facts first.

Follow whatever instruction you receive. If the C/O tells you to note it in the log and continue, note it in the log and continue. If they tell you to stand by while they make a call to the company, stand by. Your job is done at the point of reporting.

Learn from the episode. What did you miss and why? What would you do differently in the same conditions? This is the actual purpose of a cadetship. You are not expected to be competent from day one. You are expected to learn.

Conclusion

The deck cadet who reported the improperly seated twistlock made the right call. It cost him a brief uncomfortable conversation with his Chief Officer. It saved him from the much larger problem of concealment.

Every senior mariner reading this has a similar story. Mistakes onboard are not career-ending events. Cover-ups can be.

Report it. Learn from it. Continue.

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