Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels
Command or supervise operations of ships and water vessels, such as tugboats and ferryboats. Required to hold license issued by U.S. Coast Guard.
Most important skills
- Operation and Control
- Speaking
- Monitoring
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Operations Monitoring
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Reading Comprehension
Key knowledge
- Transportation
- Public Safety and Security
- Mechanical
- Law and Government
- English Language
- Geography
- Administration and Management
- Customer and Personal Service
What the work involves
- Conduct safety drills such as man overboard or fire drills.
- Direct courses and speeds of ships, based on specialized knowledge of local winds, weather, water depths, tides, currents, and hazards.
- Prevent ships under navigational control from engaging in unsafe operations.
- Serve as a vessel's docking master upon arrival at a port or at a berth.
- Consult maps, charts, weather reports, or navigation equipment to determine and direct ship movements.
- Steer and operate vessels, using radios, depth finders, radars, lights, buoys, or lighthouses.
- Operate ship-to-shore radios to exchange information needed for ship operations.
- Dock or undock vessels, sometimes maneuvering through narrow spaces, such as locks.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Enterprising.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (42% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (39.2%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (32.5%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 67% of occupations compared | 69% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Higher on dealing with the public than 52% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 63% of occupations compared | 62% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 83% of occupations compared | 68% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 60% of occupations compared | 47% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 75% of occupations compared | 32% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 59% of occupations compared | 34% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 94% of occupations compared | 72% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 2.59%
- Contact with others about half the time: 5.82%
- Contact with others most of the time: 23.08%
- Constant contact with others: 68.52%
n = 84, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 14.96%
- Fairly important: 17.43%
- Important: 11.26%
- Very important: 16.38%
- Extremely important: 39.98%
n = 84, Incumbent 08/2022
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 2.59%
- Fairly important: 0.87%
- Important: 10.2%
- Very important: 24.11%
- Extremely important: 62.22%
n = 84, Incumbent 08/2022
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0.53%
- Very little freedom: 2.59%
- Limited freedom: 6.89%
- Some freedom: 22.1%
- A lot of freedom: 67.9%
n = 84, Incumbent 08/2022
Time pressure
- Never: 8.5%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 9.38%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 5.4%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 29.32%
- Every day: 47.41%
n = 82, Incumbent 08/2022
Conflict situations
- Never: 0.83%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 31.83%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 27.83%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 24.93%
- Every day: 14.57%
n = 82, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 5.7%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 34.4%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 27.87%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 24.86%
- Every day: 7.17%
n = 83, Incumbent 08/2022
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 7.41%
- Fairly serious: 5.32%
- Serious: 7.94%
- Very serious: 7.08%
- Extremely serious: 72.24%
n = 84, Incumbent 08/2022
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O*NET-SOC 53-5021.00 · SOC 53-5021 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8