Daily tasks of an officer

Ship: Roald Amundsen
Date: 31.01.2026
Position:1107,0‘ N 08128,1‘ W
Course: 035
Etmal: 134sm
Average Speed: 5,8kn

Do you know what the daily tasks of an officer are?

I didn’t – until today, when I was asked to be the officer’s assistant (aka the officer himself). I had already been very interested in the topic and had learned a lot from my previous officers, but I had never actually been the officer before.

The first thing my officer told me was to take off my harness and put on a fresh shirt, since mine was full of Labsal (something similar to oil that is used to preserve the rigging material and prevent it from rusting), even though it had just been washed.

At the start of a watch, the officer from the previous watch briefs the incoming officer on everything that has happened and anything relevant. The helmsman (the one steering the ship) and the lookout — who are changed every 30–45 minutes — have to report to the officer. The helmsman tells him which course he will steer and the lookout reports whether and where there are ships or other objects in the water, so the officer can make sure they are doing their jobs properly.

Every full hour, the officer notes our position, the temperature, air pressure, compass course and cloud cover in the log.

Afterwards, he plots our position on a chart, which allows him to determine the direction we have been sailing during the past hour. There is a difference between the compass course (which can be affected by anomalies, such as all the metal on board that can interfere with it) and the actual course, called the course over ground (what we see on the chart).

Depending on the skill of the helmsman, we can be slightly — or not so slightly — off course.

For the rest of the watch, the officer stays on the bridge and keeps an eye on the ship. Today, we had to haul on the sheets of the staysails (the triangular-shaped sails) so that they wouldn’t collapse or flutter in the wind, which would make them noisy and ineffective.

We were sailing quite close to the wind, so we often corrected our course to make the most of the wind without heading too far east (we’re bound for the north). Another task of the officer is to correct all the charts on board once a week (and we have a lot of them), as there are always small changes over time.

At the end of the watch, the next officer was briefed and this very instructive watch came to an end.

Next time, someone else will be the officer and I hope they’ll learn as much as I did!

Grüße:

Mona: Hey, ich hab‘ euch ganz dolle lieb, Mama und Papa. Mir geht es supiii. Viele Grüße an Hanna und Meyah!! ❤️❤️❤️

Nik: Happy Birthday Mats

Lotti: Alles leider wie erwartet, hab‘ aber Deli und den Arzt an meiner Seite… vermisse euch aber sehr! Mami, ich hoffe, Deine Frau Holle Aufführung war gut! Hab‘ an Dich gedacht!

Mario: Ganz liebe Grüße an meine Familie und an Emma!

Emilian: Alles Gute zum Geburtstag Oma! Feier‘ schön mit dem Rest der Rasselbande…

Nico: Herzliche Grüße vom Steuer unter Vollmondlicht nach Berlin, Hamburg und Witten. Miriam, fühl‘ dich umarmt und geküsst!

Daniel: Liebe Grüße an Karin!