I am a deckhand on a large passenger ferry. I work 2 week watches/shifts and live onboard the ship during that time. Deckhands have a really wide variety of tasks they perform onboard, so I kind of just do various little jobs like keeping lookout (mostly for whales and logs), loading traffic and inspecting equipment. The job itself is very easy. I am currently working on my qualifications to become a ship's officer in a manner known as 'coming up through the hawse pipe', where I take a number of individual courses as outlined in the STCW-equivalent canadian marine regulations.

There are two ships that I work on, but both are large commercial passenger ferries of approximately 500ft/150m in length. They are roll-on roll-off style ferries with both crew and passenger accomodations.

Word of mouth, from a family member. I learned about a 12-week seamanship program through a trades university and enrolled, and a few months after the program I ended up at my current job.

I think that it is really interesting how buoyancy works to float ships carrying thousands of tonnes of cargo. It is fascinating how much happens 'behind the scenes' in order for marine transport to happen; there are at the very least hundreds of people involved in the simple act of moving a ship from point a to point b.

I love any large ship, but my favorite type is probably the semi-submersible heavy-lift vessel. This kind of ship is really cool- they are engineered with decks low to the waterline and are designed to be ballasted down into the water, 'submerging' most of the ship and allowing heavy/large cargo to be floated onto the deck. These are the kinds of boats that tow massive factory equipment, offshore installations, and other ships around the world. Here is a photo of the 'Dockwise Vanguard' loaded with a ship for transport.