SMMC Bursary Awarded to WMA Student
On Wednesday 2nd 2010,The Southampton Master Mariners Club has awarded its second Bursary to a Warsash Maritime Academy (WMA) student studying for a higher Certificate of Competence. The Bursary is for £1,000 and is made as a payment towards the costs of the student’s course fees. The closing date for receiving applications from students was the end of March and a selection panel interviewed six students at the end of April.
The standard of all the applicants was high and after careful liberations the panel considered that the student who was most likely to help achieve this objective was Michael Craig Smith who is studying for his Chief Mates Certificate.
Mike is aged 38 and first went to sea in 1989 as a deck boy on tankers. He remained on tankers, including North Sea shuttle tankers, until 1997 by which time he was Assistant Bosun. He then made the change to passenger vessels by joining P & O/Princess Cruises and in 1998 was promoted to Chief Petty Officer (Coxswain) and served on a number of P & O vessels until 2006 when he decided to study independently for his Officer of the Watch Certificate. On achieving this certificate in 2007 he joined Carnival UK and served as Third Officer on a number of Princess Cruise vessels until he started studying for his Chief Mates Certificate at WMA in January 2010. He hopes to qualify by the end of the year. Mike, who originally comes from Peterhead in Scotland, now lives in Chichester, West Sussex, with his fiancée Allison who is in the airline industry and they plan to marry next year.
Mike Smith with Gerry Cartwright - Captain, The Cachalots
Excerpt From The Cachalots magazine written by Peter Marriott