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.
- Median pay
- $92,460
- Doing it now
- 41,300
- By 2035
- Up 4%
- Usually needs
- Postsecondary nondegree award
a year
across the country
3,800 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- 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.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Marine TransportationSee 7 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Hands-on and practical
Organised and precise
Leading and persuading
Careers like this one
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $92,460 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.