John joined the Merchant Navy as a Radio Officer in 1960. With the
introduction of GMDSS in 1989 he retrained as a deck officer, and
went on to attain a Master Mariner Foreign-Going Certificate (First
Class) in 1998. He has served on the following types of vessels -
Container, Roll-On-Roll-Off, Tankers, Heavy Lift, Bulk Carriers and
Reefers, and for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. John came ashore in 2000
and joined Maritime New Zealand in 2001.