A good watch is boring by design. Abnormality is found at the sounding glass and the logbook before it is found by an alarm.
On taking over
Round the whole engine room yourself: levels, pressures, temperatures, leaks, bilges. Read the log and the Chief Engineer's standing orders. Note what is running, what is standby, and what is under maintenance.
During the watch
- Log parameters at fixed intervals; trends matter more than single values.
- Listen and smell — machinery announces trouble before instruments do.
- Keep bilges dry and clean; a clean bilge is an early-warning system.
Alarms
Acknowledge, investigate, rectify. Never block or silence an alarm without understanding it.
Handover
The watch is not handed over until the relieving engineer has completed the round and accepted the plant. A sloppy handover is the seed of the next incident.