Mark Yeomans - Master - MV Bute

ABOUT ME
I am one of the Captains of the MV Bute and was posted to her in February 2009. For most of the two years prior to that I sailed as Master of the MV Saturn on the Arran crossing (Ardrossan to Brodick) during the Summer and sailed as relief Master or Mate for the other vessels during the Winter.

CAREER
I Left Greenock High School in 1977 and went to work at Inverkip Power Station doing Instrument Engineering during its construction.

Soon after that, I decided to go to sea just for a laugh and joined Anchor Line of Glasgow. It was only a matter of days after joining Anchor Line that I was on my way to the Far East and decided that going to sea was probably not what I wanted to do for a living. However, In those days, you signed on to the ship for up to two years and during this time I visited many countries so thought I would make a go of it. A few years later having returned to the UK and saved up some money (out of my £80 per month wage or £30 after the refreshments had been paid for), I sat some exams and became a 3rd Mate just at the same time as Anchor Line closed down.

This meant making a decision as to where to go next and as luck would have it, there were some vacancies with British Underwater Engineering of Leith. I spent many years with them and sailed as AB, 2nd Mate, 1st Mate and Master on the one ship. BUE was good fun to work for and there was rarely a dull moment. The ships that I worked on with them were DP vessels (Dynamic Positioning) and these ships got me all over the world over the years.

Anyway, all good things have to come to an end and eventually BUE sold some of their ships to Seateam BV of Den Helder, Netherlands and I transferred to this company with the ship and stayed there for a further two years.

It was during my leave one Summer and while I was sitting on a deck chair having a lemonade at my home in Skelmorlie watching the Saturn and Jupiter going to Rothesay from Wemyss Bay that I though to myself...... "That looks like a job for me". I phoned CalMac and the next day was on the Jupiter! From there I went on a few Cal Mac ships but ended up on the MV Pioneer which to me was probably one of the best jobs that I have had. After the Pioneer was sold, I took some time away from CalMac and set up my own Company doing Web development for American companies mainly which was pretty interesting. However, I missed being on ships and in 2007 I returned to CalMac as Mate and soon after became Captain again.

HOBBIES
My hobbies consist of Wind Surfing, Sailing, Cycling, Walking and Website creation.