Ami Burns – The role of an artificer

Simon: And an Artificer is the one that makes the engines run, or what’s the description of that?

So, the Artificer is a type of Engineer and we used to in the Navy, when Artificers were in like I say you would have an Engineering Mechanic or an Engineering Artificer.

That’s whether you were an Air Engineer, a Weapons Engineer or a Marine Engineer so from a Marine Engineering perspective like myself, you could be dealing with everything from Air-Conditioning, High-Pressure Systems, High Pressure Air, High Pressure Hydraulics, Sewage Treatment, Propulsion which is … before I worked in ships my personal favourite so that’s everything from Gas Turbines, Diesels, Propellors, Shafts, Gear Boxes, all of that really interesting stuff.

So, it is a really wide range. The Artificer is purely the supplementary problem-solving person to the Mechanics Team, is the best way.

We’re all Operators, it’s just that we operate in a slightly different ways but effectively generate a team of individuals to deliver the marine requirements of the platform that you’re on.

You are a Watch Keeper so you’re an Operator of the equipment so be it and as you progress from a lower rank Able Rating or a Marine Engineering Mechanic, of a Marine Engineering Artificer which is what you are, you can then become a Leading Hand, then a Petty Officer and a Chief Petty Officer, so it’s really important that when you’re a Mechanic or Artificer at the bottom that you get that fundamental engineering understanding of where vales are, how the systems work, and Engineering Principles aren’t … or maybe to me they aren’t difficult to grasp and you can apply the same understanding of fluid dynamics or thermos dynamics or pressure volume relationships, all of these sort of Fundamental Engineering Principles are what then you can apply to whatever equipment you’re using.