Nautical Watchkeeping Nutshell Series Book 7

Among all the books written by me so far, this one has been the most thought provoking. Much of the matter here is based on experiences and observations by myself and the officers who have been my students in this subject during the last twenty years. Seamanship is a subject where changes occur frequently – different types of ships, differing nationalities, varying types of equipment, new legislation, increasing automation, clubbing of duties of personnel, reduction in manning scale, changes in traditional practices that were once considered sacrosanct, etc.

In order to ensure that the material in this book is in line with current practices at sea, I did a four month voyage in command of a foreign-going bulk carrier just before publication of the first edition of this book.

After the Second and Third Officers had read the various chapters on anchor work, they had no problem going forward in charge of anchor stations. I can now confidently recommend that the Third Officer may be in charge of forward stations, on all ships, as suggested in this book.

In this third edition, revisions have been made to keep the content up to date with current practices at sea, mainly due to advances in electronic instrumentation.