The Mariner's Blog

Digital vs Traditional Sailing Directions: Which Format Serves Modern Mariners Best?
  • 15 jul 2026
  • Charles Hays
Digital vs Traditional Sailing Directions: Which Format Serves Modern Mariners Best?

ADMIRALTY Sailing Directions have been a standard bridge reference for over a century, providing port approach procedures, coastal hazard informati...

Bills of Lading Explained: Types, Legal Requirements, and Importance
  • 15 jul 2026
  • Charles Hays
Bills of Lading Explained: Types, Legal Requirements, and Importance

A single document in maritime shipping serves three functions at once: a receipt proving the carrier received the goods, a contract setting the ter...

What Is the FSS Code? Fire Safety Systems on Ships Explained
  • 14 jul 2026
  • Charles Hays
What Is the FSS Code? Fire Safety Systems on Ships Explained

The International Code for Fire Safety Systems (FSS Code) is the IMO instrument that sets the engineering specifications every SOLAS vessel must me...

What Are ADMIRALTY Digital Sailing Directions and How Do They Improve Passage Planning?
  • 13 jul 2026
  • Charles Hays
What Are ADMIRALTY Digital Sailing Directions and How Do They Improve Passage Planning?

ADMIRALTY Digital Sailing Directions (ADSD) are a digital product from the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) that delivers the content of ADMIRALTY Sai...

How to Prevent Fires on Ships: A Maritime Safety Guide
  • 13 jul 2026
  • Charles Hays
How to Prevent Fires on Ships: A Maritime Safety Guide

Fire prevention on a commercial vessel is a regulatory obligation, not a recommendation. SOLAS Chapter II-2 dedicates three regulations (4, 5, and ...

Types of Marine Fire Suppression Systems and How They Work on Ships
  • 10 jul 2026
  • Charles Hays
Types of Marine Fire Suppression Systems and How They Work on Ships

Marine fire suppression systems are the fixed installations that detect and extinguish fires aboard ships without relying on crew intervention alon...

UKHO Launches ADMIRALTY Digital Sailing Directions (ADSD): What Mariners Need to Know
  • 9 jul 2026
  • Charles Hays
UKHO Launches ADMIRALTY Digital Sailing Directions (ADSD): What Mariners Need to Know

The UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) has launched ADMIRALTY Digital Sailing Directions (ADSD), converting its Sailing Directions publications into an ...

S-57 vs S-101: How the Next Generation of ENCs Will Change Navigation
  • 8 jul 2026
  • Charles Hays
S-57 vs S-101: How the Next Generation of ENCs Will Change Navigation

Every electronic navigational chart displayed on an ECDIS today is built to a standard called S-57. That standard was adopted in 1992 and has serve...

What Is S-100? The New Maritime Data Standard Every Navigator Needs to Know
  • 7 jul 2026
  • Charles Hays
What Is S-100? The New Maritime Data Standard Every Navigator Needs to Know

For decades, the electronic charts displayed on ECDIS have been built on a single data standard called S-57. That standard did its job, but it was ...

Difference Between GNSS and GPS Explained
  • 6 jul 2026
  • Charles Hays
Difference Between GNSS and GPS Explained

Most mariners use the word "GPS" for any satellite position fix on the bridge. In practice, a modern receiver is often pulling signals from satelli...

What Is Dry Docking? A Complete Guide
  • 3 jul 2026
  • Charles Hays
What Is Dry Docking? A Complete Guide

At some point, every vessel needs work done on the parts that spend their entire life underwater. The hull, the propeller, the rudder, the sea valv...

What Is a Port of Entry? Port of Entry Meaning Explained
  • 2 jul 2026
  • Charles Hays
What Is a Port of Entry? Port of Entry Meaning Explained

Every item of cargo arriving on a vessel and every seafarer stepping ashore must pass through a single checkpoint before legally entering a country...