The Mariner's Blog

Navionics vs C-Map: Which Digital Chart Should You Buy?
  • 8 sept 2026
  • Maya Deiss
Navionics vs C-Map: Which Digital Chart Should You Buy?

Choosing between Navionics and C-Map is one of the most common decisions a boater faces when moving to a chartplotter, and the honest answer is tha...

GMDSS Certification: How to Get Your GOC or ROC and What Study Materials You Need
  • 7 sept 2026
  • Maya Deiss
GMDSS Certification: How to Get Your GOC or ROC and What Study Materials You Need

Operating a ship's radio in a distress situation is not something you can improvise, which is why anyone responsible for GMDSS communications must ...

S-100: Key Findings from ECDIS Trials
  • 4 sept 2026
  • Charles Hays
S-100: Key Findings from ECDIS Trials

A major simulator study involving 100 maritime professionals examines how S-100 could reshape ECDIS navigation. The findings highlight imp...

How Often Are Nautical Charts Updated? The Chart Correction Cycle Explained
  • 4 sept 2026
  • Maya Deiss
How Often Are Nautical Charts Updated? The Chart Correction Cycle Explained

A nautical chart is never truly finished. The seabed shifts, wrecks appear, buoys move, and lights change, so the chart in your hands is only as sa...

ADMIRALTY Digital Publications vs. Paper: Choosing the Right Format for SOLAS Compliance
  • 3 sept 2026
  • Maya Deiss
ADMIRALTY Digital Publications vs. Paper: Choosing the Right Format for SOLAS Compliance

A vessel must carry its SOLAS-required nautical publications, but nothing in the regulations says they have to be printed. ADMIRALTY offers its off...

ISM Code Internal Audits: How to Prepare Your Safety Management System
  • 2 sept 2026
  • Maya Deiss
ISM Code Internal Audits: How to Prepare Your Safety Management System

An ISM internal audit is not a formality to survive; it is the mechanism that keeps a safety management system honest between external verification...

International Code of Signals: Flag, Sound, and Light Signals Every Mariner Should Know
  • 1 sept 2026
  • Maya Deiss
International Code of Signals: Flag, Sound, and Light Signals Every Mariner Should Know

When the radio fails, the fog rolls in, or a vessel needs to warn every ship in sight at once, mariners fall back on a communication system older t...

Port State Control Inspection 2026: A Guide
  • 10 ago 2026
  • Charles Hays
Port State Control Inspection 2026: A Guide

A port state control inspection can determine whether a vessel sails on schedule or sits detained in port while deficiencies are corrected. For mas...

Port State Control vs Flag State: What's the Difference?
  • 7 ago 2026
  • Charles Hays
Port State Control vs Flag State: What's the Difference?

Two systems work together to keep commercial shipping safe and compliant, but they operate from different positions of authority. The flag state go...

Ships' Routeing, 2025 Edition: What's New and Why It Matters
  • 6 ago 2026
  • Charles Hays
Ships' Routeing, 2025 Edition: What's New and Why It Matters

Traffic separation schemes, deep-water routes, and areas to be avoided do not appear on a nautical chart by accident. Every one of these routeing m...

Flag of Uzbekistan: Meaning, History, Colors and Symbolism Explained
  • 5 ago 2026
  • Charles Hays
Flag of Uzbekistan: Meaning, History, Colors and Symbolism Explained

When Uzbekistan declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, one of the first acts of the new republic was to adopt a national flag. The de...

Title 49 CFR Explained for Shipping and Transportation
  • 4 ago 2026
  • Charles Hays
Title 49 CFR Explained for Shipping and Transportation

Anyone who ships, carries, or handles hazardous materials in the United States operates under one set of rules: Title 49 of the Code of Federal Reg...