The port of New York is one of the busiest ones on the planet with the new ships entering the port nearly every twenty minutes. Just try to imagine the traffic intensity inside the harbor itself. There are so many ships of different types, such as the tugboats that are there in every port. All of them do the enormous amount of work every single day and night. The number of the tugboats in this port exceeded five hundred a long time ago.

These vessels are used to bring the ships entering the port to their piers and then, upon completion of the loading/discharge activities, to move them out of the harbor in the safest possible manner. It goes without saying that it is very important to have a thorough understanding of the operation principles of the tugboats. This information is a must-know not only for the people who are working on these ships but also for the crew members of the vessels entering ports, i.e. literally everyone.

The present publication offers an excellent historical overview of the American tugboats and will be interesting to the people willing to know a bit more about these ships and how they developed and worked in America. Written by a veteran with a great practical experience, it is a good reading for all of us.

Nowadays, there are more tankers sailing all around the planet than the vessels of any other type. Their sizes vary significantly, from the small-sized short-haul vessels carrying just a few hundred tons of oil or products to the true giants capable of transporting half-million tons or even more. They are deservedly referred to as the biggest man-built floating objects. They sail all the oceans of the world.

The main purpose for which the tankers are constructed is the transportation of the oil from the place where it is produced to the refineries – we are talking of the so-called crude oil carriers here. In this brilliant publication the author took up the whole historical background of the oil carrying vessels and presented a good discussion of all economic factors encouraging the production of the giant ships.

You will get to know how these vessels are built at the shipyards, including the design and construction as well as the post-construction testing and trial. The readers will also be acquainted with the common duties of the crew members of a typical tanker, understand the seriousness of the oil spill problems and their consequences, and so many other interesting things. There are many informative photos supplementing the text part of the volume.

The latest official edition of one of the most important IMO publications - Lifesaving Appliances including LSA Code. The content of this regulatory document has been significantly released and updated in order to reflect all technical developments and experience gained for the past years, since the time when the previous edition of the book was released.

Traditionally, the publication opens with a short foreword followed by the International LSA Code with the content arranged in seven chapter covering general requirements applicable to LSA, personal LSA, visual signals, survival craft, rescue boats, launching/embarkation appliances and other LSA. The next part of the book contains the requirements for testing and evaluation of LSA including prototype tests, production and installation tests and three appendices with supplementary information.

The Code of practices for the evaluation, testing and acceptance of prototype novel LSA and arrangements has also been included. As you know, the LSA Code is mandated by Res. MSC.47(66) under SOLAS Reg. III/3.10. the content of this document is a must-know for every crew member and is one of the publications that shall be carried on the navigation bridge of every vessel.

In the present publication released by the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, the port agency is defined as looking after the demands of ta vessel together with its crew members not only before and during calling at port but after that as well. Subject work is normally entrusted to the agents since it is quite rare for the vessels to regularly call at ports where the ship owner is based.

The agents are seen by all other parties involved as people representing the vessel - this is their role. The content of this volume is mainly concentrating on agency for the chartered vessels rather than the liner traders. It should be noted, however, that the liner ships are in same need for the port agency as tankers, tramp ships and any others.

The author starts the book with explaining the most popular types of the ships, then proceeding to the registration and classification related matters. The safety certificates are covered in the third chapter along with the associated surveys, while the fourth chapter addresses the charter parties.

The remaining chapters of the publication deal with the port operations and time count, ship trade geography, cargo paperwork, practical duties and obligations of the port agents, relationships with the principals including reporting events and office organization, and many other important aspects.

The present publication is another classic work on the naval architecture. It was released more than a century ago to meet the special training requirements of the Merchant Marine officers as well as to serve as the all-covering textbook for the general students. All of them will definitely find everything they need when preparing for their examination; moreover, the information included by the author, will be of both theoretical and practical interest to the practicing mariners.

Each of the chapters in this book is devoted to the specific problem that is analyzed and explained in detail. The proofs related to the corresponding problem are included and this approach makes the learning process easier for the reader. All necessary astronomical rules have been covered and supplemented with the examples.

Of course, one should consider the age of the book but understand that the theoretical essentials of the thing remain unchanged and having a good knowledge of them will be beneficial to any navigator. The book also embodies the necessary elements from the Nautical Almanac. The trigonometry aspects have also been dealt with allowing students to get acquainted with the construction of the plane and spherical triangles.

There is no other environment that would match all the dangers of a sea. The present publication contains more than sixty accounts of the famous tragic cases, errors and survivals including the incidents with Exxon Valdez, Kingfisher 2, HMS Proserpine and Kursk. The book will offer its readers the perfectly written accounts of the disasters at sea.

We would say that this volume is a must-read for any maritime historian and in fact anyone with the interest in shipwrecks and everything like that. There is a separate section in this book which is devoted solely to the cases that have been left unexplained until now. These include but are not limited to the famous Flying Dutchman and Mary Celeste. Two other sections of the book are dealing with the natural and manmade disasters.

The former addresses the cases that involve wrecks, storms and ice, while the latter deals with the accounts resulting from the fires, human errors and acts of war. All of the accounts covered in the pages of this brilliant work are listed in the chronological order. Go through this book and you will not be disappointed with the contents. Open it sand start straight with the first case, the shipwreck of the famous St. Paul…

This is one of the best books available today to address the magnetic compasses used on board ships. The volume was originally released back in 2000. The book covers virtually all important aspects of the shipboard use of the subject equipment and will be greatly useful for the students as well as the practicing deck officers. Numerous illustrations supplement the text and will help in getting to the better understanding of the subject when preparing to the examinations.

The material included in the book covers such the important topics as terrestrial magnetism and ship’s own magnetism, essentials of the compass work, coefficients applied, hard iron deviation, heeling error and directive force, vertical force instrument, horizontal vibrating needle, Kelvin deflector and so many others. The book will also be interesting to those who need to understand the basics of the construction and use of the shipboard magnetic compasses.

The correction and adjustment of the compasses have been covered in detail and there is a separate chapter devoted to this. The volume concludes with the performance standards and several theory questions for better tracking of the learning progress. All of the questions have the answers accumulated within the last chapter.

The Classification Societies are there to provide the professional class and statutory services as well as the consultancy in the maritime and offshore field to the different maritime and offshore industry stakeholders and regulatory entities. The subject services pertain to the provision of human safety on board ships and offshore installations, protection of the environment, and the Class Societies apply the theoretical knowledge and practical experience when performing their services.

Their main aim is the verification of the structural integrity and strength of the floating objects, paying due attention to every single component, including hull, appendages, shipboard machinery, equipment, systems etc. This is achieved through development and subsequent application of the so-called classification rules; in addition, the international conventions, guides, codes and other regulations are widely applied when ensuring compliance with the statutory requirements.

Most of the vessels and rigs operated today have been built in compliance with the corresponding requirements of one or more of classification societies. This volume was released by the International Association of Classification Societies and will give you some insight to the work of these organizations.