Blog

This week, Marine Society supporter Mike Wall gives us his take on becoming a Marine Surveyor. As well as being a chief engineer, lecturer, and successful author, Mike spent 25 years as a hull, machinery, and cargo surveyor. He is currently a visiting lecturer at various education and training establishments and regularly carries out training seminars for various shipping organisations.

Many Merchant and Royal Navy officers often wonder what...

There are great benefits to working at sea, and some 1.5 million people globally work in the maritime industry. But life at sea can come with challenges. BBC Stories recently released a video of one man’s story about his experience of suffering from mental health issues whilst working on board ship – see the story here.

In the video, Amaha bravely talks about how he hid his struggles and true experiences from loved ones while he was...

Going to sea means time away from friends and family. It can mean long periods of time without internet/email access and even longer periods of time without a phone call home. Calling or texting home from a mobile can be incredibly costly, but the cost of data worldwide is coming down all the time. When you do get an internet connection it’s incredibly important to spend some time catching up with friends and family so we’ve rounded up our...

Many of us take reading for granted, but around 5-million adults in the UK are illiterate, meaning they have reading and writing levels below what would be expected of an 11-year-old. Reading and writing aren’t just important skills for work, they are key to living a fulfilled life. For adults, and particularly seafarers, it can be very difficult to improve those skills if they are lacking, partly because of stigma, but mainly because it’s...

We all need maths. It doesn’t matter if you need to know the safe working load of a strop, the density of bunkers, or the correct change at the supermarket; if you don’t have a solid grip on numeracy you will struggle with life. If maths is so important why do so many people struggle? The key to understanding maths could be more to do with the right attitude than anything else.

A negative attitude towards maths is all too common here in the...