BOOK REVIEW | Shiphandling, The Beautiful Game

The authors have drawn a very appropriate analogy from soccer champion Pele to describe the art and science of ship handling.

Reading their book brought to mind a description this reviewer read as a teenager of the captain of RMS Queen Elizabeth berthing his famous ship in New York without tug assistance thanks to a strike in the late 1930s. With nary a bump, he brought his large, high-winded, steam turbine-powered ship alongside and safely secured it.

Careful preparation, skill and good communications enabled his success. That is what this very clearly written and well-illustrated book is all about. Having read numerous Nautical Institute-published books, I can state unequivocally that this is easily one of the best and most useful.

It is full of simple, basic common sense that applies whether the ship being handled is a 24,000TEU container vessel, a 250,000DWT bulker, a destroyer or a small harbour ferry. The fundamentals, the long and widely experienced authors point out, remain the same.

They particularly emphasise the all-important human factors involved in successful ship handling. Safety consciousness, stress control, excellent communications, careful planning and sound bridge resource management are all vital to that success.

They also emphasise the imperative of situational awareness that must be gained both by the use of electronics and by “looking out the window”.

This is an important and very valuable book that should be repeatedly studied by all mariners.

Authors: Captains Grant and George Livingstone

Available from The Nautical Institute, London, UK

Web: www.nautinst.org