Help in your pocket when your mind goes blank
Seamanship 2.0, by Mike Westin, Olle Landsell, Nina Olofson, Pär Olofson
This glossy paperback is subtitled 'everything you need to know to get yourself out of trouble at
sea'. Living up to their promise, the authors deliver vital information on the core skills of seamanship in an easy-to-read manner, making this book a good corrective to digital dependency.
Divided into four sections – seamanship, problem fixing, emergencies and first aid – it covers a range of practical skills; anchoring, taking a bearing, repairing an LPG leak, dealing with a man overboard, putting out a fire in the engine room and much, much more. The authors also discuss 'soft skills' that can be just as vital, like building a cohesive crew.
Novices will find it invaluable, but even skilled veterans will pick up helpful (and potentially lifesaving) hints.
Buy this book in the Nautilus Bookshop
While you're there, why not browse the rest of the titles in our unique maritime bookshop, which sells all the books reviewed on these pages.
Buy nowMore Books
Sort out your sextant skills
Reeds Astro Navigation Tables 2025, by Kendall CarterNew year, new astro navigation tables! The latest edition of this popular work gives a calendar showing where useful heavenly bodies will be each day in 2025, as well as guidance to help you practise navigating with your sextant using the sun and stars.
Well-researched history of mass maritime travel
Ocean Liners, by Anthony BurtonThe new title Ocean Liners has a great deal more to it than most books about liners and cruise ships, with plenty of technical content to appeal to an audience of maritime professionals.
Weathering your STCW studies
Meteorology for Seafarers sixth edition, by RM Frampton and PA UttridgeIf you’re looking to understand the practical side of meteorology, this book co-written by a former general secretary of the Marine Society will do the trick.
Thrilling mission to protect the Convoys
Operation Title, by Glyn L EvansDrawing on official records and personal accounts, author Glyn Evans brings the sinking of the Tirpitz to life by focusing on the experiences of one participant, able seaman Robert Paul Evans, making this a more intimate view of a well-known event.