Nautical Pubilications on ship's bridge


Nautical Pubilications are a set of publications , which are published by either national governments or by professional organisations , which serve the use of making the navigation of the ships ,boats and other vessels easier.

The important Nautical Pubilications in the ship's bridge are :
  • Admiralty Sailing Directions
  • Admiralty list of light and fog signals
  • Admiralty list of radio signals
  • Admiralty tide tables
  • Mariner's handbook
  • Ocean passages for the world
  • Distance tables
These publications are to be kept up to date . This publications are kept up to date by the weekly editions of Admiralty notices to Mariners ( AWNM). This notices will contain the corrections to charts and Pubilications. In addition to this cumulative list of Admiralty notices to Mariners is issued in January and July each year. It contains a complete list of ANMs of the last two years. Publications are corrected by cutting out and pasting the relevant corrections in the required pages. 

 (i). Admiralty Sailing Directions
  
This publication is called as "pilot books" and are published by the United Kingdom Hydrographic office (UKHO). It has 76 volumes covering every navigable area in the world. Each volume of sailing directions covers different geographic location and is given unique number and name for identification. These books provide complete information on navigational hazards, buoyage systems, pilotage, local regulations, information about countries, port facilities, ice , currents and climatic conditions. This publication should be used by the navigational officer for passage planning.

(ii). Admiralty list of light and fog signals (ALLFS)

ALLFS has 14 volumes covering the navigable areas in the world. A different alphabet is given to each volume covering a different geographic area. For example the Bay of Bengal area which is given alphabet F. This publication provides detailed information about lighthouses, lightships, lit floating marks, fog signals and other lights of use to navigation. Information about the lights include its international number, location, characteristics and intensity ,luminous range, elevation in metres and tables to calculate geographical and luminous ranges etc.

(iii). Admiralty list of radio signals (ALRS)

Admiralty list of radio signals provide detailed information on maritime radio communications. This publication is divided into 6 volumes ,divided on the basis of the geographical sectors. ALRS contains the complete list of stations handling Maritime public Correspondence to a full range of products and services required for compliance with Global Maritime distress and safety system( GMDSS). It also contains radio stations broadcasting weather services and forecasts. The information in the publication is given in a user-friendly format.

(iv). Admiralty Tide tables :

Admiralty tide tables contains the information about tides in all the ports in the world. This publication has 4 volumes and each volume is divided into three parts. Part 1 covers important ports in the world called standard ports for which daily times of low water(LW) and high water(HW) are given. Part 2 contains tidal information of less important ports. They are to be calculated with the help of standard ports of similiar tidal characteristics. Part 3 contains "harmonic constants" for tidal predictions. Tide tables are very important for navigation, since we have to determine the depth of water at a place at a specific time to ensure the safe passage of the ship.

(v). Mariner's Handbook (MHB) :

It contains information about tides, currents, basic meteorology , characteristics of sea, navigation in ice, hazards and restrictions to navigation and IALA buoyage system. This is a reference publication helping the navigational officer about various matters concerning navigation.

(vi). Ocean passages of the World :

This book helps the officer to plan the passages. It contains details about winds, weather, climate, seasonal factors, currents, swell, ice hazards and other factors that affect passages. Commonly used routes are given with directions, with the dangers seen in those routes.

(vii). Admiralty Distance Tables : 

Admiralty distance tables gives the shortest distance in nautical miles between positions and chief ports in the world. These tables are sub-divided by regions . The distances given in these tables differ from distances in ocean passages of the world, since it take account of climatic conditions and currents. There are three volumes of Admiralty distance tables. Distance tables help in calculating passage times, fuel required for the passage, etc long before passage is planned.