Fun Stuff

Martide's lighthearted lists, facts & other things to read when you're passing the time while you search for seafarer jobs online or work at sea!

Nautical Terms That Begin with the Letters G, H & I

Nautical Terms That Begin with the Letters G, H & I

If you’re a regular reader of our posts, you have probably already stumbled upon our nautical glossary posts in which we cover different maritime terms and phrases. We’re now almost halfway through the alphabet so today’s post is going to take a look at our shipping dictionary from G through to I.

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Everything You Need to Know About Mining Ships

In this post we’re going to be taking a look at one of the lesser known merchant ships: The mining vessel. So if you’ve ever sat down and Googled “what is a mining ship” or “what is a mining vessel” you’re in luck!

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13 YouTube Channels about Seafarer Jobs to Check Out

Whether you’re already working in a seafarer job, are thinking about pursuing a career in the maritime industry or you just have a fascination with all things merchant navy, it’s always interesting to see life onboard a container or cargo ship. Check out these 13 seafarer YouTube channels.

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Martide's Most Popular Seafarer Blog Posts of 2022

At the end of the year we like to take a nostalgic look backwards and see what the most read blog posts on our seafarer blog were. The main reason we like to do this is because it helps us to see what topics you’re interested in as a reader so that we can deliver similar blog posts in the future.

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Can Passengers Travel on Cargo Ships?

You think you've seen it all, from opulent cruise ships with 5-star superior suites and eco-retreats with activity programs removed from the mainstream tourists. However, have you ever thought about taking a journey in the "Container Class"?

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Nautical Terms That Begin with the Letters E & F

If you’re curious to find out the meanings of some more weird and wonderful words to do with shipping, sailing, seafarer jobs, merchant navy ranks and vessels, keep on reading as we explore some nautical words that start with E and F.

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Nautical Terms That Begin with the Letter D

If you’ve been checking out our other blog posts about nautical terms, you might be interested in this post which covers maritime words and phrases that begin with the letter D. So let’s take a look at everything from DWT and davits to dunnage and duty!

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What Do Modern Ships Use to Navigate?

In this post we thought we’d take a look at some of the different ways that crews on vessels today navigate so that they, and their cargo (and passengers, if any) can safely and accurately reach their port of destination.

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Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Life Jackets

According to the dictionary, a life jacket is a life preserver in the form of a buoyant jacket. This sleeveless inflatable jacket is also known as a personal flotation device and it aims to prevent drowning by keeping the wearer afloat when water-related accidents occur.

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Why Are Ships Referred to as 'She'?

In the past sailors would spend a lot of time at sea and would develop strong attachment to their ships. As a result, it was typical for them to refer to their ship with affection. Seafarers were said to be "married to the sea" and frequently named their ships after the women they cherished.

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Everything You Need to Know About Fishing Vessels

We all know a fishing vessel is a boat used to catch fish, whether that’s on the sea, a lake or a river. It goes without saying that fishing boats vary in size and complexity, but what you might not know is that they can be broken down into a number of main categories and then subcategories.

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Everything You Need to Know About Fireboats

The water-based or offshore cousin to a fire engine or fire truck, the fireboat is a vessel that has onboard equipment, such as nozzles, hoses and pumps, that are used to fight and extinguish fires both on other ships, as well as along the coastline, on docks and in ports and warehouses.

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What is RoRo Cargo?

The cargo on RoRo ships is literally rolled or driven inside using a wide stern ramp or bow - unlike other ships that use cranes to lift the cargo on or off the vessel. Also, RoRo ships carry both vehicles and freight cargo, though some are also used as passenger ferries.

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10 Motivational Quotes About Storms

It’s time for another of our popular blog posts about maritime quotes. It’s been a while since our last post, 10 Seafarers Quotes That We Love About Sailing, so we thought that before we reach the end of the year, we’d bring you another.

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9 Maritime Themed Twitter Accounts to Follow

At Martide we like to share our seafarer jobs on Twitter and we also follow some interesting people whose posts we like retweeting. So we thought we’d share them with you in case you don’t already follow them and you’re looking for some new, fresh content for your Twitter feed!

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Nautical Terms That Begin with the Letter C

There are so many different shipping terms out there that we thought it was time we wrote a blog post that dives into them. But because there are so many nautical words and maritime phrases, we decided that the best way to do this was by one letter at a time. Let's check out the letter C!

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How Does an Icebreaker Ship Work?

The icebreaker ship does precisely what it sounds: it breaks ice. Ice breakers make navigation through the ice-covered waterways, particularly in the Polar Regions, doable, as the ship cuts through even the thickest ice and opens up some of the most hostile global paths.

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Nautical Terms That Begin with the Letter A

There are so many different shipping terms out there that we thought it was time we wrote a blog post that dives into them. But because there are so many nautical words and maritime phrases, we decided that the best way to do this was by one letter at a time. Let's kick things off with the letter A!

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What is Maritime English?

In an industry that is truly global and both shore-based employees and those working in seafarer jobs may speak any number of different languages, how can we ensure that messages and instructions are relayed in a concise and understandable manner?

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Everything You Need to Know About Supramax Vessels

Aside from container ships, one of the most commonly spotted vessels at sea is the bulk carrier. Unlike container ships which transport goods in - you guessed it - shipping containers, bulk carriers carry loose cargo in huge (bulk) quantities. A Supramax vessel is a type of bulk carrier.

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Everything You Need to Know About Car Carrier Ships

A car carrier or car carrier ship is a vessel that’s been designed for the transportation of either just cars, or a combination of cars, trucks, buses and other wheeled vehicles. Car carriers are a type of RoRo ships - which means Roll-On, Roll-Off, as this is how their cargo is loaded and unloaded.

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Everything You Need to Know About Ferries

Ferries are mainly known as a type of boat that transports passengers from one place to another, and, usually, back again. They have more in common with a bus or train than a cruise ship as their main purpose is to provide passengers with transportation for a reason rather than for leisure.

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Nautical Terms That Begin with the Letter B

There are so many different shipping terms out there that we thought it was time we wrote a blog post that dives into them. But because there are so many nautical words and maritime phrases, we decided that the best way to do this was by one letter at a time. Let's check out the letter B!

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Everything You Need to Know About Cruise Ships

A cruise ship is a passenger ship that sails to a number of different destinations. The pleasure of the voyage being the point. Cruise ships are synonymous with being luxury vessels & their amenities, activities, dining options & entertainment are all created with the passenger experience in mind

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Everything You Need to Know About Dredgers

A dredger is a boat equipped with a tool that sucks, excavates or scrapes sediment like sand, silt, gravel, trash, rocks, debris and animal and plant matter from the sea bed or a river, estuary or canal. The materials moved are placed elsewhere or disposed of in an act known as dredging.

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How Are Ships Named?

Virtually every vessel is named, whether it’s a merchant navy cargo or container ship, a small yacht used by a family for sailing on their local lake, a canal boat, a military vessel, or a rowboat.

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10 Seafarer Quotes That We Love About Sailing

From seaman quotes and sayings to quotes about seafarers, luckily the sailors, authors, poets and adventurers of past and present are never short of a quote for a seaman or two. In this post we thought we’d narrow down our choices to quotes about sailboats and sailing.

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Everything You Need to Know About Gas Carrier Ships

A gas carrier ship, also known as a gas tanker, LPG/LNG tanker or LPG/LNG carrier is a vessel that has been designed specifically for the purpose of carrying bulk quantities of liquefied petroleum gasses (LPG) or liquefied natural gasses (LNG) from one destination to another.

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Everything You Need to Know About Crane Vessels

As you have probably guessed from its name, a crane vessel - also known as a floating crane, crane ship or heavy lift vessel - is an ocean-going vessel which has one or more cranes mounted on to it. These gigantic ships are incredibly powerful and can handle extremely heavy loads.

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Everything You Need to Know About Chemical Tankers

A chemical tanker is a type of cargo ship that has been specifically constructed, or adapted, to carry liquid chemicals in bulk. They are the main form of transport when it comes to moving the commodities that provide the world with its energy requirements from point A to point B.

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Martide's Most Popular Seafarer Blog Posts of 2021

e’re not going to focus on the bad points of the past twelve months, but instead We’re going to look back and see which of the many (52 if you’re wondering!) Seafarer Blog posts we wrote over the last year were the most popular. Here's our top ten countdown.

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Everything You Need to Know About Heavy Lift Vessels

A heavy lift vessel (HLV) is a huge freight ship designed to carry cargo that goes above and beyond the size and weight of the kind of items usually found on a container ship. Think: Dredging equipment, floating dry docks and plants, drilling rigs, offshore structures and even other vessels.

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Everything You Need to Know About Bulk Carriers

A bulk carrier, bulker, or bulk freighter is a type of merchant ship that transports dry goods in bulk that are not packed into containers, drums or other packaging. We’re talking about cargo such as grain, cement, coal, ore and even sugar.

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Everything You Need to Know About Oil Tankers

A tanker is a ship that transports liquid cargo in bulk. It doesn’t use containers or barrels but stores the liquid in a hold. The majority of tankers carry oil, hence the name, however some tankers also move edible oils and other liquified food stuffs such as treacle/molasses and drinks like wine.

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Merry Christmas from Martide

This year has also had its challenges but we have been truly thankful for all of your efforts and courage over the past twelve months, and we hope for more positive and brighter things for all in 2022.

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Everything You Need to Know About Feeder Vessels

A feeder vessel is a medium size container ship. Its job is to collect shipping containers from a port and transport them to transhipment hubs or central container terminals so they can be loaded onto larger vessels to complete their journey or onto other vehicles so they can be transported inland.

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Everything You Need to Know About Icebreaker Ships

As the name suggests, an icebreaker ship is a vessel that has been designed to...break ice. Specifically so that other vessels have a clear path through icy and frozen waters. This enables trade to keep moving and stops the global supply chain grinding to a halt.

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Everything You Need to Know About Lightships

A lightship, or lightvessel, is a ship fitted with a beacon on a mast that functions in the same way as a lighthouse: To act as a warning and to help other vessels safely navigate at night or in fog. Lightships are commonly used in waters that are too deep for a lighthouse to be constructed.

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Everything You Need to Know About RoRo Ships

Do you want to know what a RoRo ship is? If so, you’ve come to the right place. RoRo stands for roll-on / roll-off which means it’s a vessel that has been designed to carry wheeled cargo: Think cars, vans, trailers, busses and trucks. Anything that can be ‘rolled on and then rolled off’ the ship.

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15 Essential Websites if You Work in a Seafarer Job

If you work in a seafarer job you use the internet to look for jobs at sea, for finding seafarer training and new employers and manning agents who can help you find a new contract. And for all the other things to do with your maritime career! So here are 15 of the best websites for seafarers.

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9 Fascinating Facts About Shipping & Geography

We were recently thinking about interesting maritime facts, and in particular, ones that are connected to geographical places such as countries, cities or landmarks. So without further ado here are 9 of our favorite fascinating facts about an assortment of maritime and geographical related topics!

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Your Guide to Types of Boats, Yachts, Ships & Vessels

It’ll come as no surprise that there’s a whole host of different boats, ships, vessels, and other watercraft out there. From the smallest canoe to traditional sailing clippers and from cargo ships to icebreakers and fishing boats, there’s no end of topics to explore. Which is what we’re going to do!

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10 Inspirational Quotes for Seamen About Storms

Seafarer quotes, quotes about the ocean, inspirational quotes for seamen, quotes about ships - if you know anything about the Martide blog, you’ll know that we like making lists of weird and wonderful nautical facts and we especially like making lists of seaman quotes.

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10 of Martide's Favorite Seafarer Quotes

There's no time like the present to celebrate the very people that keep our maritime industry moving through their sheer determination and hard work: seafarers. With that in mind, here are 10 inspirational seafarer quotes just for you.

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What is the Definition of Maritime?

Have you ever wondered what does maritime mean? And what is the difference between marine and maritime - if any? At Martide we love anything to do with the ocean, vessels, and the maritime industry - and as anyone who reads our seafarer blog or our employer blog knows, we quite like words too!

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10 of Martide's Favorite Seafarer Quotes About the Sea

At Martide we love seafarer quotes. Anyone who's read any of our other blog posts featuring inspirational quotes for seamen can tell you that! So for this post we thought it’d be nice to put together 10 of our favorite seamanship quotes about that thing that features in all our lives: the sea.

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13 of Martide's Favorite Seafarer Quotes About Anchors

At Martide we love seafarer quotes so we’ve been searching for more to bring you! We’ve already covered our favorite seafarer quotes about the sea and previously listed 10 of our favorite seaman quotes about sailing so for this blog post we thought we’d see if there were any quotes about anchors.

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Martide's Top Seafarer Blog Posts of 2020

We thought we’d take a look at which of our seafarer blog posts were most popular in 2020. So from seafarer interview questions and answers to seaman quotes and from seafarer resume advice to guides to different types of seafarer jobs, let’s run down Martide’s very own end of year top ten list.

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10 Fascinating Facts about the Maritime Industry

Did you know that the shipping industry is responsible for 90% of the transportation of the world’s goods? It’s a huge percentage, and it’s not the only amazing fact about vessels, logistics, seafarers and the maritime industry. Read on for ten more fascinating facts about the merchant navy.

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10 of Martide's Favorite Seafarer Quotes About Ships

From container, ro-ro and cargo ships to bulk and heavy load carriers and tankers and from ferries and cruise ships to fishing boats, the vessels that sail our oceans are varied. In this post we pay tribute to ships of all shapes and sizes by listing some of our favorite seafarer quotes about them.

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10 Ways to Chill During Your Downtime in Seafarer Jobs

We know when you’re working in seafarer jobs you’re busy around the clock but for those moments when you do get some personal time in between watches or shifts, even though you’re miles away from land, there are still plenty of things you can do to chill out and keep yourself entertained.

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13 (Unlucky for Some!) Sailors' Superstitions

Are you a seafarer working in jobs at sea, someone employed in shore based maritime jobs, or do you just have a passing interest in superstitions and where they come from? Ever wondered why bananas are bad luck on a ship? Or why you mustn’t mention pigs onboard? If so this is the blog post for you!

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Martide’s 20 Most-Read Blog Posts of 2019

We know most of Martide’s blog posts cover maritime recruitment or seafarer jobs, but for this blog post we’re going to do something a little different. Although we’re already well into March 2020 we thought it would be interesting to look back and see which of our posts were the most read in 2019.

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5 Weird & Wonderful Christmas Traditions from Around the World

For this Christmas Eve blog post we thought we’d leave our topics of finding seafarer jobs and maritime recruitment alone and instead take a look at something a little more festive! So here we present to you five slightly unusual Christmas traditions from around the world you may not know about.

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The Evolution of the Maritime Industry & Jobs at Sea

One of the most obvious advances in maritime technology is the magnetic compass. And we can’t help but wonder if any of the mariners of yesteryear were as opposed to this ‘new fangled’ piece of equipment when it was introduced as some seafarers are to modern technology!

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