The Bridge of the Ship

The bridge of the ship is equipped with state‑of‑the‑art navigational instruments and is manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week. From here navigational officers, quartermasters and look‑outs make sure that we sail a safe course, keeping track of the ship's position and watching for other traffic with the "Rules of the Road" in mind. These rules of the road are the traffic regulations where all the ships have to adhere to. For ocean passages the Master can decide to sail either via a rhumbline or a great circle. A rhumbline is a straight line between two positions on a chart. The shortest distance between two points on the globe however is not a straight line but a so called great circle. The decision whether to use the rhumbline or the great circle is made by taking the difference in distance, the prevailing winds and current into consideration.