The Ice Navigation Manual

This book balances the considerations for the different ice types that ships' officers may encounter, whether first year or multi-year ice, and the different ice types in the arctic, Great Lakes or the Baltic.

A good example of the outcome of a misinterpretation of the ice type a vessel is presented with was given to the whole world in 2007, when the ' MS Explorer ' sank in the Antarctic Ocean.

While, as in many incidents, there were numerous factors that uniquely came together, in this case the Ship's Master was very experienced in first year Baltic Ice conditions but had no experience of multi-year ice .

This meant that he failed to correctly identify the ice type as compacted multi year ice and entered it as if it were the first year ice conditions he was familiar with, with disasterous outcome. Covering Ice Types, Ice Conditions, The Main Ice Regions, Ice Class Ships, Preparations for a Ship and the Crew for Ice the book then moves to the practical aspects of Navigating in Ice, Shiphandling, Working with Icebreakers and Oil Pollution in Ice Covered Waters, this creates a manual that will remain as valid and up to date in 2020 as it is in 2010, although by then there may well need to be a few more case studies about the actions and outcomes of the unwary.