Within the limits of a volume like the present it is possible only to touch upon even the fundamentals of ship management and operation. The author is fully conscious of obvioua omissions , since it has been necessary to select, he has endeavowed to do so with judgment. The aim has been to eselude as far as possible, the academic and legalistic, and to make the book what its title implies - a practical, if elementary, guide, based on experience, rather than a theoretical treatise based on .....