Glossary
Ship Captain Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential ship captain terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key ship captain vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in ship captain training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- AIS
- Automatic identification system.
- Bridge
- Command center.
- Draft
- Depth below waterline.
- ECDIS
- Electronic chart system.
- Harbor pilot
- Local navigation expert.
- Knot
- Nautical mile per hour.
- Master
- Captain of a vessel.
- Mate
- Deck officer.
- MMC
- Merchant Mariner Credential.
- Port
- Left side of a vessel.
- Starboard
- Right side of a vessel.
- STCW
- International training standard.
- TWIC
- Transportation Worker Identification Credential.
- USCG
- U.S. Coast Guard.
- Watch
- Shift on duty.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Ship Captain practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Ship Captain training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.