by Capt. Michael Fragkias*
Come and share this story with us, one that perfectly illustrates the importance of situational awareness.
On December 6, 1963, the feast day of Saint Nicholas, the general cargo vessel M/V Antonios Dimadis, owned by the shipping company of Stavros G. Livanos, departed from the shipyard in Pula, then part of Yugoslavia (nowCroatia), on her maiden voyage.
She was the eighth vessel in a series of ten 26,000 DWTcargo ships that Stavros Livanos had ordered from Yugoslav shipyards—five built in Pula and five in Split.
I was one of the ship’s eight deck crew, and I was especially proud that the company had chosen me, for the first time as an able seaman, to join the delivery crew of a newly built vessel. On my previous ship, my very first one, I had been a deck cadet, in other words, just an ordinary seaman!
I had been on board for 18 months when the Master, Captain Mikes Saliaris, the same one who had taken delivery of the ship, promoted me from able seaman to Third Officer. He assigned me the 08:00–12:00 watch.
Once the ship was out at sea, on the third day of my watch, at around 10:00 p.m., the Captain came up to the bridge.
“How are things, Michalis? How’s it going?” he asked.
It was a night with perfect weather conditions. Thousands of diamond-like lights adorned the sky, shimmering across the sea. In the absolute calm, the only sound was the gentle swish of the ship slicing through the water.
“Everything’s fine, Captain. All quiet,” I replied.
Two minutes of complete silence passed before his calm voice broke it.
“Quiet? There is never any quiet on a ship, Michalis! At sea and aboard a vessel, there is NEVER, absolutely NEVER, such a thing as quiet. You must always be concerned. You must always stay alert. Never let your guard down. Remain vigilant and always be ready for anything unexpected that could happen.”
And then he began telling me the reasons why I should be worried and what I should do about the things that worry me.
“When you go up to the bridge and you are satisfied with what the officer handing over the watch has told you, after you take over the watch you will try to become one with the environment, both inside the ship and outside the ship.
You must check the ship’s position. Where the ship was and where it passed four hours earlier, where she will be and where she will sail during your watch, and where she will be four hours later.
You must open the doors of the wheelhouse and go outside to the port side and to the starboard side. You will raise your hand to feel the wind. The spray of the sea, the drops of rain on your face. You will use all your senses: sight, hearing, touch, and smell. You will look at the ship, forward and aft. And carefully, you must listen! Perhaps you will see or hear something unusual, or some strange noise.”
“Feel the vibrations, the jolts, the rolling and pitching motion of the ship. Perhaps something in that sensation will cause you concern! Always check and cross-check whatever gives you doubt, or even the intuition that something is not as it should be!
‘Smell…,’ he continued.” At that point, I found the courage to ask: “Smell? What should I smell, Captain?”
“The land, Michalis. The land has a smell!”
What on earth could the land possibly smell like? I wondered.
I got the answer immediately! I will not say exactly what he told me the land smells like but only share the explanation that I am permitted to share.
“Ozone has a smell, especially over damp land.” Here I should mention that, at that time, we only used radar in situations of absolute necessity.
And he continued: “You will become concerned when you see something that you did not expect to see, and also when you do not see signs of land or lights that you should have seen. You will not simply worry! You will investigate to find out why! At the slightest doubt, even the smallest one, you must inform the Captain in good time. In cases of heavy vessel traffic or when a ship is approaching, remain alert. Check its course and its navigation lights. Your actions, whether you are the stand-on vessel or not, must be timely, decisive, and based on the principle that even a vessel not obliged to maneuver must do everything possible to avoid a collision.”
To make all this clearer to today’s officers, or to young people intending to go to sea, it should be explained that at the time these events took place, the use of radar, as already mentioned, was almost prohibited except in special circumstances. There were no satellite systems for determining a vessel’s position, nor were there any collision-avoidance systems (ARPA). Communication between ships was possible only by means of the Aldis lamp and the corresponding Morse code signals.
That night marked my introduction to what, for the past thirty years or so, we have come to know as Situational Awareness. It is a fundamental concept and a critical element of safety at sea, and it is incorporated into all safe management systems used by shipping companies.
From that night onward, the words and advice of that Captain became my sacred Bible throughout my entire maritime career.
I will not elaborate here on the importance of situational awareness, of a seafarer, and especially a ship’s officer on watch being thoroughly familiar with both the immediate and the wider environment in which he operates. Perhaps I will discuss that another time. I will simply note that in recent years, numerous authoritative OCIMF publications and guidelines have emphasized the importance and significance of Situational Awareness.
Looking back at these publications, and particularly at the 10 Tips published in a SAFETY4SEA article in February 2020, based on research by the Nautical Institute, I was astonished. These “ten tips to be adopted and used for maintaining good Situational Awareness in the workplace, especially during watchkeeping,” were virtually no different from what I heard from my Captain on the bridge of a cargo ship 5almost 60 years ago. The only exceptions were those relating to the proper and effective use of navigational and communication equipment, systems, and aids, which simply did not exist at that time.
Several years later, when I came to understand what mentoring is and appreciate its true value, I realized how fortunate I had been throughout my seafaring career. I was blessed to work with this Captain for nearly five years on three different vessels. During that time, he took every opportunity to pass on his knowledge, experience, practical skills, seamanship, wisdom, and his own unique way of approaching the profession.
I owe a significant part of my later achievements and professional development to his advice, encouragement, guidance, and to the invaluable mentoring I had the privilege of receiving from him.
At the time described here, “training on board” was virtually unheard of, and mentoring, with very few exceptions, was not only unfamiliar but almost nonexistent.
I am very pleased that today the training conditions for cadets and officers in our merchant fleet have changed dramatically for the better. This progress is evident not only in the Merchant Marine Academies. The ship itself is and should always be, a center of learning and professional development.
I am also pleased that concepts such as motivation, mentoring, coaching, situational awareness, weak signals, and chronic unease have become part of the shipping industry and are now offered to our seafarers through additional training in the human and interpersonal competencies commonly known as soft skills.
I will conclude this story with a piece of advice of my own:
“Never rely on a single sense or a single instrument. When everything seems calm and routine, complacency can set in, and your familiarity with your surroundings may begin to fade.”
*Captain Michalis Fragkias ex DPA at Sun Enterprises Limited
Note: Regarding Captain Mikias Saliaris, I write about him in my article titled “Implementation of COLREGS. in 1969,” which I uploaded to LinkedIn on June 9, 2025.
