I came across this recent DeepDraft article and thought it raises an important issue that many of us at sea have experienced in practice: “Command vs Conn: Why the Master’s Authority Is Never Shared” Command vs “Conn”: Why the Master’s Authority Is Never Shared – The DeepDraft The article revisits…

The only times “conn” was used in my experience in merchant ships was when the Master and I were exchanging it when entering or leaving port, and it was always stated as such (“you have the conn”), and logged in the bell book and deck log. I’ve seen Masters being given the conn by the pilot both lea…

[image] texastanker: the turnover went something like this: “what ya got” "that guy is going that way, that guy is going to be close, no clue what that guy is doing. “cool - 280 - I got it” The observer was not impresed. And that is pretty normal. On the other end of the spectrum, on the …

I think the misunderstanding here is that in naval ships there’s a crowd of people taking over and a crowd being relieved. Invariably there’s a bunch of junior officers under training competing for time on the bridge and depending on their competence the fully qualified OOW may delegate duties from …

In my experience, accounting for all types of vessels, the only occasion when “Pilot has the con”was voiced was whilst piloting passenger vessels. Invariably, the majority of passenger vessels were fitted with azipod/bowthruster systems. There was always a fairly comprehensive MPX detailing the poin…

Deep draft position on the issue: [Who REALLY Has the "Conn"? Master vs. Pilot in Maritime Law | DeepDraft]

[image] Jughead: The crowd on a merchantman’s bridge is slimmer and hence no need to specify the con. Can you Sir elaborate?

I have seen the phrase “Captain, Pilot so and so has the conn” used many times on merchant ships on the US East Coast as the sea pilot turns over with the docking pilot, and vice versa. It’s very much in daily use here. I have been present on one occasion on a US merchant ship when a particular chi…

[image] Handspake: [image] Jughead: The crowd on a merchantman’s bridge is slimmer and hence no need to specify the con. Can you Sir elaborate? Pretty basic really. There’s one deck officer on the bridge of a merchantman, so when he has the watch, he has the con. Hence the “slimmer” d…

This is from ICS Bridge Procedures Guide, “The presence of the Master on the bridge does not relieve the OOW of responsibility for the watch, unless the Master has explicitly taken control. Any handover of responsibility must be unambiguous. The OOW should remain on the bridge, continue to manage …

Is the Master’s Authority Being Misunderstood?

Professional Mariner Forum

Handspake June 5, 2026, 10:53pm 56

Oh my VERY DEAR @DamnYankee have we ever met or were at school together.?

There are many old threads here on the issue. Left a link in my first post but of course was ignored as IRRELEVANT .

Here is another one .

Just a few screenshots demonstrating how sclerosis kicks in real fast .

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Is the Master’s Authority Being Misunderstood?

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