Do you know what is meant by a notice to mariners.

This article will explain the use of

Notices to Mariners (NM) in a common every day language.

The contents of Notices to Mariners (NMs )

We studied about the concept of Marine Navigation Charts, and the correction of charts used
on ships in our previous articles. The weekly Notices to Mariners contain, amongst other
information, individual notices (not to be confused with the NM itself). A NM is broken up
into the following sections:

• Section I – Explanatory Notes and list of Publications

• Section II – Geographical Index

Index of Affected Charts: matches chart numbers affected with notice

Corrections to Charts: individual notices to be used in chart correction.

Temporary and Preliminary notices in force at time of publication of NM

• Section III – Reprints of Navigational Warnings (in force)

• Section IV – Amendments to Admiralty Sailing Directions (not for charts)

• Section V – Amendments to Admiralty List of Lights (not for charts)

• Section VI – Amendments to Admiralty list of Radio Signals (not for charts)

Sections IV through VI are used for correcting other Admiralty publications in use on board
and not charts. Some of these publications are the List of Lights and fog signals, Sailing
Directions, Admiralty list of Radio Signals etc. There are hundreds of such publications on
board, depending on the trade of the ship and the voyages she is likely to make.

The procedure for navigational chart correction

As said earlier, this is systematic and follows the following sequence- the sequence is very
important for accuracy.

Large corrections
 1. Check the Charts carried on board against the Index of Affected Charts in the NM
2. Check which notices affect charts on board, and find the Notice in section II
3. Note that, at the bottom of each notice is a list of all charts affected by it, as well as the
previous notice which affected that chart. This previous notice may be sometimes
years old, but this information assists in confirming that the last correction(s) have
been made on the chart in question.
4. Check that the previous notice has been applied to the chart (each chart has, at its
bottom left, a list of corrections written on it by whoever corrected the chart. This
information is also available in a separate Chart correction log that is maintained on
board)
5. If any charts have not been updated, they must be corrected to the previous notice
before the current notice is applied.
6. Tracings are used to correct charts, when available.
7. Corrections are made in indelible ink, ensuring that standard symbols are used, that the
correction is made neatly and accurately and does not obscure other information on the
chart.
8. After correction, an entry is made on the bottom left of the chart as well as the chart
correction log, as indicated earlier

Small corrections

As explained in the first article on chart correction, these mainly consist of Temp and
Preliminary Notices (also called T and P notices) and Navigational warnings (nav warnings)

The procedure for small corrections is as follows

1. Sections III and IV (See above) are detached from the NM and file. These give a list
of T and P notices and Nav warnings still in force.
2. Charts on board and in use in the present voyage are corrected for these notices. The
correction is made in pencil, as explained in the last article. This is because these
notices are transient and will change or vanish. (information available in same sections
III and IV of subsequent NMs)
3. While on the passage, other T, P notices and Nav Warnings may be received on
Navtex, VHF etc (see previous article). Charts in use will be corrected for these as the
information comes in.

Cumulative Notices to Mariners

To assist mariners in chart correction, the British Admiralty started publishing these in
addition to the weekly NMs a couple of decades ago. The salient features of the Cumulative
NMs are as follows:

• Published biannually, Jan and June

• Contains the numbers of all Notices affecting all the charts that exist for the last 2 years

• Latest edition dates of each chart are marked.

The mariner can then, at a quick glance, check that

1. He has the latest edition of each chart on board (new editions of charts are published
regularly, just like books. When this happens, the older editions are defunct and must
be replaced)
2. Since he can read off the notices affecting each chart for the last two years, he can
confirm that all corrections on board have been made and marked on either the chart
itself, or in the separate chart correction log.
3. Note that the Cumulative NM does not give any details of the small corrections like
T/P notices and Nav warnings.

Conclusion
As can be seen, chart correction is a tedious but essential exercise. Done systematically, it
ensures that a mariner is always using a chart that has the most current information on it- an
essential ingredient of safety.

It may be noted that all British Admiralty publications on board- and there are scores of them-
are also corrected in a similar manner, through the use of Notices to Mariners.

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f you are travelling by road, chances are that nobody needs to tell you if there has been an
accident in front or something similar happened. But the same cannot be said about ships.
You need to know the latest regarding sea routes for safe passage of your vessel. Marine chart
updating ensures this

Why correct marine navigation charts at all?

There is an old saying at sea, “A mariner sailing on an uncorrected chart is courting
disaster”.

Marine navigation charts are in constant use by navigators, as we learnt in a previous article.
But conditions at sea and under the sea keep changing and so we must have the latest
information on them for safety. Is there a new wreck, and, if so, where exactly is it so we can
avoid it? Has a buoy been destroyed in a storm, and, if so, do we know this so we can avoid
colliding into it at night? Are their shallower depths reported in a particular location, and how
do we know this? Since information is changing constantly, there has to be a foolproof,
controlled and approved system of chart correction. Actually, although we will talk about only
charts in this series, this system extends beyond charts and includes all hydrographic survey
publications as well.

Legal implications
The chart in use must always be corrected to the latest notices to mariners on board. Failure to
do so will be taken as negligence in the event of an accident. Sometimes Captains, managers
and owners may become liable for damages too.

Who lets the mariner know when a chart needs correction,

and how?
Hydrographic organisations that produce charts are also responsible for their correction.
Probably the best known one is the Hydrographic Department in the UK, which publishes
British Admiralty (BA) Charts. We will take this as an example in these articles.

The systemic way in which charts are corrected are as follows:

1. The Admiralty receives information about changes to chart information from hydrographic
departments across the world

2. It collects this information, referencing it to which charts need to be corrected (there are
thousands of charts that cover the globe; each has a unique identification number)

3. It sends weekly ‘Notices to Mariners’ to owners of vessels that carry BA charts; the owners
then pass these on to the vessels at their next port. There are 52 such notices annually. These
notices are also downloadable or can be sent electronically otherwise, and are a compilation
of all corrections for the week; a typical booklet of these notices will be about fifteen sheets
thick.

4. These notices contain full details of which charts (and publications) are affected by the
corrections carried in the notice. Further, these notices detail what corrections need to be
made on board. The Notices are usually accompanied by tracings for each chart affected;
these tracings are overlaid temporarily on each chart and the correction ‘traced’ onto the chart
for easy, accuracy and speedy chart correction.

5. These notices are also sent to suppliers of BA charts worldwide, who may have BA charts
in stock but may not have sold them yet.

6. Second Officers on these ships (and BA agent employees ashore in the second case above)
are responsible for chart correction. They receive the notices and cross reference them with
which charts they have on board (or in the ‘ship’). They then correct them. Note that this
means that whenever a chart is purchased, it is always correct to the nearest notice for large
corrections only (more later)
7. At sea, the charts are corrected and a log is maintained indicating which chart has been
corrected to which notice. This becomes a ready reference whenever required.

8. This is a continuous process, and a critical one. The safety of the crew, cargo and the ship
depends on a systematic and accurate means of chart correction- and indeed, correction of all
publications, information on which is also available in the same Notices to Mariners.

Temporary and Preliminary Corrections, Navigational

warnings.
In addition to the ‘large’ corrections mentioned above, there are some ‘small’ corrections
which may be required to be applied. Generally speaking, they fall into the following
categories:

Temporary corrections: eg, a lighthouse is temporarily unlit.

Preliminary corrections: eg A jetty is being extended in a harbour. Although the entire length
is not yet extended, works are in progress. Instead of a large correction, a preliminary notice
may be sent, to be made permanent (or large) after the construction is complete.

Navigational warnings: eg, a Navy will be using a certain area for firing practice on a
particular date and time. Obviously ships must be aware of this and avoid the area.

Generally speaking, all thecorrections in this section are made available to the ship in one or
more of the following ways

-In the notices to mariners

-By VHF radio, warnings transmitted by shore based radio stations as voice on the
internationally approved frequencies which ships must monitor 24 hrs a day.

-By Navtex receivers, or navigational telex

- Through satellite communications and others.

The Second Officer, or the watchkeeping officer at a time when these messages are received,
will then correct the appropriate chart (if in use) in pencil. This is because, unlike large
corrections that are made in ink, these small corrections are temporary in nature and only
applicable for a brief period of time.

Conclusion
The importance of chart correction cannot be overstated. The next article will detail the use of
the Notices to Mariners in greater detail.

For those interested, the ‘Mariner’s Handbook’ published by the British Admiralty contains
more interesting information about chart correction, which is a systematic and intricate affair.

An overview of marine navigational charts and their correction at sea.

Charts at sea: how they are made and how they are kept current.

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