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Maritime & Shipping vocabulary · Crew & Ranks

Watch

Meaning in maritime & shipping, with examples

/wɑːtʃ/nounCore term

In maritime & shipping, watch means: A fixed period of duty on the bridge or in the engine room, traditionally four hours, during which a person is responsible for safe navigation or for the machinery.

In Turkish: vardiya, nöbet

How it is used

Seafarers keep, take over and hand over the watch. The usual pattern is four hours on and eight hours off, so the 00–04, 04–08 and 08–12 watches repeat twice a day. Keeping a lookout is a separate duty that is often part of the watch.

Example sentences

  1. The third officer hands over the watch to the second officer at midnight.

  2. Never leave the bridge during your watch until you have been properly relieved.

Common collocations

  • keep a watch
  • take over the watch
  • hand over the watch
  • navigational watch
  • anchor watch
  • officer of the watch (OOW)The deck or engineer officer in charge of a watch. On the bridge, the OOW represents the master and is responsible for safe navigation during that watch.
  • bridgeThe raised, enclosed area from which a ship is steered and navigated. It holds the steering controls, radars, chart displays and radio equipment.
  • STCWThe International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, which sets minimum international standards for seafarers' training, certificates and watchkeeping.
  • able seaman (AB)An experienced deck rating who is qualified to steer, keep a lookout, handle mooring lines and do maintenance work on deck.

More terms: Crew & Ranks

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