Seaspeak: The Official Language That Keeps Ships From Misunderstanding

On a ship's radio, a misunderstanding can be dangerous. Today that risk is real: 80 percent of ships' crews do not speak English as a first language. Seaspeak, the official language of the seas, exists to make sure everyone understands one another anyway.

NOAA Corps Ensign Diane Perry on the NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson. Credit: NOAA.

How the problem arose

In the 1960s, the United States and the United Kingdom dominated ocean traffic, and 80 percent of ships' crews were native English speakers. By the end of the 1970s that had reversed. Crews now come from all over the world, often from several countries on a single ship — so a captain talking to the crew, another ship or the shore cannot assume a shared first language.

The answer: Seaspeak

In 1983, a group of linguists and shipping experts created a new system of communication called Seaspeak. They chose English as its main vocabulary because it was the language most often spoken on ships at the time — and because it was also the language of civil aviation. In 1988, the International Maritime Organization made Seaspeak the official language of the seas.

The rules

Seaspeak sets out how to talk on a ship's radio, and it keeps the vocabulary limited so messages stay short and clear.

• Message markers. Every sentence starts with one of eight words: Advice, Answer, Information, Instruction, Intention, Question, Request or Warning.
• Digits, one at a time. Numbers of two or more digits are spoken digit by digit: 33 is "three three," and 9:33 a.m. is "zero nine three three."
• One clock. Coordinated Universal Time, the world's primary time standard, is always used at sea.

Sources

Based on "What is seaspeak?" from NOAA's National Ocean Service, a work of the United States government in the public domain.