page_title: Chief mate
section_title: Navigation
hierarchical_section_title: Chief mate / Sea watch / Navigation
caption_attribution_description: Cargo vessel during bad weather - Navire de commerce dans le mauvais temps.
context_page_description: A chief mate or chief officer, usually also synonymous with the first mate or first officer, is a licensed mariner and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the ship's cargo and deck crew. The actual title used will vary by ship's employment, by type of ship, by nationality, and by trade: for instance, chief mate is not usually used in the Commonwealth, although chief officer and first mate are; on passenger ships, the first officer may be a separate position from that of the chief officer that is junior to the latter.
  The chief mate answers to the captain for the safety and security of the ship. Responsibilities include the crew's welfare and training in areas such as safety, firefighting, search and rescue.
context_section_description: Celestial, terrestrial, electronic, and coastal navigation techniques are used to fix a ship's position on a navigational chart. The officer directs the helmsman to keep to track, accounting for effects of winds, tides, currents and estimated speed. The officer uses supplemental information from nautical publications, such as Sailing Directions, tide tables, Notices to Mariners, and radio navigational warnings to keep the ship clear of danger in transit.
  Safety demands the mate be able to quickly solve steering control problems and to calibrate the system for optimum performance. Since magnetic and gyrocompasses show the course to steer, the officer must be able to determine and correct for compass errors.
  Weather's profound effect on ships requires the officer be able to interpret and apply meteorological information from all available sources. This requires expertise in weather systems, reporting procedures and recording systems.
caption: The conditions for navigating a ship can often be challenging.
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