For Educators

Check out the different sectors of MPSEC here

View MARAD’s Maritime K-12 Programs here.

Bayfront Maritime Center: Our mission is to design and implement engaging, hands-on, maritime-themed educational, vocational and recreational opportunities for the community in a universally accessible waterfront facility.

Building to Teach: Building To Teach is an experiential learning program that uses the building process to excite students about math and teach them the math skills they need to pursue jobs in math-related fields like construction, accounting, engineering and computer science.

North American Marine Environmental Protection Association: Our mission is to educate seafarers, students, and the public on marine environments, marine pollution, and the maritime industry. We work to educate students of all ages on the necessary balance between commerce and conservation, and inspire students to use this knowledge to become better ocean stewards!

​Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps: Our program mission is to instill in students in United States secondary educational institutions the values of citizenship, service to the United States, personal responsibility and a sense of accomplishment.

SeaPerch: SeaPerch is a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), a competition, and a community. Our program guides students on building an underwater robot while supplying educators with the tools and training to help them through the process.

Sea Scouts BSA: For over 100 years Sea Scouting has promoted better citizenship and improved members’ boating skills through instruction and practice in water safety, boating skills, outdoor, social, service experiences, and knowledge of our maritime heritage.

Tall Ships America: The mission of Tall Ships America is to encourage character building through sail training, promote sail training to the North American public, and support education under sail. We work with tall ships operators, host ports, crew, and corporate sponsors to focus on youth education, leadership development and preservation of the maritime heritage of North America.

Teach Fleet: TEACH FLEET is an acronym for Technology’s Effects and Contributions Highlighted for Learning Ecological Environmental Topics. In other words, TEACH FLEET means how ships and technology interact with the environment. We are a non-profit organization that builds LEGO ships for education and conducts LEGO-based activities for STEM, maritime, environmental, and diversity & history programs.

U.S. Naval Sea Cadets Corps: The United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps (USNSCC) is a youth leadership development program sponsored by the U.S. Navy. Our mission is to build leaders of character. We do so by offering America’s young men and women hands-on and experiential training in partnership with the Navy and its sister services. In order to instill the highest ideals of honor, respect, commitment, and service.

U.S. Sailing: US Sailing’s REACH program strives to engage youth and enhance career opportunities in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Environmental Stewardship through authentic learning experiences.

“The 21st Century Maritime Workforce:  Recruiting and training the next generation.”

Coast Guard Proceedings (Jan-April 2017 issue) focuses on the U.S. Merchant Marine workforce and innovations in education and training for mariners.  It offers insight for anyone interested in pursuing a maritime career or who is interested in the current challenges and opportunities for the U.S. Merchant Marine.

Non-fiction

A Captain’s Duty
by Richard Phillips

It was just another day on the job for fifty-three-year-old Richard Phillips, captain of the Maersk Alabama, the United States-flagged cargo ship which was carrying, among other things, food and agricultural materials for the World Food Program. That all changed when armed Somali pirates boarded the ship. The pirates didn’t expect the crew to fight back, nor did they expect Captain Phillips to offer himself as hostage in exchange for the safety of his crew. Thus began the tense five-day stand-off, which ended in a daring high-seas rescue when U.S. Navy SEALs opened fire and picked off three of the captors

Dynasties of the Sea: The Shipowners and Financiers Who Expanded the Era of Free Trade
by Lori Ann LaRocco 

Dynasties of the Sea is the first book to examine one of the most powerful forces in global trade and economic development: world shipping and the magnates who drive the industry. Operating from Monaco to Hong Kong, London to Athens, Singapore to Oslo, shipowners and their financiers have changed the world in every way. From transporting agricultural products from Brazil to Africa and the Middle East, to delivering Australian iron ore to China, to carrying Middle East crude oil to Asia and the Americas, to carrying almost every article of clothing you are wearing and every electronic device in the world, shipowners have enabled global economic development and helped raise the global standard of living. While ocean shipping remains one of the most important businesses in the world, it is also one of the most volatile. Affected by such imponderables as weather and political upheaval, shipowning cultures have maintained their commitment to an industry that has endured for centuries – and will continue to endure for centuries to come. 

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage
by Alfred Lansing

The astonishing saga of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton’s survival for over a year on the ice-bound Antarctic seas, as Time magazine put it, “defined heroism.” Alfred Lansing’s scrupulously researched and brilliantly narrated book — with over 200,000 copies sold — has long been acknowledged as the definitive account of the Endurance’s fateful trip. To write their authoritative story, Lansing consulted with ten of the surviving members and gained access to diaries and personal accounts by eight others. The resulting book has all the immediacy of a first-hand account, expanded with maps and illustrations especially for this edition.

Fire on the Horizon
by John Konrad and Tom Schoder

Blending exclusive first-person interviews and penetrating investigative reporting, oil rig captain John Konrad and veteran Washington Post writer Tom Shroder give the definitive, white-knuckled account of the Deepwater Horizon explosion—as well as a riveting insider’s view of the byzantine culture of offshore drilling that made the disaster inevitable. As the world continues to cope with the oil spill’s grim aftermath—with environmental and economic consequences all the more dire in a region still rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina—Konrad and Schroder’s real-time account of the disaster shows us just where things went wrong, and points the way to a safer future for us all.

Ninety Percent of Everything: Inside Shipping, The Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes On Your Back, Gas in Your Car and Food On Your Plate / Deep Sea and Foreign Going  
by Rose George 

Ninety Percent of Everything takes you inside the invisible industry of merchant marine, revealing untold stories of the brave seafarers, contribution of the shipping industry and the unfortunate events that haunt the seas. Author Rose George travels on a Maersk Container ship for five weeks from the Port of Felixstowe to Singapore to get a first-hand experience of the “life at sea”. From sophisticated container terminals to dangerous pirate-infected waters, the author lives the life of seafarers (minus the work) to understand their perils and hardships. Unraveling the often “neglected” lives of seafarers and emphasizing the importance of the shipping industry to the world, “Ninety Percent of Everything” is a book every seafarer and non-seafarer must-read.

Fiction

 First Voyage
by Anthony Palmiotti

It’s 1938, America is still in a depression and jobs are hard to come by.
The Arrow is an old tramp freighter with a diverse crew. Patrick Welch is a young seaman making his first trip on the Arrow. He must weather storms and ports of call, trying to win the respect of the tough captain and the friendship of the rough and ready crew.  Then, when the Arrow arrives in Hamburg, the Nazi movement is making life difficult for those who don’t fit the mold of the new Germany. Faced with a daunting decision, will the the crew rise to the challenge and bond together to outwit the Nazi’s?

Deadly Straits
by R.E. McDermott

Join this non-stop thrill ride, from London streets, to the dry docks of Singapore, to the decks of the tankers that slake the world’s thirst for oil, with stops along the way in Panama, Langley, Virginia, and Teheran. Richly spiced with detail from the author’s 30 years sailing, building, and repairing ships worldwide, it is, in the words of one reviewer, “fast-paced, multilayered and gripping.”

Death Beneath the Waves
by Anthony Palmiotti

It’s early 1942 and America is unprepared for the war it has declared on Japan and Germany. Soon after President Roosevelt’s declaration of war, the German Navy dispatches U-boats to the U.S. east coast. Operation Drumbeat was known by the U-boat crews as the ‘second happy time.’ Despite the odds, America’s war machine and merchant mariners continue to deliver goods through U-boat infested waters. Picking up survivors, they feel lucky until one day they are the target of the torpedoes and find themselves engaged in a fight for their lives.

The Shipping Man
by Matthew McCleery

A hedge fund manager adventures in international shipping as he deals with pirates off the coast of Somalia and on Wall Street to Greek shipping magnets, Norwegian Tycoons, German Bankers, and Chinese Traders. The book is a mix of both, a gripping novel and a ship finance text. It provides a view into the business of ship owners and the commercial finance that surrounds it.  

Seized
by Max Hardberger

A ship captain, airplane pilot, lawyer, teacher, writer, adventurer, and raconteur. Max Hardberger recovers stolen freighters for a living. Hardberger takes us on a journey into the mysterious world of freighters and shipping, where fortunes are made and lost by the whims of the waves.

The Raising of Costa Concordia
One of the largest salvage operations was the Costa Concordia. This is the documentary of the greatest ship salvage in history; the salvage of the Costa Concordia, which took 32 lives when it crashed and partially sank in 2012. The salvage cost over $1 billion dollars and some tricky engineering to complete.

National Geographic: America’s Port 
National Geographic provides an unblinking view of this vibrant and colorful nerve center for global trade—the Port of Los Angeles. Get an inside look at this massive complex and the intrepid individuals charged with keeping it running smoothly and securely 365 days a year. It’s a dynamic and dangerous 24/7 operation.

Boatlift: An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience
Tom Hanks narrates the epic story of the 9/11 boatlift that evacuated half a million people from the stricken piers and seawalls of Lower Manhattan. Produced and directed by Eddie Rosenstein. Eyepop Productions, Inc. 

Deepwater Horizon
On April 20th, 2010, one of the world’s largest man-made disasters occurred on the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. Directed by Peter Berg (Lone Survivor), this story honors the brave men and women whose heroism would save many on board, and change everyone’s lives forever. Oil Rigs are self-propelled and have licensed mariners onboard.  This film is a must-see for any aspiring mariner who wants to work on these rigs or the off-shore supply vessels that are needed to keep these massive rigs supplied with the materials and equipment they need.

Captain Phillips
The film is inspired by the true story of the April 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking, an incident during which merchant mariner Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) was taken hostage by Somali pirates in the Guardafui Channel led by Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi). The film received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Abdi.

The Finest Hours
A heroic action-thriller, “The Finest Hours” is the remarkable true story of the greatest small-boat rescue in Coast Guard history. On February 18, 1952, a massive nor’easter struck New England, pummeling towns along the Eastern seaboard and wreaking havoc on the ships caught in its deadly path, including the SS Pendleton, a T-2 oil tanker bound for Boston, which was literally ripped in half, trapping more than 30 sailors inside its rapidly sinking stern. On a small lifeboat faced with frigid temperatures and 70-foot high waves, four members of the Coast Guard set out to rescue more than 30 stranded sailors trapped aboard the vessel.

Ship Simulator
Ship Simulator is a simulation computer game that offers exciting and realistic missions to pilot with an array of vessels to choose. Features include stunning visuals, accurate vessel behaviour, famous locations and ports all over the world. Missions are based on actual events. It was developed by Dutch company VSTEP Ship Simulator Extremes is the name of the latest installment in the Ship Simulator series. It was released on August 27, 2010. Additions to the game include new locations around the world from cold Antarctica to warm Bora Bora as well as new ships (including official licensed Greenpeace vessels) and new dynamic, realistic weather and water systems. ​

TransOcean 2: Rivals
The Shipping Company is your ticket to the world of gigantic ships and transnational transport empires. Build a mighty fleet of modern merchant ships and conquer the seven seas. Get started with your newly founded shipping line in one of 60 ports. Choose your port wisely and complete your first contracts to nearby ports in order to generate your first funds. Conduct your business with brains, plan your voyages with foresight and don’t underestimate external factors like the price of oil or your rival companies. Are you up to mastering all the challenges? A livelier economic system influencing all kinds of goods ensures that in TransOcean 2: Rivals you are also faced with macroeconomic challenges. With the three types of ships – Tankers, Container Ships and Bulk Carriers – you have even more options to specialize and take your company to the top. Challenge your rivals and develop your own global business enterprise. In the single-player mode, you can also give yourself a very unique challenge: Steer your ships directly in a variety of 3D environments when the tugboats go on strike and the going gets tough. Can you maneuver both small and large vessels undamaged through the harbor basin?