Seaspeak

Seaspeak is a controlled natural language (CNL) based on English, designed to facilitate communication between ships whose captains' native tongues differ.

There are other similar special-purpose CNLs, including aviation English for aircraft, and the English–French hybrid PoliceSpeak for safety administration of the Channel Tunnel.

Seaspeak originated at the International Maritime Lecturers Association (IMLA) Workshop on Maritime English in 1985 in La Spezia (WOME 3), in a project led by Captain Fred Weeks, and was updated in the following years.

After the MS Scandinavian Star disaster in 1990, in which communication errors played a part, an effort was made by the International Maritime Organization to update Seaspeak and the Standard Maritime Communication Vocabulary (SMCV).

This resulted in the development of the Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP), which were adopted by the IMO as resolution A.198(22) in November 2001 at their 22nd Assembly.