This book was written for the needs of the Trainee Masters of the Naval Academies. The content has been written according to the requirements of the International STCW Convention for the training of Trainees attending them. Shipping is a common place for all of us who have traveled from any homeland and for this reason the content was not written from the chest but various sources were used that are mentioned at the end of the book. Many of the drawings were made by myself using IT techniques and others were found in books and on the internet. The goal of the book is to help our students - future captains on merchant ships - understand in order to be able to later use the methods of creating and maintaining the stability of their ship.

I would like to thank my friend Captain Nikola Tsaldarakis who provided me with his personal notes which were very valuable to me.