22 October 2026
An Open Letter to Seafarers
To every captain, mate, tankerman, able seafarer and deckhand, and to the families who keep the lights on at home:
We see the bottleneck in maritime education, and we aim to fix that.
I have spent my working life on the water, on tankers, tugs and barges, and I have watched good mariners lose weeks of pay and sleep sitting in classrooms ashore to prove what they already do every day at sea. The knowledge is not the problem. The bottleneck is how we prove it.
The bottleneck: qualified assessment
Today, assessments of competence for STCW endorsements must be signed by a Coast Guard–approved Qualified Assessor (QA). Because there are so few approved QAs, transition policies have recognized that the people who can judge a mariner’s competence are already aboard. They are the captains.
My proposal, and what I will advocate for: the training needed to hold the QA designation should be updated and built into the normal path of every captain, including every barge captain, so that it is expected of the people in command rather than treated as a rare specialty. This is not current law. It is a change I believe in, and I intend to argue for it respectfully with the National Maritime Center and the Office of Merchant Mariner Credentialing.
Train the trainer
North 37 will build the course and the curriculum to train the trainer. Captains will then do what captains have always done: watch their tankermen, ABs and mates do the work, and sign them off when they are ready. The difference is that the sign-off will be backed by a published standard and a clean record. Cameras and AI can help compile that record. The judgment and the signature stay with the human assessor.
The invitation
We ask, we teach and we promise only what is ours to give. Education stays free to study. Membership is educational; it is not an investment and carries no shares, ownership, returns or financial promises. Nothing here is tax or legal advice.
If that sounds like the kind of academy you have been waiting for, join us at north37.academy and bring your questions.
With respect, and with the door open,
Wayne Eric Henry
Founder, North 37 Maritime Academy
Captain, USCG Master 1600 GRT Oceans
North 37 Maritime Academy · Lexington, Virginia · north37.academy
