Reviews the training in maritime technology for deck officers in the merchant service. It does not enter into details about the extent and depth of the training syllabus but attempts to encourage viewing the syllabus as a system with many interconnecting branches and not to see it as a series of separate parallel paths ending in a common output. Fundamental principles come first and should then be applied to particular shipboard situations. Traditional training in many countries is still based on the parallel-paths concept which acts restrictively on self-training and adaptation on board ships when college training periods are past. Gradually, however, a system approach to education is emerging and university-based training and education in maritime technology may assist in adding momentum to this tendency.