Sailor in the context of "Mazu"

Eastern Arabia, also known as Greater Bahrain or Bahrain Region (Arabic: ٱلْبَحْرَيْن, romanized: Al-Baḥrayn), is a historical region encompassing the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula stretching from Basra to Khasab along the coast of the Persian Gulf. It includes parts of the modern-day states of Bahrain, Iraq (Basra Governorate), Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia (Eastern Province), and the United Arab Emirates. The entire coastal strip of Eastern Arabia was known as "Bahrain" for a millennium.

Until very recently, the whole of Eastern Arabia, from the Shatt al-Arab to the mountains of Oman, was a place where people moved around, settled and married unconcerned by national borders. The people of Eastern Arabia shared a culture based on the sea, as seafaring peoples.

Maritime history is the study of human interaction with and activity at sea. It covers a broad thematic element of history that often uses a global approach, although national and regional histories remain predominant. As an academic subject, it often crosses the boundaries of standard disciplines, focusing on understanding humankind's various relationships to the oceans, seas, and major waterways of the globe. Nautical history records and interprets past events involving ships, shipping, navigation, and seafarers.

Maritime history is the broad overarching subject that includes fishing, whaling, international maritime law, naval history, the history of ships, ship design, shipbuilding, the history of navigation, the history of the various maritime-related sciences (oceanography, cartography, hydrography, etc.), sea exploration, maritime economics and trade, shipping, yachting, seaside resorts, the history of lighthouses and aids to navigation, maritime themes in literature, maritime themes in art, the social history of sailors and passengers and sea-related communities. There are a number of approaches to the field, sometimes divided into two broad categories: Traditionalists, who seek to engage a small audience of other academics, and Utilitarians, who seek to influence policy makers and a wider audience.

In Greek mythology, Nerites (Ancient Greek: Νηρίτης, romanized: Nērítēs, lit. 'sea snail') is a minor sea deity, the son of "Old Man of the Sea" Nereus and the Oceanid nymph Doris, and brother of the fifty Nereids (apparently their only male sibling). He was described as a young boy of stunning beauty. According to Aelian, although Nerites was never mentioned by epic poets such as Homer and Hesiod he was a common figure in the mariners' folklore nevertheless.

Mazu or Matsu is a sea goddess in Chinese folk religion, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. She is also known by several other names and titles. Mazu is the deified form of Lin Moniang (Chinese: 林默娘; pinyin: Lín Mòniáng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lîm Be̍k-niû / Lîm Bia̍k-niû / Lîm Be̍k-niô͘), a shamaness from Fujian who is said to have lived in the late 10th century. After her death, she became revered as a tutelary deity of Chinese seafarers, including fishermen and sailors.

Her worship spread throughout China's coastal regions and overseas Chinese communities throughout Southeast Asia, where some Mazuist temples are affiliated with famous Taiwanese temples. Traditionally, Mazu was believed to roam the seas, safeguarding her devotees through miraculous interventions. She is now generally regarded by her believers as a powerful and benevolent Queen of Heaven.

The Geneva Conventions is a term used to collectively refer to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 along with their two optional protocols (Additional Protocols I and II), which form the core of international humanitarian law and establish international legal standards for the treatment of non-combatants in war. Negotiated in the aftermath of the World War II, the Geneva Conventions of 1949 consist of four agreements, which replaced three earlier humanitarian conventions of 1906 and 1929 and added two new conventions. The First Geneva Convention addresses the treatment of sick and wounded field soldiers, Second Geneva Convention addresses the treatment of sick and wounded sailors, Third Geneva Convention addresses the treatment of prisoners or war, and Fourth Geneva Convention addresses the treatment of civilians during armed conflict.

Aside from the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions are among the most widely ratified international agreements. The 1949 conventions were ratified, in their entirety or with reservations, by 196 countries. Much of the international humanitarian law contained in the Geneva Conventions has become customary international law, and therefore would apply to all states and non-state armed groups, even those that are not a party to the Geneva Conventions. The legal obligations created under the Geneva Conventions are somewhat different from other international treaties in that a breach of the Geneva Conventions by one party does not furnish a directly affected party with the option to cease complying with its treaty obligations.

Impressment, colloquially "the press" or the "press gang", is a type of conscription of people into a military force, especially a naval force, via intimidation and physical coercion, conducted by an organized group (hence "gang"). The navies of several European nations used various means of impressment starting in the late 16th century and continuing into the 19th century. The large size of the British Royal Navy in the Age of Sail meant that impressment was most commonly associated with Great Britain and Ireland. It was used by the Royal Navy in wartime, beginning in 1664 and during the 18th and early 19th centuries, as a means of crewing warships, although legal sanction for the practice can be traced back to the time of Edward I of England.

The Royal Navy impressed many merchant sailors, as well as some sailors from other, mostly European, nations. People liable to impressment were "eligible men of seafaring habits between the ages of 18 and 55 years". Non-seamen were sometimes impressed as well, though rarely. In addition to the Royal Navy's use of impressment, the British Army also experimented with impressment from 1778 to 1780.

Sandy Hook is a barrier spit in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The barrier spit, approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) in length and varying from 0.1 to 1.0 mile (0.16 to 1.61 km) wide, is located at the north end of the Jersey Shore. It encloses the southern entrance of Lower New York Bay south of New York City, protecting it from the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean to the east.

The Dutch called the area "Sant Hoek", with the English "Hook" deriving from the Dutch "Hoek" (corner, angle), meaning "spit of land". For over three centuries mariners tasked with guiding ships across the Sandy Hook bar have been known as Sandy Hook pilots.

The etesians (/ɪˈtiːʒənz/ or /ɪˈtiːziənz/; Ancient Greek: ἐτησίαι, romanized: etēsiai, lit. 'periodic winds'; sometimes found in the Latin form etesiae), meltemia (Greek: μελτέμια; pl. of μελτέμι meltemi), or meltem (Turkish) are the strong, dry north winds of the Aegean Sea, which blow periodically from about mid-May to mid-September. The Etesian winds are a dominant weather influence in the Aegean Basin.

They are at their strongest in the afternoon and often die down at night, but sometimes etesian winds last for days without a break. Similar winds blow in the Adriatic and Ionian regions. Etesian winds are dangerous to sailors because they come up in clear weather without warning and can blow at force 7–8 on the Beaufort scale. Some yachts and most inter-island ferries cannot sail under such conditions. However, they often provide a good, steady sailing wind favored by leisure sailors.

Watchkeeping or watchstanding is the assignment of sailors to specific roles on a ship to operate it continuously. These assignments, also known at sea as watches, are constantly active as they are considered essential to the safe operation of the vessel and also allow the ship to respond to emergencies and other situations quickly. These watches are divided into work periods to ensure that the roles are always occupied at all times, while those members of the crew who are assigned to work during a watch are known as watchkeepers.

On a typical seafaring vessel, be it naval or merchant, personnel "keep a watch" in various locations and duties across the ship, such as the bridge and engine room. Typical bridge watchkeepers include a lookout and a deck officer who is responsible for the safe navigation of the ship; whereas in the engine room, an engine officer ensures that running machinery continues to operate within tolerances.