About
About Meridian Maritime Academy
We are a small team of serving mariners — Masters, pilots, a forecaster and an operations lead — who have spent our careers around the MCA oral examination, on both sides of the table.
The academy exists because capable officers were failing a spoken exam for want of spoken practice. Everything we build starts from that problem.
What we are
Built by practitioners, run like a platform
A digital platform
Teaching that lives in the cloud and travels to sea — not a classroom schedule that only works for people ashore.
Forward thinking
Scenario rehearsal, spaced-repetition quizzing and examiner-style prompts — built around how the oral actually examines.
Problem solvers
Watch patterns, connectivity, rescheduled orals — the realities of seafaring life are handled as normal, not as exceptions.
94%
First-time pass rate
Candidates who complete a full preparation programme
1,800+
Candidates coached
Deck officers prepared since the academy opened
4.9/5
Average review score
Across independent learner feedback
120+
Structured modules
Video lessons, quizzes and revision notes in the library
Our team
The people behind the academy
Every instructor is a working mariner or forecaster. Between us we hold unlimited master's certificates, pilotage commissions, examining approvals and a couple of decades of teaching.
Capt. James Harrington
Founder & Lead Instructor
James founded the academy after two decades of preparing deck officers for MCA orals. A serving pilot and Chartered Master Mariner, he teaches every live clinic himself and writes the examiner-style question bank the academy is known for.
- Master Mariner (Unlimited)
- Chartered Master Mariner (CMMar)
- Serving port pilot
- MCA-approved examiner
- 20+ years teaching orals preparation
Dr. Elena Vasquez
Meteorology Lead
Elena spent eight years briefing warships and survey vessels on weather before moving into teaching. Her meteorology modules are built around the decisions a bridge team actually makes, not exam trivia.
- PhD in Meteorology
- 8 years as a naval operational forecaster
- Former maritime academy lecturer
- Author of two forecasting field guides
Capt. Marcus Osei
Senior Instructor, Deck Operations
Marcus came ashore after a career spanning LNG carriers, cruise ships and harbour service. He leads the cargo, stability and shipboard operations modules and runs mock orals most weeks.
- Master Mariner (Unlimited)
- Serving port pilot
- Former chief officer, LNG fleet
- STCW instructor since 2012
Hannah Whitfield
Candidate Operations
Hannah guides every candidate through the paperwork side — NOE applications, oral bookings and CoC issue — so that nothing between you and the exam room is left to chance.
- 10 years in maritime training administration
- NOE and CoC application specialist
Want to know how we teach?
Our ethos page sets out the teaching philosophy behind every module and clinic.
Meet us before you commit
Book a one-to-one tutorial or simply email a question — talking to the team costs nothing and usually settles whether we are the right fit.