The technology of navigational instruments and the profession of going to sea have entered a time of dramatic change. A paradigm shift is taking place which will eventually make the industry unrecognizable to those who first went to sea only twenty years ago. This change is most emphatically seen in three areas: Automatic Identification System(AIS), Electronic Chart Display and Information System(ECDIS), and Voyage Data Recoreder(VDR). In order to make these new instruments to be fitted on board commerical ships, international requirements for enhacing the safety of navigation on the world's waterways, the Chapter V of International Convention for the Safety of Life at sea, 1974 as ameded(hereinafter referred to as "SOLAS"), are being also changed.o changed.

A vessel in distress might be well identified when both the variables affecting the drifting of the vessel and the extent to which the variables affect the drifted vessel are known. And also the disembarking place inside the ship might be easily located if the drifting poised is forecasted. The forecasting method of the drifting poise is resolved by combining the vectors of the current and the wind. It is, however, very hard to forecast the effect of the wind, which should be mainly determined by field survey. This study aims at identifying the drifting characteristics of medium/large ships, considering only the effect of the wind. The experiment revealed the following results. ① The drifting poise is determined by the aspect ratio of the ship and the shape of the superstructure of the ship. ② Drifting direction is quite stable when wind speed goes over a certain level. ˚led3 Drifting speed is 3-7% of the wind speed in case of T/S Hannara.