Captain Duke Snider
Captain Snider completed his Coast Guard career as Regional Director Fleet-Western Region. While still with the Coast Guard he established his own consultancy specializing in ice navigation, Martech Polar Consultants Ltd. With more than 15 well-qualified ice navigators, Martech provides ice navigation services in both polar regions as well as polar shipping risk assessments and ice navigation training. His consultancy has become recognized as a leader in polar navigation safety. It was earned the Canadian Business Award as “Bert Polar Navigation ad Ice Specialists” in 2019. Captain Snider has acted as ice navigator in commercial and research vessels in both the Arctic and Antarctic. He wrote what has become a leading textbook for ice navigation, Polar Ship Operations (London, 2012, now in its second edition).
Captain Snider is a long-time member of the Nautical Institute, an international professional body dedicated to marine safety and education. After becoming Chair of the BC Branch and organizing polar navigation conferences that attracted experts from around the world, he became the first North American to be elected President of the Institute’s global organization. He has been tireless in promoting international standards of ship safety in the Arctic, playing an active role in developing the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Polar Code, adopted in 2017. He was also involved in developing the Nautical Institute’s Ice Navigator Certificate, a globally recognize scheme for training and qualifying ice navigators. Captain Snider’s professional excellence and widespread engagement exemplifies the global outlook and impact of BC
The Beaver Medal (2020)
The Maritime Museum of British Columbia awarded Captain Noon its highest honour, the Beaver Medal, “for outstanding achievements in polar navigation including roles in promoting internationally recognized ice navigation qualifications and as the author of a standard guidebook cert, and a long career with the Canadian Coast Guard that included command of eight vessels. Captain Snider’s professional excellence and widespread engagement has exemplified the global outlook and impact of BC mariner.”