Get to Know: Claire Guy, Senior Lecturer at Warsash Maritime School

Twelve Years at Sea, Then a Career That Shaped Thousands of Others

Claire Guy grew up in Cornwall in a family where the sea wasn’t a career option — it was just part of life. That background gave her something that the best maritime educators tend to have: an instinctive understanding of why people are drawn to the sea, and what it actually takes to build a career there.

She spent twelve years as a deck officer before stepping ashore into a career that has since covered vessel traffic services, port operations, superintendency, health and safety, and personnel management. That combination — officer-level sea time followed by a broad range of shore roles — is unusually good preparation for teaching the next generation of maritime professionals.

For the past five years, Claire has been a Senior Lecturer in navigation subjects at Warsash Maritime School, part of Southampton Solent University and one of the UK’s most respected maritime training institutions. She holds a Master of Nautical Management (MNM) and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) — the professional standard for teaching excellence in UK higher education.

The Warsash Women’s Group

One of Claire’s most tangible contributions to the industry is something she built from scratch: the Warsash Women’s Group, a support network specifically for female cadets entering maritime training and employment.

The group’s existence reflects something Claire talks about consistently — the industry has a visibility problem. Female cadets can go through an entire training programme without ever seeing a senior female officer as a role model, which makes the senior career path feel abstract rather than achievable. The Women’s Group provides peer support, mentoring, and the kind of practical guidance that isn’t always in the syllabus: what it’s actually like to be a female deck officer on a commercial vessel, how to handle situations where you are the only woman on board, and how to build a career that lasts past the first contract.

Recognition: Two Awards in Two Years

In 2024, Claire was awarded the Careers at Sea Ambassador of the Year Award — recognition for her work promoting maritime careers to young people through her role as an Ambassador for Careers at Sea and Maritime UK. It is a role she takes seriously: she is also a volunteer careers adviser for the Sail Training Trust, regularly working with young people who are at the early stages of deciding whether the sea is for them.

In 2025, she was awarded the Merchant Navy Medal for Meritorious Service — one of the UK’s most meaningful recognitions for contribution to the merchant navy. The medal is awarded by the Department for Transport and covers a broad range of meritorious service; receiving it as an educator and advocate reflects the weight the industry places on the work she is doing.

What She Teaches

At Warsash, Claire teaches navigation subjects across the FdSc Nautical Science, HND Nautical Science, and BSc (Hons) Nautical Science programmes. These are the courses that produce the OOWs and future Masters of the UK merchant fleet — the foundational training that everything else in a deck officer career builds on.

Her research interests focus on how maritime subjects are taught in the modern world — how to bridge the gap between formal qualification frameworks and the practical realities of commercial seafaring, and how to ensure that cadets coming through today’s programmes are genuinely prepared for the vessels, the watchkeeping culture, and the decision-making demands they will face.

Why This Matters for Anyone Considering Maritime

Claire’s career is a useful template for something the industry often underemphasises: there is a full career available in maritime that goes well beyond the officer certificate. Sea time, then VTS, then port operations, then superintendency, then education — the breadth of her career illustrates that the skills developed at sea transfer into roles that most people outside the industry don’t know exist.

For women in particular, her story matters. She built a career that has lasted more than thirty years across multiple sectors of the maritime industry — not despite being a woman in a predominantly male environment, but as a fully contributing professional who has, along the way, worked to make that environment more welcoming for those who come after her.

If you are considering a maritime career, or are early in one and wondering what the long game looks like, the answer is: it can look like a lot of different things. Warsash’s training programmes are a well-regarded starting point. You can find out more about UK maritime training options in our Maritime Training Providers guide.