Marine Log Magazine

One of the largest circulation and most popular B to B marine magazines in the world, MARINE LOG carries on a tradition of marine industry journalism that extends back more than 130 years to 1878.

In 1978, the magazine, then titled MARINE ENGINEERING/LOG, marked its centenary by publishing a history, researched by then senior editor the late Gene Heil, that began:

The bound volumes of ME/LOG go back to only 1897, but it was known that there were predecessors, related by merger, reporting on maritime affairs some 19 years earlier. The task of finding them and establishing accurate dates was finally accomplished through sheer stubbornness--a trait that's often confused with editorial integrity."

The magazine was published by Marine Publishing Company, which was located in the World Building in New York. H.M. Swetland was president and general manager, and H.L. Aldrich was vice president and business manager.

H.F. Donaldson, secretary and editor, led off the first issue of MARINE ENGINEERING by pointing out in his editorial that Back in Cleveland on August 14, 1902, Marine Review acquired the Record and changed its name to Marine Review and Marine Record. In January 1904, Marine Record was dropped from the masthead, and the magazine again was called Marine Review, retaining that name for 31 years.

As shipbuilding was evolving from the age of wooden vessels and iron steamships to steel-hulled vessels, by 1906, Marine Engineering had broadened both its editorial coverage and its circulation and changed its name to International Marine Engineering. The marine steam turbine had become widely accepted, and marine technology generally was advancing rapidly. In 1920, International Marine Engineering, by then a healthy 78-page magazine bound with several 24-inch folded inserts illustrating vessel hull details, was purchased from H.L. Aldrich, who by that time was president and treasurer of the Aldrich Publishing Company, by its present owner, Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation. For the next 15 years, the magazine was published as Marine Engineering and Shipping Age, giving it a family resemblance to Simmons-Boardman's very successful railroad industry magazine, Railway Age.

Another Simmons-Boardman acquisition in 1956 absorbed a western marine magazine, The Log, published by Miller-Freeman in San Francisco. As a result, Marine Engineering and Shipping Review was changed to Marine Engineering and The Log, then shortened to Marine Engineering/Log. The name was further shortened to Marine Log in November 1987.

Since 1987, the magazine has continued to mark significant milestones, including the launch of this website in 1996 and a Digital Edition of Marine Log in 2006.