The main objective of this report is to analyse polarisation methods used in directional overcurrent protection and evaluate their use in power system relay protection schemes for maritime power systems. The purpose of this is to aid maritime industries in developing reliable, fast and selective protection schemes. This study is relevant because maritime power systems often have system con-figurations that make common protection schemes for land-based power systems unreliable or unapplicable. In addition, continuity of service for critical loads is paramount in maritime power systems, due to the potential consequences of failure. In this report, a general model of maritime power system is developed along with relay models based on different directional overcurrent protection algorithms. A relay model is validated experimentally and the performance of relays in a maritime power system is investigated through simulation. The relay models are evaluated in the context of proposed protection schemes and key considerations in the development of protection schemes for maritime power systems, are identified.