This study investigated and described factors affecting the achievements of maritime students in learning English and was concerned with four factors that are believed to be closely related to learning English. They are family background, orientation, beliefs and learning experiences. The qualitative descriptive method was used for doing this study. The subject of this study was two nautical classes in the fourth semester in 2014/15 at the Malahayati Merchant Marine College at Durung, Aceh Besar District, on the north coast of Aceh about 22 km, east of Banda Aceh. The instrument used for collecting the data was a questionnaire with 17 items, comprising both open ended and closed questions. In addition, interviews were conducted to clarify the data from the questionnaire. The data from the questionnaire were coded, grouped, classified and concluded. The achievements of the students in learning ESL were affected by four factors, viz: (i) family background, which covered the students’ origins and their parents’ level of education, (ii) beliefs, (iii) orientation, and (iv) learning experiences. Of these four factors, belief was the most important one.