R‐Mode is a terrestrial navigation system under development for the maritime domain that provides backup in case of a GNSS outage. This paper describes the first test results for real‐time positioning on board a ship using medium frequency R‐Mode signals. The estimation and positioning algorithms used are described in detail and it is shown how they are integrated into the R‐Mode receiver developed by the German Aerospace Center. Moreover, during two daytime experiments with lower and higher dynamic movements of a ship in the Baltic Sea, we were able to achieve a 95% horizontal positioning accuracy of better then 12 m in the center of three R‐Mode transmitters. This demonstrates the first time that the medium frequency R‐Mode has provided positioning at sea.