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When it goes wrong

Who a crew member can actually call — and the order to call them in. Nobody hands you this list on your first boat, and by the time you need it you are usually too far in to go looking.

If you need to talk to someone tonight

YachtCrewHelp is free, confidential and answers 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You do not have to give your name, or the boat's name, or anything you are not comfortable saying. ISWAN says it will not pass on personal information without your permission unless there is a serious risk of harm.

+44 203 713 7273yachtcrewhelp.org — chat, WhatsApp or call back

What has gone wrong?

Pick the nearest one. It puts the right people in the right order — everything else is still further down the page.

The order to do it in

Unless one of the exceptions below applies, work up. Skipping rungs without reason is how a fixable problem becomes a reputation.

  1. Write it down

    Dates, times, what was said, who heard it. From the first incident, not from the day it becomes a dispute. Every organisation above will ask for this and almost nobody has it. Keep it off the boat's systems and off the boat's wifi.

  2. Your HOD, then the captain

    Most problems are a misunderstanding and most end here, as they should. Going outside the boat over something one conversation would have fixed is career-limiting, and anyone who tells you otherwise does not have to work in this industry next season.

  3. The on-board complaint procedure

    Every MLC vessel is required to have one in writing, with the company, flag state and welfare contacts posted where crew can see them. Ask for a copy. Using it is not a hostile act — it is a procedure the flag state requires to exist, and asking for it is a normal request.

  4. The shipowner or management company

    Named on your contract — and if you cannot tell who that is from your own contract, that is worth knowing now rather than later. The procedure requires them to deal with it in reasonable time.

  5. Outside the boat

    Union, PYA, ITF, flag state, port state control. This is not the nuclear option people treat it as, but it is the rung where the boat finds out, so arrive with your records in order.

Go straight to the top if

These are common reasons to jump the ladder — and for these, jumping it is the right call, not an overreaction. If staying on board or following the chain of command would put anyone at risk, go outside the boat.

  • The captain is the problem

    The ladder assumes the chain of command works. When it is the chain of command, it does not.

  • Abandonment

    No wages, no food or fuel, no way home, owner unreachable. This is a defined category with insurance behind it — see below.

  • Safety of life

    Or pressure to sail unfit, undermanned, or to falsify records or hours of rest.

  • Assault, sexual assault, harassment or bullying

    Ring the helpline first, tonight, before deciding anything else.

  • Your passport is being withheld

    It is your document, not the boat's. Your embassy is on this list for exactly this.

Who you can call

Every one of these has a limit, and every one is listed with it. Anyone who tells you a single organisation solves all of this is selling something.

  • YachtCrewHelp

    Free · Anonymous

    The 24-hour helpline for yacht crew, run by the seafarers' welfare charity ISWAN.

    This is the only number on the page you can ring tonight with no membership and no fee. You do not have to give your name, or the boat's name, or anything you are not comfortable saying. ISWAN says it will not pass on personal information without permission unless there is a serious risk of harm. The people answering are trained in counselling and suicide risk, and they can connect you to further support.

    The limit It is a welfare and practical-support line, not a legal service. It will help you think and it will point you onward — it will not chase your wages.

    24 hours, 365 days. Phone, WhatsApp, live chat or email.

  • Nautilus International

    Membership

    The trade union for the sector — and the one that gets money back.

    They recovered more than £2.17 million in unpaid wages for yacht crew in 2024, and yacht crew made up 76.5% of emergency-line calls where vessel type was known. Legal advice on contracts and jurisdiction comes through a worldwide network of lawyers, on privately operated yachts as well as commercial ones. Their JASON network gets you help from the nearest federation union wherever you happen to be.

    The limit You have to be a member before you need it. Joining the week the wages stop is the commonest mistake on this page, and it is the one that cannot be undone.

    Office hours, plus the Nautilus 24/7 emergency line for members. · Yacht Friends of Nautilus around €135 for 12 months; full yacht membership varies by status — indicative, checked August 2026

  • PYA

    Membership

    The yacht crew trade association, based in Antibes since 1991.

    Their Member Assistance Service is confidential support on work problems, and their Welfare Group exists to steer crew toward legal and professional help. They have acted on non-payment, unfair dismissal, and having no contract at all. They are also the MCA-approved sea time verifier, so a membership does two jobs.

    The limit A trade association, not a union. It has no industrial muscle and cannot bargain on your behalf the way Nautilus can.

    Office hours. · Membership tiers vary — check current rates — indicative, checked August 2026

  • ITF — International Transport Workers' Federation

    Free

    Inspectors in more than 100 ports across 50 countries, who board vessels and chase wages.

    They recovered US$118.5 million in owed wages for seafarers between 2020 and 2022, and non-payment is the single most common complaint they handle. You do not need to be a member to ask for help. Go to them with the contract, the pay records, the dates, and who said what.

    The limit Their inspectors work mostly on merchant ships, and a yacht in a marina is a harder target than a bulk carrier at a commercial berth. They do act on yachts. Do not treat it as a guaranteed lever.

    Office hours. Find the nearest inspector to the port you are in.

  • Your flag state

    Free

    The registry the yacht is flagged to — a maritime administration with authority over the vessel.

    This is the rung crew forget exists, and it is the one an owner actually minds. A crew complaint can trigger an unscheduled MLC inspection of the vessel. Send the contract, your evidence, and — if you want anyone to act for you — a named contact and express written permission for them to speak on your behalf. That last detail stalls more complaints than anything else.

    The limit Registries move at the speed of an administration, not a crisis. If you need someone on the dock this week, port state control is faster.

    Office hours. Routes and named contacts are listed below.

  • Port state control

    Free

    The maritime authority of the country whose port you are sitting in.

    The MLC gives you an onshore complaint route as well as a flag one — you can complain to the port state where the vessel is, not only to the registry on the transom. It is the fastest way to get an official physically walking down the dock, and it is the right move when the flag has gone quiet.

    The limit It puts the vessel under inspection in a port where it has to keep operating. That is the point, and it is also why it is not a first move.

    Depends where you are.

  • Your embassy or consulate

    Free

    Your own country's representation, wherever you are stuck.

    The right call for a withheld passport, a visa that has expired because you were stranded, or being somewhere with no money and no way out. They deal with nationals in trouble abroad constantly and this will not be the strangest call they take this week.

    The limit They will not take sides in an employment dispute, and they will not pay your wages or usually your flight.

    Varies by country. Most run an out-of-hours emergency line.

Your flag state, by registry

Only routes we have read on the registry's own site are printed. Where we could not confirm one, it says so — a wrong complaint address is worse than none, because it wastes the week you found the nerve to act.

  • Isle of Man

    Route confirmed

    MLC crew complaints — a dedicated page, an online form and a named mailbox

    The clearest crew complaint route of any registry checked — form, email, phone and a postal address, all published openly.

    Checked August 2026

  • Cayman Islands (MACI)

    Route confirmed

    The Shipping Master — accommodation, food, repatriation, hours, medical costs, and mediating wage disputes

    The one worth knowing: the Shipping Master is available to crew on ALL Cayman vessels, including fully private ones where the MLC may not apply. Every complaint is recorded and reported onward to the UK and to the ILO. MACI publishes no complaint email — it routes through the contact form on that page, so use the form or the phone.

    Checked August 2026

  • Malta

    Unconfirmed — check their own site

    Appeal to the Merchant Shipping Directorate if it is not resolved on board

    An MLC mailbox for the Directorate appears in Malta's own published MLC guidance, but we could not open Transport Malta's site to read it first-hand, so it is not printed here. Ring the Directorate and ask for the current MLC address.

    Checked August 2026

  • Marshall Islands (IRI)

    Unconfirmed — check their own site

    On-board complaint procedures are set by Marine Notice; no direct seafarer mailbox published

    The RMI publishes its complaint procedure and prohibits victimisation for making one, but we found no crew-facing complaint address on its own site. Your vessel's posted on-board procedure will carry the Administration's contact — start there.

    Checked August 2026

  • Bahamas (BMA)

    Unconfirmed — check their own site

    No dedicated MLC complaint address found on the Authority's own site

    The BMA publishes an on-board complaints Marine Notice and asks any outside authority receiving a complaint to pass it to them. The general contact page is the route until a crew-specific one is confirmed.

    Checked August 2026

Your flag is not on this list

The answer is already on your boat. Every MLC vessel must carry a written on-board complaint procedure with the contact details for the company, the flag state and welfare organisations, posted where crew can see it. Ask for a copy — it is a normal request, and it names the flag contact you need. Failing that, search for your registry's own site and look for MLC or crew complaints. Do not use a contact you found on a forum.

Do this on your first day, not on your worst one

Since January 2017, ships required to carry an MLC certificate have also had to carry evidence of financial security covering abandonment — your repatriation, essential needs while you are stranded, and up to four months of outstanding wages and entitlements. It must be in English, or have an English translation, and a copy must be posted where crew can see it. Smaller or private yachts may fall outside that certification requirement, so ask the flag state if you are unsure.

  • Photograph the abandonment financial security certificate.
  • Photograph the Maritime Labour Certificate and the DMLC beside it.
  • Photograph the on-board complaint procedure, so you know the flag contact before you need it.
  • Keep all of it on your own phone, not on the boat's systems.

Do it in your first week, while you are still the keen new crew member having a proper look round and nobody thinks twice about it. If the yacht is ever abandoned you claim against the insurer directly — which is fortunate, because the person who stopped paying you will not be answering the phone.

The part nobody writes down

The MLC prohibits victimising a seafarer for making a complaint. That protection is legal, not social. Yachting is small, the fleet talks, and a reference matters.

Pretending otherwise would be insulting to anyone who has actually had to weigh this up at 0300 in a crew mess. But it does not follow that you stay quiet. It follows that you keep records from day one, use the rungs in order wherever you safely can, and get advice from someone outside the boat before you act — not after.

Most of what lands on this page never gets that far. Someone is owed a month's wages and does not know that a registry will take the call. That is the whole reason it exists.

What this page is not

It is a directory, not legal advice, and it cannot assess your situation. Nobody here has read your contract or knows your flag, your jurisdiction or your facts. Details change — every entry carries the month it was last checked, and you should confirm the contact on the organisation's own site before you rely on it. There are no affiliate links on this page and no law firms are named, because a referral in a legal matter is not something we will make on your behalf.