Stories

We provide practical, emotional and wellbeing support to thousands of seafarers and their families every year. These are just some of their stories.

Our free, confidential, multilingual helplines SeafarerHelp and YachtCrewHelp are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We can offer further support through our teams based in India and the Philippines along with our networks and contacts worldwide.

Yacht crew safety

One night, YachtCrewHelp received a WhatsApp message from a distressed stewardess on a yacht at a European port. She said she had been verbally and physically abused by the captain and wanted to leave the vessel but it was late and she was in a foreign country.

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Unpaid wages and deteriorating conditions on board

Working at sea is not always smooth sailing. SeafarerHelp received an e-mail from a crew of Filipino, Georgian and Ukrainian seafarers – many of the crew had finished their contracts but their repatriation had not been arranged. The seafarers’ salaries were delayed so they were worried about their families back home. Nelson also reported that the allocation of drinking water on board was limited and the crew had been sailing in 50°C heat with no air conditioning and broken generators.

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Multilingual support

If you are injured on board and find yourself in a foreign hospital unable to speak the local language, you can contact our helpline and we will help in any way we can. Our team speaks a number of different languages and we can offer support.

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Emotional support

A seafarer who was feeling lonely after recently signing off a ship contacted SeafarerHelp by live chat.

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Seafarer bullied by captain

A young Russian seafarer contacted SeafarerHelp after seeing a poster for the helpline in his ship’s day room – he was being bullied by his captain and was feeling very scared.

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