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Crew arrested -- I keep hearing rumors about a particularly large blue yacht and its wayward crew. Apparently one crew member is in jail for spitting on a police officer during a night out in Ft Lauderdale and the rowdy behavior of this large yachts crew prompted the police to visit the yacht and speak to the Captain. I also hear one crew member fled the boat, left his passport behind and is now on the run from the police. Has anyone heard anything else about this? Are crew this brainless and irresponsible? If crew are going wild I think something should be done to stop it don't you?
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wow thats amazing , that crew can behave so badly , they forget that one stupid mistake can ruin a career in a flash , for instance , the crew member that spat on the cop , if the guy is foreign then all the cops need to do is visit the captain , get the passport of the fool then visit the immigration and then it's on... once the visa is revoked with a bad reason they will not be able to travel in the north east for at least five years , they forget that being allowed in a foreign contry (any) is a privilege not a right and they out to do jail time then get deported back to the hole they crawled out of , secondly the master is responsible. If your crew are causing a wild scene ashore and giving the vessel a bad name , it becomes the masters responsibility because , once you have crew sign on , the vessel is responsible for their well being which means they need to behave and act responsibly too , if the master is not bothered then he is just as bad as his rascals causing havoc ashore , when kids misbehave who do you think people look at? the guardians of course. I once worked on a vessel that has a party crew , every time we went out for dinner i opted to stay on watch because of the oncoming embarrassing situation after a few drinks. With the captain at the table they would start slamming their fists and cutlery on the table and making so much noise you would think they were the only ones in the restaurant , totally disregarding all the other diners whom im sure preferred the serene and subtle ambience . captain never said a thing. Bad crew points at bad leadership , from the top.if i hired them because i initially missed the warning signs in the beginning and it comes out later , they will get warnings to change their ways and if they do not heed they are off the vessel very quickly i Hope the crew members responsible get caught and punished accordingly they obviously have no business being the image of whom ever they work for... or not.. maybe the boss encouraged them lol!
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I’ve cleared in through Palm Beach a few times, on one occasion the customs and immigration officers took a crew member into an office and reminded him to behave, apparently he had an incident in a local club before clearing out and it was on his record, even though there was no actual arrest. Drunkenness and disorderly behavior always results in some kind of collateral damage. I’ve seen way to many crew get into fights, drink drive and say things they regret the next day all because they party irresponsibly, it’s almost like people take it too far when they are away from their home country because they think their untouchable and whatever they do overseas stays overseas. Yachting isn’t a Las Vegas Commercial it's reality and what happens ashore and on the boat does not stay secret for long, it becomes crew gossip, industry rumors, urban legends that ruin the reputations of boats and crew alike. I keep my work and social life separate, rarely go out with crew because I don’t want to see or hear the nonsense that occurs when people drink too much. A big night usually starts with “Let's go for just one”, one turns into ten and ten turns into “One for the road”, which then has everyone bopping around in some expensive night club till 3 am. Spend all my money for a massive headache and a nauseous feeling all the next day, no thank you!!!!!!!!
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Joined: 14/01/2009
Posts: 1029
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Funny that you mention a large blue yacht. This past summer I had a run in with a big 50 meter plus expedition style motoryacht. I was in port for the night doing a guest change over . The crew on that blue Mega yacht were a surly bunch...wouldn't move a port side breast line to allow me to squeeze in stern too. Port captain came down and removed the breast line to free up space . The big yachts crew were irritated and gave me grief because they now had another yacht alongside and couldnt use their supertender. .
Well after midnight, with my quests in their bunks , a crew shouting match erupted from that big blue Mega yacht . Enough ruckus to awaken all my guests and bring them up to the wheelhouse in their PJ's to see what all the commotion was . Soon the shouting match turned into a brawl complete with hysterical stewardess's screaming..No !No !! No !!...stop !!! Stop !! and three guys shouting drunken profanity , slugging it out with glass beer bottles flying. My deck was showered with broken beer bottles from the crew brawl on that Blue Mega yacht next door.
In the morning as I was checking out of the port I stood in line in the office behind a argumentative captain venting his temper with the port authority about some dockage fee......it was the captain of this blue Mega. Sounds like the whole program was rotten.
In general port captains tell me that the most troublesome yachts are the big ones...always some crew problem, always piles of garbage on the quay with the inevitable drug dealers and pimps working the waterfront when the mega yachts are in.
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I’ve worked for more than one Captain that would ignore crew behavior on and off the boat. I’ve seen crew punch crew, I’ve seen sexual harassment, I’ve worked with moody crew that take drugs and I’ve seen captains sweep it all under the table. Yachting has a dark side, violence, drug usage and the heavy drinking that turns perfectly normal people into idiots is controllable, if I owned or ran a yacht there would be random drug tests, breathalyzers and a zero tolerance policy. Half the people that come to yachting these days are lost and literally trying to find themselves, these impressionable people will follow the pack and Captains that don’t discipline and fire bad crew are perpetuating the problem, by enabling people to go wild without consequences.
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Tell me about it.
I just hear about the owner of one of this big boat just fired the all crew but not the Captain.
The crew was behave and wild on his boat.
Also, I was one night in the pub (yachting pub) and one girl was totally drunk with her crew friends and she fell in the ground and any of the crew friends help her to take her to the hospital, plus I did try to help her and the crew just did say, she is find and ask me stupid question like want size is my boat? and I was "what" I am worry about your stew and you ask me what size is my boat? woow you nebies are special real special. Make old professional crew to luck bad.
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Sorry about my spell.
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[Removed by moderator] Anyways, kudos to the owner that got rid of the entire crew , i think he ought to fire the captain too... It starts from the top , if you have a bad tomato in the basket i get rid of the lot! , the stink tends to hang on to everything near it.... well done sir , now carefully pick your top guy and depending on if you picked right , the rest who get hire will be fairly good too.... the big blue yacht with a bad name... we all know which one it is... any chance we can have the names of the crew that were fired published so we know to keep clear of them?
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Joined: 22/06/2008
Posts: 18
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[Removed by moderator]
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I was on a particular boat in Miami and while our crew was hands on and a great crew with our boat the other boat and it's crew was being arrested for DUI's and having to leave to go back and face court charges in other states, regardless it was our crew who got let go! I guess it doesnt' help when the Captain also had two back to back DUI's on consecutive nights! But still a Captain and Broker!
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Joined: 11/09/2009
Posts: 12
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Um, maybe I'm out of the loop or don't pay much attention to the activities of other boats, but I don't know which boat we're talking about. I wish I did though. I'd shut that crap down in a heartbeat if given the opportunity. Hmmm, big, blue, mega, expedition, supertender....could be a number of different boats and I'm hoping it's not the one I'm thinking of. That would piss me off. How big? Who built it? Does it spend a bunch of time at Newport Shipyard in the Summer?
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The yacht in question is over 100 meters and is or was in Port Everglades.
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oh yeah ... crew gone rogue .... looking from the top and working down to the crew mess is the way to go... the l large blue yacht is currently in snort liquordale and planning on skipping town due to bad publicity based on their own shoddy behavior it's easy to get mistaken which one so we (sailors in the biz) know which one it is.. and some of the characters funny how they simply jump from one yacht to another and also funny how the nasty trail keeps following them as they skip from one yacht to the next and the false stories they tell on interview to land the job.i heard the fellow who manufactures his references and gets through with them every single time! , it seems to me like the big blue yacht has all the artists in one ship at last! i would love to see them on a monday morning when having there meeting prior to commencing for the week with their half shut eyes from bar fights, you know who you are ... probably never heard of dockwalk ...
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it is still there facing west!
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yep.. right in port everglades too large to get to a marina so i doubt they fit in the newport shipyard.... probably at anchor of goat island when they visit.
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i doubt the big blue yacht is over 100 m it certainly is over 60 m
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[removed by modertor]
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Bad behaviour? How 'bout New Year's night in Yacht Haven, mega yacht owned by very well-known individual, with Captain lining up double shots of JaegerBombs, 20 to 30 at a time. Repeatedly telling the ladies about just how "big" his mate's willy is. Then continues to pull his own out to show anyone willing to look. Had his 'veg' in his hands, too, wiggling them about for all to see. Disgusting, shocking, and how embarassing for the rest of his crew to be represented by him. Should've been tossed out on his ear (or eggs!).
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did you know you can check with any port in the world now to see what vessels have visited and or are currently in port? thank goodness to ais you can even trace recent tracks.. so i did a little checking and the web address above is not valid.. second the quoted vessel in the web address (removed by moderator) does not seem to have visited port everglades in the recent days unless it is under a different name now , so i have to say the above web statement about the vessel in question seems to be flawed or inaccurate??
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Joined: 11/09/2009
Posts: 12
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Okay, if we're talking about Al Mirqab, and lets just say we're not for the sake of discretion. A boat that looks exactly like her definitely was in Port Everglades--saw her from the bridge (identifiable by the large logo on her mast structure) a couple of days ago. MarineTraffic.com says she was there until 2 days, 19.5 hours ago and left with a destination of 'confidential'. And trivia just for the record, that particular boat is 133 meters. And this 'yacht who shall remain unnamed' has a really lousy, drunk, and out of control crew? That has to be alot of people! But you know what they say...one bad apple.
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ok a silent and undisclosed departure.. must ha pissed of a lot of people to get that treatment. i tried to trace her tracks and the records do not exist , i also saw her bow in facing west just port of the entrance , , 133 m is large and if there is one bad apple then i believe the team is rotten if they choose to keep the bad apple in their midst. just think of a rotten potato in a basket with some good ones...it wont be long before the entire basket goes bad! i's is true , not all that glitters is treasure try the ais website and see what crops up on the vessel name search.... nothing!
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From somebody who knows the situation intimately...............Fortunately, the person in question was the only bad apple in a particularly large barrel full of a good crop! Upon his return to the yacht he immediately became an ex-crew member and departed the country later that day.
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yes, i was too at the yachty pub that particular evening, at an adjacent table, and recall the incident with the drunk stewardess that collapsed... but... the way i remember it was that you harassed and insulted their crew telling them to go home immediately with the drunken stew... and hence they were upfront with you and told you to back off, as any yacht crew would be if you had told them to leave the pub!.... just an outside observation...
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Joined: 01/02/2011
Posts: 1
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I see everybody has been having a good time with the
traditional pastime of the Yachtie, i.e. never the truth stand it the way of a
good story, but you have had your fun, all the sour grapes have been spat out.
Since nobody took the trouble to ask anybody that knows, now it’s time to set
the record straight. I have never posted to a forum before so I hope that I am
not breaking protocol by giving my name.
A new crew member on his 3rd week
of probationary employment was arrested in Fort Lauderdale after being asked to
leave a bar. He spent two nights in jail and upon his release his employment
was terminated.
I agree whole heartedly with the person who calls this a stupid mistake. I
don’t think it would be appropriate to name and shame the ex crew member here
but I can say that the crew agency that provided him was informed and any
captain calling me for a reference on this person will be notified. After all,
maybe two nights in Jail and losing his job has taught him a lesson he will
remember next time he goes out for a couple of beers. Interesting that one
forum contributor thinks that the whole crew (that’s 52 people for the record)
from Captain down needs to be replaced to correct this young man’s mistakes.
Just a slight over reaction perhaps?
Al Mirqab is a “dry boat” there is no
alcohol on board and it is prohibited. We have a zero tolerance for drug and
alcohol abuse. Any crew member suspected of being under the influence when
reporting for duty is breathalysed and dealt with according to the Merchant
Navy Code of Conduct. Random drug tests are carried out.
The Police did not speak to the captain
about rowdy behaviour, or anything else for that matter. The police did speak
to the Bosun about crew members failing to present the correct ID and shore pass
when entering the port through two ISPS checkpoints. (something which those of
you berthed in the marina do not have to deal with).
A crew member from Asia chose to jump ship.
I understand that he feared (rightly or wrongly) he was going to lose his job
and decided to take his chances as an illegal immigrant rather than risk
struggling to find employment in his home country.
Not a smart choice in my view but hardly a sign of a “crew gone wild”. The U.S. CBP were informed and it’s in their
hands.
The large blue 50m+ expedition
style motor yacht mentioned by Junior is not Al Mirqab so no comment on that
from me.
The drunken stewardess story does not mention which yacht the crew were from
but there is no reason to believe it was Al Mirqab.
The story about the yacht with two DUI’s; definitely not Al Mirqab.
“Planning
on skipping town due to bad publicity”? Not at all. We have completed the
repair works we came here for and are returning to Europe as planned and on
schedule.
“silent and undisclosed departure” yes, it’s called security and confidentiality.
Incidentally, AIS does not work beyond VHF range and so is never going to give
a position of vessels mid-Atlantic there is nothing sinister about that.
Thankfully for our security LRIT information is not yet in the public domain.
David Atkinson
Captain
M.Y. Al Mirqab
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Joined: 20/10/2008
Posts: 2
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Great response Captain David! Too much potentially damaging gossiping going on. Im sorry though that you had to post at all.
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Thank you Captain
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Joined: 12/07/2010
Posts: 59
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[removed by moderator]
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Joined: 01/06/2008
Posts: 1008
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Anonymous wrote:I was on a particular boat in Miami and while our crew was hands on and a great crew with our boat the other boat and it's crew was being arrested for DUI's and having to leave to go back and face court charges in other states, regardless it was our crew who got let go! I guess it doesnt' help when the Captain also had two back to back DUI's on consecutive nights! But still a Captain and Broker!
LOL, and I bet that boat was blue as well and the captain was going to court in Virginia, that story is waayyyy too familiar.
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Good response Captain Atkinson, concise and to the point. I agree that the yachting industry does seem to have a problem with never letting the truth stand in the way of a good story. Maybe it is because everyone spends so long away from home missing their soaps that they have to bring all of that drama and inventive script writing into their own lives!
In yachting as it is in the merchant navy, the Master is always held ultimately responsible for any catastrophe onboard whether that results in large fines or in some cases imprisonment. As such the captain of any vessel has a huge responsibility on his or her shoulders but I do not think that this should extend to responsibility for the way in which crew choose to conduct themselves when ashore. Having previously worked on Al Mirqab I can say that this boat is very professional when it comes to it's drug and alcohol policy and crew are expected to conduct themselves accordingly when going ashore. I know very little about this incident besides what I have read here on this forum, but it sounds like something that will be familiar to many yacht crew the world over.
In my opinion no captain can be ultimately responsible for the actions of crew ashore. The best a captain can hope to do is instil a sense of responsibility and discipline amongst the crew, something which may be impossible to do in three weeks for someone who is not naturally that way inclined. Screening crew before they come on board is often very hard to do, that I would think is a job for the crew finding agency. A month or two as probation is usually a standard policy on board most yachts for this very reason.
As someone mentioned in this string, many crew are using yachting as time out from their studies or careers and some see it as a means to earn good money, travel the world meeting people and have a few parties along the way! Good for them I say but they should also remember who is paying their wage, food and board and that they are representing the yacht even when they are out of uniform!
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