Help & resources

Seafarer resources are the crisis contacts, welfare helplines, legal aid, and medical-support pathways seafarers need while at sea or ashore. Seafarer Index groups them into 29 topic pages plus 5 onboard emergency decision trees and a helpline directory of 123 organisations.

If you are in crisis right now, use one of the lines below. They are free and confidential.

Key facts

• 29 topic pages — abandonment, unpaid wages, legal aid, medical, mental health, harassment, and more.
• 5 onboard decision trees — man overboard, engine failure, fire, medical emergency, abandonment.
• 123 helpline organisations — free and confidential; the top ones by relevance are listed below.
• Full sortable directory at /help/helplines.

• ISWAN SeafarerHelp
  Global · 24/7
  📞 +44 800 012 1004
  💬 WhatsApp +44 7909 470732
  🌐 https://www.seafarerhelp.org
• IMB Piracy Reporting Centre (Kuala Lumpur)
  Global · 24/7
  📞 +60 3 2031 0014
  🌐 https://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre
• UKMTO Dubai (Indian Ocean / Gulf of Aden)
  Middle East · 24/7
  📞 +971 50 552 3215
  🌐 https://www.ukmto.org
• MDAT-GoG (Maritime Domain Awareness for Trade — Gulf of Guinea)
  Africa · 24/7
  📞 +33 2 98 22 88 88
  🌐 https://mdat-gog.org
• Samaritans (UK & Ireland)
  Europe · 24/7
  📞 116 123
  🌐 https://www.samaritans.org
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (US)
  Americas · 24/7
  📞 988
  🌐 https://988lifeline.org

What onboard emergencies have step-by-step guidance?

If you are facing one of these RIGHT NOW: your ship's muster list is authoritative. These pages are for refresher learning, oral-exam prep, and post-incident review.

• Man overboard
  Williamson / Anderson / Scharnov turn — full chronological response.
• Engine failure / loss of propulsion
  NUC signals, PAN PAN, restart sequence, drift + towage.
• Fire onboard
  Alarm, first-attack BA team, boundary cooling, fixed CO2 release.
• Medical emergency
  MFAG + TMAS, CPR/AED, MEDEVAC + winching, post-incident log.
• Abandonment decision tree
  Distinguish MLC abandonment from voluntary sign-off — evidence, contacts.

What topics does the seafarer resources hub cover?

• All helplines
  Sortable table of every organisation.
• Abandonment
  What to do if your owner stops paying or leaves you behind.
• Unpaid wages
  How to file claims through ITF inspectors and flag states.
• Wages, wires & allotments
  Late payments, missed allotments, FX issues, allotment rights.
• Legal aid
  Country-by-country legal aid contacts.
• Medical at sea
  Telemedicine + emergency medical resources.
• Injury at sea
  P&I claims, log-book entries, evidence to keep.
• Mental health
  24/7 crisis lines + confidential support.
• Piracy incidents
  IMB reporting centre + post-incident support.
• Bullying & harassment
  Reporting under MLC 2006 + the 2026 STCW update.
• Filing an MLC complaint
  Onboard, flag state, and port state complaint routes.
• Joining a ship
  Pre-joining checks, signing the SEA, familiarisation.
• Sign-off & repatriation
  Your right to repatriation under MLC 2006 Reg 2.5.
• STCW revalidation
  Renewing certificates of competency and refreshers.
• Visas & transit
  FAL Convention, SID, shore leave, transit denials.
• Flag-state complaint
  Escalating an unresolved on-board complaint to the flag administration.
• Sexual harassment
  Onboard preservation of evidence, confidential reporting, repatriation.
• Drug & alcohol policy
  STCW limits, testing protocols, prescription declarations, CoC consequences.
• Contract disputes
  Breach of the SEA — on-board, agency-licensing, ITF, labour-court routes.
• Illegal pay deductions
  Lawful vs unlawful deductions, signing under protest, recovery routes.
• Repatriation blocked
  MLC A2.5.2 financial security, IMO/ILO database, port-state intervention.
• Reading your SEA
  Clause-by-clause checklist before signing — wages, hours, repatriation, CBA.
• Dependent visa
  Family onboard visits, port-state visa, P&I cover, tax-residency impact.
• Pension contributions
  Verifying contributions, totalisation across flags, back-payment, top-ups.
• Sign-off mid-contract
  MLC A2.5.1 owner-paid grounds vs voluntary sign-off and its consequences.
• Training-fee refund
  ILO C181 + MLC A1.4(5)(b) — fees you should NEVER pay and how to recover them.
• Mental-health crisis (urgent)
  Right-now help. ISWAN, SHOUT, DPA, MEDEVAC. Free, confidential, 24/7.
• Bullying on board
  Persistent intimidation — logging evidence, MLC A5.1.5, ITF, PSC routes.
• LGBT+ welfare & safety
  Operator diversity policies, port-state criminalisation, gender-marker mismatch.

Frequently asked questions

What are seafarer resources?

Seafarer resources are the practical references a seafarer needs at sea or ashore — crisis contacts and welfare helplines, legal aid and medical support, and the administrative ground of wages, certification and joining a ship. Seafarer Index groups them into 29 topic pages plus 5 onboard emergency decision trees and a helpline directory of 123 organisations.

Where can seafarers get help right now?

The crisis-line list at the top of this page is free and confidential — it covers the highest-priority organisations first. The full sortable table of every organisation is at /help/helplines.

What onboard emergencies have step-by-step guidance?

5 onboard emergency decision trees: man overboard, engine failure / loss of propulsion, fire onboard, medical emergency, and the abandonment decision tree (distinguishing MLC abandonment from voluntary sign-off).

What topics does the seafarer resources hub cover?

29 topic pages, including abandonment, unpaid wages, wages/wires/allotments, legal aid, medical at sea, injury at sea, mental health, piracy incidents, bullying and harassment, and filing an MLC complaint.