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My family cannot contact me

If a family ashore loses contact with a seafarer at sea, the response depends on how long contact has been silent, the route the vessel is on, and whether the silence is operational (no signal, transit through a no-comms area) or unexplained. This page is written for both seafarers and family members. The same call goes to the same people: ISWAN SeafarerHelp on +44 800 012 1004, the manning agency, the shipowner, and — if the silence is unexplained — the flag-state administration.

Step-by-step

  1. Family side: confirm there is no scheduled comms blackout — Wi-Fi outage, transit through a known low-coverage area (parts of the Atlantic, southern Indian Ocean, polar routes), or vessel-specific Starlink limitations.
  2. Family side: contact the manning agency in writing (email + WhatsApp). Note the name on the SEA, the vessel name + IMO, contract dates. Keep a copy of every reply.
  3. Family side: if the agency cannot reach the vessel within 48 hours, call ISWAN SeafarerHelp on +44 800 012 1004. ISWAN can contact the shipowner and the flag-state administration directly.
  4. Family side: contact the ITF inspector in the vessel's current or next port — see itfseafarers.org/en/find-an-itf-inspector. The inspector can board the vessel and confirm welfare.
  5. Family side: contact your seafarer's home country's embassy in the country whose port the vessel is in or near.
  6. If you suspect abandonment, see /help/abandonment + /rights/abandonment. If you suspect injury or illness, see /help/injury-at-sea + /help/onboard/medical-emergency.
  7. Seafarer side: if you can read this and have signal, send a single short message (any platform, any sender) confirming you are alive and on which vessel. Detail later is not needed; the first message resets the clock.

Evidence to save

What NOT to sign

Legal basis

MLC 2006 Title 4 — Health protection, medical care, welfare. MLC Regulation 3.1 + Standard A3.1 (Accommodation and recreational facilities — incl. internet access where reasonable and practicable). MLC 4.4 (Access to shore-based welfare facilities). Shipowner duty of care under flag-state law and the SEA.

Primary sources

Related terms

Organisations that can help

Disclaimer. General information only. Most contact gaps resolve within 24–72 hours and are connectivity-related. Persistent unexplained silence — especially together with wage or abandonment indicators — should be escalated to ISWAN and the ITF immediately.