I am looking for help and/or info regarding crew abandonment and repatriation. My fiancee and I had been
crewing on a yacht since 06/98 and were fired while the vessel was in
Gibraltar in 06/03. When I asked the owner/master of the vessel to provide for our repatriation to Tampa, FL, he replied "That´s your problem". It is my understanding that the owner/master of the vessel is liable for providing repatriation, but I have not been able to find any hard evidence. The closest thing I have found is the Jones Act, but it seems to pertain to injuries. The USCG has been of little help, usually passing me off to another department.
We were lucky to have had enough
money for air fare back to the
USA, but now I´m hoping to be reimbursed by the vessel owner without having to go to court over it. At the very least, if I can´t get the
money back, I´d like to see him prosecuted so this doesn´t happen to another trusting crew. (I have filed a report with the
Marine Safety Office in Tampa regarding outdated flares,
liferaft, epirbs, first-aid kit( prescription meds expired mid ´80s), & a host of official document errors. Unfortunately, the vessel is currently overseas & out of the USCG jurisdiction.)
This vessel is a commercially registered
charter vessel (USCG certificate of documentaion) as a tax loophole and should be treated the same as any other
commercial vessel whose crew is abandoned with no provision for repatriation.
Any help or info would be greatly appreciated.
mat_jen@hotmail.com
repatriation problems
)
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