Sea Year Was Hell & Kings Point Did Nothing to Help Me

* Submitted to MLAA by the Victim, a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy *

I'd like to stay anonymous. My struggle with shipboard harassment and assault began on my first ship with Maersk. I had been on my first ship for about a week, when I was going up a ladder in between cargo bays. From behind me, the bosun put both his hands around my ass and told me he was "giving me a boost." The Bosun continued harassing me throughout the voyage, watching me work out in the gym and making comments about my body as I worked out. He would constantly direct sexual comments towards me, and I would repeatedly tell him to stop.

Once, in the ship's computer room, he told me he was going to get me drunk and “have his way with me.” That's when I became pretty scared. Eventually I reported everything he had done to the Captain, and he was told to stay away from me. But he was not fired, and he never stopped. One night I came into the computer room and found the Bosun logged in to my Facebook account. He was sending disgusting sexual messages to my then boyfriend back home, pretending to be me. 

This totally freaked me out, and when I called him out, he pushed me into a corner, but I escaped. I reported him to the Captain again, and finally he got kicked off the ship. 

On the same Maersk ship, the 2nd Mate would grope me on the bridge, and when I confronted him, he told me point blank that if I reported him would "ruin my name in the industry." 

On that same ship I was told by an AB that I "deserved to be raped" and that I would eventually be raped because of my gym shorts. On this ship my Captain would not allow me to go ashore alone (because I was a woman),so he made me go ashore with creepy crew members. I could not go ashore alone, but I could go ashore with the AB who told me I would get raped. Thanks a lot, Captain. 

At a bar the AB got drunk and he grabbed me and forced himself on me. I had to punch him to get him off of me. My sea partner and I sent the "secret" code word to get off, but Captain EUGENE ALBERT told me and my sea partner that we were lying and making things up. He told us that if we weren't so friendly we wouldn't have had these problems. He said it was OUR FAULT. 

The only good thing about the ship was that after he fired the Bosun he ended up reporting the Bosun to the Coast Guard and I had a meeting with the USCG back at KP. They told me I would go to court for it all, but then all of a sudden the case dropped off and I lost all contact. It was clear that Captain Albert and the USMMA has forced the USCG to drop the case. 

Fast forward to second sailing. I was on a Military Sealift Command Vessel where I had numerous issues with harassment and assault.

The 1st issue was with a 3rd Engineer, who was not even in my department. While he was drinking beer on the pier near the ship he began making comments about my breasts. He said the only reason females belong at sea is to "sexually please the male sailors" and then he walked up to me and straight up groped my breasts with both hands. This incident made its way to the Chief Mate, and the 3rd Engineer was thankfully kicked off the ship. But that did not end the sexual harassment. Sexual notes were slid under my door constantly by the crew.

The worst experience was going out in the Philippines. I went out with about 6 crew members. At a bar I was pretty drunk, and I went to the bathroom. When I came back out there was only one crew member left, and I told him we needed to go back to the ship. Instead, he ripped my phone out of my hand and gripped my wrist and would not let me go. He literally DRAGGED me to a cheap motel room and trapped me inside, refusing to let me leave. Pedestrians who saw me fighting him as he dragged me down the street did nothing to help.

Eventually, I fell asleep on the floor of the motel room and woke up to him trying to claw my shorts off of me. Claw is not an exaggeration. I had deep cuts on my lower back and legs. He also tried to take my shirt off to take pictures of me. I had to aggressively fight to get him off of me, and stayed awake in my inebriated state until he fell asleep. When he did fall asleep, I grabbed my things and sprinted out of the room. I never spoke of that night to anyone because I was so scared. 

Back on the ship the man who tried to rape me started talking about it to the crew, saying I "led him on," and he told everyone that we had already hooked up before that night, but on that night I just wasn't feeling it. They believed his lies about trying to rape me in a cheap motel in the Philippines. 

This is a disgusting industry. I've had other bad experiences, but you get the gist of what I've been through. I sincerely hope the United States Merchant Marine Academy and the U.S. maritime industry change. Right now they are no place for women.