This edition of our newsletter is, you’ll find, different. Given a horrific crime this month involving the crew of a yacht and the deafening silence coming from certain corners of the industry, a two- or three-paragraph editor’s letter addressing it, followed by typical news highlights, is unsuitable.
Paige Bell, a stewardess, was murdered aboard the yacht where she worked on July 3 while in the Bahamas. She was found dead in the engine room. Nearby, the engineer was also found, conscious and with apparent self-inflicted wounds. Bahamian police arrested him and charged him with murder last week.
For the past two weeks, a wide variety of superyacht-industry professionals have been publicly calling for management companies and crew agencies to conduct background checks as standard procedures. It’s not the first time that problems occurring onboard have been under a spotlight. Instances of assault happen each year, yet the crew who’ve been attacked feel there’s no recourse other than to quit, because their pleas to their captains and shoreside teams fall on deaf ears. Attempts to make these go away have incensed fellow crew and captains, along with right-minded shoreside professionals, with Paige Bell’s murder seeming very much like the tipping point.
All of this made me realize my assumption that background checks were already widely in practice were wrong. So, I contacted 19 yachting companies for interviews about their current vetting practices. These 19 were primarily the leading yacht-management firms, but a few were crew-placement firms. The results? Three interviews. More importantly, radio silence came from eight, one company felt the two-day deadline I was working on was too short to participate, and another firm stated that it was concerned about having too little time for “editorial oversight,” meaning to read and change the story before it went to press. The three firms that did participate had no such challenges of time or control. They provided helpful insight for “Calls for Crew Background Checks to Become Industry Standard Grow Louder.”
I encourage you to read the article if you haven’t already. The status quo across the industry involves an in-person or Zoom interview, calls to check references, and calls to other crew or captains who worked on the same yachts as the candidates have on their CVs. Ask yourself: Would you hand access to your bank account to a person who seems nice? How about a credit card? Would you allow them into your house and care for your kids, your spouse, or you after what amounts to less than an hour of “review”? Considering teachers across the country need to be fingerprinted and run through criminal databases before they can step foot in a classroom, why is yachting so comparatively lax?
A basic background check in the United States—inclusive of someone’s social security number, the national sex-offender registry and nationwide criminal records, plus various international government watchlists—costs between $25 and $30. That’s less than an adult general-admission ticket to FLIBS. More detailed background checks, including into financial history, are more-than-reasonable three-figure sums. These fees are drops in the bucket compared to the outlay of funds to secure the boss’ favorite wine or the latest watertoy. And, would anyone ever say “it’s too expensive” when it comes to protecting their children’s and their own safety?
Detractors point out that background checks won’t prevent a problem if someone’s record is clean. This is true. People can and do get away with crimes without ever being arrested. Yet, foregoing background checks based solely on this limitation might very well be akin to trading one liability for another. We need only to look at the records of lawsuits where owners sue former crew for stealing money, crew sue charter guests for assault, and even brokers are sued for stealing funds.
After you read the article, email me your views. I’d like to learn what you believe needs to change. Background checks won’t bring Paige Bell back. But, doing nothing is disrespectful to her, her family, her traumatized fellow crewmembers, and those who want to see at least a toe point in the right direction.
Caroline Jones
What is happening with this case? No updates since July when Paige Bell was murdered.
There was a flurry of news reports at the time and since then – nothing.
I hope Paige has not been forgotten and reporters are keeping a check on this devastating story. What is happening with the perpetrator?
Diane M. Byrne
Since the murder occurred, no further crew placement or management companies have instituted background checks as standard procedures. The Bahamian authorities continue to hold the former crewmember charged with murder in jail, with a hearing scheduled for November.