In This Guide You’ll Learn
- What an NDA is legally designed to protect — and what it cannot touch
- Whether criminal conduct, harassment or safety breaches can be silenced by a confidentiality clause
- What ‘lifetime confidentiality’ clauses are actually worth in a court
- Which law applies when your flag state, port state and home country are all different
- Three things every crew member should have in place before they need them
An NDA can protect an owner’s privacy. It cannot protect criminal conduct. That distinction is the most important thing any crew member can understand about the document they are asked to sign before stepping onboard — and according to Benjamin Maltby, a specialist maritime solicitor at Keystone Law, it is also the distinction most frequently misunderstood.
I spoke with Benjamin on Yachting International Radio about the legal realities of non-disclosure agreements in the superyacht industry. What emerged was a clear-eyed account of what NDAs are actually designed to do, where their limits are, and what crew should know before they are put in an impossible position.
What Is an NDA and What Is It Actually Protecting?
An NDA — non-disclosure agreement — can appear either as a standalone document or as a clause embedded in your Seafarer Employment Agreement. The format does not change its validity. What matters is what it covers.
Benjamin’s framing here is worth holding: “NDAs, in essence, are there to protect owner privacy,” he told me. “They’re there to protect commercial information such as charter rates and also anything related to security, such as itineraries.” That is their legitimate purpose. Owner privacy is a reasonable thing to protect. The identity and location of a high-net-worth individual, the faces of their children, the details of their itinerary — there are genuine reasons why those things should not end up on social media.
Where NDAs have a more complicated reputation in yachting is when crew suspect they are being used not to protect privacy, but to prevent legitimate disclosures. Benjamin was direct on this point. The law does not permit that use, and no carefully worded confidentiality clause changes that.
Can an NDA Prevent a Crew Member Reporting Criminal Conduct?
No. That answer is unambiguous under English law, and Benjamin gave it that way: “No NDA can prevent the reporting of any criminal conduct. Full stop.”
The reasoning is one of public policy. An agreement between two private parties — an owner and a crew member — cannot override the legal obligations of a citizen or the jurisdiction of a state. If what you are witnessing constitutes a crime, you are permitted to report it. The NDA does not apply.
The practical implications of this are significant in an industry where some crew report witnessing drug use, underage guests, financial impropriety, or physical assault — situations where they may feel that the paperwork they signed prevents them from speaking up. It does not.
Benjamin was specific about how criminal reporting should work: port state police when the vessel is within territorial waters (typically 12 nautical miles from the coast), and the flag state authority regardless of location. When it comes to serious criminal conduct, he was blunt: you report it, take evidence where you can, and do not wait to establish legal certainty. “You’re only ever reporting a suspicion of criminal activity. You’re not waiting for a conviction. You’re allowed to report a suspicion.”
“No NDA can prevent the reporting of any criminal conduct. Full stop.“
– Benjamin Maltby, Keystone Law
What About Harassment, Unsafe Conditions and Environmental Breaches?
I put all four to Benjamin directly. Can an NDA prevent reporting criminal conduct, harassment, unsafe working conditions, or environmental breaches? His answer was the same for all four: no.
The legal position on harassment and assault is that these are matters for port state and flag state law. An NDA has no standing in either context. If a crew member is assaulted — including in the most serious cases, sexual assault — Benjamin’s guidance was the same: report it immediately to the nearest port state police. Time is a factor both evidentially and medically.
On unsafe working conditions and environmental breaches, the analysis shifts slightly but the conclusion is the same. Management companies owe a duty of care to owners to report regulatory breaches, and owners, in Benjamin’s view, actually want to know — because undisclosed regulatory breaches can compromise their insurance coverage. An owner whose yacht is in breach of class requirements may find their hull insurance void if an accident occurs. The incentive to cover up, from an owner’s perspective, is often the opposite of what crew fear.
What Happens if an Owner Threatens Legal Action for Breach of NDA?
This is where the practical reality of the law becomes relevant. Even if an owner is unhappy that a crew member has reported something, the path to legal action is significantly more difficult than many crew appreciate.
First, to bring a claim against a crew member for breach of an NDA, an owner would need to demonstrate actual loss. Civil courts award damages — the payment of money — not punishment. To quantify loss, they would need to establish that the disclosure caused a measurable financial harm. For most disclosures by most crew members, that case is almost impossible to make.
Second, there is the exposure problem. If an owner brings a case in public courts, the proceedings are public. “The media absolutely loves a super yacht story,” Benjamin observed. An owner seeking privacy who pursues a public court case to enforce an NDA is, by definition, doing what the NDA was designed to prevent. The deterrent value of legal threats is often much higher than their actual legal merit.
Third, for younger or more junior crew members with limited assets, the owner would be pursuing what the law calls “a man of straw” — someone against whom even a successful judgment yields nothing. In most cases, the legal economics simply do not support bringing the action.
Does Confidentiality Last Forever?
Some agreements include language suggesting permanent or lifetime confidentiality obligations. Benjamin was clear about how courts view this: courts would “almost certainly see a lifetime gagging as excessive.”
The reason is logical. NDAs exist to protect legitimate commercial interests. Those interests fade over time. Charter rates from a decade ago are not commercially sensitive. An Owner’s location ten years past is not a security concern. Courts will not enforce confidentiality obligations that have long since outlived any legitimate commercial purpose.
And in any case, none of this applies to criminal conduct at all. If what is being covered up is a breach of the law, the NDA was always unenforceable in that respect — from the day it was signed, not from any future date.
Which Law Applies When Flag, Port State and Home Country Are All Different?
This is one of the more genuinely complicated questions in maritime law, and Benjamin did not oversimplify it. The short answer is: potentially all three.
Flag state law always applies, because a vessel does not stop being registered in its flag state wherever it travels. If your yacht is Cayman Islands-flagged, Cayman law travels with it. Port state law applies within 12 nautical miles of the coast — so when you are in French waters, French law applies. And home country law — in this case English law, though the principle extends broadly — can apply in certain employment law contexts, particularly where there is a demonstrable connection to that jurisdiction.
Benjamin cited a recent case where an English crew member had a UK bank account and spent part of her rotation in the UK. That connection was sufficient for her employment case to be heard by a British employment tribunal. The point for crew is that your home country’s legal protections may apply even if your vessel is foreign-flagged and operating abroad.
In practice, criminal matters are most effectively handled by port state police — they have the evidence-gathering capability and the on-the-ground jurisdictional authority. Employment matters, including unfair dismissal, may be pursued in the crew member’s home jurisdiction depending on the facts.
“Potentially all three laws apply — flag state, port state and home country. Crew often don’t know this. They should.“
– Benjamin Maltby, Keystone Law
What Responsibilities Do Captains and Management Companies Carry?
Beyond what crew needs to know, I asked Benjamin about the responsibilities of sitting with Captains and management companies — specifically around ensuring NDAs are not misused.
Management companies owe a duty of care to owners under their management agreement. If regulatory breaches are being covered up, that duty is being breached. Owners generally want to know about regulatory issues precisely because undisclosed problems can invalidate their insurance. A hull insurer who discovers after an accident that a vessel was not in class has grounds to refuse to pay. The financial exposure for owners in a cover-up scenario is often greater than the exposure from disclosure.
For Captains, the leadership dimension here connects directly to crew welfare. A crew member who does not feel safe disclosing something they have witnessed — because they believe an NDA prevents them, or because the culture onboard has made it clear that raising concerns carries consequences — is a crew member operating without the psychological safety that protects both individual wellbeing and operational integrity.
Vessels where crew feel safe speaking up see earlier disclosure, better risk management and fewer compounding problems. That is not just a legal argument. It is a leadership one.
What Should Crew Know About Hush Money?
I raised the subject of hush money directly, because it does happen in this industry. Benjamin’s analysis was careful but clear.
If a crew member is paid to overlook illegal conduct — not simply to maintain confidentiality about legitimate commercial matters, but to actively ignore something criminal — they may become a party to a conspiracy. I referenced the Epstein case as an instructive extreme example: accepting money to look the other way while crimes were committed against children would make the recipient a conspirator to those offences under English law.
The guidance here is straightforward: if what is being hushed up is illegal, taking the money does not protect you. It implicates you. Walk away, report what you can, and seek legal advice. Benjamin’s framing: “It’s your duty as a human being, never mind as a law-abiding citizen, to report that and put a stop to it immediately.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Can an NDA prevent me from reporting a crime?
No. No non-disclosure agreement — whether standalone or embedded in your SEA — can override your right or obligation to report criminal conduct. English law is explicit on this, and the principle applies broadly across Commonwealth jurisdictions. If you witness criminal activity, you report it to port state police and/or your flag state authority. The NDA does not apply.
What if my employer threatens legal action after I report something?
Take the threat seriously enough to get advice, but understand the legal economics. An owner would need to demonstrate actual financial loss from your disclosure, pursue the case in a public forum (if it is an employment matter), and take action against someone who may have very limited assets. In the vast majority of circumstances in which crew report genuine concerns, no lawyer would advise an owner to proceed. If you are dismissed for reporting criminal activity, that is unfair dismissal under English law and you may have a claim.
Does ‘lifetime confidentiality’ in an NDA actually hold?
Courts view permanent confidentiality obligations sceptically. Commercial interests erode over time, and courts will not enforce clauses that have outlived any legitimate purpose. More importantly, if what is being silenced relates to a breach of the law, the clause was unenforceable from the moment it was written. Lifetime confidentiality over criminal conduct is not a legal protection — it is a pressure tactic.
What should I do if I am asked to sign an NDA that seems unusually broad?
Read it carefully, specifically the scope of what is defined as confidential and whether it contains any clause relating to reporting or disclosures. If it purports to prevent you from reporting criminal activity, that clause is unenforceable — but you should still seek advice before signing. Nautilus International can advise members on SEA clauses. A maritime solicitor can review specific documents, though legal advice carries a cost that may not be practical for junior crew.
Which law applies to me if I work on a foreign-flagged vessel?
Potentially several. Flag state law always applies. Port state law applies within territorial waters. Your home country’s employment law may apply if there is a sufficient connection to that jurisdiction — a UK bank account and time spent in the UK, for example, was enough to establish jurisdiction in one recent English case. If you are facing an employment dispute, it is worth exploring whether your home jurisdiction offers access to legal remedies that your flag state does not.
Is it safe to report concerns without a union or lawyer?
It is safer with either. Nautilus International is the maritime union Benjamin recommends consistently — and he emphasised that crew need to be members before a problem arises, not after. Membership gives access to legal advice and advocacy that is not otherwise affordable for most crew. If you are not a member, the time to join is before you need them.
Three Things to Do Before You Need Them
Join Nautilus International now. Not after something goes wrong. Membership means they can advise and advocate for you when it matters. Without prior membership, their options are limited.
Read your SEA before you sign it. Look at the scope of the confidentiality clause. If it appears to prevent disclosure of criminal conduct, that clause is unenforceable — but seek advice anyway.
Know your reporting channels. Port state police for matters within territorial waters. Your flag state authority for flag-related issues. Your home country’s employment tribunal if your jurisdiction applies. You do not have to navigate this without support.
Support That Understands the Industry You’re In
Understanding your legal position is one part of the picture. If you are dealing with the emotional weight of what you have witnessed, are afraid to speak up, or have already left a vessel under circumstances that felt wrong, The Crew Coach counselling service offers confidential, one-to-one support from a qualified psychologist who understands the superyacht environment.
