
Carver, a former CEO, spent thousands investigating his daughter’s disappearance, but has never found any satisfactory answers. On the course of this journey, he has become the President of the International Cruise Victims Association, in which capacity he has dedicated himself to helping other victims solve cruise line mysteries. It’s a full-time job. Last year was a busy one, with over 20 crew members and guests going overboard or disappearing on cruise ships.
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Last year, The Spalding Guardian reported one of the most shocking stories of abuse onboard a pleasure cruise. 64-year-old ship captain, Peter Russell, had been imprisoned for using the master key card of his Princess Cruise liner to let himself into the cabin of a 14-year-old girl, where he sexually assaulted her as she slept. Thankfully for Princess Cruises, the story didn’t make much national press. This surprised one of Princess' ship’s officers, who anonymously emailed Cruisebruise.com – a “privately owned, victim's advocate website” – saying: "They managed to keep that one quiet!!… I’m amazed that it never hit the headlines." An attitude the website takes as proof of a culture of secrecy circling any onboard sexual crime. “We had a case,” Jim Walker says, “where we knew they had images of circumstances around a rape. Then they made a big story of how a thief had broken into their office and stolen the DVD player and therefore all the films were lost. I swear, it’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.” “To me,” says Ross Klein, “the greatest threat going on cruise ships isn’t even the disappearances, but the sexual assaults.” Klein claims the rate of sexual assault on a cruise ship is about 50 percent higher than it is on land in Canada. However, in 2006, Terry Dale, president and CEO of Cruise Lines International Association, stated that there was less than a 0.01 percent chance of being sexually assaulted. Those convinced of the cruise industry’s negligence, however, dismiss these as false statistics, as a significant portion of assaults are never registered.Whatever the statistics, though, the charges of cover-ups and noncompliance are weird. After years of work, Kendal Carver is on the brink of having new laws passed in the US to protect American citizens onboard vessels, no matter what flag the ships fly – though the rest of us won’t be covered by these assurances. He has also managed to highlight the case of his daughter. But, for families with little money, attention is hard to command. If a Westerner disappears on board a ship, there’ll be an initial burst of coverage from their local media outlets, fed by press releases from the cruise lines, which tale off as information dries up – and it dries up quickly. If you’re an employee from the less fashionable side of the planet, you may be even more at the mercy of the company. “Crew get ignored, because crew are kind of unimportant,” reckons Klein.Jim Walker agrees: “When we represent families from say, India or Nicaragua, who come from a little village and their loved one has disappeared from a ship, there’ll be no story. The cruise line does not care, the cruise line will not cooperate. And when an employee tries to speak up, they’ll be fired”. Follow Alex on Twitter - @terriblesoup