Small boat migrant encounters: What to do
Encountering small boat migrants at sea: A Skipper's Guide
Introduction
In 2025, tens of thousands of people attempted to cross the English Channel and parts of the Mediterranean in tiny craft, and the situation shows no signs of improving this year. If you encounter a vulnerable boat, should you offer help? The CA's Regulations & Technical Services Group (RATS) looks at your responsibilities.
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Skipper's Responsibility
Most of us would like to think that we would always do our best to go to the assistance of someone in distress at sea, but a skipper’s first responsibility is to the safety of his or her own vessel and that of those on board. So what would you do if you encountered a small boat full of cold, wet, seasick and frightened individuals drifting helplessly in an open and probably overloaded boat? Every year many thousands of individuals are tempted to make dangerous sea crossings to seek a better life in the EU or the UK. The problem is not going away and it’s important for each of us to think about how we would deal with the situation should we be faced with it.
Hot spots for migrants
The Dover Strait
The number of migrants attempting to cross the English Channel from France to the UK rose from a few hundred in 2018 to a peak of 46,000 in 2022. In 2025 the figure was 41,000 and there is no sign that the figure will be significantly different in 2026. So if you cruise in the Dover Strait you could well encounter a migrant boat, particularly when the weather is fair.
Central Mediterranean
Many migrants from north Africa head for the small Italian island of Lampedusa, about half way between Monastir in Tunisia and Malta. In this area of the Mediterranean your chances of encountering a situation might be relatively high.
Western Mediterranean
Further west off the coast of Spain the problem is not quite so acute but still serious enough. In September 2021 the Balearic Nautical Gazette offered guidance for sailors who might encounter Patera, the name given to any small craft which carries (or tries to carry) migrants to the coast of Spain. Essentially the guidance was to contact the Spanish authorities and not to go alongside the Patera or allow anyone to come aboard, except in extreme circumstances. Another regularly used route is from the west coast of Africa to the Canary Islands and encounters here are not uncommon.
UK Legal position
The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 aims to discourage illegal entry into the United Kingdom and reduce people smuggling. Part of the legislation creates two classes of asylum seeker based on how they arrive in the UK. “Group 1” consists of those who meet new entry requirements; “Group 2” is made up of those who do not. Most people attempting to claim asylum in the UK if they are not able to get a visa will now be designated as Group 2. If they arrive in the UK without valid entry clearance they will be committing an offence and will be liable to prosecution. This provision, as with nearly all those in the new law, targets those crossing the English Channel on small boats. A vessel saving people from the water may be at risk of being judged to have smuggled, but if the skipper reports the rescue and transfers the people to someone official at the earliest opportunity, it’s reasonable to assume that no offence has been committed.
Enforcement in the Eastern Mediterranean
One CA member has reported that in the Aegean, at the height of the migrant crossings from Turkey to the Greek Islands, an instruction was issued to all cruisers that under no circumstances should they approach or contact migrant boats. A contact telephone number was issued for reporting any sighting. Cruisers were told that any contravention of this instruction would result in the vessel involved being confiscated. The legality of the migrants was irrelevant. A similar experience was reported by members cruising in the Dodecanese where they were told they could be accused of people smuggling if they assisted and to call the Hellenic Coastguard to report migrant boats.
Obligations under the SOLAS Convention
The SOLAS regulations are clear. The master of any ship who is able to provide assistance should do so unless it is unreasonable or unnecessary to do so. So, assuming it’s deemed necessary that assistance is required, what should we class as unreasonable? Certainly one measure of unreasonable would be that, in the skipper’s opinion, to offer assistance would risk the safety of his crew or vessel.
RATS contacted the Maritime & Coastguard Agency and it was quite clear in its recommendations: “Our advice for leisure craft is the same principle as it is for merchant vessels. If you see any vessels, call the Coastguard – Dover if it’s the UK side of the Channel, Gris Nez if in French territorial waters – to report back what you have seen and the position. The Coastguard will then advise you whether to stand by, or take action to assist if the vessel is in grave or imminent danger. They will provide specific advice for each incident, so don’t assume what was said last time will count for next time. Occasionally, HM Coastguard will issue broadcasts for vessels in the area to assist with the search and rescue incident. However, in the main, what are called declared facilities – like lifeboats – are sent in response and these are dedicated assets for search and rescue, which meet international/UK standards and have trained crews to respond to emergencies.”
RATS’ advice
The skipper has to decide how serious the risk is to the crew of any vessel in distress and what is the risk to his or her crew in offering assistance. If it is safe to investigate then the skipper has an obligation to do so, but the most important action is to stand by and call the authorities.
- Approach as closely as you safely can, but do not go alongside.
- Try to establish communication – remember this might not be a migrant boat and could be someone who has drifted offshore due to engine failure or other problem.
- Enter the position in the log, call the authorities and report the situation.
- If someone appears to be at risk of drowning you will have to make a decision to rescue or not. It might be possible to launch a liferaft or dinghy to provide flotation assistance.
- Stand by and assess the situation – is there a risk to your vessel and crew? Who is on board the distressed vessel – number of adults, male, female, children?
- If occupants of the boat are migrants they are probably not criminals but they might be desperate and a larger vessel with food and water on board would be a tempting target. Perhaps try to pass water and food if required.
- Unless you are completely sure that this is not a migrant situation, do not attempt to go alongside or attach a tow but stand by and await instructions from the Coastguard.
Quotes:
“Some years ago six of us were on a passage from Portugal to Lanzarote, in a 13-metre yacht. Close to our destination we came across a slow-moving inflatable crowded with perhaps 20 people. A military helicopter was low flying in the area and our skipper tried several times, to make contact by radio. The weather was fair and the inflatable was in no apparent danger so given the presence of the helicopter our skipper decided to continue on passage... it’s difficult to know what action we could have taken other than to stand by.”
“On a fine day in August 2021, yacht Seahorse encountered a small inflatable a mile or two off Cap Griz Nez with three men on board – no lifejackets and two paddles. They were making their way towards France having apparently given up their attempt to cross the Channel. Seahorse stood by and eventually contacted the French Coastguard. The three men were slowly making their way to shore and were not in immediate danger so Seahorse continued on its way. It turned out that this was one of the busiest days of the year for migrant crossings.”
“At 1030, off Folkestone, Kalessin passed a small inflatable dinghy crammed full of maybe 20 people in orange lifejackets.... they changed course and passed slightly closer to us. I was about to report the sighting when Dover Coastguard called us, having presumably seen on AIS that we were the closest vessel. They asked about what we could see: the dinghy appeared to be making way, not in danger of sinking and only 3-4 miles offshore. Subsequently another yacht agreed to stand by until officialdom turned up. It was very striking actually to see a dinghy full of people and horrifying to see how incredibly vulnerable they are. And of course we will never know what happened to them.”