The short version
- A death on a vessel in commercial service is automatically a serious marine incident under 46 CFR 4.03-2(a)(1). No severity test, no discretion.
- That classification starts chemical testing clocks: alcohol within 2 hours, drugs within 32 hours.
- Immediate notice goes to the nearest Coast Guard unit, then Form CG-2692 within five days.
- 46 USC 11301(b) requires four separate official logbook entries, and 46 USC 11303 attaches civil penalties to missing them.
- 46 USC 10702 specifies who signs the property inventory and makes a certificate of compliance a condition of customs clearance for a foreign bound vessel.
What the answers you will find leave out
A live capture of the first page for this question in August 2026 returned eight results: a State Department consular manual, three international shipping guidance sites, a cruise passenger blog, a crew jobs board, a Facebook post and a LinkedIn article. The generated summary at the top of the page was assembled from a Facebook page and a YouTube channel.
Between them they cover confirming death, preserving the body, notifying the flag state, informing the P&I club and logging the position. That advice is not wrong. It is simply not the American procedure, and read on a United States commercial vessel it omits every federal obligation that carries a deadline or a penalty.
| Topic | Covered by the ranking answers | Required by United States law |
|---|---|---|
| Notification | Flag state, next port, company, P&I club, next of kin | Immediate notice to the nearest Coast Guard unit[1]. Not mentioned once anywhere on the page |
| Classification | Not addressed | A death is automatically a serious marine incident[2] |
| Testing | Not addressed | Alcohol within 2 hours, drugs within 32 hours[3] |
| Written report | Not addressed | Form CG-2692 within five days[4] |
| Property and wages | Inventory the effects, two witnesses | A statutory duty with a named signature set, a wage statement and a certificate that gates customs clearance[7] |
A death is a serious marine incident, with no threshold to argue about
Most casualty classifications on a vessel involve judgement. This one does not. 46 CFR 4.03-2(a)(1) defines a serious marine incident as including a marine casualty required by 4.05-1 that results in one or more deaths[2]. There is no severity test, no unfit for duties limb and no discretion. The contrast with the injury threshold is stark, and it matters: an injury has a two part test that a company can spend a day arguing about, examined in the beyond first aid article. A death has none.
The consequence is that the chemical testing obligation attaches at the moment of death, not at the moment someone decides it has. The marine employer’s duty under 4.06-1 is to determine whether the occurrence is, or is likely to become, a serious marine incident[10]. With a death there is nothing left to determine.
The two hour problem
Alcohol testing must be conducted within 2 hours of the incident unless precluded by safety concerns, and is not required more than 8 hours after. Drug testing must be conducted within 32 hours[3]. On a vessel that has just lost a crewmember, two hours is the window in which the master is confirming death, securing the scene, calming a crew and calling for help. Nobody in that situation reads a regulation. The only version of this that works is a procedure written in advance which names who calls the testing provider and does not make that person the master.
The reporting chain, and where it ends
Two federal reports run in sequence, and they are frequently confused with each other. The first is a phone call. The second is paperwork.
| Step | Deadline | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Notice of marine casualty | Immediately after addressing resultant safety concerns | 4.05-1(a)(5), a loss of life. Given by the owner, agent, master, operator or person in charge to the nearest Coast Guard unit[1] |
| Alcohol testing | Within 2 hours, not required beyond 8 | 4.06-3(a)(1)[3] |
| Drug testing | Within 32 hours | 4.06-3(b)(1)[3] |
| Written report | Within 5 days | 4.05-10, Form CG-2692, with the personnel casualty addendum and the mandatory chemical testing addendum[4] |
The vessel type changes the route to this chain but not the chain itself. Towing vessels arrive through 46 CFR 140.900, which simply requires compliance with part 4[12], as set out in the Subchapter M rules. Commercial fishing vessels carry a parallel duty at 28.80[11], described in the six federal obligations and, for one state, Alaska compliance. Small passenger vessels get their own restatement at 185.202[9], covered in the Subchapter T requirements.
The logbook entries that carry a penalty
This is the part of the procedure that is genuinely American and that no international guidance covers, because it is statute rather than convention. 46 USC 11301(b) lists the entries a master must make in the official logbook[5]. Four of them are relevant here and three are routinely missed.
| Entry | What it must contain | Why it is missed |
|---|---|---|
| Death on board | The death, with the cause of death, and for a seaman the information required by 46 USC 10702[5] | The cause is often left blank pending a determination. The statute asks for the entry, not a verdict |
| Illness or injury | Each illness of or injury to a seaman, the nature of it, and the medical treatment given[5] | Treated as clinical paperwork rather than a logbook duty. It is also the record that decides the injury threshold |
| Wages and deductions | The wages due to a seaman who dies during the voyage and the gross amount of all deductions[5] | Assumed to be a payroll matter ashore |
| Marine casualty | A statement about the casualty and the circumstances[5] | Assumed to be covered by the CG-2692. It is a separate duty |
46 USC 11303 attaches civil penalties to a master who fails to maintain the logbook or fails to make a required entry, and a separate penalty where an entry about something that happened before arrival is made later than 24 hours after the vessel reaches its final port of discharge[6]. The amounts are small. The evidential effect of a late or missing entry is not.
Property, wages, and the certificate that clears the vessel
46 USC 10702 is the section almost nobody has read. When a seaman dies during a voyage the master must take charge of the seaman’s money and property and record it in the official logbook, and the entry must be signed by the master, the chief mate and an unlicensed crewmember. It must contain an inventory of the money and property and a statement of the wages due, with the total of the deductions to be made[7].
The master then obtains a written certificate of compliance from the consular officer or court clerk, and for a vessel bound to a foreign port, clearance is granted only when that certificate is received at the office of customs[7]. That last clause is the operational teeth. A commercial obligation to sail can be held up by a records step that the ranking guidance describes, at best, as “inventory the personal effects with two witnesses”. The signature set is specified, and the certificate is not optional.
If the vessel is not United States flagged
A foreign flagged vessel in United States waters still reports to the Coast Guard under part 4, and separately carries its flag state duties. On the international side the relevant recent change is in the MLC amendments that entered into force on 23 December 2024, which include a requirement that Member States facilitate the repatriation by the shipowner of the body or ashes of seafarers who have died on board[8]. The United States has never ratified the MLC, so for an American operator this binds only through a flag, a charter or a port state inspection. The wider amendment set is covered in what changed for medical care in 2024, and what a port state control officer checks in the inspection checklist. Operators who change flag inherit a different version of all of this, which is the subject of changing flag state.
Write it before you need it
Every obligation above is discharged in the first two days, and most of them by people who will never do this twice. A one page procedure removes almost all of the failure modes.
- Name who calls the Coast Guard, and give them the number. The duty falls on the owner, agent, master, operator or person in charge[1], which means it falls on nobody unless you name someone.
- Name who calls the testing provider, and make it a shore role. The 2 hour clock cannot survive being assigned to the master[3].
- Pre-print the logbook entry structure. Four entries, listed above, with the 10702 signature set[5][7].
- Put the CG-2692 and its addenda in the same folder as the procedure so day five is a filing task, not a search[4].
- Decide in advance who supports the crew. Nothing in part 4 addresses it, and it is the part every operator regrets afterwards.
Steps one and two are free and take an afternoon. If you want the procedure written and a named physician behind the medical judgement inside it, that is maritime medical consulting, and the programme it belongs to is the six decisions. The related question of when to evacuate someone who is still alive, which is the decision that precedes most of these, is in the evacuation article. The rest of the library sits in the guidance index, and the physician behind it on the about page.
Common questions
Is a death on board automatically a serious marine incident?
On a vessel in commercial service, yes. 46 CFR 4.03-2(a)(1) lists a marine casualty resulting in one or more deaths, with no severity threshold and no discretion. That classification is what starts the chemical testing clocks, and it is the step the ranking answers omit. The related injury threshold, which does have a test, is explained in the beyond first aid article.
How fast do we have to test after a death on board?
Alcohol testing within 2 hours of the incident unless precluded by safety concerns, and it is not required more than 8 hours after. Drug testing within 32 hours. Both are in 46 CFR 4.06-3 and both apply to each individual directly involved. The window opens while the vessel is still dealing with the event, which is exactly why the decision has to be pre-assigned ashore. See who owns crew medical compliance.
Who do we notify first, the Coast Guard or the company?
The regulation names the Coast Guard. 4.05-1(a) requires the owner, agent, master, operator or person in charge to notify the nearest Coast Guard unit immediately after addressing resultant safety concerns. Nothing prevents calling the company in the same minute, but the federal duty is the notice. Where this sits in a written programme is covered in the six decisions.
What has to go in the official logbook?
46 USC 11301(b) requires an entry for each death on board with the cause of death, and for a seaman the information required by 46 USC 10702. It separately requires an entry for each illness or injury and the medical treatment given, and a statement about any marine casualty. Missing entries carry a civil penalty. Related record duties are set out in what an audit checks.
What happens to the deceased seaman’s belongings?
46 USC 10702 requires the master to take charge of the money and property and to record an inventory in the logbook, signed by the master, the chief mate and an unlicensed crewmember, with a statement of wages due and total deductions. The master then obtains a written certificate of compliance from the consular officer or court clerk. For a vessel bound to a foreign port, clearance is granted only when that certificate reaches the customs office.
Does the MLC say anything about repatriating the body?
Yes, and it is recent. The amendments that entered into force on 23 December 2024 include a requirement that Member States facilitate the repatriation by the shipowner of the body or ashes of seafarers who have died on board. The United States has not ratified the MLC, so this binds a US operator only through flag or charter obligations. The full amendment set is covered in what changed in 2024.
Does this apply to towing vessels, fishing vessels and small passenger vessels?
All three, by different routes. 46 CFR 140.900 sends towing vessels to part 4, covered in the Subchapter M rules. 46 CFR 28.80 gives fishing vessels their own casualty report duty, covered in the six federal obligations. Subchapter T restates it at 185.202.
