The United States Merchant Marine Academy, located in Kings Point, reported 61 instances of alleged sexual assault, harassment, stalking and relationship violence since 2019 in a 23-page report released last week.

A total of 26 alleged sexual assault incidents and 35 sexual or gender-based harassment, stalking or relationship violence incidents occurred over the past three years, as of Dec. 15, the academy said.

A total of six alleged assaults occurred during the 2019-20 school year, with nine reported the following year, six the year after and five so far in the 2022-23 school year, according to the report. Officials reported four alleged harassment, stalking or violence incidents in 2019-20, with six reported the year after, 15 the following year and 10 so far in the 2022-23 school year. 

Female midshipmen were the survivors of 20 sexual assaults during the 3-1/2-year analysis. Female midshipmen were also survivors of 22 of the alleged harassment, stalking or violence incidents, according to the report.

Additionally, there were 13 “restricted” and 22 “unrestricted” reports, with one case being transferred to the FBI to probe and two individuals leaving the academy, according to the report.

“Restricted” reports indicate the incident was disclosed to a sexual assault response coordinator or victim advocate, though no official investigation was requested, officials said. “Unrestricted” reports resulted in an administrative investigation and provided the victim with an opportunity to notify law enforcement.

A pair of female U.S. Merchant Marine Academy midshipmen filed complaints against shipping giant Maersk in 2022, alleging the company did not sufficiently protect them from sexual assault and harassment while working on its ships.

The complaints were filed in the Nassau County Supreme Court’s Torts-Other Negligence Court. Maersk Line Ltd. was listed as the defendant in both complaints and both midshipmen are seeking back pay, front pay, compensatory damages, punitive damages and payment for all attorneys’ fees, costs and expenses.

One of the complaints was filed by Hope Hicks, who previously detailed her accounts of alleged sexual assault under the alias “Midshipmen-X.” Hicks was a 19-year-old virgin at the time of the incident when she was allegedly assaulted by the 60-year-old supervisor, whose name was also not disclosed in her account. The supervisor who raped her, she said, made derogatory comments about her and other women on the ship.

“He was creepy, made romantic passes at me and made crude and demeaning comments about me in front of other members of the engine department,” Hicks said in the account. “It was a difficult work environment, to say the least, and not what I had expected Sea Year to be like.”

After around 50 days at sea, the ship pulled into a Middle East port where the officers purchased “a lot of alcohol,” according to Hicks. She said she was pressured to drink alcohol by older men and supervisors on the ship.

Hicks said her male sea partner enjoyed drinking and she felt additional pressure to fit in, despite not having had any alcohol prior to arriving at the academy. As she continued drinking, the cadet said, her sea partner became sick and was taken back to his room. 

Hicks said she blacked out shortly after taking another eight to 10 shots of alcohol. The next morning, she woke up naked in her bed with a massive hangover and noticed blood on her sheets.

“I knew immediately that I had been raped,” she said. “I was a virgin and had been saving myself, and as soon as I woke up I could feel that I was very sore and knew exactly what had happened.”

Hicks said she knew at least five women out of the 50 in her class who were raped during their Sea Year.

In November, Hicks announced that her litigation against Maersk had been resolved, though she echoed her call for change at the helm.

“The leadership of [Maersk] has expressed the need for change,” Hicks said in November. “The changes that MLL has proposed are an important first step, but there is still a lot of work to be done in the maritime industry.”

“We want to be absolutely clear that the events Ms. Hicks describes are unacceptable,” Maersk CEO William Woodhour said last year. “No matter who and where you are, those who work with us must feel safe and protected in our work environment.”

The other complaint, filed by an anonymous midshipman under the name, Midshipman-Y, was also settled several weeks later.

Midshipman-Y, in the complaint, said she endured unwanted sexual touching and advances along with sexualized jokes. Her experience was so harmful to her that she said she began to sleep in the bathroom clutching a knife. The bathroom, she said, was the only door that could not be unlocked by other crew members who had master keys.

Midshipman-Y’s direct supervisor, the chief mate, allegedly treated her worse than other male counterparts, constantly belittling her and made her do tasks outside of her job description, according to the complaint.

The chief mate’s alleged discriminatory behavior became too much for her to deal with, she said, amid fear the harassment would continue until she was eventually raped. The midshipman requested an emergency evacuation. Maersk’s designated person ashore allegedly told her “this can’t keep happening,” once she informed them of her evacuation request.

The midshipman said she endured panic attacks and suffered “debilitating emotional distress” as a result of the harassment and ultimately took a leave of absence from the academy.

After Hicks’ allegations were publicized, the academy suspended its Sea Year program. The program, which dates back to 1942, has a sea period of 135 days for sophomores and 265 days for juniors. Midshipmen earn roughly $1,000 a month during their time at sea, working on commercial vessels and becoming educated on labor relations in the ocean shipping industry, according to the academy’s website.

At least nine of the alleged sexual assaults occurred while the cadets were on sea duty, according to the report.

In the report, officials said the academy has implemented new policies and procedures in its Sea Year program “to ensure that cadet safety is always prioritized and that barriers to reporting are eliminated. Training materials to prevent sexual assaults and harassment from occurring, officials said, have been enhanced and include topics, such as bystander intervention, that were not previously addressed in the current training materials used.

The academy also added a Victim Advocate/Prevention Educator and a new Sexual Assault Response Coordinator to help prevent those incidents and combat them effectively if they do occur, officials said. The academy is in the process of finding a firm to provide trauma-informed investigators to probe into alleged assault and harassment cases that did not have an official report filed.