Are Nautevo charter captains licensed?

Yes. Every Nautevo captain holds a current U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Credential. Nautevo verifies the credential directly with the USCG National Maritime Center rather than accepting a self-reported licence, and re-verifies every captain monthly because credentials expire.

Are Nautevo captains background checked?

Yes, by the federal government. The U.S. Coast Guard issues a Merchant Mariner Credential only after an FBI criminal history record check, a National Driver Register review and DOT chemical (drug) testing. Holding a current credential is proof of having passed a federally administered background check.

Can I verify a Nautevo captain's credential myself?

Yes. Nautevo publishes each captain's USCG reference number and Merchant Mariner Credential serial number. The National Maritime Center verification service is a public federal register, so you can check any captain's credential yourself using their reference number and last name.

What happens if a captain's licence expires?

Nautevo re-queries the U.S. Coast Guard every month for every captain on the platform. If the Coast Guard reports no valid, unexpired credential, that captain is automatically flagged for review.

Every Nautevo captain is verified with the U.S. Coast Guard

Not self-reported. Not a photo of a licence. We query the U.S. Coast Guard's National Maritime Center directly — and we do it again every month.

What a Merchant Mariner Credential actually means

Anyone can call themselves a captain. A Merchant Mariner Credential (MMC) is different: it is a federal licence, and the Coast Guard does not issue one until the applicant has passed all of the following.

An FBI criminal history record check. Fingerprint-based, against the federal criminal database — not a commercial background-check vendor.
A National Driver Register review. A federal check for drug- and alcohol-related driving offences.
DOT chemical (drug) testing, under Department of Transportation rules.
A medical certificate, issued separately, with its own expiry, which must remain valid.
Documented sea service and examination for the tonnage and waters the credential covers.

So a captain holding a current MMC has already passed a federally administered background check. Our job is to prove the credential is real and current — and that is exactly what we do.

How we verify

We ask the Coast Guard, not the captain. The captain gives us their mariner reference number; we query the USCG National Maritime Center verification service directly.
The federal record is written onto their profile. Credential type and tonnage, MMC serial number, issue and expiration dates, medical certificate expiry, and every endorsement. The captain never types these in.
We re-check every month. Credentials expire. A one-time check at signup only proves someone was licensed the day they joined.
A lapsed credential is flagged automatically. If the Coast Guard reports no valid, unexpired credential, that captain is pulled for review — caught by the platform, not discovered at the dock.

Verify it yourself. We publish each captain's credential identifiers on purpose. The National Maritime Center's verification service is a public federal register: take any captain's reference number and last name from the cards below, enter them into the Coast Guard's own verification service, and check our work. You don't have to take our word for it.

Our captains

Captain Shalia Roberts — USCG VERIFIED
Master of vessels up to 25 tons
Upon Inland Waters
MMC serial: Z00121233 · USCG ref: 8691374 · Issued: 2025-03-10 · Expires: 2030-03-10 · Medical valid to: 2029-11-27 · Last checked: 2026-08-01
Captain Michael Siegel — USCG VERIFIED
Master of vessels up to 100 tons (incl. sail)
Upon Near Coastal Waters
MMC serial: 000701475 · USCG ref: 6154603 · Issued: 2023-10-31 · Expires: 2028-06-01 · Medical valid to: 2028-04-21 · Last checked: 2026-08-01
Also endorsed:
Assistance Towing
Captain Bradley Turner — USCG VERIFIED
Master of vessels up to 100 tons
Upon Inland Waters
MMC serial: Z00010350 · USCG ref: 3589804 · Issued: 2024-06-06 · Expires: 2029-06-06 · Medical valid to: 2029-05-31 · Last checked: 2026-08-01
Also endorsed:
OUPV (Six-Pack)
Upon Near Coastal Waters
Captain Robert Wynne — USCG VERIFIED
Master of vessels up to 100 tons
Upon Near Coastal Waters
MMC serial: Z00115939 · USCG ref: 8466071 · Issued: 2025-02-20 · Expires: 2030-02-20 · Medical valid to: 2029-04-04 · Last checked: 2026-08-01
Also endorsed:
Assistance Towing

4 captains verified with the U.S. Coast Guard, re-checked monthly. Verify any of them yourself at the National Maritime Center.

Federally background-checked — and re-confirmed every month

Every captain on Nautevo holds a current U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Credential. The Coast Guard does not issue one, and does not renew one, until the mariner has cleared:

an FBI fingerprint-based criminal history record check;
a National Driver Register review for drug- and alcohol-related driving offences;
DOT chemical (drug) testing; and
a medical examination, certified separately and with its own expiry.

Those checks are run by the federal government — at licensure, and again at every renewal. It is a higher bar than any commercial background-check vendor, and it is not a standard a charter platform can grant itself.

Nautevo's job is to prove that credential is real and still valid — and to keep proving it. We confirm it with the National Maritime Center the day a captain joins, and we re-verify every captain, every month, for as long as they are on the platform. A background check that was true five years ago tells you nothing about today. A credential confirmed current this month tells you what you actually need to know.

One note on how we report results, because we would rather be precise than flattering: the Coast Guard reports an expired credential and a mismatched reference number the same way — “no valid/unexpired credential found”. Where that happens we say exactly that, rather than guessing at a reason.

See also the complete Nautevo platform capability list.