According to documents and victim statements contained in one of the most expansive U.S. Coast Guard Suspension & Revocation investigations ever conducted by the Coast Guard, Samuel Sullivan Irvin, III was a prolific shipboard sexual predator who terrorized numerous female cadets and other female mariners who sailed aboard his vessels.
Irvin was eventually charged with 12 counts of shipboard sexual misconduct by the U.S. Coast Guard, including the rape, forcible sodomy, molestation, and sexual harassment of women serving under him aboard his vessels.
Samuel Sullivan Irvin, III was a 1979 graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Irvin was a deck officer and a member of the Masters, Mates, & Pilots labor union who rose to the position of Captain with Maersk Line, Limited—the U.S. subsidiary of Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk.
Samuel Irvin III did not face criminal charges and did not even permanently lose his Merchant Mariner’s license as a result of the Coast Guard’s sexual misconduct investigation. Instead, Irvin signed an until-recently secret Settlement Agreement with the U.S. Coast Guard that was approved via a Consent Order signed by a U.S. Coast Guard Administrative Law Judge. Per the secret agreement, Irvin had his Merchant Mariner’s license suspended for 30 months (2.5 years) and was required to “enroll and complete a bona fide Sexual Harassment training.”
Irvin was represented in matters before the Coast Guard by attorney William Hewig III. Hewig also represented Maersk Captain Mark Stinziano in Stinziano’s sexual misconduct S&R trial that resulted in only a four month suspension for Stinziano. Irvin and Stinziano were both members of the Masters, Mates, & Pilots labor union.
Upon completion of his 30 month suspension, Irvin was free to continue his career at sea, although it is not known if he ever returned to sea following the long suspension. After a fight with the Coast Guard that took more than 2.5 years and required the filing of a federal lawsuit against the agency, MLAA obtained records from USCG vs. Irvin, which had for more than a decade been closely-guarded secrets within the USCG.
Links to case documents and victims’ horror stories about sailing with Captain Samuel Sullivan Irvin, III: