Behind Ocean Lines: The Invisible Price of Accommodating Luxury

An ex-yacht chef uncovers the dark reality of life at sea.

By the age of twenty-two, Melanie is ticking life's boxes as if filling in a routine survey. Good grades at school? Check. Reliable university degree? Check. Steady graduate job? Check. Her two feet are planted firmly on solid ground; her life to date perfectly mirrors society's expectations. That is until she finds herself plunged into the superyacht industry, like an ice cube thrown into a cut crystal glass of the finest whisky, having stepped foot on a boat just three times before.

Not only is she required to learn how to run, sail, and race a multi-million-pound yacht on the job, she is forced to adapt to a wholly unnatural life afloat, largely confined to a bunk bed, crammed galley, and live-in colleagues. Oh, and to devise, develop, and deliver fine dining menus for some of the wealthiest people on the planet. No biggie.

From the Mediterranean to the Caribbean to the Arctic she cruises, visiting places many can only dream of, orienting herself in an environment few have the opportunity to observe. But while her culinary knowledge evolves and her on-board responsibilities grow, the world as she knows it begins to close in. The depth of the ocean no longer phases her; it's the darkness inside which she fears.

Dolly Alderton meets Below Deck meets #MeToo in this deeply personal account of a deterioration in mental health against a backdrop of opulence. It is, shockingly, not an anomaly in the industry. It is about time the public is told.

Melanie White spent five years in her twenties crewing superyachts for charter and regatta racing across the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and the Arctic. Since leaving her career as a full-time yacht chef, she has been committed to improving mental health awareness and suicide prevention. She landed the role of policy advisor for the UK Chamber of Shipping, specialising in employment, health, and safety, and in 2020 co-founded Seas The Mind, an organisation dedicated to creating mentally healthy and resilient yacht crew through Mental Health First Aid training. In addition to her work in the maritime sector, she is training to become a counsellor. In 2022 she gave birth to her first child, Alfred. Behind Ocean Lines is her first book.