The Crew Boards represent the Crew members that the players can recruit for their ships. There are various types of Crew members, with Deckhand being the basic type, and Shellback being the collective term for all other types of Crew members. All players get two Deckhand Crew members at the start of the game.
The Crew Boards have different slots and stats marked on them: at the top, there is a row of small round holes punched through the board; these are used to track Trauma and Strain. Below that is a box containing two Skill Values, used for Skill Tests; the Island Value is on th left, and the Port Value is on the right. At the bottom of the Crew Board are two Traits; Deckhands have one random Positive Trait and one random Negative Trait, while Shellbacks have one fixed Indelible Trait and initially one random Negative Trait.
If a Deckhand gains a Negative Trait, discard any previous Negative Trait they may have. Similarly, when gaining a Positive Trait, discard any previous Positive Trait.
Shellbacks have one Indelible Trait, and only one free slot for either a Positive or Negative Trait. Whenever they gain a new Trait, whether Positive or Negative, the previous Positive or Negative Trait is discarded.