I watched *Action in the North Atlantic *again. A WWII propaganda film that among other things would assure Americans that the Rooskies were our dear friends, which would be proven to be untrue when Churchill’s Iron Curtain came down over Europe.
But I digress.
I assume that Merchant Marine ships were crewed that way, in some Union Hall with a guy calling out available crew positions. Why didn’t those ships that survived the convoy and returned to the USA keep the crew? I would think that it would be advantageous to have a crew familiar with the ship, although Liberty ships were probably very much alike, and there would be a quicker turn around time to send the ship out again. Then again, having survived a run to Murmansk and back, a sailor might decide to try for a job on the Staten Island ferry.
I can think of several reasons:
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It keeps crews/masters from thinking it was “their” ship. With that kind of attitude there might/will be the demand for input on company decisions.
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It gives a good turn-over of crewmen, so everybody in the union get sea pay.
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It gives you a huge number of flexible crewmen who have shown that they can adapt.
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Efficiency. You can putting together a new crew before the ship even gets back to the US. Who knows which of the current crew will need leave, or medical attention, or just want a break? Hot-swap crews and the ship is ready to go quicker.
They weren’t drafted. The crew could go anywhere they wanted – including signing up in the navy, which paid better and where you got to shoot back.
In general, because that’s the way the merchant marine had always run. The crew were all contracted for a single voyage (often out-and-back, sometimes one-way). If you couldn’t get enough crew, you sat in port. Or if you had a trip that nobody wanted, say SF to Shanghai, you paid somebody to get sailors drunk with ‘free’ liquor and bring them on board, then took the cost out of their wages. They’d wake up the next day when you were out of the harbour.
On the authority of an uncle who was in the Merchant Marine before, during and after the war (and sunk twice during the war - his Guardian Angel drew hazard pay)
5) because after a round trip you were sometimes sick of the other people on the ship.
Sometimes people did tend to follow a particular ship or Captain - or command crew. Unc had a buddy he almost always shipped with and had two commanders he liked. But sometimes it was just a matter of what-the-heck. Despite the secrecy involved he sometimes had a general feel for the general destination but for the most part it was more a sense of the other faces involved that made him sign on.
The MM is not like being a regular commercial shipping sailor; more an odd kind of “Navy-Lite”. He got a kick out of serving his country without the same drill-and-orders regular Navy folks did. Plus he basically got to decide when he wanted to work and when he wanted to booze; which for him was quite often.
There was secrecy involved. A ship might be listed as going to a cold cold place (Russia). At one time I had heard the names of some of the other ports, but have forgotten.
What do you mean by MM is not like being a regular commercial shipping sailor. The MM is the commercial shipping companies.
When a ship comes into port the crew signs off, and gets paid. The members of the crew who want to sign on for the next voyage will let the Captain or Chief Engineer know. The they will determine which positions will need to be filled. The positions needing to be filled will be posted at the various union halls. If you are in the hall and you see a position that you are interested you can throw your card in for it. And depending on who else throws their card in will determine if you get the job.
“** Plus he basically got to decide when he wanted to work and when he wanted to booze**” Depending on your health and age this was not true for every WWII Merchant Sailor. If you were draftable and not on a ship you could get drafted and end up in the Navy.
The Merchant sailor, members of what was and call the 4th arm of defense, have not been treated very will by this country after a war is over. I could give examples but it would be a long post.
I read the story of a Kings Point Graduate. As a Midshipman his ship was sunk on the way to Russia. He was picked up and that ship was sunk. He was picked up again and made it into Russia. After staying there quite a few months, practically as a prisoner, enough ships reached port to set up a return convoy and he got a ride, only to be sunk again and picked up. When he finally got back to the USA he finished up his 1st class time at the Academy and passed his 3rd Mares exam. Was careless on picking his next ship. After signing on he figured out the ship was going to Russia. he was planning on jumping ship. The Captain talked him out of jumping ship be if he did he could be tried for desertion in face of an emeny, which at best would land him in jail for a long time. Had about the same experience on his second trip to Russia as his first. Only this time when he got back He flew out to SF and sailed the Pacific the rest of the war.
Only of those ships actually registered under the US flag (for the US MM).
Plenty of US-owned commercial shipping sail under flags of convenience instead - half the world’s commercial shipping does nowadays, after all. I believe Panama was the flag of choice in the 30s and 40s.
I’m currently reading Ocean Life in the Old Sailing Ship Days by John D. Whidden who was a maritime sailor from 1834 to 1870. I’m up to the point where he ships as 1st Mate and, thus far, he never makes a second voyage on the same ship. Sometimes at the end of each voyage, sometimes by deserting mid-voyage.
Reading his description of crew movements gives me the impression that consistency was not common.
Were not drafted and could go anywhere, but US merchant mariners in WWII were paid much more per day at sea than USN personnel in comparable positions, only partly compensated by the fact they didn’t get paid between voyages (or even when awaiting rescue if sunk). This was a source of friction aboard some merchants ships. After the early months of US involvement existing US merchant ships were virtually all fitted with guns, as were wartime production Liberty Ships when delivered. Armed merchant ships carried a detachment of the US Navy Armed Guard, a branch of the USN formed for that purpose. They were principally responsible for manning and maintaining the guns though the ship’s civilian crew could support them. So the Armed Guards got to shoot back, but often felt they had to do more (like continuous manning of gun positions in threat areas during bad weather) for less than the ship’s crew.
The huge number of merchant ships built in the US during WWII were overwhelmingly registered under the US flag. By the end of WWII just over half the world merchant fleet by tonnage was US flag ships.
Pre war there was a relatively greater proportion of foreign flag/US owned vessels. But some US owned Panamian flag vessels in WWII carried US civilian crews and Armed Guards.
And now is a completely different situation. Even US ownership of merchant ships has declined a lot in proportion to the world fleet in recent decades. The US owned merchant fleet including foreign flags is now <4% of the world fleet in tonnage terms. Among the reasons are tax and the US oil majors’ reluctance to own their own tankers, even under foreign flags, for both normal operating economy reasons and liability reasons since the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.
No matter the flag if you are signed on a member of the crew you are part of the Merchant Marine on a commercial ship.
Panama is still one of the flags of convenience.
Lower taxes
less inspection
and lower wages
In reality the pay for a MM sailor was not that much greater when you considered taxes. The Navy sailor paid no income taxes the MM sailor did. If the Navy sailor go injured he was taken care of, my Father In Law had a piece of metal left in him from a battle and received a small disability check for the rest of his life. The most a MM sailor would get was a one time check for $1000 if he lost two limbs. MM sailors pay stopped the moment their ship went down. Some spent years as POWs with out any pay. And the Merchant Marine had the highest lost rate of any service during WWII.
[QUOTE=Snnipe 70E;21716289… And the Merchant Marine had the highest lost rate of any service during WWII.[/QUOTE]
More than the Army Air Corps?
It really was a lot higher. I mentioned that merchant mariners didn’t get paid if not employed, which included if they were rescued from a sunken ship, not paid while being carried back home on another ship till they got another job. But that did not happen on a large % of any given voyage over the whole war. The base pay for merchant ordinary seamen in WWII was in the range of $100/mo. That could be doubled by a war zone bonus, then overtime on top, these were union men. The bottom pay in the military was half as much as MM base pay.
If you count civilian merchant mariners, though they did not actually constitute a formal ‘service’, against the the whole of the Army or Navy then their loss rate was higher. The rate was probably still slightly higher than the Marines if you break that off from the Navy, also higher than the USAAF if you include ground crews. If you further subdivide to combat arms, say Submarine Service in the USN which lost around 15% of those who went on at least one war patrol, or air service flight crews, or subdivide to combat arms in the ground forces then those rates are higher than the around 4% estimated civilian mariner deaths represents of all estimated to have been employed as civilian mariners during the war.
The loss rate of merchant mariners was definitely highest though in 1942 with high merchant ship loss rate and pretty limited combat by the armed forces compared to later on (the biggest exception being virtually the whole air and ground contingent in the Philippines becoming prisoners, many of whom later died in captivity, and to a lesser extent costly naval actions). Afterward much more US military manpower was brought to bear against the Axis and absolute losses skyrocketed, whereas merchant ships losses declined markedly even with a much bigger merchant fleet.
Yes and no sort of. My understanding is that Merchant Marine sailors are commercial shippers but not all sailors who do commercial shipping are Merchant Marine. I heard the explanation several times over my life and usually all it gave me was a headache 
I don’t know if the Wiki entry helps any
but for what its worth there it is.
At different family reunions during my youth WW II could well become a full-contact discussion; we had people who served everywhere from the Old Country to every branch in the US to Dad’s service in China. I am at a slight disadvantage because I never was as interested in the sea side as the land side.
You had a certain time frame you could take off between ships and still not be drafted. It really wasn’t a “dodge” since they could almost be considered in more danger than the average Navy draftee every time they shipped out but it wasn’t like you had a week to find another berth or Uncle Sugar would be down your neck. And even if you got your notice I believe you could still grab a berth and defer it off into the future. I also believe that he got a certain deferment for being a “battle survivor”. To him it just seemed a sweet gig and starting before the war a better/more stable option to normal commercial shipping.
As for boozing; mothers side of the family is basically 99.9% high functioning alcoholics. I doubt that the average MM drank nearly as much as Unc because ---------- well, frankly, I doubt most serious drunks could have matched Unc when he was in his cups hard. I am told that one board he was a model and worked in “skilled” positions in engineering but when he hit shore he HIT shore. And to him having that ability, that time, was the kind of job benefit level we would consider full family medical coverage today. In other words it was a big part of why he signed on.
More than the Army, Navy, Marines.
The loss rate was 1 in 26
When a sailor got into port and signed off the Coast Guard would make a record of it. If by the time it made it through the government agencies to the draft board if you were not under articles you could be drafted.
If you ship was sunk your job ended and were no longer under Articles and the Coast Guard would note that fact. When and if you made it back to port the draft notice could be at your home and if you did not sign onto another ship right away Uncle was there with open arms to hug you as new member of the military service.
I heard one WWII Merchant Sailor bitch about this fact. His bitch, if you were a Navy Sailor and your ship was sunk you were given 30 paid leave when you reached home port, If you were a Merchant Sailor and your ship was sunk not only did your pay stop when the ship went under water, but you were expected to sign on to another ship the moment you reached a US port or you could be drafted. Also the draft age limit for someone with a Officer’s license was not 26 but 32.
Sounds like it sucked to be Merchant Marine.
Not that it would/could have made a warning-worthy expletive’s bit of difference, but couldn’t an able-bodied seaman bring a rifle aboard and shoot back if the opportunity presented itself? None of them could haul a rifle to their battle stations and take shots where possible?
I still remember stories of elderly relatives who were riflemen taking pot shots back at zeros on strafing runs. Sure, lots of men died on every single pass, but every once in a while a plane would pop smoke and go down (even though no one person could claim credit).
Not a good idea. For one thing, the seaman will have some other task to do that carrying a rifle and shooting at planes/boats/whatever will interfere with. Plus it almost certainly would violate some rule or other. The seamen left the rifle-shooting to the Marines.