http://seafarerslog.org/archives/files/original/fc7c1155c02296073235df338983e872.PDF 263ad314d409e4825cb35640b5ed8f50 PDF Text Text Official Organ of the Atlantic and Gulf District, Seafarers International Union of North America Vol. VIII. NEW YORK. N. Y.. FRIDAY. JUNE 21. 1946 Senate Group Hears Hawk On Coast Guard Attention Members! Seafarers Sailing As Engineers WASHINGTON, June 20—The SIU followed up its offensive against Coast Guard control of the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation today as John Hawk, SIU Vice President, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Committee is considering the President's Reorganization Plan No. 3, which* provides for permanent transfer of the Bureau to the Coast Guard. Hawk's testimony before the Senate group followed by exactly a week his heated diatribe against Coast Guard jurisdiction before the House Committee on Execu­ tive Department Expenditures. By PAUL HALL His testimony last week NEW YORK—The Seafarers is brought immediate and tangible now engaged in a tough game, results.. Rep. William A. Pittengplaying for the highest stakes in er of Minnesota, a member of the the history of maritime organi­ Committee, took the matter on zation. the floor of the House, quoting The present negotiations are Hawk at length in a speech in the culmination of eight long opposition to the Reorganization lard years of continuous strug­ Plan. gle, during which the union has He said in part: -jrown from a small, loosely op"I call attention to Mr. Hawk's 3rated outfit to a strong, stream­ testimony because members of lined organization recognized as Congress whose districts border the most potent labor factor in on the Great Lakes of the mid­ the maritime industry. west, as well as those whose jdisParticularly in the past few tricts border on the Atlantic and years has the Union emerged Pacific Seaboards and the Gulf from semi-obscurity to its pres­ Coast States, are all very much ent strength. These years have directly concerned in connection not been idle ones. Starting un­ with this problem. der the handicap of war-time "Speaking very frankly to the government bureau suppression, committee, Mr. Hawk stated that the Seafarers laid 'down a prothe Executive Order which took gram of expansion and organithe sailors from the jurisdiction zation that has been adhered to at of the Department of Commerce all times—regardless of obstacles, and put them under the Coast The first step was getting out (Continued on Page 5) of the inadequate, poorly equip All members—retired mem­ bers and former members— of the Seafarers Internation­ al Union who are now sailing as licensed Engineers; Please report as soon as possible to the Seafarers Hall at 51 Bea­ ver Street. New York City. Your presence is necessary in a matter of great importance. No. 25 SIU Walks Out When Operators Ask 1920 Terms NEW YORK, June 19—The Seafarers Negotiating Committee walked out of contract conferences with the shipowners yesterday after the operators had capped their weaseling counter-proposals with the suggestion that ABs on slfips paying $15 5 a month take a $10.00 a month cut. 3- Careful Planning, Militant Action Responsible For Seafarers' Growth Seafarers Gets $2200 Beef For Blue Ridge Victory Men NEW YORK — The militant SIU way of handling beefs paid off V again this week when the Stewards Department of the SS Blue Ridge Victory collected more than $2200.00 in disputed overtime from the Calmar Steam­ ship Company. The beef arose over the ques­ tion of payment for extra meals served by the Stewards Depart­ ment. The Company contended that because the ship was an­ chored in the stream off South­ ampton, it could not be consider­ ed in port and therefore over­ time regulations did not apply. This maneuver fooled no one, and the Patrolman insisted on the payment of the full amount Iv, of the legitimate overtime auth)rized by the Department head. Although the vessel arrived in this port on June 13, settlement was not arrived at until June 17. And the settlement was a clear cut victory. "It was a good victory," said Patrolman Ray Gonzales, who handled the beef, "and the men really deserved the money. Only a bunch of sea lawyers would try to get away with saying that if a ship is anchored in the stream, it is not in port. That's plain silly!" The men affected by the settle­ ment are pretty happy, too. $2200.00 is a lot of cabbage to be collected by one Department. ped halls and acquiring Unionowned buildings representative of the progress of the Union. In line with this was the unifying of the Union apparatus, streamlin­ ing the Union structure and creating a uniform operational and business system. The halls that were acquired are something the membership ;an be justly proud of, a home for the Union member ashore. Recently, business experts sur•ej'ing the Union apparatus ac•laimed it as being comparable a the most efficient systems in ise anywhere. The Union strucure of today can no more be •ompared with that of a couple •f years ago than an old sailing hip foc'sle with a suite in the Valdorf-Astoria. were clarified to bring greater benefits to the membership. During this entire period the Union.kept the question of gov­ ernment bureau, and Coast Guard control in the forefront, and never ceased the fight against them even when other maritime unions were patting them on the back and preaching cooperation and playing stooge for the Wash­ ington bureaucrats. Those struggles created the solidarity and confidence neces­ sary to prepare the organizational drives and developed the organ­ izers to do the job. ISTHMIAN CAMPAIGN At this point the necessity for Jnion expansion was obviousthe necessary plans were made. The Isthmian SS Company was selected as the chief organizaional objectivBf for two reasons, ^irst, because it was the largest jnorganized company and sec. (ConfUiued on Page 4) The' operators said such a cut would "stabilize contracts" and provide a working base for all operators in the contract negoti­ ations. The Seafarers Committee flat­ ly refused to even sit in on nego­ tiations until it was understood that all wage adjustments must be revised upward. The remainder of the opera­ tors' counter proposals were equally absurd. The committee turned them down in their en­ tirety. NO PRECEDENT The Seafarers spokesmen said the SIU- had no intention of go­ ing for the proposed wage in­ creases, which the operators ad­ mitted were taken from the re­ sults of the recent Washington meeting of the CMU. Here is the summarized count­ er-proposal of the operators: Wage increases ranging from $12.50 to $24.50 per month. (The SIU asked a 30 percent wage increase.) Overtime rates at $1.00 an hour. (The Union had asked overtime rate increases ranging from 48 cents to $1.20 per hour.) Overtime in port after eight hours a day, with overtime STRUGGLES AIDED During the war the shipown­ ers took full advantage of gov­ ernment WSA operation and Coast Guard persecution to harass the Union in every pos­ {Continued on Page 5) sible manner. To meet these attacks a counter-campaign was launched. A Seafarers member facing Coast Guard charges in any port found that he always had cap­ able representation with the re­ sult that the great majority of Positive action to enforce the Union's demands for these cases were won. improved wages and working conditions was taken by the Any shipboard dispute whether Seafarers International Union in regular coastwise meet­ it amounted to only a few hours overtime or a falsified log was ing?, Wednesday, June 19. This action, made necessary by given the full attention of the the realization that the shipowners are not prepared to Union and fought to a finish. accede to the Union's proposals,* — The use of job action put to a came in the form of a resolution the Union to notify the United stop stalling tactics of the op­ to take a strike vote as soon as States Department of Labor of erators. In one case of a falsi­ possible. the intention to strike, in accord-, fied log on the Lou Gehrig, job In all ports of the Atlantic and ance with the Smith-Connally action at the point of production Act. resulted in over $25,000 being Gulf Districts, resolutions were The demands which the SIU is overwhelmingly passed to take a collected for the crew. making in the present negotia­ Prompt and decisive action re­ strike vote during the month of tions with its contracted com­ July so that a strike can be called sulted in manning scales being panies are much better than the "in the event a satisfactory increased from time to time. wages and conditions won by the agreement on wages and working Hardly a day passed without Committee for Maritime Unityl conditions cannot be reached." heated beefs with the shipowner, The resolution also authorized during which the agreements (Continued on Page 4) > Coastwise Branch Meetings Approve SIU Strike Vote �THE SEAFARERS Page Two LOG Friday, June 21, 1946 W£U- 11HINK CBX • ? ^|pW0,O0O WmiSSMlPt J igl SEAFARERS LOG Published Weekly by the SEAFARERS INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH AMERICA Atlantic and Gulf District Affiliated with the Avterican Federation of Labor At 51 Beaver Street, New York 4, N. Y. HAnover 2-2784 X X i ^ HARRY LUNDEBERG ------- President 105 Market Street, San Francisco, Calif. JOHN HAWK - -- -- -- - Secy-Treas. p. O. Box 2 5, Station P., New York City Entered as second class matter June 15, 1945, at the Post Office in New York, N. Y., under the Act of August 24, 1912. We Serve Notice The shipowner:, their pockets swollen with money made during the war, are attempting to give the Seafarers ridiculous concessions only slightl) better than those which were accepted by the Committee for Maritime Unity. This constitutes downright arrogance since our con­ tracted companies were notified time and again that the agreements reached in Washington would in no way be considered binding upon us. Our demands are, of course, much better than those made by the CMU, but that is nothing new. The SlU^ has always had the best wages and working conditions in .the Maritime Industry, and we intend to keep it that way. This is not false pride; we are only asking for decent wages and conditions so that seamen can live as comfortably as their shoreside brothers. Seamen, who traditionally live a dangerous life, are not satisfied with less than the conditions enjoyed by other workers. And it is not necessary for them to be further deprived of a fair working day and an adequate wage. The 21 billion dollars which the shipowners made out of the suffering of the world, really belongs to the mer­ chant seamen who delivered the goods and were the first to fight. Instead of this, we are faced with smug bosses who answer our just demands by throwing them into the wastebasket. Hospital Patients When entering the hospital notify the delegate by post­ card, giving your name and the number of your ward. Staten Island Hospital Men Now In The Marine Hospitals These are the Union Brothers currently in the marine hospitals, On the other hand, however, the shipowners are not as reported by the Port Agents. These Brothers find time hanging worried over the fact that most of the profits they made heavily on their hands. Do what yo^u can to cheer them up by writ­ ing to them. during the war were actually plunder. In fact, even now, they are making plans to buy sfhips from the War Shipping Administration at prices far below the actual present value of the boats, just as they sold them originally to the WSA at over-inflated values. This may be good business, but it is certainly not patriotism. The present negotiations, being conducted directly between the Union, and the Mississippi Steamship Com­ pany, representing the other operators, is now temporarily deadlocked. Unless the Company shows a willingness to meet the reasonable proposals of the Union, they will renjain deadlocked. And that will mean a strike. . . This entire situation may well turn out to be the biggest battle ip the Seafarers' history. It is' a tribute to opr solidarity and militancy that we arc prepared for any­ thing that can possibly turn up. If the operators want a scrap, we are the men who can give it to them. The coming strike vote will serve even more notice on the bosses and the Government strikebreakers that we don't scare easy. Seafarers solidarity will win this battle just as it has wPn in the past. NEW ORLEANS HOSPITAL EDWARD CUSTER WILBUR MANNING J. W. DENNIS W. F. LEWJS R. M. NOLAN JOHN R. QUINN G. W- WIGGINS LEROY DAVIDSON HENRY UGLIS RAY D. LUSKO JESUS AMAYA E. LADINER AXEL HENRIKS EMERY SIMMS JAMES SNELL W. T. HUNTER SHERWOOD FINER AUSTIN GRAHAM JOHN ROY GOMEZ LUKE HOLLAND HENRY LOWERY HAROLD CLODIUS RAY FITTS XXX BRIGHTON MARINE HOSP. VINCENT JONES T. FARTIN WALTER CAHILL T. DINEEN ANTRONY KELLY R. R. GAYECKA ED. JOHNSON H. GILLAN P. CASALINUOVO HARRIS O. HANSEN AUSTIN CHASE G. PIIINNEY, Jr. STEPHEN KELLEY W. SILVERTHORN GERALD GOODWIN R. FRENCH J. COXWELL HOWARD STONE XXX STATEN ISLAND HOSP. J. E. TUCKER H. NEILSEN A. NELSON L. KAY L. A. CORNWALL G. ORPILLA R. G. MOSSELLER W. H- G. PAUSE W. B. MUIR J. M. DALY J. L. WEEKS L. R. PORJA L. L. MOODY, Jr. G. P. RAEBURN L. A. HORNEY C. A. MILLER M. J. FORTES W. J. GEIGER You can contact your Hos­ pital delegate at the Staten Island Hospital at the follow­ ing times: Tuesday—1:30 to 3:30 p. m. (on 5th and 6th flours) Thursday—1:30 to 3:30 p. m. (on 3rd and 4th floors.) Saturday—1:30 to 3:30 p. m. (on 1st and 2nd floors.) W. G. ROBERTS E. WEINGARTEN G. KUBIK C. KUPLICKI H. BEAKMAN E. B. HOLMES R. SAVIOR G. JANAVARIS C. G. SMITH • D. J. MULCAHY C. BENESCH R. MORCIGLIO G. H. STEVENSON 4. t. ELLIS ISLAND HOSPITAL D. McDANALD J. W. RUBEL M. BAILEN H. KARLSON 4. 4. 4. BALTIMORE MARINE HOSP» HOWARD NEAL ROBERT MILLER ' ELMER BROWN CHARLES STANCLIFF WALTER BENDLE JAMES HANCHEY WILLIAM REEVES VAH WARFIELD ' ; . ' i- -• �THE SEAFARERS Friday. June 21, 1946 '• LOG CAPE DOMINGO CREWMEMBERS Page Three Industry-wide Strike Must Be Weil Prepared By STEELY WHITE ••• J:' •' '• •'• •*'i.-;^ Part of the crew from Isthmian's recently acquired Cape JDomingo. Kneeling (left to right); Joe Lissner and Tex Roberts. Middle row: Frank Cole. Fred Schoenborn. S. Neilson. Arthur Johnstone and George Peteusky. Back row: William Kavitt, Douglas Laning, John Shepanski, George Palmer and Chas. Steinberg. Educational Job Must Be Done To Correct Public On Seamen By EARL SHEPPARD Recently the shipowners ran series of full page advertisements in the leading newspapers por traying the seamen as a high paid worker whose wages were all "take-home pay." The main thing that they failed to tell was that even in the most prosperous times, with shipping at its highest peak, a steady working seaman could only look forward to working an average of eight months of the year. • Another ^ thing they , failed to state is the great expense a sea­ man must undergo to maintain his family while he is at sea and the extra travel expense he has to bear in order to be with them during the brief periods he is ashore. A married seaman with no children joining a ship on the East Coast and paying off after a three months trip on the west coast is faced with quite a prob­ lem if he wants to enjoy a brief period of normal home life. COST OF LIVING If he stays on the ship his only out is to send for his wife. This involves roundtrip coa.st. to coast transportation and hotel bills for her visit and in the meantime the cost of maintaining his east coast home goes on. If he has children the problem becomes even more difficult as their care will have to be ar­ ranged for, or much additional transportation involved if his wife brings them with her. Add these costs to the allot­ ment the seaman must make to provide for his family while he is away and the result is the old ropeyarn payoff. The old army song. "All we do is sign the pay-roll, and we ne'r get a g—d—cent" really applies to the seaman. Figure in the high cost of clothing, medical expenses, etc., and the slave conditions a sea­ man lives under are evident. The shipowner likes to portray the seaman as a drunken, care­ free, brawler instead of a work- ingman with greater responsibil­ ities than are found in any'other group. One of the Seafarer's greatest organizational tasks is to break down this opinion and let the public know just what type of men go to sea, what their prob­ lems are and what they are do­ ing to solve these problems. The Union literature has help­ ed greatly in this. Educators, social groups, clubs, schools and other unions all over the world have requested and received copies of this literature but at its best this is only scratching the surface of public relations. The best medium of public re­ lations is personal contact. The Seafarers is a Union that every member should be proud of and each member should do his ut­ most to let the world know about it. The general public sees a unibn through the columns of Westbrook Pegler and. other unionhaters. The way to offset this opinion is to talk unionism at home, in the neighborhood and with friends. work of one or two conscientious rank and file SIU ships organizers has resulted in the ship voting 100 percent SIU. Unorganized seamen who were doubtful and suspicious of all unions have themselves become volunteer ships organizers after a visit to the SIU hall. The Union is judged by the conduct, ability and activity of the membership. The SIU mem­ ber on an unorganized ship who knows and does his job well is a good shipmate; he who is always ready to discuss ship problems and the Union is the organizer who brings the ship home with a majority SIU vote. NEW ORLEANS—The time is up on us when every member of the Seafarers must use his head for reasons other than to hang a sou'wester over — each Seafarer must use every ounce of logic, cold reasoning and com­ mon sense that he possesses. We in our organization are caught in a whirlpool of econom­ ic strife, in which we could easily be engulfed and destroyed. This can be prevented, if we; 1. Use intelligent analysis of problems by recognizing fac­ tors and conditions of fact and admitting them as such. 2. A cautious formulation and execution of program. .3, Avoid open battle until we honestly exhausted all reason­ able means oi reaching agree­ ment otherwise. 4. In the event we are forced to. strike some or all of our operators—grab our best hold and fight like hell with every­ thing we are big enough to swing. Many Seafarers have never physically witnessed nor par­ ticipated in a strike. Many who have participated in previous strikes came into direct contact with only certain factors of these strikes. A simple definition of a strike or lockout between a legitimate labor organization and manage­ ment could be defined as "a fight between parties who are mu­ tually dependent, each enabled to bring pressure upon the other but refusing to cooperate." NOT SIMPLE But, for us in the maritime in­ dustry it is not nearly so simple. A general strike by, or a lockout of, the SIU-SUP would be a very complex and complicated affair, if we expected to come out with any degree of success. There is a great deal more to Isthmian Nicaragua Victory Foiiows Seafarers Policies UNORGANIZED SEAMEN A large percentage of the sea­ men sailing unorganized ships to­ day started to sea during the war. Many of these have had no contact with the union what­ soever. They came right out of the maritime schools and were dispatched directly to an unor­ ganized ship from the WSA ship­ ping halls. Many of these men were dis­ patched to Pahamanian flag ships and think the conditions prevail­ ing there are those of all sea­ men. The Union's job is to reachthese men and the best and most effective way to do this is by personal contact. In line with other Isthmian ships which are rapidly adopting Seafarers policies and habits, the Nicaragua Victory held a ship­ board meeting on May 3rd while at sea. Details of the meeting were enclosed in a letter written by Seafarer William Murrell from Alexandria, and dated May 14th. Brother Murrell stated that the Nicaragua's crew was attempting to follow SIU policies in all re­ spects, and "We are trying our best to run and adjust every problem we meet in the SIU manner." Murrell continued, "Had it not been for the men who were working at the time of the meet­ ing, there would have been 31 men present instead of 23 as in­ dicated in the minutes." ISTHMIAN SEAMEN Because of the intensity and concentration on ships of the Isthmian fleet, the men sailing Isthmian know the score and have evidenced it by voting SIU overwhelmingly. On many Isthmian ships the "Everyone is well satisfied," wrote Murrell, "and enthused over the way the SIU meets and solves various 'problems ashore and on the ships." Don Kennedy was elected as chairman, and Kuhn as record­ ing secretary. Reports were sub­ mitted by the three department­ al delegates, and accepted by the meeting. Under the heading of New Business, motions were approved to have the Deck Dept. stop clean­ ing port passageway on the main deck; that each dept. confine themselves to the use of heads and showers assigned them; that fines be assessed for placing feet on messhall chairs; regulating the preparation, issuance, and disposal of linen; and that a per­ colator and toaster be placed in crew's messhall. Other motions approved were that deck delegate confer with Chief Mate in regard to Deck De­ partment overtime; that one man from each department be assign­ ed to keep laundry room clean; and that the slopchest be re-sup­ plied at the first port where sup­ plies are available. Meeting was concluded with a discussion by William Murrell on the Union and it's activities. Union functions were explained with an account of the various benefits that the SIU has pro­ cured for the seamen. a strike than souping a meeting up to fever pitch and making a motion to "hang the hook," or "packing your bag and falling down a gangplank." A union's strength and the in­ telligence of its leaders is not determined or measured by how quick we will strike, or how long v/e may be able to stay out on a strike, or how hard we may be able to shut the industry down. It is measured by how much we are able to accomplish with­ out a strike or before we have to go on a strike. A strike of any determination or duration not only cripples the operators but its puts a terrific strain on the union as an organi­ zation and its members as indi= viduals financially, physically, psychologically and morally. FIRST TO FIGHT The SIU, since its inception, and the SUP before the SIU was born, has always been the first to fight and win new and better conditions from the operators. If any further conditions are won we will be a controlling fac­ tor in winning them. We have today conditions that no other Union in the world can match. How did we get them? We got them by: 1. Being a trade union and stick­ ing strictly to trade union principles and procedure. 2. Stalemating any foreign poli­ cies that were tried to be in­ jected into our program. 3. Fighting the operators throughout the years with strikes, job action or anything we could lay hand to, to ex­ ecute the programs that had been created by democratic trade union policies. 4. Denouncing and fighting all phony programs injurious to the sailors' welfare be they sponsored by government agencies, operators, political opportunists, or a combination of all three. If the membership of the* SIUSUP contemplated striking to­ morrow, they would be immed­ iately faced with:— 1. The direct pressure, created, by the operators, the govern­ ment and government agen­ cies to break not onl^ our strike but our Union as well with everything from ma­ chine guns up. 2. Added political pressure for' laws to run us out of business. 3. Control of newspapers (which are all anti-labor) to turn the public's sympathies to them. 4. A split and prostituted mari­ time labor front. Exclusive of th& non-union men in the industry today, the officialdom of the CIO Maritime Unions, especially the Com­ munist Party-dominated NMU and ILWU, are either infested or entirely controlled by officials whose purpose and aims are of a political nature, and means the working man no good other than to promote the aims of their selfish political ambitions. These people have sabotaged the working stiff time after time and will do so again (the strike in the '30s and collabora­ tion with government agencies to (Continued on Page 6) . "•^1 S, �THE SEAFARERS LOG Page Four Militant Action, Pianning Responsibie For SlU Growth Friday, June 21, 1946 Russia Bars AFL Agent The Soviet command in Vienna the government to quit stalling has refused permission to the (Continued from Pjfic 1} and as a result the biggest battle American Federation of Labor's ond, becaus'j it bad the greatest in the Union's history is now European representative, Irving open shop apparatus Bi-own, to visit a trade union The entire Union apparatus being waged. THE BEST CONTRACTS school and youth hostel in Marwas mobilized and its whole en­ Having started as a messman The Seafarers have always en­ tenstein in the Russian zone of ergy thrown into the drive. Re­ occupation, it has been reported gardless of all this, however, joyed the best wages and condi­ on the John ScuUy at $10.00 per by the N. Y. Times. nothing could have been accom­ tions in the industry—wages and month, Branford N. Hunt, Chief plished without the wholeheart­ conditions not handed out on a Cook, can see how much organi­ Brown was given the invita­ ed ,support of the membership. silver platter but fought for and zation has done for seamen since tion to visit the two union pro­ • This support was forthcoming won in Union style. The present 1908. jects by the Austrian Confedera­ from the very first day of the negotiations are aimed at keep­ tion of Labor, with whom he has He well remembers the days ing the Seafarers on top,'on win­ drive. been discussing plans for the re­ when seamen were at the mercy Members by the hundreds vol­ ning the best agreements Vet sumption of relations between the of the shipowners and the ships' unteered for the task and haunt­ known. Austrian trade union movement Our Union always keeps in officers, and he is glad that those ed Isthmian docks and offices and trade unions in the United days are over for good. until they managed to get a job. good trim and goes into every States. "Thanks to the Union,' he Aboard the ships the.se men en­ fight prepared. When the work There was no explanation given says, "we have decent wages and stoppage was called and the ship­ dured non-union conditions in hours. The shipowners would for the refusal. Brown said. How­ owners given an ultimatum, the order to build the Seafarers and ever, the Russians had also re­ never give us anything—we had Union had a complete strike ap­ organize Isthmian crews. jected an invitation to attend a The rank and file volunteer paratus set up and the machinery to take it." dinner for the AFL representa­ When Hunt first went to sea organizers who are responsible established for converting the en­ tire Union to strike purposes. tive. It is evident that the So­ in 1908, he never thought that it for the Seafarers success to date This apparatus consisted of viet attitude is in the nature of would become his life'.s work. He in the Isthmian line are now sea­ everything from picket cards to retaliaiton for the AFL's oppo­ only wanted to get the wander­ soned veterans and will be the soup kitchens and is still ready for sition to Communists. lust out of his blood so that he leaders of the future struggles of BRANFORD N. HUNT use whenever it may be requii'ed. could settle down to a quiet life our Union. The job they have Brown said that an attempt The negotiations preparations ashore. done will always stand as one of sea, Branford Hunt has retained would probably be made by the the greatest achievements in the have been conducted in the same Now he says, "I love the sea his militancy. "The Union AFL to work through friends in history of maritime organization, manner. All angles have been and I know I can't be happj' any the Austrian Labor Committee in covered and all points discussed other place. I've tried, and it brought better conditions for the PROGRESS EVERYWHERE carrying out the plans to dis­ Although the main organiza­ over and over in open group can't be done. In fact, even my seamen, and I'll fight for the patch relief directly and for giv­ tional emphasis and concentra­ meetings of negotiators and the ten-year-old son has developed Union anytime it's necessary. ing the Austrian workers full ac- ' tion was placed on the Isthmian membership. This thoroughness a love for the sea from hearing And I mean it, an;j' time and cess to international trade union drive no other field was ne­ is the thing that will bring the me talk, and he wants to be in literature. negotiations to a successful con­ the merchant marine when he any place." glected. A quick tugboat strike in Mo­ clusion. grows up." bile, Alabama, started the ball . There has been nothing spec­ EARLY JOINER rolling in that field on the Gulf tacular in the growth and de­ and resulted in substantial wage velopment of the Seafarers. Every Hunt joined the Union in 1910, increases and Union agreements step forward has been the result when belonging to a union was of planning designed to better an invitation to be put on the for the tugboatmen. The best tow-boat contracts the conditions of the membership. blacklist. He took an active part Every thing that has been ac­ in building up the union for sea­ as a pattern in their dealings ever known were signed on the (Continued from Pai-c 1) complished to date is paid and men, and when the 1921 Strike with us, and East Coast and the Hampton The Seafarers refuses to be bound Roads ferry boatmen were or­ parcel of the Union strength that was called, he served on the by the agreements entered into WHEREAS: The conditions has made the Seafarers the most picketline with the rest of the ganized. which we are demanding in our by the CMU, and it is therefore democratic, strongest and best militant unionists. In Philadelphia and New York contract negotiations are much necessary "to have an affirmative prompt and militant action by the maritime Union, a Union that can better than the demands that strike vote in the hands of your From 1929 to 1939 he worked Seafarers defeated attempted well serve as a model for all were made by the Maritime ashore. He held positions as (negotiating) Committee in order CIO raids on AFL maritime un- j unions everywhere. Unions affiliated with the Com­ to be in a position to strike, if The goal of the Seafarers is Chief Cook at many of the bet­ ions. mittee for Maritime Unity on necessary, to enforce our de­ full and complete organization of ter New York City hotels and Fighting a lone and tough bat­ their contracted companies, mands." tle the Union killed the wartime the entire maritime industry. To restaurants, and was busily es­ and Voting on the referendum bal­ riders of the WSA and forced the accomplish this the AFL mari­ tablishing a career for himself. lot will commence on July 1, WHEREAS: It may be necessary, shipowners to accept a rider time unions have formed a joint But when war came in 1939, he 1946, and will terminate with the as negotiations progress, to drafted and voted upon by the council for mutual cooperation felt it his duty to return to the regular meeting of Wednesday, have an affirmative strike vote Union membership. In this beef and support. Joint problems will sea. in the hands of your Commit­ July 31, 1946. "The merchant marine needed job action tied up 112 ships in be discussed and an unbeatable tee in order to be in position to The body of the resolution, as trained men then," he recalls, New York alone. The crews solidarity established. strike, if necessary, to enforce With its fighting, courageous "and so I figui-ed that I ought it was approved by the member­ showed their solidarity by stand­ our demands, membership at the helm the Sea­ to do my part. Of course, now ship, follows: ing fast and victory was won. NOW THEREFORE BE IT RE­ STRIKE RESOLUTION farers cannot lose. that the war is over, the opera­ These were but a few of the SOLVED: That the Secretary be tors have forgotten the part we WHEREAS: At the present time many fights that were fought instructed to prepare a Strike the Seafarers International played in winning the war, but a .and won. Ballot immediately in accor­ Union of North America, At­ lot of other people remember." dance with the Constitution OUT TO WIN lantic and Gulf District, is en­ and WAR RECORD gaged in negotiations with omThe SIU-SUP stop work meet­ BE IT FURTHER RESOT.VED: ing showed the world that the Hunt really saw a great deal , contracted companies for im­ That the body of this Resolu­ proved wages and working con­ Union was in the fight to win bet­ of the war. While he never lost tion be printed on the face of ditions, and Elimination of a glaring in­ a- ship from under him, he was ter wages and conditions and was the Strike Ballot with the fol­ prepared to fight to the finish re­ equity in the Social Security Act bombed "in every continent" of WHEREAS: The Seafarers In­ lowing question: "Ar-e You in gardless of consequences. appeared possible as the House the world, as he puts it. ternational Union of North Favor of Authorizing Your The shipowners and govern­ Ways and Means Committee this America, Atlantic and Gulf "It was all bad," he says, Secretary-Treasurer to Call a ment bureaus who had been stal­ week accepted in principle a District, has always won the Strike in the Event a Satisfac­ ling both the "unity" negotiators proposal to extend unemployment "Suez, Casablanca, the Mediter­ best wages and working condi­ tory Agreement on Wages and in Washington and the Seafar­ compensation coverage to mari­ ranean, but the worst time \yas tions in the Maritime Industry D-Day at Omaha Beach, during Working Conditions cannot be ers, suddenly awakened to the time workers. and we intend to maintain that The Reached?" fact that hei-e was one outfit record in our present negotia­ The committee is disposing of the Normandy invasion. they couldn't bluff. The Seafar­ a series of proposed major Nazis hit us with everything they tions, and AND BE IT FURTHER RE­ ers made it plain that negotia­ changes in the Act which at pres­ had. I thought sure that I was WHEREAS: Although we have SOLVED: That the voting on this tions would have to be between ent excludes seamen from the seeing the last day of my life." ballot shall begin on July 1, stated for the record' to the Now that it is all over, Hunt the owners and the unions with­ old age and survivor's insurance 1946 and shall terminate with Public, the Government and out any government interference. provisions as well as from un­ hasn't forgotten the terrifying the regular meeting of July 31, to our contracted companies days of the war. He says, "I hope The result was that the Washing­ employment benefits. 1946, that we will refuse to be bound ton side show- was hurried to The protection for maritime my son never has to go through by any agreements entered in­ AND BE IT FURTHER RE­ an end and real negotiations workers was provided for in a that. Men shouldn't have to kill to in Washington by the ComSOLVED: That the actual date started in San Francisco and bill sponsored by Representative each other—we ought to be able mitte for Maritime Unity, our of calling the strike be left New York. Lynch of New York, a member to live together without fighting." contracted companies have at­ open for the membership to The Seafarers moved into ac­ of the committee. The amount After 38 years of following the tempted to use that agreement decide upon at a later date tion by threatening to declare a and duration of the unemploy­ which will be contingent upon general strike if the government ment compensation for seamen the progress of our negotia­ seized and sailed any single ship. would be determined by the regu­ tions with the operators, We forced Truman and the Wash­ lations of the State in which the AND BE IT FINALLY RE­ ington fakers from their avowed workers reside. All members—^retired members and former members—of SOLVED: That we notify the purpose of taking over the in­ Details for the plan to cover ihe Seafarers International Union who are now sailing as licensed United States Department of dustry. seamen under the provisions of Engineers: Please report as soon as possible to the Seafarers Wall Labor immediately of our in­ This Seafarers action was an the Act will be determined by the at SI Beaver Street, New York City. Your presence is neces­ tention to strike in accordance, ultimatum to the owners and to committee later. sary in a matter of great importance. with the Smith-Connally Act. Branford N. Hunt u Coastwise Branch Meetings Approve SlU Strike Vote New Bill Includes Seamen Under Social Security Act ATTENTION, MEMBERS! SEAFARERS SAILING AS ENGINEERS �. .. : juJ.i:>'^.,-> . -v' i:^'.^. Friday, June 21, 1946 THE SEAFARERS QUESTION:—In talking about a forty hour week for seamen, a shipowner said, "What would the men do with extra time at sea or in port. What will you do with your extra time when the four watch system is instituted on ships under contract to the SIU? 99 WILLIAM BADGER, FWT: More free time would give us a chance to do a lot of things that we never had time for. A lot of us have not had too much school­ ing and we could take books with us to study from. If one man is well educated, he could run class­ es for the others. Free time would come in handy for doing laun­ dry, reading books, writing let­ ters, and a hundred other things. Sometimes we finish a trip with­ out really knowing one another, but if we*had lime off. we could all get better acquainted. ALLEN BELL. Second Cook: That man didn't know what he was talking about. I never heard of a seaman who couldn't use more free time. We could check up on certain things that we ought to do. And if it only gave us a little more time to relax, it would be worth it. Maybe then we would not wear out so quick. This shipowner, who has prob­ ably never sailed on a ship as one of the crew, can't realise ho\v tiring and wearing the work real­ ly is. We need time to rest and time to relax. It looks like we're finally going to get it. tion certainly are no criterion, as ovei'lap or conflict with those of (Continued from I) compared with 47 years of peace­ the Department. The inspection Guard was to terminate six time operation. And remember, of merchant ships does have to months after the end of the war. these are years of peace from do with their safety, at sea, of "He said the men all wanted now on! course, hut there is no overlap­ that order terminated, that they ping of duties between the in­ CIVILIAN CONTROL had been satisfied with the De­ spectors and the Coast Guard The very nature of the Bureau partment of Commerce and want­ patrol boats. ed to be returned to its jurisdic­ demands that it be under civilian Actually, there's much more tion. I had occasion to li.sten to control. One of its major func­ overlap, more wasted govern­ the testimony and in my opinion tions is protection of the seamen ment funds under Coast Guard Mr. Hawk's argument should through the offices of the U.S. control than there was under prevail and Reorganization Plan Shipping Commissioners. Commerce. "When the Bureau A Master's word is law on ship­ was shifted by executive order No. 3 be defeated." board. If a seaman misses a day's Hawk's follow-up of the initial work, the Master can fine him in 1942, the entire civilian per­ promise of victory on the House two days' pay. If the infractions sonnel of the Bureau went along side of the Congress was well re­ are more serious, the Master with it. Coast Guard officers merely ceived by the Senate Committee takes it up before the Shipping and is sure to bear weight when Commissioner and local Steam­ supplemented from ihe top, and the matter comes up for a vote. boat Inspectors, and the seaman threw in some enlisted personnel at the bottom level. The actual The SIU has supplied opponents is brought up on charges. work of the Bureau was contin­ to the Reorganization Plan with But in addition to punishing ued by the old civilians. Where valuable and well-documented the seaman, the Shipping Com­ is any saving effected there? information which they will put missioner protects him from to use. WHY, INDEED? overbearing officers or venal There's another point I would The text of his testimony be­ shipping companies. If the Mas­ fore the Senate Committee fol­ ter's ruling is deemed too harsh, like to make. The Congress has lows: the Shipping Commissioner—who appropriated nine million dollars knows the law governing sea­ for continuation of the seaman's Mr. Chairman and men, may lessen the punishment training program under the Mar­ Gentlemen: itime Commission. Might I ask if he sees fit. In expressing the opposition of But under Coast Guard control, why more seamen are trained merchant seamen to Coast Guard when the Coast Guard is busy jurisdiction over the Bureau of the seaman has faced double jeo­ depriving trained seamen of their Marine Inspection and Naviga­ pardy for any infraction of ship­ papers every time one of them tion, as provided under the Presi­ ping rules. Let us say that a sea­ comes before them? dent's Reorganization Plan 3, man misses a day. He is logged The case against the Coast Part 1, I should like to start off for two days' pay by the Captain, Guard's control is a strong one which seems punishment enough. with an illustration. But in the eyes of the Coast from anj' angle, gentlemen. I urge this committee to report fa­ The railroads bear the same Guard sea lawyers it isn't. relation to the U.S. Army that When the ship puts in. Coast vorably on the bill to defeat Re­ the Merchant Marine does to the Guard officers look over the log organization Plan 3—so that the Coast Guard and Navy. For pur­ book. They see that a seaman has seamen and others who are af­ poses of supply the Army must missed a day. They call him be­ fected by it will at least have a have the railroads at its disposal. fore one of their hearing units— chance to be heard betore xtiey But if the Army operated as which in reality is nothing more are saddled with the Coast Guard foi-ever. the Coast 'Guard did during the than a kangaroo court. war, and has since, and will per­ In addition to losing two days' petually if the Reorganization pay he is deprived of his papers Plan goes thi'ough, railroad men for 30 days or more. This hypo­ would be examined for fitness thetical case has happened hun­ Seaf(U'ers Sailing to serve by a board of Army dreds and thousands of times. .4s Engineers Seamen arc on the beach, then, officers. for 30 days, deprived of mnlcing a Any infractions would be tried All members—retired mem­ by special Army hearing units, living, because of Coast Guard bers and former members— superimposed on the manage­ misuse of power. of the Seafarers Internation­ ment of the railroads. Railroad al Union who are now sailing NO OVERLAPPING men could be blacklisted from all The President's Plan spealcs of as licensed Engineers: Please railroads, and not allowed to "overlapping duties" of the Bureport as soon as possible to work on any of them for periods i-eau of Marine Inspection and' the Seafarers Hall at 51 Bea­ of months or years if the Army Navigation under the Department ver Street, New York City. heai'ing units saw fit. Your presence is necessary of Commerce and the Coast Guard. I challenge anyone to in a matter of great impor­ NO EXAGGERATION show me where the Coast tance. That is the situation of the Guard's normal peacetime duties merchant seamen under the Coast Guard, gentlemen. The il­ lustration is without exaggera­ tions; I merely put it in that way to point up the picture. It is because this situation exists that every licensed officer in the merchant marine, and four-watch system, the six-hour (Continued from Page I) every unlicensed seaman opposes for Saturdays, Sundays and holi­ day in the Stewards Department, continuation of Coast Guard jur­ and the six-day work week for days. isdiction. The shipping compan­ day men at sea and in port, pro­ At sea, overtime to be paid posing instead a 44-40 arrange­ ies join in the opposition. They, * for all work done on Sun­ ment. as we did, could see the necessity for military controls during the days— this to include men stand­ They said they couldn't go for war, but there is no reason for ing watches. (The Seafarers had the longshore work demands, asked for a four-watch system, a proposing to pay the crew the them in peacetime. The President's Plan points six day work week for day men same rate that longshoremen in out that the Bureau of Marine ashore and in port, and a six- that port are paid, with a $1.00 an Inspection and Navigation oper­ hour work day for men in tbe hour minimum. The SIU had asked an increase to $1.50 an ated successfully under the Coast Stewards Department. Here, then, is the way the op­ hour for the deck watch; $2.25 an Guard during the four years of the war, and thus has proven it­ erators knocked down the basic hour for the watch below. They made no counter propos­ self. But the Bureau was created demands of the SIU: by Congress in 1884, gentlemen, als for the otandby and tank They counter-proposed wage and operated under the Depart­ increases roughly one-third or cleaning rate increases. ment of Commerce successfully, less than demanded. All in all, the operators seemed to be primed to resist the SIU's and with no opposition by sea­ ABSURD OFFER equitable demands, to quibble men or shipowners all diu'ing the They proposed an uverllnie in­ and to split hairs. The Negotiat­ 47 years that preceded the war. There has been plenty of oppo­ crease of 10 cents an hour, about ing Committee walked out when sition to the Coast Guard since one-fifth to one-twelfth lower this became apparent through than the demands. the operators AB wage cut pro­ it took over. They refused to "consider the posal. Four years of wartime opera­ Attention Members! MATHEW CARSON. Wiper: Working 56 hours a week is damned rugged. I'll bet the ship­ owner who made that statement doesn't do 56 hours of real work a year. If I had more free lime, I would write letters, read some good books, and it would give me time to do a good job on my laundry. The way things are now, we have to hurry every­ thing we do. That's no way to live. And anyhow, it's none of that guy's business what we do with the time. All workers have a forty hour week. That's all we want. We're not asking favors. I've always wanted to develop ia hobby, but I've never had time. Now if the four watch system is started, I could take pictures (I'm a camera bug), and really be us­ ing my leisure time to good ad­ vantage. Besides that, I want snore time so that I can read, and write letters to my family. Some­ times we are on a trip for a few weeks without tuoching land once. It would not hurt to start the idea of having movies on board, in the crew messroom. We should have entertainment because we work hard and need relaxation. Page Fir^ Senate Committee Hears Hawk Testify Against Coast Guard mmm I THINK JACK HAYS. OS; LOG Seafarers Walks Out Of Meeting When Operators Weasel On Terms �E SEAF AHERS ''Page Six SlU, Longshoremen Beat Company Stall In Mobile lie By CHARI.ES KIMBALL MOBILE—Teamwork between and their subsequent actions are " ' " in the tradition of good unionism, the Seafarers and the "Mobile FIRST MOVE Longshoremen brought a quick Right off the bat,-they covered end to a dispute here last week. The entire situation came about up the hatches of the Cape Fal­ through the actions of one man, con and told the Company that the Skipper of the SS Cape Fal­ they were going fishing until the con, Waterman Lines. His tyr- sailors' beef was settled to the rany finally brought about his complete satisfaction of the SlU. undoing when he handcuffed an Following this, the officials of Oiler in the stack all one night. the Mobile Longshoremen's This, on top of the other small Union met with the Mobile beefs which had been building Agent of the SlU and a program up, blew the lid off, and the crew was Worked out to bring matters decided to leave the ship until to a head as soon as possible. something could be done to By 'this time the Company square the Captain away once realized that as long as the dis­ and for all. pute. was unsettled, there was no When the suitcase parade possible chance of sailing the started off the ship, the Long­ Cape Falcon. So they came to shoremen wanted to know the terms, and a satisfactory settle­ story. They were told in detail. ment was arrived at. Members of the crew were not surprised that their beef was squared away so rapidly. They know that the militancy of the SlU, plus the cooperation of their AFL Brothers, is a combin­ ation that cannot be beat. Foolish Questions Drive Dispatchers Stark, Raving Mad LOG MILITANT, UNITED ACTION PAYS OFF OTHER HEADACHES Please, fellows, confine your­ selves to questions that are about the issue at hand. Otherwise our nice congenial dispositions start to disappear, and that makes a tough job harder. Phone calls from your wives, sweetheart, or families, are an­ other headache. They want to knirw your whereabouts, and they, don't know your rating or department. So we have to search through the files, and take time from other duties. If all men will cooperate by not asking unnecessary questions, and by telling their families where they are, we will be able to do a better job, all around. Make Isthmian SlU! Four Watch System A Must By LOUIS GOFFIN We note that the shipowners, using their usual propaganda methods, were putting full page ads in newspapers throughout the country. The ads claimed that the demands made by the mari­ time unions were impossible. This is the crev/ of the Cape Falcon on the dock bag and bag­ gage. Their militant action won out against the bucko Skipper. Of course, with their bulging war chests they could afford such ads, paid for out of the cabbage which they made during the war. Blood money, made out the sacri­ fices of seamen who gave their lives, and taxpayers who gave their hard eai-ned money. These people were under the impre.ssion that they were mak­ ing sacrifices because it was the least they could do for their coun­ try. They did not give their lives and money so that the shipown­ ers could pile up enormous prof­ its, and then use these profits to try to beat down the seamen and the unions of their own choice. The Longshoremen ask the score, and get it from Blackie Neira. In the rear. Brother Neira is speaking to the president and secretary-treasurer of the Longshoremen. In the foreground is Charles Kimball, Mobile Agent, By PAUL GONSORCHIK Although it may not be ap­ parent, the men who work in the Dispatching Department are sometimes pretty well over­ worked. Lately, our Registration man, Benny Gonzales, has been even more rushed and that is the fault of the men. All Registration men have a tough job, but in New York it is much tougher than any other place. Registrations run high here and average close to 100 per day. And there is where the trouble starts. Practically every man comes up to Benny's desk asks two or three questions. That means JDCtween 200 and 300 questions a day. Answering is part of his job, but boy, some of the ques­ tions are dillys. • FOOLISH QUESTIONS Here are some samples; "Did you hear from Joe, I can't remember his last name, •^Ut he is about so high and has brown hair?" "Has A1 So-and-So stopped go­ ing around with that girl down in New Orleans?" "Did Pete's wife gave birth to her baby yet? Was it a boy or a girl?" How can the Dispatcher or the Registration man know any of the answers to these questions when most times we don't even know the people being asked about? Friday, June 21, 1946 TOOK RISKS While Mr. Shipowner was safe in his office, the men sailing the ships were in constant danger. We were known as "Heroes in Dungarees" and the shipowners basked in our reflected glory. Like ghouls, they gloated over the record made by the seamen who delivered ..the supplies and the men through war-torn seas. Many seamen died v/hile ship­ owners piled up the profits. Now thatjthey are being asked to share their ill-gotten gains, they sit back and give us a great big "NO." The war is now long over, and shipowners have short memories. They have forgotten our hero­ ism; they think only of the fact that they wil make slightly less profit if they give us a decent living wage. The Cape Falcon crew begin their suitcase parade. The man in the foreground is a longshoreman, and he seems to be pretty wrought up over the Skipper's actions. Industry-wide Strike Must Be Prepared (Continued from Page 5) tear down all the sailoi's' condi­ tions after Russia entered the war on the side of the Allies). . STRIKE BREAKERS These people will destroy the trade unions of which they are members or officials to advance their political purposes. Thdy have in the pa.st, and will in the future, feed their memberships treacherous propaganda and lies in order to sabotage sailors' con­ ditions and our Union. They have approached our op­ erators, when we were out on strike, and attempted to sail our struck ships for sell-out con­ tracts. They have openly finked on the MM&P. They have finked on their own rank and file mem­ bership (the '39 tanker strike). Can we afford to do business with people of this nature? They arc lovey-dovey now—sure, they want us off our ships and on the picketline in support of their strike-pledged memberships, re­ gardless of what our obligations may be. We are in complete sympathy with, and 100 percent for, the working stiffs in these unions and whatever they want in wages and conditions, but we cannot plaiy with fire and expect not to get burned. They may have the support of some commie-controlled un­ ions in the foreign countries, but do not think for one minute that the SlU-SUP could get this sup­ port if we were on strike and the Cornmie Party gang was bucking us. In the event we were out on strike and these people saw where they could take over our operators, provided the operators were foolish enough to dicker with them, on a sell-out contract and thereby gain control of the American Merchant Marine—do you for one minute think that they would not advocate and at­ tempt to do this? Old Joe Stalin would personally subsidize the American fleet for that oppor­ tunity. ^ We must not overlook a pre­ vailing condition that exists within our Union. Since the beginning of the war we have had to open our books to all com­ ers in order to sail our ships. This circumstance created this condition: 1. When it took guts to take a job off the board, torpedoes took a terrific toll of our best men. 2. Many commies infiltrated in­ to our ranks. 3. We have within our mem­ bership a number of class-conscious idealists who will ad­ vocate to a degree any mass strike movement against capi­ talist management contrary to their better judgment, practical reasoning, and trade union principles. 4. We have a great many new­ comers and green boys who are not educated or don't know the score in the com­ plex maritime labor field. Therefore, it is imperative that we deliberate thoroughly and democratically any proposed pro­ cedure we might undertake and not jump the gun on any super­ charged proposals that would lead us into trouble. We all make our living from the sea. The only bulwark be­ tween the seamen's conditions today and the conditions of '29-'33 are the SIU-SUP and the sup­ port we get from our affiliates, the Teamsters, the ILA and the MM&P, etc. I do not want anyone to misin­ terpret my position. I want everything for the sailors that the industry will stand. I am not backward in pulling the pin on a ship, but, a word of advice to each and every member of our Union—when you get a beef, be it large or small— 1. Know that you are right. 2. Try convincing by arguing your opinion and position. 3. If you have to hang the hook, drop both of them. With the resources at their command, they can convince the public that we are a bunch of overpaid, underworked bums. But the reverse is true, and if the public could only be made aware of the truth, they would be =on our side. No one could possibly think that our demands are exorbitant when all we want is .what all workers ashore already have. There is no reason why an elec­ trician, or a carpenter, or a ma­ chinist should work forty hours a week, while a seaman works fifty-six hours weekly, without the payment of overtime. DEMANDS JUST This situation must be cor­ rected, and the obvious solution is to start the four watch sys­ tem. This would only mean an additional five men on each ship, and would create more jobs for American merchant seamen. Mr. Shipowner claims that there is no room for more men aboard ships. We can all re­ member when college boys work­ ed their way to Europe during the summer. The operators found room for extra hands then, didn't they? There is plenty of room for the personnel that would be needed, but anything that takes profits away from these heartless bosses is out as far as they are con­ cerned. This issue is too important. We must do all we can to get the shipowners to accept the four watch system. We must be pre­ pared for any action to press home oiir demands. �THE SEAFARERS LOG Friday, June 21. Id4fi Page Sevim^ Mobile Demonstrates How Union Solidarity Will Settle Beefs By CHARLES KIMBALL Reactionary American Legion Opposes Seamen's Bill Of Rights HQ NEWS?? By JOE ALGINA Silence Ihis.week from th* Branch Agents of the follow­ ing ports: MOBILE—This town saw one of the b^st demonstrations of unity when we had our special meeting and work stoppage on June G. didn't convince the people of Mobile that labor is united, the events of the next few days cer­ tainly have done the trick. FIRST BEEF First off, the Ranier, Deconhil Steamship Company, came in with a'oout $4000 worth of logs; not bad for a four month trip. The Skipper immediately got the Gestapo, I mean the Coast Guard, to come on board, and they .started holding a private Kan­ The men in Pensacola also hit garoo Court. the beach but they weii- unable We threatened to shut the ship to get here in time to attend. We kept them informed about down, and that brought the Port Agent to his senses. He asked the goings on by telephone. If this meeting and stoppage us to have the cases considered in the saloon without the Captain, and to this we agreed. We were compelled to hire a large hall for tjie meeting, and even that turned out to be too small, so we had to have a sec­ ond meeting later in our own Hall. it isn't one think it over again, and this PHILADELPHIA time he decided that coffee time BOSTON is a very good idea. CHARLESTON Dtsidca battling with the Coast Shipping is picking up here, SAVANNAH Guard. WSA. and the shipowners, but there is still room for im­ HOUSTON now we have to take on the provement. Now that the com­ SAN JUAN American Legion. This bunch is mies have called off their mari­ not satisfied to wear their uni­ time strike, I guess we'll have to forms and go on toots during carry the ball for the seamen as their conventions; no sir, they we always have. I still can't To make a long story short, have to stick their noses into figure what the NMU got out of all the logs were cancelled, the our business. the settlement — from here it charges were dropped, and the looks like Harry Bridges and his The American Legion has taken Stewards Department. Company asked us for permission Steward Praised It's not very frequent that the to keep the Skipper aboard long a stand that merchant seamen, union got the gravy, and the You could have scuttled my crew will single out the "Belly enough to square up his accounts. who served during the war, are NMU and the other unions got the leavings. towboat when the crew of the Robbers" for praise but that's ex­ not entitled to a "Bill of Rights" The second illustration of Galen Stone, Eastern Steamship actly what happened. The Stew­ That's the way we had it similar to the one granted to vet­ solidai-ity cam.e about on our Company, sang the praises of the ard and Chief Cook explained it erans of the Armed Services. figured all the time. beef with the Calmar Line. The this way. They claim that the merchant SS Roy K. Johnson had 83 hours "Whatever we have," thejy marine is a voluntary civilian or­ in disputed overtime, and all of said, "we put out. No man will ganization and that merchant it was legitimate. However, the ever go hungry as long as we seamen are not, and were not, Calmar repre.sentative didn't have food to give them. Of subject to military discipline and think so, and he flatly refused By LOUIS GOFFIN course, we try to make every­ to pay it. hardships. thing taste good, and we serve Don't laugh, fellows, thiey're JACKSONVILLE — Things in and the SS James Rumsey. it so that the men will enjoy the EXTRA WORK really serious. This scow signed on in New this port are as slow as ever, and sight of the food as well as the I sat down to talk to him, and prospects for the next few days York for a trip to the east coast taste." GESTAPO CONTROL of South America, but she ran pointed out that if he could Don't push, boys, this ship has Being under Coast Guard con­ are not much brighter. We have aground on a reef in the Ba­ show me how the work—defrost­ trol doesn't mean miliatry dis­ a few rated men registered and hamas and so she was towed into only a small turnover. ing and cleaning ice-box, sorting By the way, the Skipper of the cipline according to these guys. we will be glad to send them to this port. vegetables, sorting and bagging vessel took the opoprtunity to And being torpedoed and bombed any of the nearby branches that are in need of them. congratulate the Union on sup­ OTHER VISITORS doesn't constitute hardships. We had it understood that the Our other visitors during the plying such a good crew. There are 6000 seamen who James Purcell were sent to the bottom as a re­ coastwise runs were going to be week included the SS Amarillo resumed, but the Bull Lines » ft 4 Victory, which was here for one sult of enemy action. They didn't die of old age. If that doesn't threw a bombshell at us when day discharging a little cargo, Traditions Upheld count as a hardship, what does? they announced that, although and the SS Cornell Victory, I had the satisfaction of seeing Through their spokesman. Col­ they intend to go back into the which was here for a few hours a good gang upliold the principles onel John Thomas Taylor, the coastwise business, they do not and then steamed out for San and traditions of the SIU when I paid off the SS B. Herman, a American Legion .states that sea­ plan to use this port for some Pedro. Since no regular meetings are Weyerhauser ship. men were generally higher paid time to come. held here due to the shortage of When I came on board, I waa than servicemen and therefore PLANS CHANGED full book members, the men who met in the messroom by the Deck do not need, and are not entitled I Prior to the war. Bull had at are around express their senti­ Delegate, Brother H. Muckner, to, a "Bill of Rights." least one ship in here each week, ments that they are united be­ and the rest of the Deck gang. LITTLE PAY and we figui-ed that with the hind the negotiating committee Every one was sober, and theie resumption of the coastwise in whatever actions are neces­ were no beefs. This is complete hooey. Sea­ dirty linen—could be done in the" trade, they would Pperate as they sary to get our demands from the men wei-e paid a little more than All the rooms and lockers u.sed Steward Department's regular servicemen, but they had ex­ did in the past. We are very shipowners. (Continued on Page 9) working hoiu's, 1 would concede penses that had to be met out of the dispute to him. the money they earned, not To this he replied he wasn't through Goveinment allotments. a seaman; did not know anything Seamen had to buy their own about ships, and would not pay clothes, support their own fami­ the beef. By W. H. (RED) SIMMONS lies, and replace any personal be­ The crew refused to pay off longings lost due to torpedoing SAN FRANCISCO—No change es) $46.08 for doing work other until this wSs squared awaiy. or bombing. of pace out here this week. Ship­ than of a routine galley nature. After offering them their money, As a result of all this, many The overtime vouchers for which they would not take, the ping continues to be somewhat seamen averaged less pay than these men have been sent to the Calrnai' representative ordered slow as it has been for the past servicemen, not more. Mississippi Company's office in the crew off the ship. This or­ couple of weeks. This is not the first time that New Orleans. der was carried out to the letter. the American Legion has taken West Coast representative Bob At the payoff here of the MV Calmar thought that this a stand that is selfish and not in Matthews is in New York cov­ Wall Knott, three Oilers were the best interests of most people. ering the Engine Department in paid an average of 200 hours would be a good time to dry dock the ship and work her ovexv The organization has a long reac­ hopeful that when the fruit sea­ the current negotiations. each for tending the evaporators son starts, the Bull Line will However, the tugboatmen will tionary record, but they really We settled what we believe on sea watches. This Waterman change plans and use this port not move the ship until the be^ went out of their way to pick might be a precedent in the way ship was paid off here June 11. again. A ship a week would is settled, and the longshoremen on us. of beefs out here this week. We keep this port on its feet. have also told the Company that We did our job during the war. won overtime for the men tend­ they will not work the ship until Most of the ships that we have We don't want special credit, ing the evaporators on sea the company comes to terms with been getting here are SUP. Since just what others who served watches aboard the SS Charles the SIU. we have jurisdiction in the Deck Seafarers Sailing their country got. McDonnell, when the Mississippi Department only on those ships, Steamship Co. vessel paid off on That's the way things stand .4s Engineers TOUGH SKIPPER it doesn't do the members of the May 31. now, but we are in hopes that The Skipper of the Cape Fara- Engine and Stewards gangs any the company will see the light All members—retired mem­ The following men come in lon, Moran Tugs, is probably a good. Sb, we ship ABs and Oi*- for the specified sums as a result soon so that the whole mess can bers and former members— be cleared up. follower of Joe "No Coffee Time" dinairys fairly regularly, but we of the settlement; Edwin King, of the Seafarers IniemallonCurran. Anyhow, he refused to seldom have any jobs for the Oiler, ($54.00 less $10.80 taxes) al Union who are now sailing Other than these beefs, this give the night watch time for other two departments. as licensed Engineersr Please port is running very smoothly. $43.20; Leslie Blanchard, Oiler, coffee^.and the crew got a little report as soon as possible to Jhcksbhville is mainly a port of ($196.20 less $37.28 taxes) $156.90; tVe can use rated men, especially bit mad about the whole thing. the Seafarers Hall at 51 Bea­ call for SUP ships, just loading Alan. Peak, Oiler, ($64.80 less ABs arid Cooks, but I guess prac­ ver Stteef. New York City, I went down to'see hirrt, and he of discharging a little. But at the $12.96 faxes) $51.84; Louis Briant, tically every port is iri the same •ybu'r jirfesehte' is hiceiisafy in Mid that he didn't think the present time, we have .the SS Oiler, ($270.90. lesS $27.09 taxes) position. Busiribss and shipping meri l deserved the time. The Teiry Stephehson. which has just $243.90; Vefhbh Weideman, 3rd a matter of great iih|>oftahce. are very good—we hope the same fate' continues. crew gave him about 24 hoUfs to ^ghed oh for the Baukite fiih. Cook, has ($57.50 less $11.52 tax­ NEW YORK—If thing, it's another. The Patrolmen Say... Jacksonville Wants More Ships Frisco Wins Overtime For Oilers Attention Members! �THE SE AF ARERS LO G ^ Page Eight Florida Unions Work Together WITH To Beat Finky State's Attorney By SONNY SIMMONS r r TAMPA—We are finally lo­ cated in our new Hall, and while there are still some things to be done to make this place adaptable for our own use, nevertheless it is very comfortable. W^hen we get everything squared away, we will have the finest Hall on the Gulf. Our location is excellent since we are right in the center of all the union halls in Tampa. Of course, our Hall is one of the best, and we have nothing to be ashamed of. At the present time all of the unions that own halls here in Tampa have filed an injunction aginst the Tax Assessors to pre­ vent them from taxing the build­ ings. This is the latest move in a wide open campaign against., la­ bor. UNION BUSTER The big shot of the drive is the Attorney General of Florida, a character named J. Tom Watson. He is admittedly out to break unions, and he hates them so much that when he gets up to make a speech against them, he s^' By HUGH MURPHY taking part in local elections is VANCOUVER — A recent ar«. not the best policy, but we have rival here was the British freight­ to do something to beat this er, the Samshee, just about the scab-loving, fink-hiring, big dirtiest rustbucket ever to hit business stooge. There are lots of ships stop­ this port. The crew was up in ping here and at Boca Grande. arms against their intolerable The Luther Hurd and the Eleanor conditions, and at the bad treat­ are in EG now and we sent re­ placements to both. The Port ment at the hands of the Skip­ Agent for Waterman said that per. several of their ships are going This character had the dis­ on this run, and the first one, torted idea, that seamen are not the Andrew Jackson, will be in human. However, the crew mem­ this week. The Bull Line is also starting bers had other ideas and they coastwise runs on July 10, and knew that they had only to con­ that will be very good for us all. tact the local branch of the SIU Most of the fellows have ship­ to get action to improve t' r lot. A hearing of the complaints of ped, and we are having trouble getting rated men. -I hope this the crew was held in the Ship­ situation does not continue. If ping Office, presided over by the it does, I will probably turn gray. Shipping Master, at which noth- Operator Pays For Chiseling Try By WILLIAM STEVENSON DETROIT—While the Detroit and Cleveland boats were fitting out, the company had all mem­ bers of the Stewards Department examined by the company doc­ tor. This is a good way for a chiseling company to eliminate the militant crew members. And chat is exactly what happened. Because the people who were •ired were good Union members, ve were able to do something ibout it right away. We sent rsi > them up to the United States actually cries. I heard him make Public Health Service for an ex­ a speech to some finks here and amination, and then had them this weeping phony was really taken back on the ships they a sight to see. were fired from. The tears were rolling down his cheeks, and he was sobbing ALL COLLECT to beat the band. We good union Best of all, they collected full men down here would like to give pay and subsistence for the time him something to cry about. they had lost. I'll bet it will be One of the things he has done a long time before this company recently was to invite a fink tries to play games with the SIU herder named James Karam, and again. his phony Veterans Industrial It is a shame to see the way Association, to Florida to set up some Canadian seamen work shop. All labor is up in arms twelve hours a day for starva­ against this move, and we are not tion wages. Canadian shipown­ going to take it without protests. ers get the same freight rates as BEAT WATSON American operators, yet Ameri­ Watson comes up for election can seamen make three times as soon, and all the labor unions much money as Canadian sea­ are consolidating their strength men. to defeat this bum. I realize that Now the Canadian shipowners are fighting tooth and nail against the eight hour day. We have a contract with the Grand The Skipper of the SS John Truck Car Ferry, under Cana­ Gallup, Smith and Johnson Line, dian registry, and the seamen must be a very lonely man. At who work for that company have least, it sounds that way from the had the eight hour day for 27 fact that he would not give the years. Strange as it may sound crew any liberty in foreign ports. to the other operators, the Grand Or else, maybe he's just a Truck has made money and is tough guy who wants to show the Till making it. crew who is boss. He would not FINKS SCARED exchange any foreign money that Last. week the Noronic, Canathe crew had left over, and that Jian Steamship Lines, tried to made bad blood between him and dock here after beating it away the crew. from Thorold, Ontario, with a It is just such officers that finky crew. make unlicensed men resentful I got together with the repre­ of the authority given to the li­ censed men. We think that situa­ sentatives of the ILA and the tions iike this should be rectified MM&P and we told the Captain of the .ship to take her out of by the shipping companies. If anything like this happens there. After we finished talking on a ship that you are on, notify to him, he moved her upstream. the Patrolman as soon as he We gave him a little help by comes aboard. There is probably casting the lines off. Most of the windows on the something we can do about it. ship were broken, and it was no Ray Gonzales better than the Skipper and the Salvador Cools Johnny Johnston crew deserved. There is no place LONELY SKIPPER - : for finks in the maritime indus­ try. SHIPPING GOSSIP Shipping has been good in thi.s port for the last month. We could use more rated men in all departments if they are willing to sail on unorganized ships. Dave Walker, the Steward aboard the SS Cleveland III, gave the passengers a real treat on Mothers' Day. He had a big open house with ice-cream, cake, and a big orchestra. Our Duluth Hall is opening this week with Brother Nordaas as the Agent in charge. If any of the Brothers get up in that neck of the woods, they should make it a point to drop in. The same goes for visitors to this Hall. We like to see you, so come on along. Friday, June 21, 1946 SIU IN CANADA ing whatever was decided or ac­ be instrumental in raising our complished. standards and also removing the We went to work on this and menace of scab labor which is had the health authorities check only made possible by the inhu­ the ship and fumigate the crew's man treatment of British seamen. "In conclusion, let us add tliat quarters. This was not entirely satisfactory, but the ship was your members must indeed be very proud to have such an effi­ cleaned up after a fashion. cient Agent in this port." QUICK ACTION GREEK SHIPS We followed up on this action Quite a number of old rustby petitioning the Government buckets have been bought up to centralize the health inspec­ recently by Greek shipping in­ tion service in this port, and protests have been sent to mem­ terests, which are making a real bers of Pnrliarnent in regard to bid for some share of the fat the deplorable conditions under profits to be made out of ship­ which "Britannia Rules the ping. Who said a ship doesn't pay? Ask the man who owns one. Slaves." These racketeers must have Thanks from the crew of the learned the shipping business in Samshee is contained in a letter Britain, as they have the same which was sent to me right be­ philosophy as the British ship­ owner. This feeling that .seamen do not deserve decent wages and good conditions is one which we have to combat, and so far we have put a few of these Greek ships in order. The shipowners don't like the idea of dealing with the Union, and they have tried every pos­ sible to dodge to avoid it. But the Phaeax II, which is crowing up here, is no exception and she will be dealt with before -she clears. fore the ship sailed. follows: The letter "We, the crew of the Samshee, would like to extend to you our gratitude for the action you are taking in an effort to raise our so very low standard of living on the majority of British Freighters. "In the first instance, never have we experienced such amaz­ ing results as attained by you in so short a period of time. We really think that this case will In organizing seamen to fight for higher wages and better con­ ditions, I am reminded of what Clarence Darrow said. He put it better than anyone else, so here it is: "When you are organized, the boss will listen to you; the strong­ er ' your organization, the more attentively he will listen. As you become strong so will he become rea.sonable. Weaken and he will wipe you out." Waterfront Unions In Chicago Form Council By HERBERT JANSEN already been converted from a the City of Grand Rapids is tak­ coal burner to an oil burner. ing the run which the Milwaukee CHICAGO—On June 4 a meet­ Clipper had last year. RUNS SET ing was held to form a Mari­ The Theodore Roosevelt will Sounds kind of confusing, but time Council among the Port of Chicago Waterfront Unions. start her operation on June 22. it's easy to understand once you This body will thrash out any She will ply between Chicago get on to it. These ships need marine problems that come up, and Benton Harbor, Michigan. men, rated men especially, so and will also back each other She will be taking the place of if you want to sail from the up in the event of any trouble. the City of Grand Rapids, and Windy City, come right along. There is no question that this Council will be a benefit to sea­ men in this port. Shipping in the Windy City has picked up during the last By JIMMY STEWART week, and we have quite a few jobs on the board for coal burning Well, he finally took a ship. melons and unlimited ice cream. Firemen and Oilers. We have a You don't know who? Why Mr. We wonder what he is going to few ABs on hand now, but ex­ Bellyrobber Hutchin.snn, of do for his Bible while he is away. pect them to be gone in a short He can surely pick all the losers. course. He took it under the time. Well, Hutch old boy, maybe bet­ one condition — that some one ter luck when you come back. SIU GAIN At the time of the writing of would scare up all the Chief Get a good roll this time; Sara­ this report, we were able to place Stewards to work for him. toga will be open when you get After soliciting on the third here. Wipers aboard the Theodore Roosevelt, the North and the floor he finally made it.. He got If the membership is wonder­ South American. These ships old boy W. C. Vandorsall for ing why it is so quiet in the have never before carried Wipers a Chief Ccr-k, and the last we recreation room, it is becaus.e the and this constitutes quite a gain saw of Chief Steward Walsh he Big Wind, Bellyrobber Hutchin­ was counting and sorting soiled son, recruited all the Stewards, for the SIU. except an odd one or two, and In operation, out of this port linen. Hutch spoke of the good chow took them on his tanker. at the present-time are the RockHe has invited all hands to a wood, the Gilbert, the North he was putting out on his tanker. American, and the City of Grand Well—it may be true, but when turkey dinner on Sunday but Rapids. The Milwuakee Clipper he visited the recreation room, here is the catch—you have to is operating between Milwaukee he was overheard sending Stew­ swim to get it as his tanker is and Muskegon, Michigan, on an ard Joe Ryan for a liverwurst on the hook at the -Federal an­ sandwich on the Q.T. chorage. Well, good intentions all year schedule. We all believe him, of course, anyhow. Hutch. Waiting to go into a shipyard You know. Hutch, the road to in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, is the but the good chow he talked Sand Boat American. She will' about happened to slip out—10 hell is paved with good inten­ be lengthened 43 feet, and has crates of strawberries, ICQ water- tions. Bellyrobber Finally Takes Ship �THE SEAFARERS LOG Friday. Julie 21. 1946 TALKING IT OVER Page Nia»^ The Patrolmen Say— By ERIC UPCHURCH {Contbmcd from Page 7) Here is only an incident; but j those regions will not be easy based on very realistic fact. It, to Put over, If a man has been taught for could be used as an illustration years to disbelieve in a thing, it of the need for organization with­ is impossible to change him over­ in the Southern textile mills. night. I am a Southerner, and I by the Deck men were clean and ready for the next crew. Only the Deck crew was SlU, as this was an SUP ship. Tlie Black Gang and the Stew­ ards Department had plenty of beefs, and no one to represent them. But that comes under the heading of something for the Committee on Maritime Unity to worry about. Here's hoping I run into a lot more guys like those in the Deck Department of the B. . Herman. Johnny Johnston The screaming blast of the cotton-mill whistle informed the snuff-dipping working stiffs that it was time for lunch. They filed out to the mill grounds, eating slowly, never ga/.ing at each other, but looking shamefully downward. The grounds were protected by a high storm fence with three strands of barbed wire running across the top. "Scabs! Dirty, rotten, yellow, slimy, filthy scabs,!" were the shouts from without. And the day before the head "overseer" had told the crowd: "All of you that want to work in my mill can. I've got six men here with sawed-off shotguns to see that you're not molested." say this: A large part of the pop­ ulation flatly refuse to open their minds to things other than re­ vivals, corn whiskey, and corn cobs. It shall be somewhat try­ ing to teach old dogs new tricks. And In those who feel offended at this I say, if the shoe fits you, wear it. Brothers Dinnsen, Yatly. and Bertney discuss the action taken at the work-stoppage meeting. X t X Good Feeling Cooperation and good feeling between crew and officers is pos­ sible. This is proved by the way the licensed and unlicensed per­ sonnel got along on the SS John Gorrie, South Atlantic Company. The winner of the ships pool WHAT have we accomplished in thes2 long years? Years in which our Union supplied beer for the crew messand our Union alone has borne the brunt of the struggle. Years in which room and the saloon. The of­ paid fines for infractions as our Union alone has remained consistent never giving up the struggle which ficers HEROES ALL stipulated by the crew. In fact, Six men, with sawed-off shot­ has gone on since 1874 for one day or even for one hour. the Third Mate accompanied the Our course has been steady,* guns, and the sanction of the payment of his fine with a let­ our destination clearly chartered. agreement with seamen of other owner—Federal, State and City, police, the protection of the state ter of apology. Governments. The rocks of shipowners oppo.- countries. militia, the good dd Home Such cooperation must be com- • The first control of shipping The realization that "war mended. sition, the 'reefs of dissension Guard. These heroic Americans, heroes" are "peace-bums" in the have not wrecked us. Our des­ through our own hiring halls. James Sheehan tination is one strong union of The first establishment of an eyes of the shipowners. James Purcell all seamen, our final port of call The knowledge that leadership our own lives which we have must be constantly refreshed XXX dedicated to the success of this with new and vigorous elements. trip. Let us look back through A union conscious group of Crew Instructions the years and see what we have* union members who wouldn't When a man leaves a ship he gained through our Union. give up the ship. should make sure that every­ 1934-1945 thing is in order. It is not fair to 1874-1915 strike victory against all odds. take off as soon as the ship hits Founding of the first seamens Wage increases from a $22.50 the dock, and leave your work paper "The Coast Seamens Jour­ low to the scale of today. for others to finish up. nal." Living conditions that enable If you are a book member, you Organization of our parent or­ us to have pride in our profession. can be brought up on charges for ganization, the Sailors Union of Minimum hours, universal doing this. If you are a tripthe Pacific, which is this year adoption of the three watch sys- carder, you stand a good chance clubs and guns read—ready to celebrating its sixtieth anniver­ adequate manning scale. of having your tripcard lifted. blast away at their fellowmen. sary. The establishment of penalty Make up your mind as to The state militia in their bright Abolition of flogging and bucko pay for dangerous and obnoxious whether you are going to stay and shiny khaki—the little toy mates. cargoes. on the boat, or get off. Don't soldiers ready to make America The first national accord on Enactment of the first bene­ wait until the last minute to teU safe for the boss' democracy—ad­ ficial maritime legislation. overtime hours and pay. the head of your Department vancing to satisfy their sadistic First single agreement signed that you decided not to make an­ Foundation of the first interlust at the striker's expense. on a national scale (the agree­ other trip. It puts him in a bad coastal and Great Lakes union, These men, if they could be so ment of 1919-1921). hole, and sometimes puts the the National Seamens Union. called, little knowing or further Transportation back to port of Union behind the eight-ball. Foundation of the International caring who was beaten or killed. signing on (prior to this agree­ Last week, the SS George Already a northern labor leader Seamens Union. ment the law had considered the Washington sailed with two stew­ The" first negotiated contracts seamen an absolute transient had been beaten to death. How ardesses because one woman proud they were of this! between the seamen and the ship­ with no home). could not make up her mind. It owners. The "overseer" had shouted: 1921-1934 tem and definition of our duties. won't always work out that way, Freedom from the crimp and "Let it be a lesson to you. You'll A defeat that made us realize Piii-ticipation in all matters'so don't wait until right before get nowhere fast in the union. boarding house keeper. sailing time to make up your that officials alone cannot run pertaining to seamen. See where you are? The whole Better food and quarters. an organization. mind. Cooperate with the head Emergency wage increases. world is against you. Come back A knowledge of the forces at National recognition of the War risk pay—the bonus and of Department and the Union, to work or starve! ISU as the spokesman and cham­ the beck and call of the ship­ area compensation. I William Hamillon The whistle screamed a com­ pion of all seamen. mand, and the scabs obeyed. Passage of the "Seamens Act" of 1915 which first gave seamen i 3;. i their "place in the sun" and has In La Grange, Georgia, some proven a model for international few years ago, a CIO organizer's legislation. Andrew Furuseth, a great man, car was riddled with bullets. Luckily, the organizer was not a great sailor, a great leader. inside. At that time, the owners 1915-1921 of the Southern cotton mills had The first living wages for sea­ imbedded anti-union ideas into men. the entire working class, and The first international working used it against such attempts to unionize the workers. And this stands largely true in many portions of the South to­ day. The organizational cam­ If you don't find linen paign currently sponsored in whqn you go aboard your ship, notify the Hall at once. A telegram from Le Havre or Singapore won't do you any good. It's your bed and you have to lie in it. ATTENTION! Make Isthmian SlU! �rmaf, JtinA 81, 1946 THE SEAFAREHS LOG Page Teii . -/M. • SHIPS' MINUTES AND NEWS If EVERYTHING HAPPENED ON LAST AIKEN TRIP iiiiilill® Third Mate Has Good Humor Every once in a while, in the course of editing this page, we feel a twinge of conscience about the blasting the officers and Stewards take in the stories that appear here. That follows, of course, because llie stinkers art the ones the beefs come up about and it's the beefs that make the hews. Eut here, at long last, comes an officer who is good copy for neither reason; we have this story about him merely because he has a sense of humor. FINE SYSTEM • The John Gorrie crew set up a fine system, it seems, for the wayward Brethren who commit­ ted such felonies as spitting on the messroom deck, putting their feet in the soup or on the bulk hfeads, leaving coffee cups dirty, or other infractions which are commonplace on shipboard. Into the crew's mess for a cuppacawfee came Third Mate R. W. Mills. He had it, then left without washing his cup. The crew informed him that he had a fine coming. Did Mate Mills get Sore? Heck no. As we said be­ fore, he has a sense of humor. So he wrote a note to the crew, which we print, herewith: To; Members of the crew of fhe SS John Gorrie Subj. 25 cents fine of Robert W. Mills. Third Mate Dear Sirs: Please find enclosed the amount of twenty five cents. . (25c)(two bits), which rep' resents a debt incurred by my J per^n, for the act of my negli­ gence, by my leaving a java ctip upon the messhall table. With humble embarrassmenf . 1 remit this sum to you, to I c6Ver my act of law defilement. 1 frost and count upon your sense of fairness, that this : eondOnt will offset any charges or further acts of prosecution oft feat part against my per­ son. Thanking you in advance for any consideration shown to me pertaining to this unfortunate act of misdeamenor. I remain, yr. hmble servt. R. W. Mills, 3rd Mate SS John Gorire If we may lapse into editorial comment again, we'd like to say that it's too bad there are not more at home like Mills, Last Trip Of Aiken Eventful The editor of the Log has made a discovery, but it is a very hullow one. He ha.s found .some­ one who takes superlative (see pictures on this page) pictures, understands just how to frame a shot for maximum dramatic ef­ fect, and • who is able to repoil the events of a trip factually, in­ teresting and informatively. What's more, he is modest. He sent in the following report with the notation: "This is merely a sketch; you'll have to do your own writing; the following is as authentic as my feeble powers are able to produce." But the guy's much too modest. He didn't even sign his name. Here, however, is the unedited "sketch" which accompanied the pictures: The Aiken Victory, with Cap­ tain John E. Owens in command, was on its thirteenth voyage, bound for Liverpool with 1,000 PWs aboard, when, on the fourth day out of New York, one of the passengers became dangerously ill. ^^ ^ ' Here are the outstanding photos made by the unidenti­ fied crew member of the Aiken on her last frip: Top, Capt. John F. Owens. Master of the Aiken, tdews aft iceberg on the trip across; it looks small, but there's much more ice area be­ low the surface than shows above. Immediately below is the Bardstowrt Victory, plough­ ing through a flat sea and a foggy day. as she was over­ taken by the Aiken during the letter's twelfth trip; the Aiken beat hdr from LeHavre io New York by 10 hours. And here's a V frame for the Colby Vic­ tory as she came up to the Aiken to transfer her surgeon; aftermath is the small boat bearing the medic as she came alongside the Aiken. At bot­ tom is a beautifully framed shot of the Portuguese schooner Neptuno II, when the Aiken sent the Army doctor to boud her, to treat a sick man aboard. NO DOCTOR The Aiken was traveling with­ out a doctor, so it became neces­ sary to resort to the radio for medical advice and assistance. Fortunately, we had passed the Colby Victory (another troop transport bound for New York) a few hours before. In no time at all we had established con­ tact and were receiving advice from the Colby's surgeon. Because of the patient's condi­ tion, it became necessary for ex­ pert treatment and both ships changed courses sd the Colby's doctor could be brought aboard. This was accomplished, despite fairly rough weather, and by the time we reached our destination, the patient was well on the way to recovery. RADIO OUT On the return trip, bound for New York with American GIs, the third radio operator inter­ cepted an urgent request for medical assi.stance from the Por­ tuguese schooner Neptuno 2. In­ asmuch as the schooner's radio was inoperative, this message and others to follow were relayed by a Norwegian ship which no­ ticed the schooner's distress flag and stood by until all urgent ra­ dio traffic with the schooner was completed. It was learned that the schooner, like the Aiken on it's first lap, had a very sick mah aboard and required the serv­ ices of a doctor immediately. Without any hesitation our Skip­ per decided to go to the aid of the sphooner and offer the serv­ ice of our Army doctor, who hadn't done a damn thing up .to then atiyhow. A rendezvous was arranged and in about 10 hours we reached the position of the schooner, as given us. But -it took another four hburfi to fihdE the schooner. It wa.s finally located by radar {Continued on Page 14) �THE SEAFARERS LOG Friday. June 21, 1948 Digested Minutes Of SiU Ship Meetings WALTER L. FLEMING. May 6 — (Chairman and secretary not noted). Members of all de­ partments voted to hold up the payoff until all beefs are set­ tled. The following tripcard members, waiting to obtain Probationary books, were voted in by the full book men: T. Madigan, R. McDonald. D. Erwin. Leo Benski. Leo R. Johnson, F. Mill. David Shepard. James Harris, and T'gree Ratcliff. 4 4 4 Dashed If We Know yVhat The MinuLes Are This spacij was originally plan­ ned for a ship's minutes story. But the combined efforts of our crack identification corps proved futile—they just couldn't figure out which ship had "inferior syrup aboard" or whose Skipper and officers "black-marketed cig­ arettes." It's quite perplexing. The Log has accumulated a sizeable backlog of anonymous ship's minutes. No names—just dashes. For example: "Minutes of the SS——Ship's name, chairman and secretary, all fol­ lowed by dashes. We tossed a few of these min­ utes over to the editor with a "How - do -^ya - want - to-handlethis?' But all we got was a "Dash it all!" So, how about you guys help­ ing out. When you send in your minutes, check to see if you've filled in the dashes with the name of your ship. Thanks. Meanwhile, we're ducking out for a short one. We got the feel­ ing we're being followed by a dash. 4 4 4 CAPE HONDA. May 13 — Chairman C. L. Fosior; Secre­ tary A. H. Bennett. Motions carried: to hold next crew meeting on second night at sea in order to act on unsettled mat­ ters; to ask for Union action on the following: (1) Insulating crew messhall from the galley inasmuch as ship is on tropical run; (2) investigate possibility of better ventilation in crew messhall and quarters by means of blowers, etc.; (3) cooling cold water system. Mo­ tion passed to have delegates see Captain aboujl changing course while blswing tubes to aid in keeping after deck clean, 4 4 4 WILLIAM MOULTRIE. April 21—Chairman George Meaney; Secretary J. P. Thrasher. Dele­ gates report conditions favor­ able in their respective depart­ ments. Need for following re­ pairs cited: door on Steward Dept. head, messman's bunk, bunk light. Steward Dept. shower head, several fans in crew's quarters. List of needed repairs sent to mate and 1st Asst. Engineer. Suggestion made to have crew's messhall and recreation room painted. Steward agreed to this. Shel­ ves for books to be built in rereation room. Motion carried: that mess boy make coffee for 10 A.M.. and Wiper for 3 P.M. Deck Dept. to make it nights. Sat.. Sun., and holidays. Si­ lence for one minute in mem­ ory of Brothers lost at sea. 4 4 4 WILLIAM MOULTRIE, April 28—Chairman George Meaney; Secretary J. P. Thrasher. Bill Keller elected ship's dele­ gate. Tom Moore. Stewards Dept. delegate; O. Callahan. Deck Dept.. Sonny Moe. Engine Dept. Motion carried to have fo'csles painted out as soon as possible, with delegate to con­ tact head of dept. to have job done. 4 4 4 HENRY RICE. April 27— Chairman D. Groves; Secre­ tary R. Minvielle. Delegates report on Union status of crew members. Following conditions were prescribed for the messroom: Menu to be written on blackboard, butter to be put on two plates on each table, shirts covering armpits to be worn by crew at mess, members not to put cigarettes and ashes in cups and plates. Garbage is to be dumped after each meal, and containers cleaned. Crew welcomed former NMU man into SIU. 4 4 4 WILLIAM WIRTH. April 15 =Chairman A. L. Danne; Sec- A while back we ran a shot of crew members on the Powellton Seam, holding their mascot, Peggy. Only, as we pointed out in the outlines. Peggy was nowhere to be seen. Comes now Brother Robert L. Kennedys with a shot he made of the crew and mascot. Peggy is clearly visible here, in the life ring. Page Eleven SEAFARER SAM SAYS: I retary James Zannia. Dept. delegates gave their reports, with all reports favorable. Ben Hayes elected ship's dele­ gate. Motions carried: to write a letter to Union in Mobile to have Alcoa act on having wheel fixed. Letter to also point out that no "pro" kits are available, that the ventilators in engine room need repairs and that Black Gang needs water fountain below. Also carried were motions: to fix fan in recreation room, to get toasters and coffee percolators, to fix scuppers in scullery and crew mess, to change Bosun and Deck Maintpriance rooms, to change Oiler's and Fireman's rooms. Black Gang to take over Steward's showers. Crew must help keep mess hall clean at night, and keep feet off chairs and bulkhead. Observed minute of silence for departed Brothers of SIU. AsTHeR. KM ASHoae OR. A60ARD SHIP -ptB UNION AR6 WHfRg YOU kfAy/B Y«WR SAY - THAT'S To BRIMS seeps, YOC/R. QuSSTiONS, 5i;S6€STlON$, AND A^oyiONS. 4 4 4 Unhappy Washday Song Sung On Cape Mohican "We don't know whether the boys aboard the Cape Mohican are suffering from dishpan hands or whether the perfume in the soap that is supplied aboard her doesn't suit their personalities. CUT AND RUN By HANK At any rate, they passed a mo­ Well, while Jack Parker, the ice-skating champ, is door man­ tion to have the brand of soap ning the first deck, our town of New York is still getting the turn­ chSnged, over of visiting oldtimers . . . Yes sir, Charlie Simmons came into Secretary J. Fisher reports in town—looking good, feeling even better, greeting all his' friends with smiles and words. Not. only that, but you should have seen him give the minutes of the May 11 meet­ a real shipmatey greeting to his pal, "Flash"—Fred Fannin . . . ing that they need a new perco­ Little Ben Rabinowitz just blew in—with bow-tie, a swell tan, a lot lator on the Mohican, and that of smiles and a blue suit. there was a discussion about the 4 4 4 4 showers and toilets. Passengers, it seems, are crowding them out of their own. The meeting also voted to have locks fixed on all doors. 4 4 4 T. J. MCCARTHY, June 9— Chairman McCormick; Secrefary (nof noted). Motions car­ ried: to have Sec'y-Treas. give up-to-date information regard­ ing new 1946 contract; to have Union Hall send minutes of every regular meeting to all SIU ships; to have Patrolman contract Steward and Dele­ gates to explain duties of Util­ ity man aboard auto carrier: to get new springs, mattresses and pillows where needed; to gel washing machines forward and aft; to have aft end show­ ers and washing facilities re­ modeled; to have all carpenter work classed as overtime; to have the Firemen's rooms painted; all screens repaired and installed wheie necessary; Meetings are to be held once a week. It was recommended that the Patrolman. Delegates, etc.. watch their language and think before they talk to Union men. new members and ex­ pected members. 4 4 4 IRVIN S. COBB. May 1— Chairman Jack Binney; Secre­ tary William Ellis. Letter writ­ ten to Union censuring Chief Engineer for his profanity in speaking to the crew. Report­ ed that crew's ice box cannot be repaired. Coffee pot to be ordered for below. New mat­ tresses to be ordered. Recomisiended that Black Gang's toil­ ets be enlarged, that ship be fumigated. William Ellis elect­ ed Deck Delegate. Chairman discussed matter of men refus­ ing to present books and tripcarda to delegates. Hans K. Bergman who retired his book last week, is going back home to Norway as a passenger on a ship. Pleasant voyage to you, Hans, and we hope you haven't any beefs to have set­ tled . . . Timothy Less is trying to ship out—after just com­ pleting a voyage . . . Looks like Bull Huff shipped out last week. Don't dream too much about that farm. Bill . . . To Brother William Thornton we extend our hopes for good cheer and swift health to his mother who is in Duke University hospital down in North Carolina . . . Burly George White is New Yorking it right now. Everything shipshape with you now, George? 4 4 4 4 Hey, Andy Anderson, stop dreaming of Mobile's Royal Cafe. You know who's in town, all right. Yep, it's your pal, "Carioca, Red." . . . Oldtimer Milton Fljmn, who cooks in public schools, etc. in between voyages is looking for a ship nowadays . . . Steward Joe Daugherty, with whom we were shipmates on the Frederick Dau on the '43 Persian Gulf voyage, just shipped out. By the way, Joe would like to say hullo to Maxwell Longfellow and wonders where he is now? . . . Orlando Ranoni is firing the boilers on a T-2 right now . . . Arthur Berg must have missed his shipmate, Paul lliller, who is Skipper now, when Arthur was in New York a month aog. 4 4 4 4 Frank Gardner is waiting for a Steward's job right now. Frank has three kids to support and he knows as well as we do that neither Westbrook Pegler. the WSA or the shipowners never did care about any seaman, his wages or troubles or who he has to support . . . Brother "Sunshine." who is a Mate now. is midtowning in New York . . .Looks like William Bruning is back with us again, too , = Abe Gordon. David Knight and Homer Starling are over in Frisco right now. 4 4 4 4 Noi-folk Grapevine; "Jeff" the Steward was the proud father of a baby girl recently. Well, "Pop," did you do any cooking for the celebration? . . . James Manning was Acting Third Mate (ah, that's what we heard) for awhile, then went Florida way to see his wife, while "Snuffy" Smith kept holding down the town, no doubt . . . While Ray White turned to for a rest . . . Captain Ben Rees gave the Norfolk Brothers a pleasant surprise when he showed them his Captain's license over the harbor boats . . . "Curly" Wandell, Tampa Brother, has his family down Norfolk way, while he's night engineer . . . Steward Caspar Schweikhart has been oh the beach since November. No Steward jobs for you yet, "Brother Camel?" 4 4 4 4 Reefer Oiler Joe James, who quif frying lo get his Third Engineer's license, is on the SS Mayo Brothers . . . We're won­ dering if Joe Medrano is still down in Mobile and if Benjamin Stewart is still up there in bean-town Boston? . . . We've noticed that little Michael Quinn is trying to ship out. Mike, don't you knbw you'll have to be using your good old Irish luck novjadayjil �rajs s£jJTj^jiJs.s zoc J^fl0e Twelve Friday, June 21, 194S THE MEMBERSHIP SPEAKS A Sea Superstition Is Added By DeFazio :Dear Editor: I was Chief Steward aboard the Joseph S. McDonagh which went ashore on a sand bar 15 miles aouth of the Peruvian port of Cerro Azul about 200 miles south •Of Callao in the early morning of March 31. The accident was due to a heavy fog that enveloped the coast, and 48 hours later the 4^p broke in two owing to the force of the tidal wave. During the two months I «pent in Peru awaiting my passage back to the United States, I received from my family several of the weekly copies of the Seafarers Log. In one of them, I was very £lad to read that the SIU took care of its men far away from the United States when some­ thing happened to them. I read how the SIU arranged with War Shipping Administration and the Overtakes SS Corp. to increase cur draw from 10 to 25 dollars a week and sent us $100 in advance of the indemnity that we must collect for the lost property. At that time we were in a very J AWT , miserable condition and such an act by the Union was really ap­ preciated by the ships crew. My attention was drawn also to the articles on the supersti' tions and more keenly so because .of this accident, and this is why. I began going to sea in 1909 and have always disbelieved in the superstitions of seamen. Jlowever, at times I am inclined to believe in them because no matter what nation a seaman sails under, he like the others have the same ideas. In 1919 I was Chief Steward on a Yugo­ slavian ship called "Fiume." The ship's carpenter bought a small parrot and attempted to teach it Italian, but the bird would not, however hard the man tried, utter one word ex­ cept for an occasional chirp. The carpenter was impatient and nervous. In a fit of rage he threw the parrot overboard. As we were leaving Rio de Janeiro, the Captain ordered a fii'e and b6at drill. The crew took their positions and the life­ boats were swung out. The car­ penter's duty was to attend to the lall lines of boat number one. The line snapped and he fell overboard, disappearing below the surface. The ship was stop­ ped, and boat number two, on which I was an oarsman, search­ ed for him. After many hours We found a few parts of his body floating in a ocean of blood, probably as a result of sharks or his being caught in the propel­ ler. The ship returned to Rio de Janeiro where a mess was said for him. This incident has long been forgotten in my mind, and made no other impression on me till it was revived during the last trip. We left New York on Febraury 22. Aboard the ship there was a huge old cat which the crew had taken aboard in Bremen, Germany. Everyone like it and since it had become so friendly with the crew it became the pas­ time of the men to play with it on number three hatch. It was in this section that the ship split. We stopped at Colon, Panama and someone brought a small kit­ ten on board the ship. Rapidly the new kitten won the attention of the crew and caused them to forget the older cat. Strangely, as if it were a human being, it used to sit by itself in one of the, corners, still and forgotten. Its sadness touched me. I often watched it sit alone showing no signs of previously playfulness. When we reached Valparisio, Chile it had disappeared. The only conclusion that I could draw was that one of the crew must have thrown it overboard because it had disappered before we docked. Now the events of that incident long ago were revived and I, who had never believed in supersti­ tions and legends, had a strange premonition that something was going to happen to the ship. Up­ on leaving San Antonio, three men were missing from our crew. Up to the time we reached Antafogasta, Chile there were many accidents aboard. From Antafogasta we went to Callao, Peru where two of our men returned to the ship seriously wounded, they had been assaulted by the Peruvians. On March 31, one day after we left Callao, the most terrible of our punishments came when our ship was run aground during a fog off the Peruvian coast and cut in two right at number three hold where we used to play with the old cat. For 48 hours we were battered mercilessly upon the sand bar and after getting ashore we spent a night on the beach without any provisions. This narrative may not be of any consequental significance but, it does present a challenge and a question to the old subject, of superstitions of the sea. Thomas De Fazio, Chief Steward POWELLTON SEAM COOKING REMINDS HIM OF HIS MOM'S Dear Editor: I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the crew of the Powellton Seam for the swell cooperation they gave me when I was their messman. They are a fine bunch of fel­ lows, worthy of sailing with any­ time. The same sentiment goes for the Steward and galley gang (darn good cooks, by the way). Their cooking reminded me of my mom's. John Abrams I' ' Log-A •Rhythms Waterfront Gal By ROPE YARN ] This is the story of a gal we all know. To all the sailors, just a damned good Joe. A friend and sweetheart to us guys-that S£ul. She can usually bo found in our favorite gin mill; That's her stool, friend, just aft of the till. She's no raving beauty, brother, that's true; But, to the sailors, she's a friend true blue. No. Brothers, this isn't a seafaring Santa Glaus, it's Blackie. Fireman-Watertender, and Joseph Patrick. Carpenter, a mem­ ber of Neptune's court, as the SS Colabee crossed the Line dur­ ing a trip in 1943. The picture just turned up, and someone sent it into the Log with a request that we print it. WIFE HATED LOG, THEN READ IT — NOW A BOOSTER! Dear Editor: I cannot resist the temptation of letting you know the interest and pleasure I have weekly in reading your great little paper, which is sent to my husband, a Spanish war veteran who sailed as Cook, Baker and Steward since 1941 as a member of the SIU. He was compelled to re­ tire his book through illness, but now has "itchy feet" and is going back to sea. I thoroughly digest every word of the Log and realize that the SIU principles are based on truth, honor and living up to every promise made to the men in your Union, so different from the factics used by those commy skunks (with all apologies to the skunk). trifling little sheet. After read­ ing my first Log. this cartoon also shows yours truly in Scene II, wondering when hubby is ever going to finish reading it so I can enjoy it. Period! I do not believe this is any wishful thinking, but whether the strike comes off or not, I truly think this will strengthen the standing of the SIU in the pub­ lic's eyes. Wishing you, the Log and the SIU continued success, I remain, respectfully, Mrs. John Heifzenraeder, Hollywood. Fla. WELL, BROTHERS: WHY DON'T YOU WRITE THE LOG This is if. Right here is where you can blow off steam or do a little gum-beating. Every week 62.000 Seafarers and others turn to this page fo read what you are doing, thinking and s^ing. Maybe you've an idea for Union action, or a tip that will save your Brothers trouble. Surely, you and your ship­ mates. while plowing around various ports o'call, have run dnto things interesting or laughgetting. Seafarers and ahips— It seems to me that every member of your superior organi­ where they go, what they do. zation in grateful cognizance of your goodness and fairness to them should leave no stone un­ turned to talk SIU unceasingly to every non-member and prove to them what it really means to be a member of the SIU. Now, to go from the sublime to the ridiculous. I am enclosing a cartoon from the May 24th Log which depicts a little show AIN'T He in our household in two scenes. Prior to six or seven weeks ago, before I ever read a Log, this cartoon shows yours truly in Scene I, scowling and wondering their laughs and their beefswhat friend husband sees in that are news. Write 'em up. If ever you've troubles, or down on your luck. She'll hear your story, or lend you a buck. When after a payoff, you're blow­ ing your top. You're on the boozie, don't know when to stop. You wake in the morning with nary a pound— She'll have your roll pat, all safe and sound. It's a tough racket, Mac, without mother or sister. She may be a bum, but don't call her a blister. She can't take their place, that, friend, is true. She's a waterfront gal, but one of the crew. So. let's down a drink to our friend and pal: Our hats off fo you—'Our water­ front gal. t 4. 4. Dear Editor: I .sure am getting into your newspaper these days. Hell, if I keep on, them high-pressure columnists that write for the dailies ain't going to stand a chance next year when they go to sign on the dotted line, be­ cause, Ed, by that time I will be a first class brain buster . . . the only thing, Ed, they might get the papers fouled up and the "dotted-line" might be a com­ mitment to the "bug-house." Well, Ed, T am .sending you a poem that a friend of mine who is also a "brain buster" jointly composed the other day while having a drink. Only, Ed, he lurnished the brains while I con­ sumed the drinks; especially since he (the actual braiiis) paid for them. Now, Ed, you know me, I ain't exactly tight but have been accused of leaving-my pocketbook at home on purpose. Now you wouldn't call that tight would you. I know what you are going to say; in fact I can see your face .getting red, like it al­ ways does when you recall a cer­ tain incident down in the Turn­ ing Basin in Houston and shout­ ing "damned cheap chisler" . . . you know what else. Ed, that was -a dirty trick, in a way, for Sal to have rolled you like that. But she was a damned Mod sport, Ed. She let you and Blackie Hymes and the six bits street rummies h.?lp her blow it in at some bars. Rope Yarn �T'yy. Friday. June 21, 1946 j.njpr" THU SEAF ARE RS LOG Page Thirleen THOSE BONEYARD RUNS ARE BREAKING UP THAT OLD GANG BROTHER WANTS INFORMATION SPREAD ABOUT SEAMEN'S BILL OF RIGHTS Brady*s Captain Kuta Is Not So Very Cute The unidentified crew mem­ bers of the Bull Line's Winfield Scott in these pictures aren't together any longer. It's an­ other case of a boneyeurd rpn breaking up a "wonderful crew," as Joseph Blanchard, OS, on the Scott, who made the shots, put it. The Seafarers Log is great and is appreciated by all men, but how about bringing up the Seamen's Bill of Rights more? Many of the fellows do not know how much that bill means to many men and to themselves and it should be explained. Its pa.ssagp by Congress means m.ore to many of the men than any other measure could. •fhe American people would back that bill if the facts were really given to them, as Dean Jennings did in Coronet, Septem­ ber, 1945. The way a seaman is treated is a public slap in the face and that's all they will ever receive unless they pitch in together and fight for their rights. How about starting a concentrated drive to awaken the people to the fact and force those men in Washington to take action. It can be done and it's certainly vmrth everyone's time. There are plenty of facts that can be dug up and if you can't get the ball rolling, put an appeal in the Log. Please give this your most serious consideration; you'll do more for the men and the organization than by any other means. Let's really force this. A Mobile Brother Answer: If you'll recall about three months back when the Seamen's Bill of Rights was a hot issue, you'll remember that the Log carried several stories and letters, not to mention an editorial, about the Seamen's Bill of Rights. You'll also recall that it was one of the issues brought up at the Agents' Con­ ference. the situation and it was decided Dear Editor: 3. The Purser didn't see this Well, we've finally made it to send the delegates up to see man while he lay in his bunk; in home, wiser for our experiences Captain Kuta about the dinner. I fact he didn't even fill the doc­ with Captain Kuta, whom we tor's prescription. Right now the bill is lying in the limbo of a Congressional want to warn you Brothers about. IGOTA committee, but you can rest assured that as soon at it is re­ 4. The Captain came to see the Ever since we left Philadel­ 'BcrrCR \ Oiler on the third day and told ported out and becomes a live issue again the SIU will be push­ phia for Italy with coal on the 'BCefTM him he was better to get back to ing it in the halls of Congress and the Log will be playing it big John J. Brady, it has been my ,^ypbw/ work (the man had received no in the news and editorial columns. aim to have cooperation between treatment at all) he refused ex­ the crew and topside and until cept on a direct order from the we left Italy coming back I cleaning up of the heads and Captain. The Captain blew his SS FORT DONELSON thought we were getting along quarters. gasket and told him he was not fairly good. Then the Captain CONDITIONS TOPS, sick at all and went out in a It's men like these that hurt called me up one noon and put rage to get the doctor to show up CREWMEN CONTEND our Union and we think that all forth the declaration that the this faking. The old man's face Dear Editor: good Union men should strive to Deck Department had let him fell to the deck when the doc­ avoid the bad habit of not fulldown, and it really had hurt him This letter is being written in tor told him due to lack of treat­ filling their's and those of others deeply (he was referring to work the remainder of the turkey be­ regard to the splendid conditions jobs with the proper service. produetion). He said he was sure ing equally divided, and the mess ment that the man's condition was bad. The Oiler is going to aboard this ship the SS Fort the Union would stand by him boys working more than eight Let us, the crew members of put the boots to him as soon as Donelson which is operated by in his declarations about the crew hours. Well, he refused to see us, the Fort Donelson, inform all neglecting their jobs. This was he said he was afraid we'd put the hospital clears him. the American Pacific Steamship Brother members of our Union This Captain Kuta and Pur­ Co., recently Los Angeles Tanker that whenever they may see jobs pk-ay with me as I told him that in overtime for it. Back down to we hadn't let him down at all. the waiting crew we went. This ser is definitely a menace to "sea­ Inc. in the future on the board for So don't forget if you Hereafter there would be no over­ time we tried a new appi'oach men. Captain R. S. Utter is Master the Donelson that they can be time for the Deck Department we sent the Steward and the should see him aboard you know and may we earnestly say that quite sure that they will get a and if he Ihought any man was Delegate up under the pretense just what to expect. As far a^ Captain Utter is really making a taking it easy he would log him of finding out how many men he the Purser goes, after the Oiler name for himself in the SIU. for malicious lingering. He .stop­ was going to use at his dimier. and Union get down in Norfolk, Captain Litter always recognizes I think he'll be out. ped the overtime on deck with His orders followed: every part of our Union agree­ hell to hell hours for the watch In spite of the Old Man we ments and always tries to give 1. The turkey was put on for on deck. He also said that if he had a damn good trip. We the crew what they ask for, that was paying the wages there the passenger and officers: stopped in a couple of nice places is within his power to do so. therefore no division was necwould be no money, we would in Italy and we had a good crew There are several men who get paid in food, a little work a cessary. all around. have been crew members of this 2. Any man who dared to re­ little food, I believe that sys­ ship since February of this year, I'd like to extend my thanks tem is used on Devil's Island. I fuse to work at his dinner and we have from that time on wonder if that's where he got the would be put in irons till we to the Norfolk Agent, Ray White a very strict fine system con­ and his Patrolman, Earl (Snuffy) hit the states. idea at'/ Smith, W. G. (Red) Morris for cerning cleanliness of the quar­ But now comes the payoff. 3. There would be no celebra­ squaring away our overtime ters and messroom which gives This is a liberty running for tion for the crew, they would beefs and putting over a clear us quite a clean ship. We, the WSA by South Atlantic SB Com­ only get their regulars, three payoff. A lot of b^ys don't like crew of the Donelson, think that good deal as conditions are now, pany. We picked up some pas­ meals a day, which he and his Norfolk but with help of good every ship should use this fine and may we also say, as long as sengers in Bari, Italy, seven men staff had plus a dinner. men like these, they help to system in order to keep all of the Captain Utter is in charge, pro­ and five women who had booked Now we have nothing against make it a good port to pay off at. ships which we sail in a clean viding, however, you give him a passage to the States. They had and sanitary condition, making good deal, which is not more the passengers iii fact we are Ray Roberts, been warned beforehand that it it also a lot easier for our ship­ than fair. indebted to one doctor. If it might not be the Queen Mary Deck Delegate mates who are assigned to clean Below your will find several handn't been for him we would but it would get them there. We up and keep clean certain sec­ meals which have been served have had serious difficulties. Now were a day from Norfolk, Vir­ tions of the ship. aboard the Donelson recently, that brings me to the purser, I ginia, when Captain Kuta an­ for which the following men have might add that the Capt. and BAD HOMBRES nounced that this was to be the STOP PUSHING.^ I been resp^^nsible for, together Third Mate are brothers, and the night of his dinner to be given, YOU'RE rUKN ' Recently we had several mess- with the requests of the CaptairPurser is a brother-in-law so Witt COME.'/ as is the custom aboard passen­ men who, when told to mop the to the company; things are real cozy topside. The ger ships, right before you get in. decks of the messroom once each Purser: Chief Steward Homer BrouilBear in mind, we're still on this day and keep the water fountain 1. Refused to See an Oiler when old five-hatch Liberty no dif­ clean, claimed that the crew was lette; Chief Cook, Nate Pearce; ferent from any other except, of he was injured in" the engine just riding them. They decided Second Cook, Louis Coe. course, for our elegant Skipper. room. He said, !'he's not crippled, to get off of the ship after being DINNER—June 6. 1946 on the ship only six days which Not only are they to have a tell him to come up to see me." Pinto Bean Soup, Roast Leg oL didn't spite the crew any, as it dinner at 8:00 p. m., but they're 2. The passenger doctor ex­ Lamb, Fried Chicken, Buttered was good riddance if they didn't going, to eat the remainder of amined the Oiler the following Carrots, Buttered Peas, Mashed turkeys which he says is for the day (the Purser still' hadn't seen want to fuUfill their jobs. We al­ Potatoes, Apple Pie and Iceofficers and passengers; so had some trouble with several him) and prescribed' treatment We held a meeting to discuss for his injury^ men who would neglect the {Continued on Page 14) �:it•^ THE SEAFARERS LOG • Vage Fouxteen Wf = BURIAL OF BROTHER GABRIEL, OS ON KING WOOSLEY WORK STOPPAGE MEETING MEANT MUCH TO GRIMES Is •'•• Friday, June 21, 1946 To the Editor: After attending the Work Stop­ page Meeting at Webster Hall on June 6 hy the SIU-SUP, I came 'away with a self-satisfied feeling that I, too, was an SIU member. You ask why that proud feeling tingles up and down my spine? Simply because I'm proud to be even a small part of such a mili­ tant, democratic Union as the SIU. Other maritime Unions, not­ ably- those commie - dominated members of the Committee for Maritime Unity, spend weeks and months of vain talking with the shipowners and Washinglnn bu= reaucrats. Our Union doesn't be­ lieve in this. Wo of the Seafarers believe in action—job action or whatever type of economic or political action is necessary to achieve our aims. We Seafarers don't believe in expending all of our energy to send telegrams and hold meet­ ings protesting the course of im­ perialism which the United States and Great Britain is fol­ lowing. Incidentally, Russia is probably more imperialistic to­ day than any other nation! The SIU doesn't believe in throwing up picket lines around newspapers, making mass dem­ onstrations against Churchill, or promoting schemes to assist the starving mujiks of Krasnoyarsk to achieve tranquility or some­ thing. But, we Seafarers do believe in using our -economic strength fior job action, work stoppages, or strikes to gain a reduction in our working hours from 56 hours a week to 40 hours a week. SIU DOfl'T / fECK€T. A Last Trip Of Aiken Eventful (Continued from Page 10) , and our doctor was dispatched to the sailing craft by means of a small helicopter which the Aiken carries along for such em­ ergencies. BRANDY BARTER The first aid treatment required only about half an hour, but we were delayed several hours while the Chief Steward (acting as in­ terpreter) 'attempted to bargain lor a case of Portuguese cognac. After using up all the diploma­ tic tricks he could muster, he re­ sorted to cigarettes and bought several quarts. Just as well, too. The only use we can find for the stuff is a three-way prox (before, during and after). Crew members of the SS King Woolsey stand about the grave of Brother Antonio P. Gab­ riel, OS, of the Woolsey, during fuheral ceremonies. Gabriel was an extremely popular mem­ ber of the crew. Seafarers Seeks Information In Death Of Thomas Keevins Aboard Ira N. Morris Brother Thomas Keevins, Util­ ity, Book No. 28576; died on March 10 while a membef of the crew aboard the SS Ira Nelson Morris of the Robin Line. He was buried in St. Eloi, La Rochelle, France. Information is being sought on the circumstances surrounding Brother Keevin's death. The fol­ lowing men, who sailed on the last trip of the Morris with Keev­ ins, are urged to report immed­ iately to the New York Hall: Ernest Sjoholm, Bosun; Marcell Railland, AB; Wm. C. Hoff­ man, AB; David G. Sloan, AB; Frank B. Taylor, AB; Frederick Schardt, AB; Kermit L. Helms, AB; Albertus R. Green, Jr., OS; Karl E. Scott, Jr., OS; Leopold Marcus, OS; Alphonse, Logindis, Dk. Eng.; James E. Hansel, Oiler; John M. Libby, Oiler; Geo Gatton, Oiler; Wm. Homstead, FWT; Joseph Yanick, FWT; Ire Mer­ lin Olson, FWT; Robert Thomp­ son, Wiper; Wm. Crutchfield, Wiper; Adrian Otte, Steward; Eladio Grahaales, Ch. Cook Lindberg Cubbage, 2nd Ck. and Bk; Joseph Kozlowsky, MM; El­ mer C. James, MM; Donald Kemen and Clarence L. Graham Utility. . CHIEF STEWARD IS ON THE BALL ON COYOTE HILLS Dear Editor: Put this down on record and print this in the Log about our Chief Steward. He is one of the best men we've ever sailed with. H6's an oldtimer from away back. He's on the ball and plays square with all hands. We had a swell trip and plenty of food and a very good variety and he kept every one on the job. So we give a word of praise to George H. Seeberger, Chief Steward. We hope we can have the pleasure of sailing with him again. And, let us add, anyone sailing with him surely won't regret it. Above all, he'll get all he wants to eat, because this guy don't monkey. He puts out. Crew of Ihe Coyoie Hills SS FORT DONELSON CONDITIONS TOPS, CREWMEN CONTEND members also believe in taking militant action to gain wage in­ creases to partially offset the en­ ormous increase in cost of liv­ ing, and our greatly decreased take home pay. The Seafarers believe in di­ rect action to maintain and im­ prove the best shipping condi­ tions in the marine industry. However, we also believe in po­ litical action as an assistance to direct economic action, not in­ stead of it, as practiced by the commies. Yes, it's a great Union to belong to—the SIU! Joe Grimes SEAFARER THANKS SIU FOR BATTING IN HOOLIGAN GAME Dear Editor: I want to thank the editorial st^ff and everybody connected with the Log for their efforts in putting my case to the members about the underhand workings of the Coast Guard against the mer­ chant seaman. Keep up the good work, which you are doing in putting out the Log. I want to thank John Hawk and Paul Hall and Morris Weissberger for their untiring efforts for bringing out justice in my case, and preventing a lot of sea­ men from getting raw deals from the Coast Guard. J. (Doc) SiissmBn {Continued From Page 13) Cream, Fresh Milk, Coffee and Tea. DETROIT John Kosen, $5.00. Total—$5.00. NORFOLK SS JOHN SHERMAN K. R. Slattings. $11.00: C. L. Horvey $2.00; R. P. Baker. $2.00; F. A. Diaz, $2.0a; W. M. Bowman. $2.00; N. Manesa. $2.00; J. S. Lasaiter. $2.00; E. M. Laahley, $2.00; J. V. Russell. $2.00; J. V. Rusaell. $2.00; W. T. Sawyer. $2.00; R. W. Dixon. $2.00; W. E Hightower. $1.00; C. M. Wagenfer $2.00; R. O'Neill. $1.00; P. B?ady.. $2.00 J. J. McRae. $2.00; E. H. Drozeski. $2.00; S. Ruzyski. $2.00; M. Ellsworth $2.00; C. L. Watkina. $1.00; F. Martin. $2.00. R. Conway. $1.00; P. Papacanstantis $1.00; W. C. Bumgarner. $1.00; A. L Carey. $3.00 J. C. Lacaellade. $2.00; G A. Musehinski. $2.00; J. E. Smith. 3.00; J. T. Watkins. $2.00; W. Geir. $3.00; A D. Boardman. $1.00; W. C. Busbin, $4.04. SS DRAKE O. D. Moore. $2.00; F. S. Baker. $2.00; R. T. White. $2.00; W. S. Winslow. $2.00. Total—$96.04. GALVESTON INDIVIDUAL DONATIONS A. M. Guzman. $2.00; A. F. Casey. $2.00; J. R. Smith. $2.00; A. Tanquino. $2.00; G. F-. Okens. $2.00; L. W. Franzen. $2.00: H. Walsh. $2.00; C. Mc­ Queen. $2.00; E. Howde. $2.00; Earl C. T yr- Sch rader. $3.00; J. $26.00. $2.00; James H. A. Waason. $3.00. Bayles Total— NEW YORK bert Luter. $1.00; J. N. Jones. $1.00; M. H. Newton. $1.00; V. L. Overall. $1.00; Eli Ware. $5.00; C. A. Choice. $4.00. Total—$33.00. SS WESTINGHOUSE C. C. Hunnicutt. $2.00; C. O. Ber$1.00; R. J. Gordon. gagna. $2.00; Jack E. Williams. $2.00. M. Fitzgerald. $1.00. Total—$6.00. INDIVIDUAL DONATIONS W. Stoveland. $1.00; Mrsfl R. Total—$3.00. SS JOHN MERRICK Paul Dandurand. $1.00; J. W. Logan. R. Brandenberg. $2.00; J. Moore. $2.00; R. D. Hobart. $2.00; J. V. $2.00; G. E Scott. $2,00. Total—$6.00, Brooks. $1.00; N. Berger. $2.00; A. SS JOHN GORRIE Wernick. $1.00; A. H. Enroth. $5.00; V. E. V. Dindia. $5.00; SS J. Gorrie D. Foica. $0.50; Angel A. Leon. $1.00; —Crew. $5.00. Total—$10.00 D. McClintock. $.50. Total—$16.00. SS CAPE CORWIN R. H. Pomerenk. $1.00; G. A. BjorklL. G. Linthicum. $2.00; B. B. Spears. nis. $2.00; E. A. Nogas, $2.00; J. H. Russell. St.00; E. Johnson. $1.00; S. Y. $1.00; Wm. Holland. $1.00; F. Con O. Fogelberg. $3.00; T. W. Taylor, zalez. $2.00; D. W. Thomas.- $1.00; T. $2.00; J. E. Murphy. $1.00; H. N. Waiter. $1.00; M. Santana, $1.00; J. J. Cronan. $1.00; McKinley E. Males. Grant. $1.00. Total—$14.00. $2.00; K. C. Zickerpoose. $2.00; J. E. SS CHARLES W. STILES Vazquez. $1.00; F. R. Miller. $2.00; E. Johnson. $.50; J. Papa, $2.00; A. J. Lopez. $1.00. Total—$16.00. M. Stever. $2.00; P. M. Jeffers. $2.00; SS J. GALLOP J. Morris. $3.00; W. Adklns. $3.00; K. P. Pressler, $1.00; 1^ L. Duke. $1.00; Marlin. $3.00; Wm. J. Boutelle. $2.00; W. J. Prince. $1.00; E. Szarythe. $1.00; R. McGueen. $3.00; W. Mutitng. $1.00; R. J. Clark. $1.00; J. Pedrosa, $2.00. R. Lanier. $2.00; Manuel Ansbro. $2.00; Wm. Parker. ..$4.00; A. Barone. $1.00; Total—$22.50. J. Floyd. $3.00; R. Darville, $3.00; D. SS SUNSET K. Jackson. $4.00; J. B. Bowers. $2.00; Gus T. Doyal. $2.00; J. B. Irving. R. Lindsey. $5.00; M. Oliver. $3.00; $1.00; A. T. Dorman. $1.00; J. A. Sealy. A. M. Robertson, $1.00. Total—$36.00. $2.00; A. L. Johnson. $1.00; C. R. DenSS SS'GEORGE WASHINGTON son. $2.00; I.. F. Penland. $2.00; R. M. N. Barrett, $2.00; A. Bryant. $2.00. Oliver. $2.00; C. E. ' ,ff. $3.00; Sam Rasco. $3.00; D. F. Carroll, $1.00; Gil­ Total—$4.00. SUPPER, June 5, 1946 Lettuce and Tomato Salad, Grilled Tenderloin Steak, Cream­ ed Ham on Toast, Fried Potatoes, Seasoned Spinach, Lima Beans, Cake and Ice Cream, Fresh Milk, Coffee and Tea. SUPPER, June 4. 1946 Pineapple Cheese and Lettuce .Salad, Fried Pork Chnp.s, Grilled Franks, French Fried Potatoes, Saurkraut, Mixed Vegetables, Watermelon, Ice Cream and Cake, Fresh Milk, Coffee and Tea. May the Donelson reiiiain to be a star ship on our list is our wish. Hoping also that any man who comes aboard' this or any ship will try their best to make our Union a Union of men su­ perior to all. James G. Smith Ships Delegate Carl S. Miller Engine Delegate B. Nelson Deck Delegate Walter Cutter Stewards' Delegate �THE SEAFARERS LOG Friday, Juns 21. 1946 Page fifteen T. BUMJmN I—' - ' D — Unclaimed Wages— Mississippi Shipping Company, Inc. SlU HALLS Pes Santos, A. L ".01 do Treitas, F 23.85 NEW YORK 51 Beaver St. Devane, George R 3.16 HAnover 2-2784 BOSTON 330 Atlantic Ave. Peveau, Bernard J 4.45 Liberty 4057 de Vries, Peter 23.07 BALTIMORE 14 North Gay St. Calvert 4S30 De Wailly, H. L 79 This list comprises unclaimed wages as of December 31, 1945, some of PHILADELPHIA 9 South 7th St. Pcvvar, R. D. 1.80 Phone Lombaril fSSl Dewey, W. F 36.00 which may have already been paid. If you still have a claim, write to Mis­ NORFOLK 127-129 Bank Street 4-1083 Pey, Stanley D 12.00 sissippi Shipping Company, 339 Ghartres St., New Orleans, La., enclosing CHARLESTON 68 Society St. Dial, David 5.94 your z-iiumber, social security number, date and place of birth and present Phone 3-3680 NEW ORLEANS 339 Cliartres St. Diaz, A. G 1.42 Canal 3336 Diaz, Carlos M 2.23 address. SAVANNAH 220 East Bay St. 3-1726 Diaz, Edward 7.57 7 St. Michael St. .35 MOBILE Diaz, Rafail 24.89 Dryall, F. R 9.60 Evans, C 2.64 Eckert, R 2-1754 2.30 SAN JUAN, P. R Diaz, Salvadore 16.52 Duames, A. P 45 Ponce 8e Leon 9.96 Evans, E 4.81 F.ckols, Alfred J San Juan 2-5996 3.57 Dichini, L. J 5.25 Duarte, Antonio 15.20 Evans, Harry 1.48 Eckvarria, Hugo GALVESTON 305'/z 22nd St. 1.20 Diek, Hugh 6.11 Dublanica, Peter 2-8446 8.26 Evans, J 99 Eddleman, John T. Jr 1809-1811 Franklin St. 3.77 TAMPA Dick, II. A 49 Dubriel, Adelard 7.92 Evans, Leonard N. 20 Edelstein, A M-1323 1.98 JACKSONVILLE Dick. Norman J 59 Dubrosky, John 185.85 Evans, Robert A. ... 4.93 Edlund, John H 920 Main St. Phone 5-5919 1.00 Dickens, V/oodrow 5.24 Dubrow, Stanley 69 Evans, W 1.78 Edmonds, E PORT ARTHUR 445 Austin Ave. Evans, W. H Edmunds, Christian 6.22 Dickenson, K 01 Ducate, E. J 5.97 3.60 Phone: 28532 10.03 HOUSTON Dickenson, Woodward W. .74 Ducharme, Roger P 7137 Navigation Blvd. 2.67 Evans, William H. 2.67 Ednie, John M Phone Went worth 3-3809 9.75 Dickey, Clarence G 1.40 Duclos, R. A 4.10 Eveasen, Even 5.40 Edwards, Conrad H RICHMOND, Calif 257 5th St. 24.79 SAN FRANCISCO 1.20 Everett, Alphus T. Dickson, Earl S 4.50 Ducote, Luke C. 04 Edwards, Frank Dale 59 Clay St. Garfield 8225.. 32.30 Di Cupula, R. E 16.50 DIICOIP, Reese A , 01 Everj', August 5.50 Edwards, G. Y SEATTLE 8-3 Seneca St. 10.66 Ewing, William F. piutnch, Edward H 13.04 Dudley, A. L 17.00 5.94 Edwards, N. H Main 0290 2.68 Dill, G. T 4.80 Dudley, A. D. PORTLAND Ill W. Burnside St. 3.00 Edwards, Robt. L WILMINGTON 440 Avalon Blvd. 18.33 Dillman, Albert J 8.95 Duffey, Edward F 4.46 Edwards, Walter D Terminal 4-3131 Fagan, Wm. T 1.37 Edwards, Willie 26.74 Dinass, George S 8.11 Dufour, Andrew T 2.40 HONOLULU 16 Merchant St. 2.52 BUFFALO 2.24 Fin, Dolphus R 10 Exchange St. Dineen, Clarence E 20 Dugan, Richard E 3.71 Egan, James Cleveland 7391 .99 5.25 Fiar, Dvid C Di Popola, J 9.90 Dugas, Anthony J 90 Egan, J. J CHICAGO 24 W. Superior Ave. .45 18.59 Fairchild, Glen Superior 5175 Di.snoy, Edward E 2.84 Duguid, Archibald M 59 Egan.r J, W 1014 E. St. Clair St. 5.16 CLEVELAND 16.52 Faircloth, Charles O. Jr.,.. Di Tomaso, M. L 16.50 Duett, Charles 0 25.99 Eggleston, Ernest L Main 0147 5.94 Faircloth, Harold Darden.. 3.44 DETROIT Dixon, Clifford C 1.37 Duke, Jo.seph 7.61 Eggleston, J 1038 Third St. Cadillac 6857 11.96 9.50 Fajatowski, Jacob Dixon, F 2.00 Duke, Stanley F 9.86 Ehrclick, E. F DULUTH 531 W. Michigan St. Falana, John M 14.30 Eickmeyer, John A 2.23 Dixon, Geo. W 9.58 Dukes, J. W 11.25 Melrose 41 lO 1.48 VICTORIA, B. C 1.34 Falk, Bernhard 602 Boughton St. Dixon, Ray M 1.40 Dukeshire, Irvin 10.69 Eister, Clifford G 144 W. Hastings St. 10.56 VANCOUVER 79 Falnes, J Dixon, Stedtoe 64.33 Dulaney, Robt 71 Eklund, Erick R Earl, John W 2.25 Eklund, Paul 3.30 Doa, Vincenzo 4.13 Dulie, Jerome B 2.67 65.01 1.91 Fancutt, John Dnarski, Joseph S 1.37 Dullc, Leo M 11.47 Elardo, Simon F 40.75 3.92 Faris, Walter T Dobbins, David J 8.04 Du Maduros, F. R 26.60 Eldhuse, Anton 4.00 14 Farmer, Cary C Dobson, Austin M 2.87 Duncan, Eimest 80.56 Eldhuse, H 7.11 6.80 Farney, Wm. S Dodd, Geo. J 10.47 Duncan, E. T SS CHARLES McDONNELL 72 Eley, Rufus M .35 9.90 Farrar, M. G Podd, Nevin Wilson 3.28 Duncan, Frank A. Jr 6.03 Elf, Knute The following men have money 6.45 16.14 Farrell. William E Podds, P. J .33 Duncan, Meta H 2.07 Ellingsworth, James G due them for tending evapora­ 2.64 5.15 Farrow, Jack Dodge, Marshall A 3.12 Duncan, Roy W 98.75 Elliott, Jas tors on sea watches aboard this 1.90* Dodson, Gordon L 19.28 Duncan, Stuart 18.17 Elliott, Milford W. Jr., .... 13.47 Farthing, Roger J vessel which paid off in San 3.26 3.72 Farthorn, William P. •Podson, R. W 33 Dungan, Charles W 8.76 Ellis, Homer A Franciscb on May 31: Edwin 4.98 6.58 Fassinger, John F Doktor, Tadensz 3.47 Dunham, Frank 74 Ellis, Jack Elton King, Oiler, $43.20; Leslie Blan.76 1.48 Fath, Joseph A Doles(>, Sidney L 1.63 Dunlap, Frank H 2.25 Ellis, John W chard. Oiler, $156.90; Alan Peak, 4.50 6.75 Faulkner, J. E Domio, Roy 104 Dunlap, James Allen 5.96 Elrick, Wallace Oiler, $51.84; Louis Briant, Oiler, 1.91 15.21 Faustich, Chas. W Donahue, Jack 2.38 Dunn, Donald L 8.77 Elrod, Roy F $243.90; and Vernon Weidman, ^ 2.13 6.20 Fawcett, Paul G Donnelly, Elmer C. 3.96 Dunn, James S 89 Ely, Edward R 3rd Cook, $46.08. 6.39 59 Fay, J. F Donovan, James 7.92 Dunn, Oscar Jan 1.98 Emery, Oliver L % % % Fay. J 2.97 . ..F 0,;ER2 N .... NNN Donovan, Richard E 1.34 Dunn, Walter L, 27.30 Endres, Edwin 3.44 SS JOHN LaFARGE Durin, Thomas B 11.74 Dunphy, Colin U 8.61 8.53 Dore, Eugene N 6.65 Dunphy, Thomas 2.68 Engelhardt, Eugene E There is a check for $4.00 for 14.13 Dorgan, Maron 2.13 Dunsavag, W. 6.39 Egner, Fred A Frank Scott and a voucher fpr 14.62 Dorr, William W. Jr 2.23 Dupont, Joseph L 6.53 Egner, Roberl L $2.75 for Lawrence D. Wages England, Fred R 45 Dorsatt, Banks Will 1.37 Pupuy, Edward 2.55 The Duluth Hall of the fi'om the American Liberty SS 2.64 borsey, Floyd J. Jr 45 Durant, W Seafarers International 1.19 England, Minyard D Co. Get in touch with the Balti­ 10.00 Dotton, Samuel E 6.10 Durfee, Charles E Union, which had been clos­ 2.64 Englehard, G more Port Agent regarding this 3.44 ed for some time, has been 5.63 Englehardt, Jan Dotson, S. R 41 Durham, J money. 9.24 poty, George 33 Durkin, Albert 31.40 English, Thomas reopened at 531 W. Michigan * it. 45.89 Duuglierty, C. J 2.23 Dunn, Harold Street. 5.31 Englund, Arthur N Engstrom, Lincoln C. E 21.20 SS JOHN GIBBONS Dougherty, John T 70.25 Dust, Roy W 16.39 Engwall, J 8.21 Dougherty, Louis F 11.14 De Tenbeck, Hugo 31.13 Voyage. No. 6 ; 2.31 Douglas, Chas 3.56 Dutton, Robert R 12.29 Enna, Anthony Vouchers fi'om the OveiJakes 3.62 Douglas, Claude L 22.24 Dvorack, C. E 3.52 Enoches, E Freight Corp., are being held at 35.80 WALTER BARRETT Douglas, Jeremiah L 6.10 Dwight, Eugene N 19167 Enos, Gilbert J.* the Baltimore branch office for 2.48 Your papers are being held for Douglas, Louis J 4.39 Dwyer, Arthur J 10.05 Enriquez, Jacobo the following men: Thomas Ly­ 72 you at the Baltimore Hall. Please Douglas, Richard E 17.40 Dwyer, Charles J 2.23 Enna, Joseph Jr., ons, $26.84; J. H. Clarke, 71 6.00 advise the Agent what disposal Dowal J 4.13 Dwyer, Raymond F 37.22 Eplund, B. K cents; William T. Peters, $41.38; Epperson, Hebert A 3.96 you want made of them. Dowling, William 59 Dycus, Thomas L. . .73 John P. Fee, $35.36; JoJhn P. 1.65 Dowling, Wm. S 14.86 Dye, Eugene C .45 Erco, E its. Martin, $32.16; Clifton W. Ensey, Erdle, Fi-ancis E. 95.62 Down, A. A 16.56 Dykatra, Fredeidck .45 ROBERT GALL $28.71; William Rajski, $14.78. Downes, John M 1.05 Dykema, Martin 2.90 Erickson, Gavin Victor .... 8.66 Call or write the Baltimore Call at 5lh floor at New York 7.28 Downey, James W 2.23 Dylengaski, Richard 9.00 Erikson, Hans Agent regarding these vouchers. Hall.for your baggage checks. 1.74 Downie, J 7.35 Dzvonchik, Joseph . .52 Erickson, Irvin C Erwin, Bennie M 18.38 Downing, Marcus A 5.73 Erwin, Harold K 2.56 Dows, J. N 5.05 5.94 4.27 Ervin, Winston B. Doyle, Dennis Arthur 16.26 Earl, James 34.08 4.80 Escoffier, John Doyle, P ; 3.27 Easterling, W. A Anyone who was aboard th© 1.98 6.81 Escalante, Juste Draft, E 3.54 Eastman, Alfred FRANK "BLACKIE" plane from New Orleans, char« Eskew, Jonas H 8.86 braves, Robert 15.05 Eaton, Edward Currier .... 44.85 MCLAUGHLIN tered by the crew of the SS Tu3.10 4.45 Esteve, Edward J Dressier, Fred 76 Eaton, E Would have liked to see you, lane Victory, who knows any-v 1.39 21.80 Estrella, M. Drevas, Peter 95.62 Eaton, Jasper C. but lost your addi'ess. "Whitey" thing about two alligator bags," 55.64 123.75 Etheredge, William L Preyer, R 11.25 Ebanks, Carlman please get in touch with F. Rob­ LARRY WHITE, 14.75 2.56 Etherton, Terry G Driscoll, Edwin C. 3.90 Ebberts, Louis E inson, 35-24 72nd Street, Jacksoa 19 Marion Street 104.69 1.12 Ettinger, John J Drummond, David 2.06 Eckert, F. A Heights, New York. East Boston 28, Mass. 4.65 01 Eudy, Clifford D Drumund, Peanne p. 5.51 Eckert, Oscar Money Due Duluth Hall Opens NOTICE! PERSONALS ,i • . NOTICE! �THE SEAFARERS Page Sixteen ORGANIZING ISTHMIAN ri: i i It took plenty of hard work to make the Isthmian vessel. Cape Domingo, a strongly pro-SIU ship. Ask these fellows; they know! George Peteusky (left), Ed Bender and Joe Lissner. Heinrich Viik, who also helped considerEibly, was on watch and not available for a picture. Marine Hospitals Neglect Seamen, Seafarer Says By H. C. GORDON cause he has been off a ship for over two months. The merchant seamen do not want, or expect any special treat­ ment. As far as these hospitals accepting non-seamen as patients Gilbert and Sullivan could is concerned, fine and dandy have written the above and not with us. If people are sick they been far wrong. For if you are a must have treatment. But we seaman, your chances of becom io object to getting the brushoff ing a patient in such a place are while others get all the con­ remote. sideration. Now, a mail carrier, a govern­ Even long before the war, ment employee or a janitor in patients who were seamen, were some federal building, can gain forced to help clean the wards, admittance very easily. polish floors, fold dressings and And a few years back the do orderly work in general. If places were filled with CCC boys they refused thdy were dis­ who had chopped off various charged if they were able to parts of their anatomy while walk. And at times the food was building roads through the vir­ horrible. gin forests in Roosevelt's noble • I mention this to show that experiment to keep them out of ieamen were treated like stepthe poolrooms. :hildren for a long time back, and One such boy could not get that all these cases of discrimina­ over the fact that the patient in tion did not just originate sud­ the next bed was a merchant denly. seaman. In fact, he asked the The second world war is over; seaman how he happened to get lone also are the days of "heroic into the Marine Hospital. merchant seamen." From now The Marine Hospitals were or­ on, when addressed, it will be as iginally built for the care of sea­ "Hey, you!" The international situation is men. Seamen paid a small amount per month from their fast going haywire once more. wages for their upkeep. The They may need us again. Anything that the Union can hospitals also received fifty per­ cent of the fines, known as do that will bring this before "logs," which were deducted the public at large will be deeply appreciated by us. We feel that from seamen's pay. either the unfair practice.s of the Many an oldtimer made a two Marine Hospital bureaucrats and year trip and, on returning to homeport, found that he had some of their rattraps should be been logged for almost all his curbed, or else the name "Ma­ pay because he had not jumped rine" be dropped from the title fast enough when the skipper altogether. In which case we will attempt bellowed at him. to find a dark alley in which to The amount thus collected, al­ die, when the time comes. Or though no figures are available, perhaps crawl to the city dump must have been considerable. where the added odor would not But for some obscure reason, be noticeable. the powers that rule the U. S. ' Marine Hospitals today seem to be prejudiced against treating Sick or injured merchant seamen. Seafarers Sailing Of course', if taken sick aboard ship, there is no trouble about As Engineers crashing in. But, if through no All members—^retired mem­ fault of your own, due to slack bers and former members— shipping, you are taken ill while of the Seafarers Internation­ on the beach, after being ashore al Union who are now sailing for sixty days, the bars are raised as licensed Engineers: Please against you. report as soon as possible to Wives of Coast Guard men are the Seafarers Hall at 31 Bea­ admitted to the Marine Hospitals ver Street, New York City. as maternity cases. A seaman, in­ Your presence is necessary in jured through torpedo action, a matter of great importance. cannot get in for treatment be^ Stay close to your desk and never go to sea, and when you are ill you may be eligible to obtain treatment at the U. S. Marine Hospital. LOG Friday. June 21, 1946 Seafarers Maintains Wide Lead In isthmian Fleet Election NEW YORK, June 19—Latest •eports on the Isthmian election o determine a bargaining agent or that company reveal that the Seafarqrs is still maintaining a vide margin of votes over the .•ombincd totals of both the NMU md the company. Voting last Thursday, June 13th, at Philadelphia, crewmem)ers of the Clyde L. Seavey hung jp a good majority for the Sea-arers. Their vote, 70 percent ;or the SIU according to estinates, served to continue the /cry favorable pace already es.ablished in the election. Out on the Pacific Coast, at San Francisco, the Golden West rew was balloted on Tuesday, June 18th. Estimates of crewmembers and official observers ndicated that the Seafarers se­ cured better than 60 percent of .he votes aboard her while the 3IU didn't do too badly on the 3ca Hydra which was voted at Baltimore on June 12th. 13 PERCENT LEFT With the completion of voting jn Isthmian ships which docked this week, about 13 percent of the Isthmian Fleet remains to be polled. These 12 or 13 ships should be finished with their vot­ ing in the near future, probably within the next several weeks at the latest. Then, the matter of counting and tabulating the ballots by the National Labor Relations Board will be completed in short order, following by the certain certifi­ cation of the SIU as the Union bargaining agent for the Isth­ mian Lines. Among the ships remaining unvoted are: Anniston City, At­ lantic City, Cape Junction, Kath­ leen Holmes, Monroe Victory, Pere Marquette, Red Rover, Rob­ ert C. Grier, Sea Hawk, Sea Lynx, Sea Triton, Steel Electri­ cian and the Steel Inventor. SEAFARERS CONFIDENT The majority of these ships are predominantly for the Seafarers, and with one or two possible ex­ ceptions, should hang up an im­ pressive vote for the SIU when they are polled by NLRB repre­ sentatives upon their return to the shores of the continental United States. Every shipboard and shoreside organizer, as well as the many other Seafarers who have con­ stituted the mselves unofficial Isthmian organizers throughout the organizing drive, is calmly confident of the election's out­ come. When the complete tabulation of votes is made at the conclusion if the election, they expect rnnruiualiuii of Iheii ebtimales that the SIU will win by a big ma­ jority vote. In fact,. members of the SIU who have contributed no little amount to the success of the or­ ganizing campaign through their contacts with Isthmian seamen in all ports and with their selfsacrificing willingness to sail Isthmian .ships, are openly bet­ ting on the final results (and giv­ ing odds, tool). They can't find many takers unfortunately! SHIPBOARD MEETINGS Many Isthmian ships are now holding regular shipboard meet­ ings, just as they would if they were under SIU contract, and electing delegates to take up their beefs. With this kind of a setup, the crews of these ships have cut flown considerably on beefs. Isth­ mian ships are still a long way fi'om being run on a Union ship basis, as only an SIU contract can bring that about, .but SIU style meetings and beef handling by delegates has helped consid­ erably. It doesn't do any harm to re­ peat: only a Seafarers' contract for Isthmian ships can ensure wages and conditions which pre­ vail on SIU ships. Cape Domingo Goes To Isthmian, But Crew Goes To Seafarers when they first boarded her, but the Skipper, William F. Epperly, had her fumiatged to get rid of the king size roaches and bed­ bugs which threatened to run off with the ship. Formerly operated by the In­ ternational Freight Corporation (an NMU-contracted company), the Cape Domingo was recently taken over by the Isthmian Lines. Seafarers George Peteusky, Joe Lissner and Heinrich Viik have all done a swell job in organiz­ ing her for the Seafarers along with some valuable assistance from some of the other crewmembers. The foc'.?les were so filled with trash that a number of the men spent considerable time in clean­ ing them up. Now, things are fairly shipshape, and after the foc'sles are painted, the Domingo will be like any SIU ship—a clean ship. * Originally there were quite a few NMUers aboard the Do­ mingo, but the boys did a good job of converting most of them md some non-Union seamen to the SIU way. Several crewmembers asserted that as soon as possible they would hold a shipboard meeting to elect delegates, and show some of the younger seamen how a typical SIU ship is operated. DIRTY SHIP One of the Ordinaries was un­ able to make the trip due to be­ ing hospitalized at Staten Island Hospital, where the SIU -repre­ sentative visited him. While working, he was overcome by sudden abdominal pains, and is being kept at the hospital for further observation and diag­ nosis. Bosun Ivan "Hans" Kalroth, an IMU oldtimer, turned in his old mok and took out SIU member5hip. Now, there are only three Dr four aboard who are still NMU members, and the balance of the crew asserts that by the time chey return, they'll all be Sea­ farers. According to Domingo^^eamen, the ship was extremely dirty WORKING TOGETHER MATERIAL WITNESS Bosun Kalroth was also unable to leave with the rest of the Domingo crew when their ship pulled out Tuesday a. m. He was forced to remain in New York as a material witness in a manslaughter trial. Heading for Newport News to ;ake on more cargo after she left New York, the Cape Do­ mingo is expected to be absent for about four or five months. Her itinerary includes stops at Al­ exandria, Cairo, some Red Sea and Persian Gulf ports, Calcutta, Bombay, Honolulu, and . then back to the Pacific Coast. Attention Members! The port of Tampa is "a good example of the way unions connected with the Maritime Industry should cooperate. Perry Harvey (left). President of the Tampa Local. International Lor.gshoremers Association, and Claude (Sonny) Simmons, SIU Port Agent, talk things over at the work-stoppage held on June 6. Harvey and his local have pledged their complete support to the SIU in the present contract negotiations. This is nothing new. Both of these unions have shared picket lines in the past, and both have been instrumental in getting each others beefs squared away. With solidarity like this, we can't lose, and neither can the ILA. Crewmembers stated that they were of the opinion that Isth­ mian would be under an SIU con­ tract, after the completion of thd voting which heavily faVor? the Seafarers, and by the time that they return from their long trip. These seamen were also of the opinion that other Seafarers should sacrifice a little if neces­ sary to sail Isthmian ships until such time as Isthmian is under an SIU contract and enjoying the same conditions as other SIUcontracted companies. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Seafarers Log Issues 1939-1949 Description An account of the resource Volumes I-XI of the Seafarers Log Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Paul Hall Maritime Library Microfilm 1939-1993 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Seafarers International Union of North America Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource June 21, 1946 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Vol. VIII, No. 25 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Seafarers Log Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Paul Hall Maritime Library Microfilm 1939-1993 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Newsprint Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Description An account of the resource Headlines: SENATE GROUP HEARS HAWK ON COAST GUARD SIU WALKS OUT WHEN OPERATORS ASK 1920 TERMS CAREFUL PLANNING, MILITANT ACTION RESPONSIBLE FOR SEAFARERS' GROWTH SEAFARERS GETS $220 BEEF FOR BLUE RIDGE VICTORY MEN COASTWISE BRANCH MEETINGS APPROVE SIU STRIKE VOTE INDUSTRY-WIDE STRIKE MUST BE WELL PREPARED EDUCATIONAL JOB MUST BE DONE TO CORRECT PUBLIC ON SEAMEN ISTHMIAN NICARAGUA VICTORY FOLLOWS SEAFARERS POLICIES RUSSIA BARS AFL AGENT NEW BILL INCLUDES SEAMEN UNDER SOCIAL SECURITY ACT SIU, LONGSHOREMEN BEAT COMPANY STALL IN MOBILE FOUR WATCH SYSTEM A MUST FOOLISH QUESTIONS DRIVE DISPATCHERS STARK, RAVING MAD REACTIONARY AMERICAN LEGION OPPOSES SEAMEN'S BILL OF RIGHTS MOBILE DEMONSTRATES HOW UNION SOLIDARITY WILL SETTLE BEEFS JACKSONVILLE WANTS MORE SHIPS FRISCO WINS OVERTIME FOR OILERS FLORIDA UNIONS WORK TOGETHER TO BEAT FINKY STATE'S ATTORNEY OPERATOR PAYS FOR CHISELING TRY WATERFRONT UNIONS IN CHICAGO FORM COUNCIL BELLYROBBER FINALLY TAKES SHIP LONELY SKIPPER A SEA SUPERSTITION IS ADDED BY DEFAZIO SEAFARERS SEEKS INFORMATION IN DEATH OF THOMAS KEEVINS ABOARD IRA N. MORRIS SEAFARERS MAINTAINS WIDE LEAD IN ISTHMIAN FLEET ELECTION MARINE HOSPITALS NEGLECT SEAMEN, SEAFARER SAYS CAPE DOMINGO GOES TO ISTHMIAN BUT CREW GOES TO SEAFARERS Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 6/21/1946 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Seafarers International Union of North America 1946 Periodicals Seafarers Log