Remember the Merchant Seafarers

New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 368, 12 July 1946, Page 8

Remember the Merchant Seafarers

(Written for "The Listener" by

DAVID K.

MULGAN

who served throughout

the war in the British Merchant Navy)

HIS war, like the previous one,’ focused public interest on the Merchant Navy. People realised that without a merchant fleet the armed forces of the allies could not be supplied, nor even civil populations sustained with the bare necessities of life. This can be appreciated when we remember how major allied offensives were delayed for months or years because of the relentless havoc wrought on our shipping by the enemy. Britain is the greatest maritime nation in the world. Not only has she the largest merchant fleet, but the traditions behind it are old and secure in their foundations. Paradoxically, though, the average Briton is far from sea-minded, He has a vague sort of idea that Britain has a navy, whatever that might be. The most he usually thinks about merchant shipping is when he sees tantalising advertisements for Mediterranean sunshine cruises, For the usual work-a-day shipping, the tramps, the freighters, the tankers and the rest, he has’ probably never given them a thought. When the war started, Merchant Navy officers began wearing their uniforms on shore. This was natural, as most men of military age were then in uniform, and one obviously wished to gain respect by wearing a uniform to which one was entitled. This particular uniform was a new sight in public places and, to illustrate the extent of general ignorance about the service, uninformed servicemen used at first to salute the wearer, Ratings in the service had no official uniform and so a very unpretentious little badge was struck and issued to them to wear. This, combined with the daily news of torpedoings, gradually made the man in the street aware of the Merchant Navy. * * * : T is sadly ironical that it takes a war to arouse any interest in a service which is just as vital to the life of the Empire in peace as in war. Without it Britain could not import the food she needs, or the raw materials for her industries. Without it New Zealand could ‘not ship her produce to her customers

overseas. Most of the overseas ships we see in our ports are of United Kingdom registry and manned by English, Scots and Welsh seamen. Shipping is part of the life-blood of Britain’s economic structure, indeed one of her most important industries. It is also one of her most neglected industries. The mining industry has a cabinet minister of its own to watch over it. Shipping, with its many-sided ramifications, has hitherto had to be content to be cared for as a sideline of the Board of Trade. The war saw the birth of a Ministry of Shipping, but this has since been merged with the Ministry of Transport to become the Ministry of War Transport. What then of the merchant seafarers, the men who ply the seas for a living? What to-day are their conditions, their outlook, and the causes thereof? | This month in Seattle, U.S.A., representatives of shipowners, seafarers and governments of a number of nations are meeting under the auspices of the International Tabour Office to try to set minimum standards of pay and conditions on ships of every nationality, Britain is, I Tegret to say, very much behind some countries in the matter of such standards on her ships, This is due largely to public ignorance and apathy to which I have referred. * * % LESS than a year after the 1918 armistice, seafarers’ wages were reduced to nearly one-half their wartime — level, Shipping became slack and thousands of men found themselves "on the beach." Competition with heavily subsidised foreign shipping became keen so _ that British shipowners cut their operating costs to the absolute minimum, It was the crews of the ships who got the thin end of this wedge. Crews’ quarters were overcrowded and unhygienic. Their food was often of shocking quality. The Pure Food and Drugs Act does not, even now, apply to ships’ food. Consequently foodstuffs that have been condemned under this Act have been bought up cheap by ship-chandlers and sold to ships. (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) The depression of the ‘thirties made matters much worse. Ships by the score were laid up for want of cargoes and their crews helped to swell the dole queues. Some ships put to sea with every man in the forecastle a master’s ticket. Another war came and the hMerclinns Navy was once more _remembered. Statesmen and others paid lyrical tributes to the merchant seamen. But the trend of thought among such people, though well-meaning, was misguided. it was agreed that the service had been a Cinderella for too long. But the proposed amends consisted chiefly of granting the service a uniform (which it already had, making its members eligible

for decorations on the same basis as_ the armed forces, and similar privileges. In short, raising the "status" of the service by lifting it on to an imaginary level with the fighting forces. "Status," in fact, became something of an obsession. Bs 7 HE men of the service have little time or taste for frills. What

they hopefully look for are a number of other things. Like other men they want remuneration commensurate with their trairling, skill, and responsibility. Ships are their home for the greater part of their lives and they want their quarters and their food to be of a civilised standard. They want security of employment, and no going back to the days when seamen were just casual labourers to be hired for a voyage and then have to exist on the dole until they found another ship. Depressions and wars have followed each other in such close succession that

a generatioan of sailors exists to-day who are on the alert for further trouble. Officers and men now think and feel alike about anything that affects the service generally. Officers and even masters have served in the forecastle in the depression and have gained the men’s viewpoint. Seafarers’ unions have grown stronger in recent: years. They are perhaps the most difficult body of men in the world to unionise. because they are so scattered over the globe, and it is difficult to assemble enough of them in any spot at any one time to make their voices heard. Officers have been slower than men to unionise because they have, in the past, been on their best behaviour with an eye to promotion. But they have now

seen the insecurity of their jobs, -and have looked for ways and means of protecting themselves and _ their families. Their unions have steadily gained strength and are now shoulder to shoulder with the men in their fight for better conditions. Already, in combination, they have resisted an attempt, made in October, 1945, to re-

duce their earnings as the hazards of war ceased. ° An "International Seafarers’ Charter" was drawn up in 1944 by a meeting of Allied seamen’s representatives. The programme of this Charter may seem ambitious on first reading. But on close scrutiny it is not more than what is due to the seafarer, when you compare the nature of his calling: with those of other men. There is much leeway to be made up in improving his lot. Let us pray that it does not require anything so drastic as another war to make people realise his necessity.