United States Merchant Marine

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Flag of the United States Merchant Marine
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Flag of the United States Merchant Marine
The U.S. Merchant Marine flag flown at the American Merchant Marine Veterans Memorial in Point Park in Ashtabula, Ohio
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The U.S. Merchant Marine flag flown at the American Merchant Marine Veterans Memorial in Point Park in Ashtabula, Ohio

The United States Merchant Marine comprise the merchant ships that are used to transport both imports and exports during peace time and serves as an auxiliary to the United States Navy during times of war, delivering both troops and supplies to the military, as well as goods for the welfare of the country, under hazardous conditions, usually by convoy. The Merchant Marine (called the Merchant Navy in other countries) is civilian except in times of war, when they are effectively considered military personnel governed under the provisions of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936. A merchant mariner is a seafarer or mariner in the United States Merchant Marine.

Contents

[edit] History

US merchant mariners, WWII, North Atlantic
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US merchant mariners, WWII, North Atlantic


The United States Merchant Marine's first role in war took place in 1775 when a group of Maine mariners boarded an unarmed schooner and captured the British warship HMS Margaretta. The Continental Congress and the various colonies issued Letters of Marque to privately owned, armed merchant ships known as privateers, which were outfitted as warships to prey on enemy merchant ships. They interrupted the British supply chain all along the eastern seaboard of the United States and across the Atlantic Ocean and the Merchant Marine's role in war began. This predates both the United States Coast Guard (1790) and the United States Navy (1797). Since the First World War and World War II, many Merchant Marine officers have also held commissions in the United States Naval Reserve. Graduates of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy are commissioned into the USNR by default if they do not choose to be commissioned in another service of the armed forces. A special badge, known as the Naval Reserve Merchant Marine Badge, has existed since the early 1940s to recognize such Merchant Marine personnel who are called to active duty in the Navy.

[edit] Operations

Merchant marine officers are usually trained at a maritime academy. These include the federal United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York and six state maritime academies: Maine Maritime Academy in Castine; Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzard's Bay; State University of New York Maritime College in the Bronx, Texas Maritime Academy in Galveston, California Maritime Academy in Vallejo and the Great Lakes Maritime Academy in Traverse City, Michigan. It is becoming increasingly difficult for unlicensed mariners to become hawsepipers and earn their merchant marine license due to increased requirements for formal training. To do so, a mariner must have sufficient sea time in a qualified rating and complete specified testing and training, such as that required by STCW.

The personnel of the Merchant Marine are men and women with a United States Coast Guard Merchant Mariner's License and/or a Merchant Mariner's Document. Individuals serving in officer positions do so under the authority of a Merchant Mariner's License. Officer positions include Master, Chief Mate, Second Mate, and Third Mate in the deck department, Chief Engineer, First Assistant Engineer, Second Assistant Engineer, and Third Assistant Engineer in the engineering department, Radio Officer, and various types of Staff Officer. Staff Officer positions, including Junior Assistant Purser, Senior Assistant Purser, Purser, Chief Purser, Medical Doctor, Professional Nurse, Marine Physician Assistant, and Hospital Corpsman, are considered administrative positions and are therefore regulated by Certificates of Registry issued by the United States Coast Guard. Pilots are also considered officers and are licensed by the Coast Guard. Other crewmembers serving in nonofficer positions do so under the authority of a Merchant Mariner's Document (MMD) rather than a License. The official classifications are Able Seaman, Ordinary Seaman, Qualified Member of the Engineering department (Oiler, Wiper, Motorman, Machinist, Electrician, Refrigration Engineer etc.), Steward and Tankerman. All are employed by the carrier or ship operator, as employees of the transportation or utility company ashore. In times of war, Merchant Marine officers may be designated as military officers by the Department of Defense (DoD).

Modern weather forecasting technology is an aid to navigation. For instance, weather routing services are avaialable to guide ship operators around storms. In addition, world-wide weather data available to ship's officers via satellite Internet and computer modeling help navigators plot the safest and most efficient courses for ocean crossings. Additionally, commercial services now offer global networks of real-time ship positioning and tracking services. Such maritime tracking, much like air-traffic control, is increasingly seen by U.S. port authorities not only as a navigational aid but also as an integral aspect of Homeland Defense.

[edit] Wartime Controversy

During the Second World War, the merchant service sailed and took orders from naval officers. Some were uniformed, and some were trained to use a gun. However, they were formally considered volunteers and not members of the military. Walter Winchell, radio commentator, and Westbrook Pegler both described the National Maritime Union and the merchant seamen generally as draft dodgers, criminals, riffraff, Communists, and other derogatory names.

It came to a head in the middle of the war with the writing of a column in the New York World-Telegram by Westbrook Pegler, who alleged that merchant seamen refused to work on Sundays per union rules, causing sick USMC servicemen to unload their own supplies in an incident off Guadalcanal. He went on to say that these seamen received "fabulous pay for sailors, including overtime bonuses, whereas the navy men draw only the modest pay for their ratings without extras." This was a specific allegation, and in February, 1943, the National Maritime Union, representing seven other unions, filed suit for libel against Hearst Newspapers, publisher of the newspaper, and the Associated Press for its wide dissemination of what was claimed to be an untrue story. As part of their suit, they pointed out that Government allotments for families, low-rate premiums on insurance, hospitalization, dental care, pension, and civil service rating consideration tend to balance the pay of ordinary seamen in civilian service. But they denied the incident ever took place, and were backed by a report of Admiral William F. Halsey, commander of United States forces in the South Pacific, to the Navy Department in which Halsey praised the "co-operation, efficiency and courage" of the merchant seamen and asserted that "In no instance have merchant marine seamen refused to discharge cargo from their vessels or in any other way failed to co-operate with the United States forces ashore in that (South Pacific) area." They won their suit, but the residual effect would last for decades.

What was ignored, say the Seafarers' International Union, was the fact that seamen are paid by the ship owner for their work, consequently they were paid only while the ships were in the water. A seaman torpedoed off his ship was off the payroll the minute he was injured, landed in a lifeboat or hit the water. Surviving seamen had to beg, borrow, plead or work their way back to the United States from places such as Murmansk, Russia, so they could be reassigned to another ship. Until that happened, they weren't paid. And in addition they would be drafted if they didn't find another ship within 30 days.

Their wartime record reveals that their losses were among the highest of any group in the front lines. They died at a rate of 1 in 24. All told, 8,651 of the 215,000 who served perished on troubled waters and off enemy shores.

The biggest supporter of the merchant men was President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was he who in 1936 urged Congress to pass the Merchant Marine Act, which established a 10-year program for building ships that would be used for commerce during peace time and would be converted for use by the Navy during times of war or national emergency; and a training program for seamen that linked them to the military in wartime, specifically the Navy. It was this legislation that enabled the country to take on the axis powers a few years later, but not before extensive losses on the East coast, which was crawling with German submarines by the end of 1941. That year the Germans sank 1,232 Allied and neutral ships worldwide, including those manned by the Merchant Marine, and the following year was even worse. The Allies would lose 1,323 ships, while Germany's submarine losses totaled just 87. More than 1,000 merchant seamen would die within sight of the East Coast, and it wasn't uncommon for inhabitants of the seashore to find their bodies washed up on the sand.

Roosevelt, while the war was under way, proclaimed "Mariners have written one of its most brilliant chapters. They have delivered the goods when and where needed in every theater of operations and across every ocean in the biggest, the most difficult and dangerous job ever undertaken. As time goes on, there will be greater public understanding of our merchant's fleet record during this war."

But it wasn't to be, for with Roosevelt's death in 1945, the Merchant Marine lost its staunchest supporter and any chance to share in the accolades afforded others who served. The War Department, the same government branch that recruited them, opposed the Seaman's Bill of Rights in 1947 (see below) and managed to kill the legislation in congressional committee, effectively ending any chance for seamen to reap the thanks of a nation. For 43 years, the U.S. government denied them benefits ranging from housing to health care until Congress awarded them veterans' status in 1988, too late for 125,000 mariners, roughly half of those who had served.

"It's one of the injustices of American history," wrote Brian Herbert, author of "The Forgotten Heroes," a book about the Merchant Marine of World War II. "These men were torpedoed by their own government after the war."

It was, finally, in 2005 that Congress had before it the H.R. 23 bill, the "Belated Thank You to the Merchant Mariners of World War II Act of 2005", still waiting to be signed into law by George W. Bush.

As a result, those mariners who served in WWII, or their survivors, will receive a benefit of $1,000 per month, and the right to be buried in a National Cemetery "which honors veterans with final resting places in national shrines and with lasting tributes that commemorate their service to our nation."

Today there are shrine and memorial reminders of mariners' heroism such as The American Merchant Marine Veterans Memorial in San Pedro, California, and the American Merchant Mariners Memorial at Battery Park in Lower Manhattan. The old Navy-Marine Memorial in Washington, D.C. honors those who died during World War I.

[edit] Life at Sea

An able seaman stands iceberg lookout during a re-supply mission to McMurdo Station, Antarctica; aboard the freighter USNS Southern Cross circa 1981.
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An able seaman stands iceberg lookout during a re-supply mission to McMurdo Station, Antarctica; aboard the freighter USNS Southern Cross circa 1981.
The tanker SS Overseas Alice takes seas over the bow during a 1981 run from New Orleans to Panama.
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The tanker SS Overseas Alice takes seas over the bow during a 1981 run from New Orleans to Panama.

Mariners live on the margins of society, with much of their life spent beyond the reach of land. They face cramped, stark, noisy, and sometimes dangerous conditions at sea. Yet men and women still go to sea. For some, the attraction is a life unencumbered with the restraints of life ashore. Sea-going adventure and a chance to see the world also appeal to many seafarers. Whatever the calling, those who live and work at sea invariably confront social isolation.

Findings by the Seafarer's International Research Center indicate a leading cause of mariners leaving the industry is "almost invariably because they want to be with their families." U.S. merchant ships typically do not allow family members to accompany seafarers on voyages. Industry experts increasingly recognize isolation, stress, and fatigue as occupational hazards. Advocacy groups such as International Labor Organization, a United Nations agency, and the Nautical Institute are seeking improved international standards for mariners.

Ocean voyages are steeped in routine. Maritime tradition dictates that each day be divided into six four-hour periods. Three groups of watchstanders from the engine and deck departments work four hours on then have eight hours off. This cycle repeats endlessly, 24 hours a day while the ship is at sea. Members of the steward department typically are day workers who put in at least eight-hour shifts. Operations at sea, including repairs, safeguarding against piracy, securing cargo, underway replenishment, and other duties provide opportunities for overtime work. One’s service aboard ships typically extends for months at a time, followed by protracted shore leave. However, some seamen secure jobs on ships they like and stay aboard for years.

In rare cases, veteran mariners choose never to go ashore when in port. Further, the often quick turnaround of many modern ships, spending only a matter of hours in port, limits a seafarer's free-time ashore. Moreover, some foreign seamen entering U.S. ports from a watchlist of 25 high-risk countries face restrictions on shore leave due to security concerns in a post 9/11 environment. However, shore leave restrictions while in U.S. ports impact American seamen as well. For example, the Masters, Mates, & Pilots union notes a trend of U.S. shipping terminal operators restricting seamen from traveling from the ship to the terminal gate. Further, in cases where transit is allowed, special "security fees" are at times assessed.

Such restrictions on shore leave coupled with reduced time in port by many ships translate into longer periods at sea. Mariners report that extended periods at sea living and working with shipmates who for the most part are strangers takes getting used to. At the same time, there is an opportunity to meet people from a wide range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Recreational opportunities have improved aboard some U.S. ships, which may feature gyms and day rooms for watching movies, swapping sea stories, and other activities. And in some cases, especially tankers, it is made possible for a mariner to be accompanied by members of his family. However, a mariner’s off duty time is largely a solitary affair pursuing hobbies, reading, writing letters, and sleeping.

[edit] Noted U.S. Merchant Mariners

Famous members of the U.S. Merchant Marine have included:

[edit] References

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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