In This Issue 13,000,000 Deadwci~hl TOils of Shipping Scheduled fo.... Production in 1945 Open l.etter from*President Martin 3 in Merchant Marin<~*(::.et Highest Award8 Advkt'" on Scaling*Overtime Disputes Jf ({ooscv('lt :Illd Land Grt':t'l Merchantmen Story of :J<'irsl (T.*S. Ship iu L(':yl<~ Vol. VIII JANUARY, 1945 No.1 UJ:fMII/FIIPJ' .. :.• DONI DISCUSS TROOP MOVEMENTS' SHIP SAILINGS' WAR EQUIPMENT ! I 1 ,\. he Master~ Mate and Pilot 'ill Journal of tho Notional OrgllOization of Mariers, Ml:!,tes ollnd Pilots of America. Published by tho Orgonization on tho ISih of lMdt month at 810-16 Rhode Island Ave., N. E., Washington 18, D. C. JAJ.'WARY, 1945 No.1 3,000,000 Tons of Shipping Scheduled For Production in 1945, Says Land .HE Maritime Commission's 1945 program calls crable work in operation and repair of vessels. for the construction of 13,000,000 deadweight The delivery of 145 merchant ships of 1,356,898 of shipping, with 9,000,000 tons of the total deadweight tonnage in December brought the 1944 eduled for completion in the first six months of total to 1,677, with an aggregate deadweight ton­ year, Vice Admiral Emory S. Land (retired). nage of 16,343,436. This compares with 1,896 ves­ . man of the commission and War Shipping Ad­ sels of 19,238,626 tons built in 1943. Since January 'strator announced. In 1944. he added, 16,343,­ 1, 1942, 4,319 vessels have been built for a total tons of shipping were built. tonnage of 43,671,794. fter July 1, Admiral Land said, construction The course of the war affected not only the utili­ be curtailed to the scale necessary to produce zation of the American Merchant Marine in 1944 remaining 4,000,000 of the scheduled tonnage but the pattern of construction as well. More than the last six months of the year. 3,000 merchant ships built between the attack on dmiral Land's remarks were made in connec­ Pearl Harbor and the invasion of France were per­ with his announcement of construction alloca­ forming the most complex feat of ocean transpor­ for 226 new ships to 18 shipyards. The new tation in history, according to Admiral Land. The )s include 186 authorized last month by James Maritime Commission, basing its 1944 construction 'Byrnes, director of the Office of War Mobili%a­ schedules increasingly on military requirements, U, and 40 previously authorized vessels. shifted its emphasis from the emergency Libert)" In order to reach its goals for the first half of ship program of 1942-43 to the building of faster year, Admiral Land said, the shipyard labo .. vessels, both as cargo carriers and as special types eshould be increased. However, it must be re­ for the armed services. ed around the levels of 584,000 workers. Two of every three vessels delivered in 1943 were breakdown of the allocations shows the follow­ Liberty ships, By the last quarter of 1944 the pat­ g distribution of ship contracts to yards: tern had changed so greatly that the vessels de­ livered in that period as transports, especially built .Tankers (130)- -20 to be built by the SUll Shipbuilding n.nd Dock Company, Chestel', pa.; 17 by Kaiser Company, combat ships and tankers-the latter one of the (Swan Island yard) ; 12 by the Alabama D1Y Dock and continuing needs of the war-constituted more than uilding CompanY, Mobile, Ala.; 9 by Marinship Cor­ half the total of deliveries. 'on, SausaJitc, Calif.; amI 2 hy Welding Shipyards, IIlC., olk, Va. At the end of 1944 there were 3,800 vessels ag­ 2's (32)-15 to be built by Consolidated Steel Corpora­ gregating 40,800,000 deadweight tons under control Los Angeles; J5 by North Carolina Shipbuildi!1;; Com~ of the War Shipping Administration, compared to , Wilmington, N. C.; and 2 by Gulf Shipbuilding Cor­ non, Chickasaw, Ala. 2,900 vessels at the end of 1943. In the months C2s (24 special military typc)-12 to be built by J. A. prior to the invasion of France these vessels were Construction Company, Inc., Panama City. Fla.; and New England Shipbuilding Corporation, South PQrt­ operated by more than 100 American shi pping Me. companies. military type-25 to be built by Oregon ShipbuildinJ; Sixty-two million long tons of cargo, left the oration, Portland, Oreg.; 20 by Bethlehem~Falrfield yard, Inc., Baltimore; 16 by Califomia Shipbuildinp; United States in 1943, th ree-quarters of it in ships oration, Wilmington, Calif. under control of WSA. In 1944 the total export of s (9)-4 to be built by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Cor­ the United States was approximately 75,000,000 tion, Birmingham, Ala.; 3 by Sun Shipbuilding and ock Company, Chester, Pa.; and 2 by Bethlehem-Spar­ long tons. Point Shipyard, Inc., Sparrow Point, Md. The Training Organization of WSA, which directs l-rtr·AVls (40)-14 to be built by J. A. Jones' Con­ ction Company, Inc., Bruns'wick, Ga.; 14 by Southcast­ the operations'of the Merchant Marine Cadet Corps, ShipbUilding Corporation, Savannah, Ga.; and 12 by and the United States Maritime Service, trained nsylvania Shipyards, Inc., Beaumont, 'Tex. 87,136 men in 1944. Unlicensed personnel trained Although he refused to predict what post-war for deck, engine and steward departments num­ 'vity shipyards and the merchant marine could bered 49,762; officers graduated for the deck and ect, he said that there was bound to be consid- engine departments were 11,692; the remainder was in special ratings and the upgrading of 18,729 how I managed to reach the windward side of the officers and men. ship. The flames were shooting high above it and j The Recruitment and Manning Organization, sup­ covered the water in alI directions, plementing the efforts of operating companies, ship­ ~<As I cleared the flames I saw many of the crew owners and maritime unions to procure ships' crews, floating on the water, but I could not recognize any 1: was, at the end of the year conducting its most in­ because their faces were charred. I recalIed attempt­ tensive nationwide and local campaigns to recruit ing to hold one man up, but it was impossible to do experienced seamen. so, As I floated near the ship I saw quite a few !ife­ tJ Thirty thousand experienced men were recruited jackets in seamen's hands-they had not had time n from shore employment by RMO in 1944, an average to put them on. At the time we were hit there were :Iv of 2,500 per month. During December, the rate about a dozen in the messroom; I never saw any of h of recruitment by RMO was 350 per cent greater them after the explosion, o than that of December, 1943. Ship delays for lack "I was told that I was picked up about an hour t of crews were, in 1944, less than Y2 of one per cent and a half after, in a delirious condition, by a U. S, of outbound voyages from U. S. ports. RMO has destroyer escort." representatives in all the principal ports under Al­ Hodges and the gunner who survived, Marcellus "v lied control, to assist in manning problems, to Raymond Wegs, seaman first class, USNR, c/o a repatriate seamen, and watch OVer their general Armed Guard Center, South Brooklyn, N. Y., were f· welfare. treated in British hospitals and the U, S. Army hos­ The hazards of sailing the merchant fleet were pital in Belfast until they recovered sufficiently for not so great in 1944 as in former years, because of transfer home. better protection afforded convoys. The 1944 losses The Jacksonville, 16,765 deadweight tons, was de­ in personnel to December 1, were 67 killed, 444 livered from the Swan Island shipyard, Portland, e missing and 43 prisoners of war, bringing the total Oreg., of the Kaiser Company, Inc., January 13, number to 725 killed, 4,592 missing and 581 pris­ 1943. It was operated for the War Shipping Ad­ oners of war. Despite a lowered rate of losses and ministration by the Deconhil Shipping Co., San a greater number of men, the ratio of casualties i: was 1 in 33, a rate proportionately higher than Francisco. The tanker was commanded by Capt. the armed services. Edgar Winter, 3632 California Ave" Long Beach, o Calif. a Only Two Sunive Explosion t $100,000 for Loss of S8 Bering n Sinking Tanker Jacksonville c The Alaska Steamship Company has agreed to A terrific explosion, believed to have been caused accept $100,000 as just compensation for all claims by torpedoing, resulted in the loss of the American in connection with the requisition and loss of the tanker Ja,cksonville several weeks ago while carry­ SS. Bering, the War Shipping Administration an­ ing supplies to the European theater, the War Ship­ nounced. The Bering, a wooden steam cargo vessel, "s ping Administration disclosed. One merchant sea­ under bareboat charter to the WSA, was declared a man and one member of the Navy armed guard sur­ constructive total loss from damage sustained as a vived the flame-covered waters that soon sur­ result of striking a reef. rounded the burning vessel. Under the Rules of the Advisory Board on Just Repatriated by airplane and still under treatment Compensation the $100,000 represents compensation for the serious burns and other injuries suffered for unpaid charter hire from June 5, 1942 to Decem­ before rescue by a destroyer escort, Fireman-water­ ber 17, 1943; damage resulting from striking a sub­ tender Frank B.