The author’s source for the AB wage for 1962 is a publication "entitled Facts about Our Merchant Marine, released by the Committee of American Steamship Lines. It’s in a table comparing U.S. wages to other countries.
The information for 1962 is very specific It’s for January 1, 1962. It lists an AB wage as $383.94.
The author doesn’t give a source for the 1971 number. It’s given at the bottom of the table in parentheses: “(As of 1971 the figure for a U.S. able-bodied seaman is $500)”.
Yes, they had those ships as well as the Coastal New York, Coastal Eagle Point and at the very end had the Coastal Houston. They also had a couple foreign flag ships that the US guys would occasionally work on as well.
3rd Mate pay on the T-5e tankers at OSI in 2005 was: base $115 per day, $25/hour OT (limited to 36 hours per week), 11 for 30 vacation at $240/day. AMO contract.
3rd Mate Unlimited at Chouest that same year was $380/day (no OT, and no vacation)
After doing the math, that worked out to about a $50/day pay raise when I went to Chouest, and I didn’t come home smelling like jet fuel anymore. ($331.57 vs $380.00)
Thanks for passing on this source. I’ll look it up.
That would likely be a weekly wage. The sources I’ve been looking at are all over the place. Some list a weekly wage, some a monthly. Rarely do they list a daily. Seldom do they factor in what they called premium pay, OT, and never vacation pay. Where they note it, the source simply says add 50% or 100% or whatever.
What we expect from a vehicle, and what are willing to pay, is much different than three generations ago, which drives up the price.
Price of a Ford truck in 1948 = $1239.
Price adjusted to 2024 $ by BLS CPI= $16,419.
Base price of a new 2024 F150= $37,500. But it’s from another planet compared to a 1948 model. Stuff we take for granted like computers, safety glass, air bags, catalytic converters…
Moreover the 1948 model would fall apart at a 100k miles. But the modern truck will turn over the clock twice , maybe three times, before the scrap yard, so you can say that it’s cost is really half the sticker price if you hold onto it for years and years. (That’s what you tell the missus anyway…)
In the early 80s, definitely not. We were on par, or slightly behind MMP and MEBA, and definitely behind Exxon. What we had that the unions did not was security, I knew when my 90 days vacation was up, I was going back to work. I was working 6 months/year when 3rds shipping off the board at the unions were getting 3-4 months per year.
Can’t find old pay records in a quick search and not inclined to look more, but I made about $55K as a 3rd Mate in 1981. As already noted, our pay had a number of components, monthly base, OT, and a vacation supplement added to our monthly. So my annual pay doesn’t easily translate to a day rate. Which ship I was on and how much OT I could work made a big difference.
This person was running to Venezuela and Texas from NJ on the Socony-Vacuum which sounded like a rust bucket the way he described it. Also had a Captain everyone dreaded whom he called “Silent Scott.”
This was 1969-70.
I was amused when he mentioned that one day the old man was giving out requested cash advances and his “jaw dropped when the 1AE took a $600 draw.”