He did! He stole millions. I read it in a Navy periodical when I was on an MPSRON One vessel. I never forget the names of the idiots.
George P
I sailed with him. He was a jackass. Also involved in a black liberation theology church in Norfolk.
I wonder if the private contracted boats are better than the Direct MSC ships? The union hall has mentioned those to me.
They are better than MSC.
It must be hit and miss. I’ve only been on one such ship and for only one hitch back in the 1990’s so this is purely anecdotal but it was the worst bunch of people I have ever sailed with. I was dispatched from the SIU hall in San Francisco but I think the rest of the crew had been shanghaied from the Tenderloin in the middle of the night.
Boomer says: “I made enough money in my first hitch as 3rd to buy a house cash.”
Millennial says: “Yeah, I’m not working at sea anymore, pay doesn’t justify the sacrifices”
company says: “Nobody wants to work, and the few we hire, quit after one trip. Can’t believe people are so lazy”
SIU, MSC, and tug companies are screaming for people.
And when I say work I do mean work, not just show up and sit in the galley on their phone for 2 weeks.
How do you think that proves your statement?
Gee. I wonder if our paths crossed on the Wilkes? The old T-AGS! LOL. But I remember some of those Tenderloin folks. . .
Pay more, even time, not 6 hour watches, actually have reliefs on time and I’m sure they wouldn’t be screaming as loud.
Maybe not a labour shortage, just a shortage of labour that will put up with those working conditions for that wage. It’s not like the US has had a net decline in population over the last 50 years, we have had decades of wage stagnation though.
Edit: Here’s a fun article
My time was on the USNS KANE, T-AGS-27 stationed in Bahrain. I was dispatched to replace one of the crew who was in jail, accused of raping a british female flight attendant.
MSC sucks big time. I have no clue why people stay longer than 2-3 years. Must like punishment or are too lazy to work.
Not sure where you sailed but I didn’t have the same experience. I sailed out of the Pacific from 82-00. Sailed AB up to Chief Mate. Only saw one fight on deck on a tug between two elderly ABs with no injuries. The worst was a pumpman attacked the C/E on a tanker leaving him bruised and bloody and an AB attacked me when I was an AB and then pulled a knife on one of the MILDET. Both were sent home but not fired. There were too many senior officers who thought they were in the Navy and reliefs were hard to come by. Just before I retired they started paying for time aboard beyond the requested relief date which was an improvement. I worked for DYN Marine which was a crewing agency for MSRC as deck hand, Mate and Master and it was less than satisfactory. DYN just added another layer with their hand out for money. MSRC finally got smart and did their own hiring.
No reason to work anywhere where you may feel violence in the workplace. First time i see something this and someone isn’t prosecuted i would haul ass down the gangway and not look back. No reason to give a reason for leaving if a company tolerates that BS.
I was east coast from 1980-1997. I quit in disgust. I saw two messmen get in a fight at the gangway in 1991. One shanked the other with a sharpened screwdriver. The guy who got stabbed got fired because he was a new hire I ran into the guy who was the stabber a year later on another ship. He had been promoted to Chief Steward.
MSC was good back in the 80’s. Started changing in the 90’s right after the RIF. I left in 95, then went back in 2009 and left again within 2 years. They promise get your relief and then just forget about you. I relieved a chief mate once that was over due for relief by four months.
They’ll never get because it’s a pure bureaucracy now.
I worked for them from 78-88, first LANT then PAC. As I always comment- some of the people I worked with there- were amongst the best I have ever sailed with… HOWEVER the “institutionalized” attitude of some of the “lifers” almost makes it certain that things would never change from the bureaucratic standpoint.
When I first started you shipped on 9 month assignments- then in the late 70’s they went to 6 month assignments; if you were on a less than desirable ship- you never got relieved on time. Ships like the Mercury, Jupiter, Southern Cross- were highly desirable (they retained their original commercial configuration) and you could easily get reliefs- the IO bound Oilers? Forget it.
The “vacation” sucked- and still sucks. I left commercial ships getting between 10 days a month and 14 days a month back when I started with MSC. What a shock to the system to get three days a month with the “added bonus” of an additional two days a month. The crewing “specialists” knew practically nothing about shipping or mariners- their favorites got all of the good jobs- the rest of us suffered.
MSC, in my opinion is reaping what it sowed- the COVID restrictions, the lack of relief’s, the two man rooms for Officers aboard certain vessels, the “stacked” promotion boards. MSC should have all of their non-unrep ships turned over to commercial contract operation- they stopped publishing their agency financials- because it showed they lose money on most nearly everything the put their hands on…